The Dungeon of Black Company (迷宮ブラックカンパニー, Meikyū Burakku Kanpanī) is a 2021 television anime series based on Yōhei Yasumura’s manga series of the same name. The adaptation is directed by Mirai Minato and produced by studio Silver Link. Staff credits also include writer Deko Akao and music composed by Taku Inoue. The anime first aired in Japan in July 2021.
Background:
“Work sucks, and Kinji was avoiding it beautifully by investing every penny. Good plan ’til he finds himself in a new world… with DEBT! Now under the rule of an evil mining company, does he have what it takes to pull off the ultimate grift on this gig?”
Plot Synopsis via Crunchyroll, November 2022.
Isekai manga is an area that I haven’t seen get covered into anime format before. When you think of an isekai, most of the time they come from light novels so titles like ARIFURETA, Konosuba, Re:ZERO, and dozens more are from that format. The Dungeon of Black Company is based on a manga and while I do own the volumes I haven’t read them yet because the anime was on its way. After watching the anime, it’s an entertaining series with some characteristics that might put off newcomers but there’s a lot of fun stuff throughout. I don’t expect another season, but I do think Silver Link did a good job with what they had.
Funimation streamed the series on their service and provided an English dub during simulcast, however as Sony acquired Crunchyroll, the two companies merged, and The Dungeon of Black Company is now under the Crunchyroll brand. Therefore, Crunchyroll will distribute the show for home video, which does include the UK & Ireland to go alongside the US & Canada territories.
Limited Edition Contents:
The Dungeon of Black Company is another isekai and Kadokawa series to receive the limited edition treatment and Crunchyroll can’t seem to decide on whether to have the cardboard box presented inside or outside the set, so for now it’s housed inside the set.
The limited-edition box set features a rigid box that houses a Amaray case with a slipcover as well as a 60-page booklet and a cardboard box featuring 6 art cards and metal business card holder. Both the standard and limited edition have varied artwork between the slipcase and amaray. The booklet includes character designs, interviews and a small manga segment.
The artwork is free of any information and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Funimation limited edition releases.
The SRP for the limited-edition set was $84.98. The North American Funimation limited editions don’t have an exact unit count. I acquired the limited-edition release from United Publications, which arrived on time as Rightstuf received stock early as well – though it wasn’t cheap due to the exchange rate taking a hit, so the value of the sets went up as a result.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with slipcase, Amaray packaging and clean artwork
- Info sheet for specification
- 60-page Booklet
- 6 Art Cards
- Metal Business Card Holder
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Crunchyroll
Released: 1st November 2022
The limited-edition release for The Dungeon of Black Company contains all 12 episodes across two Blu-ray discs and two DVD discs, with the encode and authoring done by Crunchyroll. Audio options include Japanese audio with English subtitles and the Funimation English dub.
The white subtitles are unlockable during playback and the disc regions are playable on A & B for Blu-ray, and 1, 2 & 4 for DVD in NTSC format.
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 | No |
| 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 | No |
| Discs | 2 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 2:
- Web Previews
- Promo Videos
- Commercials
- Textless Opening Song “Shimi”
- Textless Closing Song “World is Mine”
- Textless Closing Song – Dance Version
DVD On-Disc Extra Features:
No extras across all discs
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
The Dungeon of Black Company is available to order through multiple retailers across the United States. The limited edition Blu-ray & DVD release is available to order on Amazon UK (via AmazonGlobal), Rightstuf and United Publications. The UK variation is available on Amazon UK, 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.)
The Normanic Vault 
Leave a comment