Goodbye, Don Glees! (Collector’s Edition Blu-ray & DVD) Unboxing

Goodbye, Don Glees! (グッバイ、ドン・グリーズ!) is a 2022 original theatrical anime film directed and written by Atsuko Ishizuka, and produced by studio Madhouse. Staff credits also include music composer Yoshiki Fujisawa. The film was first released in Japanese theaters in February 2022.

Background:

“Teen misfits Roma, Toto, and Drop call themselves the “Don Glees,” an informal name for their backyard adventures. One day, when the trio gets blamed for a nearby forest fire, they set off into the woods to prove their innocence. As disaster strikes their expedition, tensions flare between the friends as they realize that growing up has taken them on wildly different paths in life.”

Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, May 2023.

Goodbye, Don Glees! is an original film that I’ve not yet watched, but I was familiar with the director’s previous work A Place Further Than the Universe which was a very good slice of life series and also a journey of sorts for the characters like the Don Glees crew are doing with their forest trip.

What I also found interesting with this film is that it’s animated by studio Madhouse who I honestly don’t see that often, because while they were ‘the’ studio for anime throughout the years, nowadays other studios have pretty much taken the spotlight especially for film, though many anime films in recent years were pretty much adaptations of existing franchises because they do so well in the box office (as proven by Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO and Jujutsu Kaisen 0). So it’s cool to see Madhouse work on an original film project with a director who has created an original project before that was very well received.

And because it’s an original film with a well-liked director, of course Anime Limited acquired the UK & Ireland rights for Goodbye, Don Glees!. The distributor also released the film theatrically at the end of 2022, but I wasn’t able to see it due to work constraints. Around the same time, they also revealed their home video release plans during the 12 Days of Christmas sale, though the details of the set weren’t officially shown off until months later.

Collector’s Edition Contents:

Anime Limited loved the film so much that they added some more value into their collector’s edition release for Goodbye, Don Glees! and it looked like it reached a point to where they had to make it a shop exclusive.

The package is presented as a rigid box with an Amaray to house the discs as well as the film’s original soundtrack CD. Also included with the set is a 180-page Storyboard book and an A3 poster.

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 £44.99 (the higher SRP is due to the film’s original soundtrack and larger than normal book being included with the set). A standard Blu-ray was also released on the same day as the set.

I pre-ordered my copy through Anime Limited’s store during their 12 Days of Christmas early bird sale and bundled it with a few other pre-orders to get a 15% overall discount than the usual 10% thanks to the Anime Unlimited membership.

Physical Contents:

• Rigid Box with clean artwork and Amaray packaging
• Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
• Original Soundtrack CD
• 180-page Storyboard Book
• A3 Poster

On-Disc Contents:

Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 8th May 2023

The collector’s edition release for Goodbye, Don Glees! contains the film on a single Blu-ray disc and DVD disc, with the encode and authoring produced by GKIDS. The audio options include Japanese with English, French and Spanish subtitles and the NYAV Post English dub commissioned by GKIDS with optional English SDH subtitles also available.

The white subtitles are unlockable during playback and the disc regions are locked 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 1.78:1 aspect ratio
Region	B
Subtitles	English, English SDH, French, Spanish
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, English SDH, French, Spanish
Locked Subtitles	No
Discs	1

Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:

• Interview with Director Atsuko Ishizuka
• Trailers

DVD On-Disc Extra Features:

• Interview with Director Atsuko Ishizuka
• Trailers

Unboxing Photos:

Final Notes:

Goodbye, Don Glees! is available to order across multiple retailers in the United Kingdom. The collector’s edition Blu-ray is currently exclusive to Anime Limited’s store, but a cheaper standard edition Blu-ray is available to order 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.)