Birthday Wonderland is a 2019 theatrical anime film based on the Japanese children’s short story Chikashitru Kara no Fushigi na Tabi written by Sachiko Kashiwaba. It was adapted by studio Signal.MD, director Keiichi Hara, and writer Miho Maruo. The film was theatrically released in April 2019 for Japan and published by Warner Bros Japan.
Background:
“On the day before her birthday, young Akane meets the mysterious alchemist Hippocrates who brings her through a basement and into a fantastical world full of magic and colour.
He reveals that this world is in danger, and as the ‘‘Green Goddess’’ it is her destiny and responsibility to save this world.
The only problem? Akane just wants to go home.”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, October 2020.
Anime Limited like to acquire titles for the United Kingdom that are niche or over-looked like Mai Mai Miracle to Tokyo Marble Chocolate. One film they did release a few years ago was Miss Hokusai from director Keiichi Hara, though it had an unfortunate mess of planning because while the UK release was first, the US release had the better content despite the UK having a nice collector’s package.
Fast-forward to present time and we now have the latest film from director Keiichi Hara with Birthday Wonderland which includes character designs by Russian illustrator Ilya Kuvshinov who also worked on Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045. This is an interesting release as the other territories named the film The Wonderland but Anime Limited were able to convince Japan to maintain the original title.
In the United States, theatrical distributor Eleven Arts have the rights and released the film via Shout! Factory on Blu-ray with an English dub just before the UK release came along.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
Anime Limited once again continues their traditional collector’s packaging with clean artwork all around, a digipack to house the discs and an additional physical item included. The physical item this time around is a 40-page booklet which has a lot of interesting variety from character artwork, storyboards to a short essay from Jonathan Clements.
The SRP for this release is £34.99 with 1000 units total as per usual. I acquired the title as part of the AllTheAnime Early Bird offer of £18 using the Screen Anime discount.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with Digipack packaging and clean artwork
- Info Sheet for BBFC details, Desc. & Specs
- 40-page Booklet
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 26th October 2020
Birthday Wonderland is presented across a single Blu-ray and DVD disc each and the option to watch the film in Japanese audio with English subtitles and an English dub. The encode and authoring was done by Anime Limited so the original name is also used in the main menus etc.
The white subtitles are not locked during Blu-ray playback, however instead it gives you the option to switch between full subtitles and signs subtitles (so you cannot turn them off completely). The discs are region restricted to B for Blu-ray and 2 for DVD.
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 16:9 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes (Can Switch Between Sign & Full) |
| Discs | 1 |
DVD Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English Dolby Digital 5.1 Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 |
| Video | Standard Definition in NTSC format 16:9 aspect ratio |
| Region | 2 |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 1 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
- “Our Wonderland” Cast Interview
- Mayu Matsuoka’s Amazing Adventure
- Trailers
DVD On-Disc Extra Features:
- Production Report
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Birthday Wonderland is available to order through multiple retailers across the United Kingdom. The collector’s edition and standard edition are available on Amazon UK.
The Normanic Vault 
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