Anemone: Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution (Collector’s Edition Blu-ray & DVD) Unboxing

Anemone: Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution (Koukyoushihen Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution 2: Anemone) is a 2018 original theatrical anime film directed by Hisatoshi Shimizu, written by Dai Sato and animated by studio Bones. The film was first theatrically released in Japan on November 2018. Anemone is the second film in the Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution series.

Background:

“Seven years ago, Anemone’s father disappears, leaving his daughter with nothing but an app on her phone to support her. Now, she’s tasked with a pivotal role in the war against mankind’s enemy – a war which sees her subconscious sent into the midst of another world as humanity’s only truly effective weapon.

As unusual events within this other world unfold, so more and more questions are raised about Anemone’s life, as well as the nature of what she is truly fighting against. With seemingly endless possibilities stretching out before her, Anemone has an important choice to make – does she save the world, or the person she loves?”

Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, July 2021.

Eureka Seven is a classic anime franchise from studio Bones and there’s no need to explain why. But what this franchise struggles to do is keep itself relevant in a positive manner, because the reception for their previous titles Eureka Seven: Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers and Eureka Seven Astral Ocean were both rather negative and often forgotten.

Then out of nowhere studio Bones decided to bring back the IP with the Hi-Evolution movie trilogy. I recall the plan was to have a prequel, a recap and then a new original conclusion to the story. What we got a was the first film offering roughly 10 minutes worth of new footage which is a prequel to the events of the television series but the rest was a recap of a story arc that focused on Renton leaving the crew and meeting the Beams family from Episode 21 onwards. It was not what people had in mind.

Then we got to the second film Anemone: Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution which is actually pretty good, as it’s an entirely original story with a mix between CG and 2D animation (but the two interchanging designs helps give you a general idea of the timeline/setting). That being said, you will need to at least watched all of Eureka Seven‘s main series and perhaps a few other types of media but mainly the TV series for the context.

Anime Limited & Funimation have the rights to the film trilogy so it was inevitable they would see a home video release. That being said, Funimation’s release eventually went out of print due to its first print packaging and Anime Limited took a while to release theirs which is now finally here.

Collector’s Edition Contents:

The collector’s edition package for Anemone: Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution is presented with a rigid box housing a digipack containing a Blu-ray & DVD disc as well as a 160-page storyboard booklet.

The artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The collector’s edition Blu-ray & DVD combo pack has 1000 units printed for an SRP of £39.99. There’s no standard edition at its release, but one will eventually occur over time.

I pre-ordered the film via Anime Limited’s store during its early bird week for £24.99 plus the 10% store discount from Screen Anime (which is now replaced by the (Un)Limited membership).

Physical Contents:

• Rigid Box with digipack packaging and clean artwork
• Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
• 160-page Storyboard Booklet

On-Disc Contents:

Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 5th July 2021

This release for Anemone: Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution contains the film on a single Blu-ray disc and a single DVD disc. The encoding and authoring were handled by Funimation.

The audio options available for the film include Japanese with English subtitles and the Funimation English dub. The subtitles are locked during playback on the Blu-ray disc, and the discs are region restricted to B only for Blu-ray players and 2 for DVD players.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages	English, Japanese
Audio	English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Japanese Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Video	1080p High Definition Native format 1.78:1 aspect ratio
Region	B
Subtitles	English
Locked Subtitles	Yes
Discs	1 BD-50

DVD Specs:

Languages	English, Japanese
Audio	English Dolby Digital 5.1 Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1
Video	Standard Definition in NTSC format 1.78:1 aspect ratio
Region	2
Subtitles	English
Locked Subtitles	No
Discs	1

Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:

• Anemone: Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution: Interview with Kaori Nazuka at Anime Expo 2019
• Music Promo Videos:
  • “There’s No Ending”
  • “Ballet Mecanique”
  • “Tiger Track”
• Original Japanese Trailer

DVD On-Disc Extra Features:

No extras on this disc

Unboxing Photos:

Final Notes:

Anemone: Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution is available to order through multiple retailers across the United Kingdom. You can order the collector’s edition Blu-ray & DVD combo pack on Amazon UK.

(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)