Directors believed that their movies should be enjoyed only in cinema long before the pandemic.
Enter Mamoru Nagano with Gothicmade, his magnum opus released in 2012 and still not available for home viewing.
Home setups, he believes, won't do this movie justice.
Remember how amid the pandemic well-known Hollywood directors, like James Cameron and Christopher Nolan, were adamant that their newest works have to be watched only in real, full-size cinemas, and not at home on laptops or smartphones? That's not new: the movies are generally made to be viewed on the big screen, and the plans and framing are created with cinemas in mind.
Their works, however, became available for home viewing sometime later. But there's one animated movie that you still cannot watch at home — it's called Gothicmade. It was released in Japan in 2012 only in theaters. It's not even available on DVD or Blu-ray — because it's the director's choice.
Mecha lovechild
The movie was created by Mamoru Nagano, who's well-known in the world of mecha for his contribution to the Gundam franchise and Heavy Metal L-Gaim. Gothicmade is set in the Five Star Stories' universe — Nagano's iconic manga. The movie was his directorial debut, and the production team was incredibly small: he had help from three key animators.
Nagano wanted to reignite the love for Five Star Stories by releasing a movie, he even changed the lore: renamed Mortar Headd mecha class into Gothicmade — hence the name of the movie. Yet the success didn't come. Or, rather, it didn't come instantly.
The project was too ambitious for such a small team, so the movie itself had some production problems. There were a lot of still frames, though incredibly detailed, and exposition leaned far into the info dumping territory, taking up more time than it felt necessary.
Unattainable for anyone overseas
But later it amassed something akin to a cult following — and not because it's a great work, but because it's extremely unachievable: you can't watch this movie outside of cinemas. It was Nagano's decision, and there are a few reasons for that. First is the native resolution: Nagano's works are famous for their exquisite level of detail, and the designs of his machines are incredibly intricate, so some shots of Gothicmade go from 4K resolution up to a staggering 12K, and you can properly admire all the nuances of the mechas only on the big screen. Sure, it was probably downscaled to some extent for cinema viewing, but home releases still have a lower bitrate.
The second reason is sound engineering: Nagano is very proud of the acoustic landscape they created for the movie and thinks that home systems just won't do it justice. It was tuned to sound pristine in a huge cinema with Dolby Atmos audio, not for some tinny laptop speakers.
Surprisingly, this approach works: Gothicmade still regularly reappears in cinemas, so fans of the franchise can catch it in Japan almost every year; it's screened at festivals and various events. The movie's audience is not just simple anime fans, but specifically fans of Nagano. He spent six years creating this movie and wants those who are interested in his work to enjoy it to the fullest — and only in that way.
That's commendable.
When you care about quality a bit too much.
Summary:
Directors believed that their movies should be enjoyed only in cinema long before the pandemic.
Enter Mamoru Nagano with Gothicmade, his magnum opus released in 2012 and still not available for home viewing.
Home setups, he believes, won't do this movie justice.
Remember how amid the pandemic well-known Hollywood directors, like James Cameron and Christopher Nolan, were adamant that their newest works have to be watched only in real, full-size cinemas, and not at home on laptops or smartphones? That's not new: the movies are generally made to be viewed on the big screen, and the plans and framing are created with cinemas in mind.
Their works, however, became available for home viewing sometime later. But there's one animated movie that you still cannot watch at home — it's called Gothicmade. It was released in Japan in 2012 only in theaters. It's not even available on DVD or Blu-ray — because it's the director's choice.
Mecha lovechild
The movie was created by Mamoru Nagano, who's well-known in the world of mecha for his contribution to the Gundam franchise and Heavy Metal L-Gaim. Gothicmade is set in the Five Star Stories' universe — Nagano's iconic manga. The movie was his directorial debut, and the production team was incredibly small: he had help from three key animators.
Nagano wanted to reignite the love for Five Star Stories by releasing a movie, he even changed the lore: renamed Mortar Headd mecha class into Gothicmade — hence the name of the movie. Yet the success didn't come. Or, rather, it didn't come instantly.
The project was too ambitious for such a small team, so the movie itself had some production problems. There were a lot of still frames, though incredibly detailed, and exposition leaned far into the info dumping territory, taking up more time than it felt necessary.
Unattainable for anyone overseas
But later it amassed something akin to a cult following — and not because it's a great work, but because it's extremely unachievable: you can't watch this movie outside of cinemas. It was Nagano's decision, and there are a few reasons for that. First is the native resolution: Nagano's works are famous for their exquisite level of detail, and the designs of his machines are incredibly intricate, so some shots of Gothicmade go from 4K resolution up to a staggering 12K, and you can properly admire all the nuances of the mechas only on the big screen. Sure, it was probably downscaled to some extent for cinema viewing, but home releases still have a lower bitrate.
The second reason is sound engineering: Nagano is very proud of the acoustic landscape they created for the movie and thinks that home systems just won't do it justice. It was tuned to sound pristine in a huge cinema with Dolby Atmos audio, not for some tinny laptop speakers.
Surprisingly, this approach works: Gothicmade still regularly reappears in cinemas, so fans of the franchise can catch it in Japan almost every year; it's screened at festivals and various events. The movie's audience is not just simple anime fans, but specifically fans of Nagano. He spent six years creating this movie and wants those who are interested in his work to enjoy it to the fullest — and only in that way.
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