Initially there were only three DVD versions to choose from - a single disc version with minimal extras and reasonable English subititles, a two disc version with more extras but very poor subtitles and the Memorial Box edition which added more extras and included the Polish DTS soundtrack

Since then a number of new editions have been released around the world, and the Memorial Box has been discontinued after being available for a year. The table below represents the best information I have about various international versions. Corrections and new information welcomed by email to web at ninesisters dot org.

The English subtitles on the Bandai two disc edition are poorly translated - avoid them. This pirate edition also suffers from the superimposing of an Anime Cartoon logo in one corner twice during the movie. At the moment the best edition with English subtities is the Korean Special Edition, which also includes the DTS soundtrack, however the picture is widescreen NTSC rather than PAL. There is currently no PAL edition with English subtitles, though the French Collector's Edition is strongly recommended if you can manage with the French subtitling (though choose the Belgian edition instead if you want the DTS soundtrack). Here's hoping that when a UK edition comes out it'll be to the standard of the French!

In December 2003 Miramax released a US edition. This has English and French dubs, plus English subtitles on the two special features. There are several voice-overs by Ash in the English dub which are unique to that edition. These may or may not have been influenced by Neil Gaiman's work on enhancing the subtitles - a look at Neil's site today indicated that he's not sure himself yet. See the thoughts page for more comments on this version. As the first English dub it's definitely worth having, but there are some subtle changes introduced by the dub tranlsation and the voiceovers.

In October 2004 Bluelight (part of the CanalPlus group) released the UK Region 2 DVD. It's an adequate release containing the 5.1 Polish sound plus English subtitles together with a couple of the making-of featurettes with English subtitles. So, which version should a UK shopper buy?

If your DVD player isn't multi-region there isn't much choice... get the UK Region 2 edition. The only alternative is the Anime Cartoon pirate disc, which has some very poor subtitling. If you have a multi-region player you have much more choice. If you want an English dub get the US Region 1 disc. If you want DTS sound and English subtitles get the Enter One Korean Special Edition.

An additional complication came to light in early 2005. There is now a 4 disc Memorial Box Set in circulation. I am currently unsure whether it's a pirate - information welcomed but if you are looking for Memorial Box take care - check whether it contains two discs and a book or four discs and two sheets of card with the menu navigation for the extra features on disc 3

There also appears to be a single disk circulating in the US (though likely imported) that claims to be a Memorial Edition too. I haven't seen this one first hand, though the report I had mentioned very poor transfer quality and a serious lack of any extras. This sounds very much like a pirate disk. Talking of possible pirates, I'm still uncertain about the 4 disk set (though I must admit I err on the side of it being genuine at the moment)