Summer Ghost (Collector’s Edition Blu-ray & DVD) Unboxing

Summer Ghost (サマーゴースト, Samā Gōsuto) is a 2021 theatrical short anime film directed by Loundraw and produced by Flat Studio, based on a story also written by Loundraw. Staff credits also include writer Hirotaka Adachi and music composed by Akira Kosemura, Itoko Toma, Guiano, and Hideya Kojima. The film was simultaneously released at the UK’s Leeds International Film Festival and Japanese theaters in November 2021.

Background:

“A group of high-school students light fireworks in the hope of awaking the ghost of a young woman who has been sighted over several years. Each of the friends has a reason for being there, and on one night the living and the dead are joined together..”

Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, February 2023.

Short films for anime is rather unheard of these days. Like sure they are still produced and released throughout the years, but a vast majority of primarily unheard of and not promoted as much as something like Summer Ghost. Now Summer Ghost has one notable staff member tied to the project and that’s Loundraw, who is more commonly known for being the character designer for a few recent anime titles like I Want to Eat Your Pancreas and Vivy -Fluorite Eye’s Song-, the latter of which many considered one of 2021’s best shows.

Speaking of Vivy, that show was produced at Flat Studio who also worked on Summer Ghost so that was likely a factor to why distributors like Anime Limited and GKIDS had a key interest in this short film, which is also roughly around the same length as Makoto Shinkai’s The Garden of Words. Plus in a rather rare move, the film received a UK theatrical release as soon as the Japanese release, landing its appearance at multiple festivals.

As you probably guessed, Anime Limited acquired the license to release Summer Ghost for the United Kingdom and Ireland, while GKIDS did the same for the United States and Canada. GKIDS did commission an English dub which Anime Limited included with their release. GKIDS released the film for home video in 2022, while Anime Limited’s was delayed into 2023 due to production issues.

Collector’s Edition Contents:

Despite being a short film, Summer Ghost had enough material from Japan to receive a collector’s release from Anime Limited. Now there was some bookmarks advertised with the pre-orders through Shop AllTheAnime but no one has yet to receive them at the time of this point.

The collector’s edition package contains a rigid box housing a digipack that includes the Blu-ray and DVD discs, and alongside that are a 32-page booklet, one A3-sized fold-out poster, and four art cards. The booklet includes character designs, and interviews from various staff members including the director 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 £39.99.

The film was made available for pre-order as part of the September 2022 Early Bird pre-order line-up for £24.99, but with the Anime (Un)Limited discount lowered the price to £22.50. A standard edition is expected to be available at a later point.

Physical Contents:

• Rigid Box with digipack packaging and clean artwork
• Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
• 32-page booklet
• A3 Poster
• 4 Art Cards

On-Disc Contents:

Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 13th February 2023

The collector’s edition release for Summer Ghost contains the film on a single Blu-ray disc and DVD disc. The Blu-ray was encoded and authored by US distributor GKIDS, while the DVD encoded and authored by Anime Limited’s French branch @Anime as the former only released the film on one format.

Audio options for the Blu-ray include Japanese audio with English and Spanish subtitles and the NYAV Post English dub commissioned by GKIDS with optional English SDH subtitles also available, while the DVD includes Japanese audio with English and French subtitles and the MJM PostProd French dub commissioned by @Anime.

The white subtitles are unlockable during Blu-ray playback and the disc regions are restricted to B for Blu-ray and 2 for DVD.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages	English, Japanese
Audio	English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Video	1080p High Definition Native format 1.85:1 aspect ratio
Region	B
Subtitles	English, English SDH, Spanish
Locked Subtitles	No
Discs	1 BD-50

DVD Specs:

Languages	French, Japanese
Audio	French Dolby Digital 5.1 Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0
Video	Standard Definition in NTSC format 1.85:1 aspect ratio
Region	2
Subtitles	English, French
Locked Subtitles	Yes
Discs	1

Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:

• To You Before Dawn Documentary
• Feature Animatic
• Interview with loundraw

DVD On-Disc Extra Features:

• To You Before Dawn Documentary
• Feature Animatic
• Interview with loundraw

Unboxing Photos:

Final Notes:

Summer Ghost is available to order through multiple retailers across the United Kingdom. The collector’s edition Blu-ray release can be purchased through Amazon UK, Anime Limited’s online 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.)