Welcome to the Otaku Collection haul for the month of May 2021. This update features 3 anime titles, 2 light novel volumes, 3 manga volumes, 4 video games and 2 live-action Asian cinema titles.
For this month’s haul, I have ordered more items for both the PlayStation 3 collection and anime, but there were delays in the process so what we have instead are a mixture of other things I was able to get within this window, like solid deals on PlayStation 4 games.
#01 | Monster Musume Vol. 10-12
The first batch of items for the month is continuing the Monster Musume manga collection with volumes 10, 11 & 12 which I was able to get for a lower price point due to a store discount from another one of Amazon’s offerings.
One of the books was estimated to arrive a day later so I chose the shipping option to have both packages arrive together, but the book that was supposed to arrive later actually ended up arriving first with the other being stalled. Therefore I contacted support to ensure that other package was moving (in case it was under the assumption it was being held waiting for the package that arrived already).
The good news is that both packages did arrive safely and I got a few pounds discount for the next order to make up for the issue.
#02 | Way of the Samurai 4
Next we have 365 Games selling some PlayStation 3 games for pretty solid prices considering the current climate, and one of those was Way of the Samurai 4. I didn’t realise until I received the game that it was actually released physically only in Europe and not in North America, which is apparently because subtitled only games don’t get the physical treatment at the time due to Sony America from what I was told. Either way I paid £17.99 thanks to a 10% store discount that was available for one of the weekends.
#03 | Heroes Shed No Tears & The Master
For this batch, I decided to finally go ahead and pick up two 88 Films releases that I had held off for a while because I was hoping to get both via their main store in a sale of some sort. In the end I felt that the longer I waited, the higher the chances that it would end up losing the first print items.
Those two films were John Woo’s Heroes Shed No Tears and Tsui Hark’s The Master featuring Jet Li. Both of these are Hong Kong films that were released on Blu-ray throughout 2020 by the distributor.
#04 | 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
Next we have an Atlus game that I had been meaning to acquire for quite a while now. While the US release has been discounted a couple of times, the UK/EU release is basically non-existent. To be exact, it is sort-of available but has remained at the £47-50 price point since its release back in April.
Therefore I decided to acquire 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim via eBay instead, using the Nectar points I had stored to reduce the price because even if the game is considered one of the best of recent years, I can’t justify paying £40+ for a visual novel type game.
#05 | COP CRAFT & Kemono Michi
HMV held their own anime sale, this time focused on Manga Entertainment (i.e. Funimation UK) and initially I was going to acquire both COP CRAFT and Kemono Michi: Rise Up in-person during my trip to York. However, the trip was pushed back due to weather issues, so I decided to order them online instead.
It’s also worth noting that for the retail stores, the 40% offer is only valid if they have the sticker, so when I eventually checked out the York branch none of the select anime that was on offer online had the sticker attached, so there was no offer in place.
#06 | Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
Next we have Mobile Suit Gundam SEED which was ordered back in early September and initially planned to arrive in December 2020. The set got delayed due to the masters being incorrect and while the US release is slowly getting their replacements out there, the UK release got itself a head start.
The UK Ultimate Edition Blu-ray is basically covering all of the first series for SEED including the original 2002 series and the Special Edition compilation films. The main feature is the HD Remaster version.
#07 | Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-: The Prophecy of the Throne
Amazon had been slowly discounting Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-: The Prophecy of the Throne for the past week and eventually its price for the regular Day One Edition landed at £15. The twist here is that Amazon was trying to ship it out without proper packaging which I presume is why the price kept going lower and lower.
Until I realised it was a Day One Edition with packaging similar to Robotics;Notes, I decided to go ahead and order it, but with extra packaging protection so that it didn’t get lost or damaged. It arrived safe in the end and was handy considering the game just came out last February for £50.
#08 | Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory
Next I finally acquired the latest Kingdom Hearts game which came out last November. Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is another spin-off but is also canon to the series in terms of providing additional story details. I acquired the game via Amazon since it reduced down to £19.99 which was roughly what I wanted to spend after seeing how the other games in the series landed at a similar level after a certain amount of time.
I have been playing through this game and it’s very interesting. It is quite repetitive with a very large track list but I do think it’s a good game.
#09 | OVERLORD Novels 5-6
The final items of the month are OVERLORD light novel volumes 5 and 6. These two books were adapted in the rest of the second season. It is weird how it took me a while to acquire volume 4 but for these two they were readily available. That being said, OVERLORD being released in hardcover does mean it can discontinue faster than regular paperback light novel books so I want to get the series up-to-speed as quick as possible.
Unboxing Links
You can view more photos & specs for the titles below:
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (UE Blu-ray)
Additional Notes
What’s to Come for the Hauls
June Arrivals
The haul for June is already going to be big for two reasons. The first is that it’ll be the Birthday haul which I have yet to sort out in terms of items but expect a similar amount to the 2020 batch. The second is that there’s a whole bunch of pre-orders that will arrive in this month, assuming things go to plan.
All of those pre-orders are from Anime Limited and some of them were supposed to arrive in May. Those titles are Anemone: Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Part 2, Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, Mobile Suit Gundam F91, and Your Name in 4K Ultra HD format.
Also arriving are video games for the PlayStation 3 collection, with inFAMOUS 2 and Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One from the localised/western part of the collection and Biohazard: Chronicles HD Selection and Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara from the Japanese import part of the collection.
A couple of books are also coming, having ordered them to keep those series collections going with Destiny Lovers Vol. 4 for manga and How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom Vol. 5 for the light novels.
July Arrivals
For July we currently have one anime pre-ordered and is scheduled for the latter half of the month, with The Future Diary finally coming to the collection.
Other Tidbits
The job hunt is getting stalled for various factors once again. As long as I find more roles, the UC funds should continue as expected. I will be expanding my search to a few other areas to best fit the lifestyle and potentially being independent like before. As per usual, can’t promise anything as these always change.
Moving on to the discussion of hauls as I always do with each of these monthly round-ups, there’s been some progress at least.
Anime
Anime Limited’s July to August 2021 titles batch has yet to be revealed (currently estimated for 1st June) but what is going to be interesting is that from here on I am expecting more and more big titles to occur since we are now in the second half of the year where the bigger releases begin to emerge.
I have budgeted for potentially all four early birds planned for June to save myself some of the hassle, but my real concern are the bigger releases for titles like Cardcaptor Sakura and Evangelion, both of which are still apparently months away for the time being.
MVM Entertainment did reveal more of their line-up, but so far it’s just regular releases which I can save for big discounted sales.
Funimation’s Q3 line-up has a few more titles I am interested in, but the issue is that I have yet to order both BOFURI and Plunderer LEs which may get pushed back since they have been having LE asset issues for their titles which has already affected a number of their previous sets. In terms of regular releases, there’s Gleipnir, No Guns Life and Yu Yu Hakusho. Similar to CLANNAD, I will be passing on K-On! due to using older discs.
Light Novel & Manga
Progress has been pretty slow on the book front, but I am slowly getting there for Monster Musume which is nice. OVERLORD novels made some progress so if I can get at least 4-5 more volumes in the next few months it’ll be in a safer position.
Because select volumes are out of print, I have decided to no longer continue buying Grimgar novels and stopped plans to get 12 Beast manga books also. Thanks Seven Seas. Dumbbells Vol. 1 is also completely out of stock in all UK retailers, but may come back since it’s available in the US and only just got released in very late 2019 which is still too early to discontinue.
I am still on the fence on whether I want to buy all 10 volumes for Harukana Receive since it’s nearing the point where it may go out of print sooner than later. That being said, GIGANT and Demon of Black Company are both manga titles that I am committed to acquire for my collection (former is written by GANTZ author, latter has a premise that intrigues me thanks to the upcoming anime series).
Meanwhile for Yen Press, Prison School seems to be slowly getting more stock here and there, so I might try and begin acquiring volumes for the series in June. Kakegurui has been having stock issues so I am holding off to see how this turns out, while Yotsuba&! I may try and continue acquiring volumes if Volumes 5 & 6 get back in print.
Video Games
Mentioned back in April, I began ‘Operation PS3 THE FINAL Haul’ and there has been some delays with the packages but the good news is that progress has been made. I have trimmed the localised/western list as some of them may get remastered one day. Below is my current list at the moment.
Localised/Western developed games: Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel, Bleach: Soul Resurrección, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage, Genji: Day of the Blade, God of War HD Collection Volume 2, Lair, Prince of Persia HD Collection, Sonic & Racing All Stars Transformed, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Time Crisis: Razing Storm, Twisted Metal.
Japanese imports: .hack//Versus, AFRIKA, Boku no Natsuyasumi 3, Everybody’s Golf 6, Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting!, The iDOLM@STER: One for All, The Last Guy, Machi-ing Maker 4, Mahjong * Dream Club, Miyasato Miyoshi Kyoudai Naizou: Sega Golf Club, Nurarihyon no Mago: Hyakki Ryouran Taisen, Sakigake!! Otoko Juku: Nihonyo Korega Otoko Dearu, Sengoku Musou 2 with Moushouden & Empires HD Version, Sengoku Musou 3 Empires or Z, Super Heroine Chronicle, Tokyo Jungle.
For the digital list (which remains unchanged), you can see it in March & April’s pickups discussion. The list above does not mean I plan to get all of them, but most depending on the situation.
Asian Cinema
Last piece of discussion is for the Asian Cinema catalogue!
Arrow has rescued A Tale of Two Sisters, but I own the film via the old Tartan Video release. I did expect this to happen at some point, but I’m in no rush to see how this turns out.
Since I managed to acquire both Heroes Shed No Tears and The Master, I’m basically up-to-speed on 88 Films’ Asian catalogue outside of the first four Jackie Chan films (which might get re-released someday to improve the discs) and the Shaw Brothers collection (many of the films are out of print so I missed the window anyway). This June, the distributor is planning to release both Erotic Ghost Story and Forbidden City Cop so I hope to get both of those as soon as I can.
Third Window Films has finalised what they have in store for their next Toshiaki Toyoda collection and it looks great, but there’s no info on when it’s coming out other than a 2021 window. I do hope I can get the Pink Films Vol. 5-6 collection sooner than later though, given how limited the first two collections were.
And that’s basically it for the May 2021 haul. June will be massive as mentioned thanks to package delays and also whatever I have planned for my Birthday haul.
The Normanic Vault 