Barakamon (Blu-ray & DVD) Unboxing

The first day of Anime Limited’s 12 Days of Christmas sale was decided to Funimation UK’s clearance sale due to licensing stuff. As I ordered mine pretty quickly they arrived today. The second title is one of Funimation’s regular releases under the UK brand.

Barakamon is a 2014 television anime series based on the manga written and illustrated by Satsuki Yoshino. The anime was adapted by Kinema Citrus and published by Fuji Creative Corporation. The series aired during the Summer 2014 season in July.

Barakamon is one of those shows that had a fair amount of reception and I never had the chance to watch it when it aired a few years ago. The manga is available in its entirety with an English translation as well which is neat. Funimation acquired the rights for the US, Canada, UK and Ireland territories with an English dub and home video release as per usual. Anime Limited, on behalf of Funimation, brought the series over to the UK as a regular Blu-ray & DVD combo pack.

Released in July 2017, Barakamon from Funimation UK contains the entire series (12 episodes total) across two Blu-ray discs and two DVD discs using the Funimation master. The audio options available include the Funimation English dub and the original Japanese audio with English subtitles. The white subtitles are unlockable during playback, and the Blu-ray discs are compatible with Regions A & B Blu-ray players while the DVD discs are region locked to Region 2 DVD players. The DVD discs are in NTSC format.

The UK release for Barakamon is no longer available, as Funimation discontinued its partnership with Anime Limited in favour of Manga Entertainment. The US release is still available and compatible with Region B Blu-ray players only in the form of an Essentials release.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages: English, Japanese
Audio: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0
Video: 1080p High Definition Native format with 16:9 ratio
Region: A B
Subtitles: English
Locked Subtitles: No
Discs: 2

DVD Specs:

Languages: English, Japanese
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0
Video: Standard Definition in NTSC format with 16:9 ratio
Region: 2
Subtitles: English
Locked Subtitles: No
Discs: 2

Plot Synopsis (via Anime Limited & Funimation UK):

“After an unfavorable critique drives uptight young calligrapher Sei Handa past his breaking point, his parents decide to ship him off to Japan’s Goto Islands to cool off. But instead of a peaceful paradise, Handa discovers a village full of quirky characters with little regard for personal space. On top of that, Handa’s temporary apartment has already been claimed as home base by the village elder’s granddaughter, Naru, who has a knack for getting into trouble. Will Handa ever be able to redeem his impulsive misdeed? Will he ever be able to write like the masters? Will the village kids ever learn to knock first??”

Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:

Disc 1:

English Dub Commentary for Episode 1

Disc 2:

English Dub Commentary for Episode 12
Textless Opening Song “Rashisa”
Textless Closing Song “Innocence”
U.S. Trailer
Funimation Trailers

DVD On-Disc Extra Features:

Disc 1:

English Dub Commentary for Episode 1

Disc 2:

English Dub Commentary for Episode 12
Textless Opening Song “Rashisa”
Textless Closing Song “Innocence”
U.S. Trailer
Funimation Trailers

Barakamon was licensed for home video by Anime Limited & Funimation UK. As of 2019, the license has reverted back to Funimation with no word on a re-release in the UK & Ireland.