Drifters Season 1 (Collector’s Edition Blu-ray) Unboxing

Drifters (also known as Drifters: Battle in a Brand-new World War) is a 2016 anime series adapted by Hoods Drifters Studio and published by NBC Universal Entertainment Japan. The anime is based on the manga series written and drawn by Kouta Hirano. The series received some form of hype due to the author’s work on Hellsing and it’s an anime that I honestly have been intrigued to check out for a while.

The Drifters anime is technically on-going because there are a couple OVA episodes that have yet to receive an official English release, so in the meantime, we are currently left with the main 12 episodes. At the time of this unboxing, there are at least 3 OVAs currently confirmed (two of which are out in Japan).

Universal UK acquired the rights fairly early on alongside Berserk 2016 while Funimation have the US/CA rights, however, the UK release had been in limbo for a long time. It wasn’t until recently that it had finally been released on home video across Europe. The series also received a nice collector’s edition treatment, which Funimation decided not to do for their release.

Released in October 2018, Drifters from Universal Pictures UK contains the main 12 episode series across 2 Blu-ray discs. Much like The Heroic Legend of Arslan and Seraph of the End, there are multiple audio & subtitle languages available for this series – you have the main Japanese language with English, French and German subtitles, the Funimation English dub, and the French and German dubs. The subtitles are unlockable during playback and the discs are Regions A & B compatible.

Also worth noting is that the main menus for the Universal anime sets have the same template of sorts and may confuse people. The discs start with the language options (English, French (Français), German (Deutsch), Dutch (Nederlands)) followed by the main menu so I have a quick guide on the main menu buttons here (from left to right):

House – Back to the language section (which played first on the disc), or to the main menu section if you use it via pop-up menu
Right Arrow – Play the first episode
Shield/Open Book – Episode Count (1-6 on Disc 1, 7-12 on Disc 2)
Star (Disc 2 only) – On-Disc Extra Features
Audio – Language audio options (Japanese (日本語), English, French (Français), German (Deutsch))
Square with some lines inside – Subtitle options (English, French (Français), German (Deutsch))

While the previous Universal UK anime collector’s editions were top-loaded, the Drifters set is now side-loaded just like any other anime sets. Included with the collector’s edition set is a rigid box and digipack as well as a 40-page booklet, poster, magnets and art cards.

You can order the series on Amazon UK in collector’s Blu-ray and collector’s DVD.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages: English, Japanese, French, German
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1, Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0, French DTS-HD MA 2.0, German DTS-HD MA 2.0
Video: 1080p High Definition Native format with 16:9 ratio
Region: A B
Subtitles: English, French, German
Locked Subtitles: No
Discs: 2

Plot Synopsis (via Universal Pictures):

“Shimazu Toyohisa, a samurai from the historical Battle of Sekigahara, was moments from death when he stepped through a door. Transported to a world both like and unlike his own, he finds himself in a new war—but he is not alone. By his side, Japan’s most notable historical figures Oda Nobunaga and Nasu no Yoichi will join him in this new world at war as they take on the role of “Drifters.””