Millennium Actress (Sennen Joyū) is a 2001 original theatrical anime film directed and written by Satoshi Kon, and animated by studio Madhouse. The film was theatrically released in Japan on September 2002, though it received its premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival in July 2001.
Background:
“With the renowned Ginei Studios shutting down and their buildings about to be demolished, film-maker Genya Tachibana sets out to commemorate this historical moment by interviewing the studio’s former superstar – the now-reclusive Chiyoko Fujiwara.
Thirty years on from her disappearance from the limelight, one question lingers – why did she end her career and vanish at the peak of her acting powers? The truth lies within a key found by Genya many years prior… a key that is far more than just a memento, and instead serves as an emblem of her entire raison d’être.
As Chiyoko recounts her story, so Genya and his cameraman are pulled into a wide-ranging journey through the lens of her films. Interviews and recollections, acting and reality, all blur into the single rich tapestry of a remarkable life.”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, January 2021
Satoshi Kon is considered to be one of the best anime directors of all time. While his passing in 2010 due to cancer is upsetting, his works over the years will still be remembered. Throughout his career he has directed Perfect Blue, Paprika, Paranoia Agent and Tokyo Godfathers, as well as a film called Millennium Actress.
Like Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress was released in the United Kingdom and United States by Manga Entertainment and was well-received all around. While Perfect Blue is a psychological horror/thriller, Millennium Actress is more light-hearted and focused on drama. The film was released on DVD for a while, and eventually licensing happens to where it eventually became hard to find.
Fast-forward to 2019 where North American distributor Eleven Arts announced they have acquired the 4K restoration for Millennium Actress and provided a brand new English dub to replace the old Manga Entertainment version. As part of their partnership with Shout! Factory, the film was released on Blu-ray in the US soon after.
Meanwhile in the UK, Anime Limited rescued the rights for a home video release as well as a planned theatrical sometime in the future. Anime Limited also own the rights to Perfect Blue, which I have owned twice via its 2013 collector’s edition and 2019 ultimate edition releases.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
Anime Limited’s collector’s edition for Millennium Actress carries over the traditional packaging style that the distributor likes to go for.
This release is presented with a rigid box containing a digipack to house the discs, as well as a 44-page booklet containing many articles by both Jonathan Clements and Andrew Osmond and a fold out poster.
Similarly to Weathering With You, the collector’s edition release also includes the film on the 4K Ultra HD format. This was made possible because Millennium Actress was remastered in 4K.
However, it should be noted that this release does not include High Dynamic Range. Both Anime Limited and the authoring team from Justin Sevakis & co. brought this up pretty early on, so it was advertised that the film would be presented in SDR instead. 4K SDR releases does exist, but they said adding HDR for this film may not provide the best experience in this case. The 4K disc is currently exclusive to this release and in terms of content is identical to the Shout! Factory & Anime Limited Blu-ray.
The artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The collector’s edition Blu-ray has 1000 units printed for an SRP of £49.99 (the higher price is due to the 4K Ultra HD disc). The film will also be available as a standard edition Blu-ray with no current plans to release a regular edition for the 4K version. Don’t expect a DVD release either.
I pre-ordered the film during the Anime Limited 12 Days of Christmas 2020 event where it was on early bird for £24.99, but thanks to the Screen Anime membership I acquired it for 10% less at £22.50.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with digipack packaging and clean artwork
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- The film on 4K Ultra HD disc
- 44-page Booklet
- 34x41cm Fold-out poster
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 25th January 2021
The Millennium Actress collector’s edition release has the film included on a single 4K Ultra HD disc and a single Blu-ray disc. The Blu-ray encode and authoring were done by Shout! Factory (with Anime Limited’s logo at the beginning of the disc’s playback), while the 4K Ultra HD encode and authoring were done by Anime Limited and the folks over at MediaOCD including Justin Sevakis.
Sevakis and his team have worked on authoring anime in 4K Ultra HD prior, as evidently seen with Discotek’s Space Adventure Cobra the Movie and Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro. The actual disc looks identical to the Blu-ray version as it has the same audio, subtitles and bonus features.
The audio options available for the film include Japanese with English subtitles and the new VSI Los Angeles English dub commissioned by Eleven Arts. This release, both the 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray discs, does not include the classic Manga Entertainment English dub.
For the Blu-ray playback, the white subtitles are unlockable during playback and the regions are locked to B.
As for the 4K Ultra HD playback, the subtitles (which are technically white but looks slightly grey probably due to technical limitations) are unlockable during playback, and the regions have not been tested as I don’t have a way to verifying it. However, as their release of Weathering With You was all region, it’s highly likely this release will also be all region just like any other UHD title.
4K Ultra HD Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 |
| Video | 2160p Ultra High Definition format 1.85:1 aspect ratio SDR |
| Region | Untested, Expected to be All Region |
| Subtitles | English, English SDH |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 1 BD-50 |
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 1.85:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English, English SDH |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 1 BD-50 |
4K Ultra HD On-Disc Extra Features:
- Interview with Abby Trott
- Interview with Laura Post
- Interview with Producer Masao Maruyama
- Interview with Producer Taro Maki
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
- Interview with Abby Trott
- Interview with Laura Post
- Interview with Producer Masao Maruyama
- Interview with Producer Taro Maki
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Millennium Actress is available to order through multiple retailers across the United Kingdom. You can order the collector’s edition 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray combo pack as well as a standard edition Blu-ray on Amazon UK.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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