There was a mention on the Deals page some months back about the Collective Works of Hayao Miyazaki being made available on DVD/BluRay. Unfortunately that mob (MightyApe) still have it for pre-order without any delivery date, albeit at a reduced price from their original ad. I've googled and checked Amazon, Ebay etc but can't find a legitimate box set with English 'dubs' for each movie (there is a cheap, supposedly legitimate Malaysian version (wtf?) with a handful or so of the set with English subtitles only).
So my question is - has anyone found a legitimate (presumably Japanese-made) set for a reasonable (sub $300) price? I've seen them on Japanese websites for ~$600 but still not sure they all have English dubs. Appreciate your informed comments and advice.
The Mighty Ape listing is a pre-order because there is no Australian release date set. This means that you can currently buy the Japanese edition which has Japanese audio as well as subtitles and perhaps English subtitles, but certainly not an English dub. Madman handles the release of split audio/subtitle Ghibli releases, so until there's a Madman edition released there isn't one available with an English dub option. The official stockists of Madman releases are: JB Hi-Fi, Sanity, Gametraders & Mighty Ape.
Looking into it, it seems that the release date was originally December 2014 and it has been postponed.
From otakustudy.com: "Madman Entertainment have confirmed that this collection has been postponed until 2015 in order to finalize everything. In the meantime, Madman are releasing a large number of other Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki works over the next couple of months. This includes The Wind Rises, The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness, Grave of the Fireflies and The Castle of Cagliostro in December 2014 and many other releases during 2015."
On the Madman website itself, there's a lot of promotion for limited releases of The Wind Rises, Kiki's Delivery Service and Howl's Moving Castle. That was posted in November. At the bottom of the post, it says: "Stay tuned for news on more great releases from Studio Ghibli in 2015 – including the much-anticipated Blu-ray release of Spirited Away, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya on DVD and Blu-ray, When Marnie Was There in cinemas, and last but certainly not least… one we are very, very excited about… The Collected Works of Hayao Miyazaki box set!"
So, the best I can give you is that it seems like it'll be released in 2015. The Mighty Ape price looks great, so I suggest pre-ordering there before the hype train starts up with the new release date and the price is no longer competitive. I hope you don't have to wait too long.