Christmas Blu-rays: Laputa, Yamadas, GitS: SAC

Forward-planning Christmas shoppers from Japan - and patient importers from elsewhere - can look forward to some new Blu-ray anime film releases, all of them planned for this December 22. The two pictured below are studio Ghibli's classic movies Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986) and My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999), whose Blu-ray covers are available at a higher resolution on Disney's Japanese website.



Further details about their contents are also provided by Disney, but to keep things simple and in plain English, you can check ANN's report on this matter. In short, both the Laputa and the Yamadas Blu-ray discs will have tons of dubs and subs (English included), along with other extras such as storyboards playable picture-in-picture simultaneously with the film itself. Nice touch.

The other set of Blu-ray anime films releasing on December 22 are part of the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series. Starting with The Laughing Man, and continuing with the Individual Eleven compilation and finally Solid State Society, each of these will recieve an individual Blu-ray release with English subtitles and even the English dub, according to Affenheimtheater.

In other anime-films-on-Blu-ray news / reminders, Fate/stay night Unlimited Blade Works is releasing this September 30 on Blu-ray (and DVD), The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya this December 18 on Blu-ray (and again on DVD), the entire Kara no Kyoukai saga on February 2, 2011 as recently announced, and Welcome to the Space Show will also get a Blu-ray version on February 9, 2011.