Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! (宇崎ちゃんは遊びたい！, Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai!) is a 2020 television anime series based on Take’s manga of the same name. The anime was directed by Kazuya Miura with screenplay written by Takashi Aoshima. ENGI animated the series and was first broadcast in Japan on July 2020 as part of the Summer season.
Background:
“Bubbly Hana Uzaki has taken it upon herself to help introverted Sakurai be more social – except he never asked for her help. Is it possible that being with others can be just as fun as being by himself?”
Plot Synopsis via Funimation, July 2021
There’s a genre in anime that I find quite amusing and it’s all about teasing the main protagonist. Mainly just slice of life, but it’s gotten pretty popular in recent years for series like Teasing Master Takagi-san, Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro and of course Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!
Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! for some reason is the most controversial of the three, primarily due to the main female lead having a large chest for what many consider to be a young person. For context, the cast in the series are University students, which is actually not something you see often in anime, and the main girl is technically a short stack which is a term that is used to describe a short person with large assets. They do exist and it’s baffling that many are offended by it.
Despite that, the show itself is not that heavy on the fanservice and the supporting characters are pretty good too. The interactions between the main two leads work, but I can understand why many would be put off by the series as the concept does age sooner than later.
Funimation acquired Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! for simulcast and also home video, with an English dub to go with it. The show was dubbed for streaming first and in general streaming numbers must have done well enough to warrant a limited edition, though this is a Kadokawa series which often gets the treatment more than other titles.
Limited Edition Contents:
Funimation have always provided limited edition releases and have done so for well over a decade at this point. Their sets used to be pretty simple (rigid box, two mini Blu-ray cases) and eventually they shifted their tone to offer more than that. Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! has a pretty good offering, though somehow the limited edition had sold out and went out of print way before release.
This package offers a rigid box that houses the series in an Amaray Blu-ray case alongside a few physical items. Those physical items include 9 art cards, 3×2-inch SUGOI DEKAI patch and 5×5-inch kuso cat sticker. Also included is a 100-page art book that also features a manga segment that is exclusive to this release. The booklet is brief but it includes character designs, background artwork and illustrations of the series.
The artwork is free of any information and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Funimation limited edition releases have done over the years. Now some of you will probably be wondering how I managed to get this release despite it selling out back in July 2021. The reason is that Madman Entertainment (Australian Distributor who also releases Funimation titles) were selling the exact same limited edition with Australian Age Rating stickers on top of the packaging wrap (because unlike the UK, Australia doesn’t need to have the age rating printed on the discs), so effectively it’s the US version disguised as an Australian version. It’s weird but it works.
Unit count wasn’t specified for this release and I wouldn’t be surprised if Funimation had understocked for various factors. The SRP was $84.98 (AU$109.95). A standard edition Blu-ray was also available on the same day as the limited edition release. Since I mentioned that I imported the set from Madman, price was about AU$125.43 (which includes shipping) that converts to £68.91 in exchange rates.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with Amaray packaging and clean artwork
- Info sheet for specification
- 100-page Artbook
- 9 Art Cards
- 3×2-inch SUGOI DEKAI patch
- 5×5-inch kuso cat sticker
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Funimation
Released: 20th July 2021 (6th October 2021 for Madman)
The limited edition release for Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! contains all 12 episodes across two Blu-ray discs and two DVD discs, with the encode & authoring done by Funimation’s US branch. The audio options available include Japanese with English subtitles and the Funimation English dub.
The white subtitles are locked during playback, and the regions are accessible to Blu-ray players set to A & B and DVD players set to 1, 2 & 4.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio |
| Region | A B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 2 BD-50s |
DVD Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English Dolby Digital 5.1 Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 |
| Video | Standard Definition in NTSC format 16:9 aspect ratio |
| Region | 1 2 4 |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 2 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 2:
- Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!: Whose Advice is This?
- Promo Video & Commercials Collection “SUGOI EIZOU”
- Episode Previews “SUGOI MITAI”
- Textless Songs “SUGOI NANIMONAI”
- Textless Opening Song “Negotiation by Comforting”
- Textless Closing Song “Kokoro Knock”
- Textless Closing Song, Ep. 10
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
The limited edition release for Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! is no longer available (as mentioned, sold out before release) and it seems it’s also sold out from Australian distributor Madman on their official store. The standard edition Blu-ray is available to order on Amazon UK via AmazonGlobal, Rightstuf and United Publications.
(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.)
The Normanic Vault 
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