Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season 1 Part 2 (Collector’s Edition Blu-ray) Unboxing

Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- (Re:ゼロから始める異世界生活, Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu) is a 2016 television anime series based on Tappei Nagatsuki’s light novel series of the same name with illustrations by Shinichirou Otsuka. The anime was produced by studio White Fox, and the staff credits include director Masaharu Watanabe, writer Masahiro Yokotani and music composer Kenichiro Suehiro. The anime was first aired in Japan on April 2016 and published by Kadokawa & TV TOKYO.

Brief Unboxing Note:

This unboxing has been updated on May 2023 to amend its page design but also add additional context to some parts of the write-up. Everything else has been left unchanged from the original post.

Background:

“As Subaru’s literal death-defying life in another world continues, so he finds himself drawn into the politics of the dangerous realm he’s been transported to as their royal election comes to the fore.

With Emilia taking a prominent place in that process, Subaru comes to realise that the lives of those he cares for are in great peril. But are the malevolent powers behind this peril too great for even his ability to “Return by Death”, and more importantly does he have the mental fortitude required to rise above the incessantly harrowing experiences which await him?”

Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, May 2019.

Re:ZERO is an isekai series that I never would have had expected to receive this much attention over the years. Since it first aired in 2018, it became one of many people’s favourite shows and upon watching the anime I can see why – while the main character is debatable, the story and mystery is what makes the series interesting and the rest of the cast of characters are also pretty likeable. Studio White Fox did a great job with the anime and it’s going to get a second season in 2020, as well as a ‘Psycho-Pass: Extended Edition‘ style re-airing for Season 1.

Re:ZERO is also one of the few anime to have a different approach on its presentation. For starters, the first episode is double-length which shows us that the studio probably had a lot of faith in this property and wanted to provide us with a strong first impression. Then we have various episodes where you may not even get the traditional opening and closing sequences because it instead gives you more important dialogue. This is an interesting direction because it offers a way to cover the content without being forced to obey the usual structure and avoid cutting or trimming down specific scenes or moments for numerous reasons.

In terms of licensing, Re:ZERO was first picked up by Crunchyroll which at the time primarily focused on streaming, but eventually saw a home video release from Anime Limited in the UK & Ireland and Funimation in the US & Canada. The first half of this season was released in the UK on June 2018 and it’s been almost 12 months since then. You’re probably wondering what exactly happened and why, well the reason behind it is quite interesting. Basically Anime Limited relied on Funimation for the transfer and somehow Funimation received the masters in pretty poor condition.

This condition led to the video presentation looking pretty bad, making the streaming broadcast versions look better in comparison. As such the release for Part 2 was postponed until they could receive better masters. It took a while and eventually they received the new masters. While the new master is not perfect by all means it is notably better than the previous. Anime Limited delayed their release so they could wait for Funimation’s.

Collector’s Edition Contents:

Keeping consistency with the first half of the season, Anime Limited provided a collector’s edition for the second half, but this time they also included a shop exclusive add-on for those who order through AllTheAnime which is an outer box that houses both collector’s edition parts this series, but only the first 1000 units receive this which sold out instantly.

The package is presented as a rigid box with an digipack case to house the discs. Also included with the set is a 52-page Hardcover booklet. The booklet features character designs, background artwork and more from the series. This is pretty much the same style as the first part, but the second part focuses on artwork from the third story arc.

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 set is limited to 2000 units for SRP £59.99. A standard Blu-ray followed suit later down the line.

Physical Contents:

• Outer Rigid Box to house collector’s edition sets (AllTheAnime Store Exclusive)
• Rigid Box with clean artwork and Digipack packaging
• Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
• 52-page Booklet

On-Disc Contents:

Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 20th May 2019

The collector’s edition release for Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season 1 Part 2 contains episodes 13-25 across two Blu-ray discs, with the encode and authoring produced by Funimation. The audio options include Japanese with English subtitles and the Funimation English dub. The white subtitles are locked during playback, and the regions are restricted to Blu-ray players set to B.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages	English, Japanese
Audio	English Dolby True HD 2.0 Japanese Dolby True HD 2.0
Video	1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio
Region	B
Subtitles	English
Locked Subtitles	Yes
Discs	2 BD-50s

Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:

Disc 2:

• Re:PETIT ~Re: Starting Life in Another World From PETIT~ Episodes 1-14
• Textless Opening Song “Paradisus-Paradoxum”
• Textless Closing Song “Stay Alive”
• Funimation Trailers

Unboxing Photos:

Final Notes:

Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- is available to order across multiple retailers in the United Kingdom from Anime Limited. You can order the collector’s edition release on AllTheAnime and Amazon UK.