Don't know how I missed this one, but the Geneon DVD release of Ryuichi Honda‘s GS Wonderland (2008) is already out and has English subtitles. The downside? It's one of those "premium" editions that doesn't seem to have a matching standard edition. Those familiar with R2-J discs know that these premium/limited editions are mostly superfluous because typically it's only the main movie that gets subtitled, leaving all bonus features and commentary tracks in Japanese-only. Phooey, I say as I grudgingly add the staggeringly overpriced disc to my shopping cart anyway.

Plot: After The Beatles came to Japan on June 29, 1966, a Group Sounds (GS) trend swept the nation and bands started forming left and right. The film is set during this era and follows a fictional band called "The Tightsmen". Masao (Takuya Ishida), Shun (Hiro Mizushima), and Kenta (Yosuke Asari) form the band together, and a music producer offers them a debut if they'll take a young runaway named Miku (Chiaki Kuriyama) into the group. Miku is forced to pretend to be a man, and dons white tights to fit in with the band motif as they perform together with an eye toward reaching the stage of Nichigeki one day.

Region 2, NTSC, 16:9 anamorphic widescreen, DVD-5, 2 discs. Japanese stereo audio with selectable English subtitles (main movie only). 100+ minutes of bonus features including:

• Making-of featurette
• Easter performance
• Greetings from the stage
• TV special commemorating release of the film
• Music video
• Trailers and TV spots
• Viva! GS Yarou re-edited version

Watch trailer

Available at the following retailer(s) on April 23, 2009:

• CDJapan
• YesAsia
• Sensasian

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Tags: chiaki kuriyama, geneon universal entertainment, gs wonderland, hiro mizushima, ittoku kishibe, kana mikura, kobayashi kendo, mana mikura, ren osugi, ryuichi honda, shinji takeda, sosuke takaoka, takuya ishida, tetta sugimoto, yoichi yukumizu, yosuke asari