Fate/Grand Carnival (Limited Edition Blu-ray) Unboxing

Fate/Grand Carnival (フェイト/グランドカーニバル) is a 2021 original video anime series based on the mobile game series Fate/Grand Order developed by Delightworks, which is then based on Type-Moon’s Fate/Stay Night franchise. The anime were produced by studio Lerche, and the staff credits include director Seiji Kishi, screenplay writer Makoto Uezu, character designers Kazuaki Morita & Tomohito Hirose, and music composers Keita Haga & Yasuharu Takanashi. The OVA series first aired in Japan in June and October 2021.

Background:

Before Ufotable and Type-Moon worked together on their Fate adaptations, there was only a few anime adaptations related to the franchise; the 2006 adaptation of Fate/Stay Night by studio Deen, and a crossover series with Tsukihime called Carnival Phantasm. The latter is a comedy parody spin-off of sorts that references the entire franchise. This was well loved by the Fate fans but is also noteworthy for not being readily available.

Fast-forward many years later, with the likes of Fate/Grand Order dominating the mobile gacha scene and a few anime projects related to the series, Type-Moon announced during the Fate Project New Year’s Eve TV Special 2020 event another variation of Carnival Phantasm called Fate/Grand Carnival, but focused solely on characters from the Fate/Grand Order series.

The anime was split in two ‘seasons’ that included two half-length episodes each that were released in June and October of 2021, which was later made available on Crunchyroll by Aniplex of America who acquired the streaming and home video rights for the series. Surprisingly, whilst Today’s Menu for Emiya Family is still stuck on streaming platforms, Fate/Grand Carnival managed to receive a home video release and is also one of the cheapest Blu-rays distributed by Aniplex of America, though it’s primarily due to the low episode count and length. Currently both the UK & Australia have yet to receive the license to release the anime for home video.

Limited Edition Contents:

Fate/Grand Carnival is an interesting release because it’s a smaller title, so Aniplex of America have gone for the same route that they did with Monogatari by keeping it small on content but still somewhat premium on presentation.

The release isn’t technically a limited edition, but Aniplex are notorious for not offering a standard edition in most cases unless it’s either a popular film or a strong selling series. This release is presented with a cardboard slipcase that houses an Amaray case as well as an 20-page booklet. The booklet offers episode details, character designs and few illustrations from the OVA series.

The box artwork is free of any information and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Aniplex limited edition releases. The SRP for this release is $34.98, with no exact unit count.

I ordered the limited edition from Rightstuf during the Farewell discount code sale, which is a rare opportunity to which Aniplex of America titles were able to be discounted for a cheaper price.

Physical Contents:

• Cardboard Slipcase with Amaray packaging
• Info card for specification
• 20-page Booklet

On-Disc Contents:

Distributor: Aniplex of America
Released: 11th October 2022

The Aniplex Blu-ray release for Fate/Grand Carnival contains all 4 episodes on a single Blu-ray disc, with the authoring and encoding by Aniplex. The audio options available include Japanese with English subtitles and a Bang Zoom! Entertainment English dub commissioned by Aniplex of America.

The white subtitles are unlockable during playback, and the regions are playable to Blu-ray players set to A, B and C (basically region free, Aniplex generally don’t region lock their releases).

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages	English, Japanese
Audio	English Linear PCM 2.0 Japanese Linear PCM 2.0
Video	1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio
Region	A B C
Subtitles	English
Locked Subtitles	No
Discs	1 BD-25

Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:

• Textless Opening “Super☆Affection (すーぱー☆あふぇくしょん)” #1 & #2
• Textless Ending “Wonderful Carnival” #1 & #2

Unboxing Photos:

Final Notes:

Fate/Grand Carnival is available to purchase on Blu-ray by Aniplex of America in the US & Canada territories. The limited edition Blu-ray is available from retailer Crunchyroll Store as of October 2023.