HELLO WORLD (Collector’s Edition Blu-ray) Unboxing

HELLO WORLD (ハロー・ワールド) is a 2019 original theatrical anime film directed by Tomohiko Itō and produced by studio Graphinica. The film’s staff credits also include writer Mado Nozaki, character designer Yukiko Horiguchi, and music composer 2027Sound. The film first theatrically released in Japan on Septemner 2019.

Background:

“Set against the backdrop of 2027 Kyoto which shows the effects of massive technological advancement, the story follows a bookish high-schooler, Naomi (voiced by KITAMURA Takumi), who adores his classmate Ruri from afar, too shy to approach her. One day, Naomi meets a mysterious man who claims to be his future self. The visitor also delivers a world-shattering revelation – the teenage Naomi’s reality is nothing more than a virtual simulation of the past and he has come to alter it…”

Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, July 2022.

Graphinica has a pretty big variety of anime under their line-up over the years. They worked on the final few episodes of Hellsing Ultimate, Aniplex & Toei’s Expelled from Paradise film, video game adaptations like Muv-Luv Alternative and the upcoming Legend of Mana, and even the infamous Record of Ragnarok series. Their selection is intriguing to say the least, but I did enjoy the former two though.

HELLO WORLD is also a collaboration project, with Sword Art Online director Tomohiko Itō, Babylon creator Mado Nozaki, and K-On! character designer Yukiko Horiguchi collaborating together to work on this original feature film. The film is also in CG which can be a hit or miss for many anime fans, but personally I do like CG projects if its done right, with Studio Orange’s work on BEASTARS and some of Polygon Pictures’ works for example.

HELLO WORLD is also a film that hasn’t been licensed outside Japan for English speaking territories. It’s one of those that has gone under the radar and left untouched until Anime Limited acquired the rights for the UK & Ireland. The film was first given some attention through the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme festival which was held online due to COVID. Anime Limited tend to be a regular for this festival. That said, they officially confirmed the rights just before their June 2022 blog post.

Collector’s Edition Contents:

HELLO WORLD had enough material available to be released as a collector’s edition, and since no other English-speaking region has released the film on home video, Anime Limited went out of their way to offer a nice package.

The package is presented as a rigid box with a Scanavo Blu-ray case to house the disc and alongside the case is a 12-page booklet, 4 art cards and a poster. The booklet is brief but includes a short essay that goes into more detail about the film.

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 set is limited to 1000 units for SRP £34.99 (also this will be the last film collector’s set to use this price point before future releases are upped by £5 due to rising costs). As of the time of this write-up, a standard Blu-ray currently has yet to be scheduled.

The film was available as an early bird during the June line-up which I pre-ordered at £19.99 (£18 using Anime (Un)Limited discount).

Physical Contents:

• Rigid Box with clean artwork and Scanavo packaging
• Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
• 12-page Artbook
• 4 Artcards
• Poster

On-Disc Contents:

Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 18th July 2022

The collector’s edition release for HELLO WORLD contains the film across a single Blu-ray disc, with the encode and authoring sorted by VDMS. The film has yet to be dubbed into English at the time of this write-up, so it is only available in Japanese with English subtitles.

The subtitles are locked during playback, and the disc is locked to Region B players.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages	Japanese
Audio	Japanese Linear PCM 2.0 Japanese Linear PCM 5.1
Video	1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio
Region	B
Subtitles	English
Locked Subtitles	Yes
Discs	1 BD-50

Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:

• Trailer
• 30s Teaser 1
• 30s Teaser 2

Unboxing Photos:

Final Notes:

HELLO WORLD is available to order across multiple retailers in the United Kingdom. The collector’s edition Blu-ray can be acquired through Amazon UK, Anime Limited’s store, MVM’s Anime-on-Line, 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.)