The Blood of Heroes Digital Lima Star Edition Blu-ray - Action-Packed Sci-Fi Movie for Home Theater & Movie Night Entertainment

Here are a few notes on the Japanese Blu-ray release for prospective buyers in the U.S. and Canada:First, the release is region A, meaning that it will play on any standard U.S./Canadian Blu-ray player.The main menu is in English, but sub-menus are in Japanese. If (like me) you don't read Japanese, you may need to do a bit of experimenting to figure out what's what. Under "Play" there are two options, possibly a choice between the shorter U.S. version of the movie and the slightly extended international version.Image and sound are quite good, and probably as good as you are going to find. This edition is not mastered from original film elements, and does not have a typical Blu-ray level of resolution. However, it is mastered from a very clean print, possibly from the Laserdisc edition. Whatever the source, it looks reasonably good and is perfectly watchable. However, the movie is still in 4:3 pan-and-scan format. It doesn't look like the original widescreen release has ever been made available for sale, and unfortunately that's not what you get here, either.Finally, the movie plays in English with Japanese subtitles that can't be turned off. Normally that's a deal breaker for me; if a movie has forced subtitles in French or Spanish I find myself trying to read them, even though I don't speak either language. But with Japanese I can't even read the characters, which made them a lot easier to ignore. Also, there's not all that much dialogue in the movie to begin with, so overall the subtitles seem like a minor nuisance to me. Your mileage may vary.Anyway, that's what you get with this release. The ideal version would be a widescreen release taken from original film elements, with OPTIONAL subtitles, but as of 2021, unfortunately that does not exist, and the Japanese Blu-ray is probably as good an edition as you are going to find.UPDATE (1/5/2023): I finally got around to watching the second option under "Play," and I couldn't believe my eyes. It turns out the two options are not the U.S. vs. international versions, but rather, the original Laserdisc capture vs. a digitally remastered version -- and the remastered version looks incredible.First, the image has been stabilized and color corrected; the Laserdisc's faded, reddish tint has been converted to something approaching natural color. Second, the frame rate has been visibly improved, so that the actors' movements look fluid and natural. In comparison, movement looks "jerky" in the Laserdisc version. And finally the image has been upconverted to 1080p or something close.The image is still not completely up to the standards of a Blu-ray captured from original film elements -- obviously -- but the remastered version is a huge improvement, and approaches something worthy of Blu-ray. It is without question the best-looking edition you are currently going to find.