The Normanic Vault

Otaku Collection Haul for August 2020

Welcome to the Otaku Collection haul for the month of August 2020. This update features 5 anime titles, 3 manga volumes, and 2 live-action Asian cinema titles.

It had been a whole month since the last update, and I’ve been back home for the past few weeks. Not much was ordered due to funding, but in the meantime a lot of items that were ordered prior arrived to make up for the haul.

#01 | Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 1

The first anime arrival of the month is actually one that had arrived a week prior. Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 1 had its address changed just before it actually shipped which caught me by surprise as I had expected another delay, but it didn’t matter. Haven’t started any of the Gundam in this haul but it’s nice to own IBO sooner than later. I acquired this from Anime Limited’s early bird at £34.99.

#02 | Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie: A Wakening of the Trailblazer

Next we have Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie: A Wakening of the Trailblazer with the Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Special Edition OVAs and the Shop Exclusive box from Anime Limited’s store. I now own all of the Gundam 00 series which is pretty neat. This arrived about a day after I had posted the unboxing for IBO. I acquired this from Anime Limited’s early bird which combined with Screen Anime brings the price down to £31.50.

#03 | Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs Volumes 5 & 6

Then we had a test haul of sorts. I decided to try out the website called Blackwells for any manga that might be considered pricier or out of stock on other platforms like Amazon. The site had both of these volumes for Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs at a good offer and they took a while, but in the end they arrived in solid condition so I’m happy about that.

#04 | Jackie Chan’s Dragon Lord and The Fearless Hyena

Arriving after everyone else who had ordered through 88 Films, I received the latest Jackie Chan films via Amazon thanks to an offer where you can get £5 off on orders of £25 and above, so in total it was £24.98. The films were Dragon Lord (龍少爺) and The Fearless Hyena (笑拳怪招), and both look great in terms of packaging. I haven’t started these films yet as I am saving them for the right opportunity.

#05 | Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2

Arriving on the second Friday of the month was an early arrival with Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2. Now I own the whole of IBO which is once again pretty neat. I acquired this from MVM’s Cloud Matsuri sale as it was the only cheaper option for me because I didn’t acquire Screen Anime at that point, but the price from Anime-on-Line was about £33.

#06 | Magic Knight Rayearth Part 2

Then a week later came Magic Knight Rayearth Part 2 which covers the rest of Magic Knight Rayearth II as well as including the Rayearth OVA series. Basically the UK release is currently the definitive version to own as you have Discotek Media’s discs combined with Anime Limited’s packaging and also the OVA series which Discotek wasn’t able to acquire.

Technically I could have skipped on this series as it’s a pretty niche release, but I wanted to own it as it’s both a 90s anime series and also part of the Isekai genre which I am a fan of. I acquired this from Anime Limited’s early bird which combined with Screen Anime brings the price down to £31.50.

#07 | World’s End Harem Volume 3

This one was more of a quick out of nowhere purchase because the price wasn’t going down and it looked as though it could go out of stock at any moment. But eventually I had to get World’s End Harem volume 3 sooner than later as I want to catch up on the series as fast as I can.

#08 | Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn

The final anime of the month was a surprise out of nowhere package arrival. I remember first reading about this series over seven years ago and now I finally own it. I can finally start watching Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn. This is part of the Universal Century storyline so that’s peaked my interest even further. I acquired this from Anime Limited’s early bird which combined with Screen Anime brings the price down to £31.50.

Unboxing Links

You can view more photos & specs for the titles below:

Additional Notes

Meanwhile in the Real World

And that concludes the month of August 2020. From here on we are hitting the ‘Uncertainty’ zone, where once I hand in my dissertation it’s job hunting time and I have no idea how long it will take for me to get a job. I plan to work closer to home compared to last time so hopefully that will make a difference in terms of finances.

Meanwhile I have some funds incoming that should keep me going for at least the rest of the year. If you feel like helping me out as well, supporting me through the Amazon links I have on my blog (like the ones on the right side), social media (mostly Twitter) and on the Anime UK News forum is currently the best way to do so as I earn a small commission percentage for every order that ships out. I have started to add disclaimers to make it much clearer as well on the unboxings and industry news release slate posts.

I first want to make sure that any bills I had left with the Electric and Water are finalised, and hopefully the deposit I get back from the accommodation doesn’t lose too much money (they will use some of it for cleaning the flat for the new tenant and add charges for stuff that they want removed). I’m expected to pay a small amount back to the Electric while Water is in a weird position (one person says I’m in credit, another person says I’m in debit). Hopefully the outcome is better than expected.

What’s to Come for the Hauls

Thanks to Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn arriving earlier than planned, I currently have literally nothing arriving for the month of September. That being said I want to try and acquire small/cheaper items to make up for it. There are some big collector’s editions that I wish to acquire but I have no clue when they’ll appear and how.

Coming this October we have the fan favourite Isekai series KONOSUBA – God’s Blessing in this Wonderful World! Season 1 collector’s edition Blu-ray from Anime Limited. I planned this way ahead as I knew it would be available for pre-order sooner than later so I don’t have to worry about it. Despite being scheduled for early October, there is a small chance that it could ship and arrive in late September.

This November we have Makoto Shinkai’s Weathering With You deluxe edition 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray & Blu-ray combo pack. So last month I ordered the Zavvi Exclusive version that came with the original soundtrack on CD, but after some consideration and the fact that Anime Limited brought the set back in ‘open order’ style through their website for £12 cheaper, I decided to swap to what the distributor describes as the ‘Variant’ edition. Basically it’s the exact same release but without the original soundtrack. Usually I would go for the soundtrack if I can, but I made this decision solely because I am leaning more towards digital for music and the OST is already available to purchase physically on its own in Japan (and Zavvi is questionable for packaging). By making this decision, there is a chance that my unboxing will be later than others so keep that in mind.

And that’s practically it for the current upcoming items. There’s now currently four Jackie Chan films – New Fist of Fury, Shaolin Wooden Men, Spiritual Kung Fu, and The Young Master – coming at the end of the year which is insane but hopefully I can order them sooner than later. I might get Jet Li’s The Master as well which is out pretty soon. Third Window Films also announced their release for Shinya Tsukamoto’s Gemini which looks great, and in fact their other recent releases – Fish Story, Melancholic and The Taste of Tea – are worth owning as well but I am currently holding off as I can’t get everything immediately at the moment. The Jackie Chan releases will take priority because they are strong sellers for 88 Films and I’ve gotten as far as owning every major release from the actor in their catalogue (outside of the first four of course).

In terms of anime, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Ultimate Edition is available to pre-order and I plan to unfortunately order it soon once the extra funds arrive, because to maintain consistency it’s basically this set or the standards in 2021. Other Anime Limited sets that I’ll want to prioritise include Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Millennium Actress, The Promised Neverland, Sword Art Online Alicization and Violet Evergarden. Now there is a possibility that one or few of these could get pushed back but I feel confident these will get released before the year is over.

Manga Entertainment also have a few limited editions of their own with ARIFURETA: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest, Cautious Hero: The Hero is Overpowered but Overly Cautious and Dr. STONE coming later this year as well. These sets will be interesting as the best way to order them is when MVM does their 20% off sale, but at the moment the only way to grab them for a lower price is with United Publications.

Then there’s the book side of things. I want to continue buying more manga as I am way behind on some titles, especially those from Ghost Ship and Seven Seas like Monster Musume, World’s End Harem and Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs. I would go after titles from different publishers but Seven Seas is notorious for offering low print runs and they won’t bother reprinting them, which sucks for those of us that want a physical copy.

Anyway, that’s it for the latest brief update on things. I’ll hopefully provide a new haul update for September in the next time.

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