Mirai (Collector’s Edition Blu-ray & DVD) Unboxing

Mamoru Hosoda’s 2018 film arrived in the mail earlier than expected. Anime Limited already shipped out their copies and it’s even confirmed to be out of print now.

Mirai (also known as Mirai no Mirai) is an original anime film directed by Mamoru Hosoda and animated by Studio Chizu. This is the third anime feature-length project by the animation studio, after Wolf Children and The Boy and the Beast films. Mirai was released in Japanese theaters in July 2018 but was brought over to the rest of the world for theatrical throughout late 2018 and early 2019.

Anime Limited acquired the UK & Ireland rights for Mirai and has offered both a theatrical release (early November 2018) and a home video release (July 2019). The home video release was available in both standard and collector’s edition sets. As mentioned earlier, the collector’s edition is now in out of print status but there will be some copies left around for at least a little while longer at the time of this post.

The version that I own is the collector’s edition release from Anime Limited that comes with a fair amount of content. For starters, the initial release was May 2019, but it had been pushed back so that they could include the film’s original soundtrack CD which is something you don’t get that often in UK sets. In addition, the set comes with its usual booklet, folded poster and art cards, all housed inside a rigid box with digipack packaging.

The downside to the UK release is there are no on-disc extras included in this set. The 3 hours worth of on-disc content are included in every other territory is not here, which is a baffling decision. The distributor claims it was down to availability but I’m not entirely convinced by that reasoning. Despite the packaging resembling the French release (which is also handled by Anime Limited), the discs themselves were authored on the UK side and are not the same as the French side.

The UK release from Anime Limited features both English & Japanese audio with English subtitles across one Blu-ray disc and one DVD disc. The subtitles use a white colour with a black border for presentation and are unlockable during playback. The discs are region locked to B & 2 players.

You can order the UK release on Amazon in both collectors and standard Blu-ray sets.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages: English, Japanese
Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Video: 1080p High Definition Native format with a 16×9 Widescreen ratio
Region: B
Subtitles: English
Locked Subtitles: No
Discs: 1

DVD Specs:

Languages: English, Japanese
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1
Video: 480p Standard Definition in NTSC format with 16:9 Widescreen ratio
Region: 2
Subtitles: English
Locked Subtitles: No
Discs: 1

Plot Synopsis (via Anime Limited):

When four-year-old Kun meets his new baby sister, his world is turned upside down. Named Mirai (meaning “future”), the baby quickly wins the hearts of Kun’s entire family. As his mother returns to work, and his father struggles to run the household, Kun becomes increasing jealous of baby Mirai… until one day he storms off into the garden, where he encounters strange guests from his family’s past and future – including his sister as a teenager.

Together, Kun and teenage Mirai go on a journey through time and space, uncovering the family’s incredible story. But why did Mirai come from the future in the first place?