Thanks for the hints. You are right, the US Special Edition has a 6.1 mix, i completely forgot. However, ripping a Bluray is not as easy as ripping a DVD nowadays, and i dont want to pirate. Should i actually manage to do it, i will post a report here. I actually kinda like the Brian Eno ending, but its a very different mood compared to the original.

Tim, don't try that! 1.0 and 2.0 have different running times as there are slight differences throughout the films. Like you I prefer the orifinal, but you might want to use the DTS soundtrack from either the American DVD or the Australian DVD (depending on PAL speedup I guess...). I own the Aussie one and that aoundtrack brought tears to my eyes, so clear and beautiful.

One other thing: the movie was originally released with stereo only back in 1995, and all of the 5.1 and DTS mixes are from the re-release in 2000. This means the 5.1 and DTS mixes all have U2 and Brian Eno over the end credits, not Kenji Kawai.

Okay, i watched it today. The image quality was... well it was okay. A little blurry and very grainy in the dark scenes, but still better than the DVD. Mostly like the older Patlabor movies. The stereo sound was identical to the DVD.

Since i can't stand the 2.0 version, i'm kinda satisfied with this one, except for the audio. I'd love to see the old video with the new "2.0" sound. The two versions probably have the same running time, so it should be possible to rip both and mux them together. Perhaps i will try to do that one day.

The audio is a bigger issue on this release than the picture. It's only 2 channel. I don't hold much hope for a remaster on this. Like Star Wars special edition I think 2.0 is now it as far as they are concerned. But what I wouldn't give for a remaster to the quality of Akira.

Still not sure if i should wait for a better release (that may never come). 9800yen for a below-average image is (mildly speaking) a bit much.
On the other hand i already bought the Patlabor BRs, and they had tolerable picture-quality... And i'd rather scratch my own eyes out than looking at that 2.0 version.

It was probably the 2.0 version they showed.

www.asianblurayguide.com

Reviews:
bluray.highdefdigest.com
www.dvdbeaver.com

I also read in the highdefdigest forums that there was an airing on NHK in HD with better quality than the BR, so perhaps its worth to wait.