Welcome to the Otaku Collection haul for the month of March 2024. This update features 17 anime releases, 9 manga volumes, 6 physical video games, 6 live-action Asian Cinema releases and 1 live-action European Cinema release.
The second batch of Discotek releases for this year finally arrives, a few pre-orders from Anime Limited make their appearances, we catch up on a couple of Asian releases from Eureka and Radiance Films, and another new upgrade for the collection arrived.
Great Pretender
Great Pretender is the first arrival for the month of March. This is a really good series and I’m happy with owning the series on Blu-ray. The only issue I have is that if Anime Limited wants to do these type of releases, they need to use the slimmer Blu-ray cases, because it just takes too much space on the shelf.
Modded Panasonic 4K Ultra HD Player
Not long ago I realised that my Seiki U-Vision Blu-ray player, which was region free and purchased back in April 2017, is pretty much not going to be function properly due to the disc tray not working. I decided it was time to get a new more modern multi-region player.
At the same time I also wanted to own a 4K Ultra HD player that had access to Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision for my 4K discs, as I don’t have one in my room (and the 4K player downstairs in the house isn’t for me so I don’t want to steal that lol).
So I had those two dilemmas. Then in early February, my boss at work rewarded me a mini bonus by offering to spend £200 on anything I want and I decided that I will put that towards getting a new multi-region Blu-ray player. But rather than going for a regular Blu-ray player, I went for a modified 4K Ultra HD player that can play Region A discs.
Which brings me to this moment where I finally received the player, which is the Panasonic UB450EB-K 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player modified by retailer Multiregion Magic. The price came down to £299 with free postage and the option to include a free 2M Pro Signal PSG3466 HDMI 2.1 cable to go with it.
For testing Dolby Vision HDR, I needed to use a 4K Ultra HD disc that featured it and thankfully my first thought were Arrow Video’s recent release of Ringu released last year on the format. The Dolby Vision icon popped up on my LG C1 TV so I knew that was working.
For testing Region A only discs, that involved going for any anime that I imported from North America that was region locked, so most of Discotek Media’s releases would do the trick so I tried out Wicked City which worked.
I have also tested a Region B only disc so that I can make sure Region A is still locked and in tact by using Eureka’s Funeral Parade of Roses as an example, which was a success. From there I was able to update my recent unboxing posts for Region A compatibility support.
4K Ultra HD Film Pickups from HMV
Earlier in the month I took a trip to town because I went to see Dune Part Two at the local Cineworld IMAX. But before I went to the screening I often visit the city centre first because the traffic can often get in the way if you decide to just go straight. The past few months the hauls had been a bit dull but this time I was able to get something of interest in HMV, CeX and Travelling Man (not GAME this time as the prices weren’t right).
Starting off with the HMV trip where I picked up two more 4K Ultra HD films available as part of their 2 for £30 deal. Those being Damien Chazelle’s Babylon and Christophe Gans’s Brotherhood of the Wolf (Le Pacte des loups), the latter of which is a French film that Studio Canal recently released in the new format.
Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen
Next is CeX. When I last visited the store I remembered they had a copy of Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen and this time I went to pick it up, which was in pretty good condition and it’s going up in demand due to the arrival of Dragon’s Dogma 2. I have played the PlayStation 3 version that was available on PlayStation Plus a decade ago but I never managed to finish it.
Travelling Man Manga Haul
Then came Travelling Man. I noticed they had a bit more stock than the usual so I decided to see what was available. I eventually decided on Shonen Jump batch and picked up 9 volumes from their 3 for 2 Viz Media deal. Much like before, I focused on continuing current series that I have been picking up volumes for in recent years than adding newer titles to the collection.
The manga picked were Chainsaw Man volumes 12-14, Jujutsu Kaisen volumes 18-20, Komi Can’t Communicate volumes 8-9 and Mashle: Magic & Muscles volume 14. These are all checked to ensure they were US prints before paying for then. I also wanted to make sure I didn’t have a misalignment on the spine which is why I passed on Black Clover unfortunately.
Out of the lot, Mashle: Magic & Muscles is the only one that will eventually be completed since the manga did finish its run in Japan. Supposedly Jujutsu Kaisen is also in its final stages but that will take a while before that is completed as well.
Radiance Films Japanese Haul
After arriving home, my package from Radiance Films arrived. The goal here was to catch up on their 2024 home video releases, namely the Japanese ones as they tend to be the most popular ones. Two of these were released last January and the other two were released last February.
We have Yasuharu Hasebe’s 1966 film Black Tight Killers (俺にさわると危ないぜ), Tai Kato’s 1966 film By a Man’s Face Shall You Know Him (男の顔は履歴書), Tai Kato’s 1968 film I, The Executioner (みな殺しの霊歌), and Kōhei Oguri’s 1990 film The Sting of Death (死の棘).
I have been keeping an eye on how the recent Radiance Films releases have performed via their newsletters, because in each one they go into detail how much stock they have available. One of the March releases, the Bounty Hunter Trilogy box set, has sold 60% of its stock already, and as such I got that one ordered alongside a single pressing release which will be the first to appear in the April 2024 haul.
Granblue Fantasy: Relink & Unicorn Overlord
Even though I have been putting my time and effort towards Final Fantasy VII Rebirth throughout the month of March, I decided to also order two brand newly released Japanese RPGs from the past few months. One of the main reasons for also sorting out this order is to use up all of my remaining points stored from The Game Collection as I wasn’t sure if the expired points may still appear even if I spent some already.
First we have Granblue Fantasy: Relink, an Action RPG from the very popular mobile game franchise by Cygames. This has been in development for a very long time but now it’s finally released and even received a physical version in Europe, considering their recent fighting game Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising is digital only. I have heard that this has received pretty solid reviews and is a solid 20 hours playtime which is great.
Then we have Unicorn Overlord, the latest game developed by Vanillaware (13 Sentinels, Dragon’s Crown, Odin Sphere) and because its with Atlus I decided to pick it up sooner. This is a Tactical RPG with a fantasy medieval theme, which the developers had said was inspired by the same genre of games released back in the 90s. I do own a few in this genre like Fire Emblem, Langrisser and Tactics Ogre but I have yet to play them just yet in the backlog.
Hopefully the game does well in sales and there are still a few Vanillaware games yet to be re-released onto modern platforms in the west, namely Grand Knights History, Muramasa: The Demon Blade and Princess Crown (the latter of which did receive a re-release in Japan only).
Discotek Media Haul
The latest Discotek Media haul has arrived from Stackry which consists of 11 Blu-rays from the Crunchyroll Store and separate from the forwarding service is an extra Blu-ray that I found through Rarewaves here in the UK.
Normally I present my Discotek hauls in alphabetical order of sorts but here it made sense to sort them by order of the purchases as they were done in pretty much 3-4 different occasions throughout February to March.
Starting off with the first order which was to rescue one out of print title from December’s notice that came back in stock in February alongside various others. I used this opportunity to get my hands on it but also picked two other titles to fit the bill of fan service and horror (lol).
Kiss×sis
Adapted by studio Feel in 2008 and directed by Munenori Nawa. The peak of fanservice may have been monster girls for many, but reality says incest. This is a series that I consider to be a cult hit amongst the anime community and Discotek’s release has been selling out constantly throughout the years and it’s why I picked it up now to avoid waiting again. This is the OVA series that came before the TV series. This was released by Discotek in January 2021.
Re: Cutie Honey
Adapted by studios GAINAX and Toei Animation in 2004 and directed by Hideaki Anno with Hiroyuki Imaishi, Naoyuki Itō & Masayuki. I enjoyed the recent Cutie Honey adaptation and while I do own the New Cutie Honey series I had yet to pick up the recent Re: Cutie Honey release that is notable for being based on the live-action film (also by Anno). This release also includes an English dub which brings back Cutie’s voice actress which is a nice way of keeping consistency for the franchise. This was released by Discotek in August 2023.
Shin Getter Robo vs Neo Getter Robo
Adapted by studios Brain’s Base and Bee Media in 2000 and directed by Jun Kawagoe. Keeping the Go Nagai Getter Robo train going ever since I witnessed the characters insanity through Super Robot Wars. This OVA collection is also one of the very first Discotek Blu-ray releases and it does show with how it was authored. But still it’s great to be able to own this finally after all of these years and being one step closer to owning the Getter Robo titles. This was released by Discotek in September 2015.
Next we have our second order which was made in response to the February notice of out of print releases. I was very lucky with this notice as I managed to own a fair few of these from recent hauls (including the January one) but there were still a few that I needed. However I made the decision to go for what I felt was the most important and what I felt was happy to own, and as such I passed on Angel’s 3Piece and Caligula but went for two of the ones below instead.
Girly Air Force
Adapted by studio Satelight and directed by Katsumi Ono. This is one of those invasion tropes where moe girls pilot planes and honestly I like the animation studio and felt it was worth a pickup. It’s not going out of print just yet but it is a Crunchyroll sub-license so expect this to discontinue in the coming months. This was released by Discotek in December 2021.
The Law of Ueki
Adapted by Studio Deen and directed by Hiroshi Watanabe. Another 00s shonen series that received a year’s worth of anime episodes. Honestly the premise alone had my interest and it did well enough to be reprinted with the curved slipcase. Considering it was originally released in North America by Geneon Entertainment it made sense for the series to discontinue alongside Elemental Gelade (though Tokyo Underground dodged the bullet which is odd). This was released by Discotek in July 2018.
Magical Girl Ore
Adapted by studio Pierrot+ and directed by Itsuro Kawasaki. This has perhaps one of the most interesting concepts for a magical girl show that I’ve read and I’m very surprised it didn’t get released in the UK or even dubbed in English. I feel like I watched the first episode before in the past but either way I am happy to own this series on Blu-ray. Like Girly Air Force this is a Crunchyroll sub-license despite not being listed on the packaging (as it’s also a co-production). This was released by Discotek in May 2021.
Now we land into the March orders where payday arrived once again.
Kyo Kara Maoh! Seasons 1 & 2, Kyo Kara Maoh! R & Kyo Kara Maoh! 3
Adapted by Studio Deen and directed by Junji Nishimura. Fun fact – this is an isekai series before isekai became mainstream in the anime world! The first series, split into two seasons, was released by Geneon back in the day but the remainder didn’t, which is why it was interesting to see Discotek put out all of it on Blu-ray. A friend on the Anime UK News forum was the one who introduced me to the series so it’s taken this long to finally pick them up.
Now a few things to make note – Kyo Kara Maoh! R, the second series which is also an OVA collection, wasn’t part of the Stackry haul because Crunchyroll Store actually didn’t have it in stock. However, Rarewaves of all places did for £15 so I went for it and arrived last Saturday, two days before the Stackry package came so it was in good timing.
The other note to make is that this series has been around long enough for me to consider the fact that there is a high chance all of the sets will go out of print at some point this year. So if you’ve been holding off from owning this classic isekai series from the 00s I recommend getting them now to save yourself the hassle because these sets aren’t cheap either. These were released by Discotek in April 2019, September 2019, November 2019 and April 2020 respectively.
And also joined by the previous batch were these two releases.
Lady Oscar: The Rose of Versailles Collections 1 & 2
Adapted by studio TMS Entertainment and directed by Tadao Nagahama and Osamu Dezaki. I remember when I first started the Discotek journey I picked up Dezaki’s Dear Brother which was a limited release, and here I finally picked up the other classic series that I’m surprised hasn’t met the same outcome. Heard great things about the series so I look forward to checking it out when I can. I believe these were also the first in Discotek’s curved slipcase design. These were released by Discotek in April 2021 and June 2021 respectively.
The Discotek Media haul is making progress but there’s still a number of releases that need to be picked up sooner than later as the notices are approaching titles from the 2019, 2020 and some from 2021 at this point.
Black Summoner
Also arrived alongside the Discotek Media haul from Stackry is Black Summoner, an isekai series that was supposed to have been part of the Crunchyroll February haul but missed the boat because it was shipped separately due to being held in the Texas warehouse rather than the Iowa warehouse where the rest were. I was worried about the size of the package but thankfully the set survived with little issues here so that’s a relief.
Limited Run Games Switch Haul
Canadian retailer Video Games Plus received another batch of Limited Run Games releases and these included a few that were on my radar. Now I did have every opportunity to order these during their pre-order run last year but I had confidence that VGP would eventually pick them up and they did which arrived on their store at the end of February and start of March. So what we have here are three Nintendo Switch releases.
The first is Castlevania Anniversary Collection which contains the Super Nintendo 1995 game Castlevania: Dracula X (also known as Castlevania: Vampire’s Kiss in Europe) and three Game Boy Advance games; Castlevania: Circle of the Moon from 2001, Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance from 2002, and Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow from 2003.
Next we have Radiant Silvergun, a 1998 shoot em up developed by Treasure and re-released on the Switch by Live Wire, the same folks who also brought over a few of the Cave games.
And then we have the Telenet Shooting Collection by Edia which contains the Sega Mega Drive 1990 game Granada, Sega Mega Drive 1990 game Gaiares, PC Engine 1990 game Avenger and PC Engine 1992 game Psychic Storm. Edia are the same folks who brought back the Valis games and recently Cosmic Fantasy so I wanted to grab more of these retro classics.
Golden Time, Granbelm & My Next Life as a Villainess
More Anime Limited releases arrived today, one of which was supposed to have been released back in late February.
First up we have Golden Time, now returning to the UK for the first time since the Animatsu two-part subtitled only Blu-ray releases. This release is based on the re-release by Sentai Filmworks so it now includes their English dub.
Next we have Granbelm -The Two Princeps-, an original anime series by the Re:ZERO anime director as well as the Re:ZERO light novel illustrator over at Studio Nexus. One of the many Crunchyroll titles that Anime Limited managed to pick up for a UK release which Sentai also put out in North America. Anime Limited really needs to ditch the UK cases if they want to use multiple cases for their sets.
And then we have Bakarina in her Villainess Isekai world with the first season of My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!. Anime Limited chose some odd artwork to use for their box and case in parts but the booklet is nice at least. This also includes the Crunchyroll English dub.
Slaughter in San Francisco & The Swordsman of All Swordsmen
I had been falling behind on the latest Eureka Entertainment releases because their recent early bird offers didn’t include the 4K releases, and there were so many being released at the same time.
I prioritised two of the four from the latest February & March batches of releases. From the February line-up is Lo Wei’s 1974 Hong Kong/USA film Slaughter In San Francisco (黃面老虎), also known as Yellow Faced Tiger which obviously won’t work nowadays. This film stars Chuck Norris which is neat to see and I had initially thought that I didn’t own any films that included him in a role, until I discovered he’s a friend of Bruce Lee and was featured in The Way of the Dragon!
And from the March line-up is the limited edition release for Joseph Kuo’s 1968 Taiwan film The Swordsman of All Swordsmen (一代劍王), which includes a remaster of the surviving print elements for Joseph Kuo’s 1979 film The Mystery of Chess Boxing (雙馬連環) with the burn-in subtitles. Interestingly, even though it’s an 18 rated release this is caused by the latter film as the main feature film is just a 12.
Unboxing Links
You can view more photos & specs for the titles below:
- Golden Time (CE Blu-ray)
- Granbelm -The Two Princeps- (CE Blu-ray)
- Great Pretender (DE Blu-ray)
- My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! Season 1 (CE Blu-ray)
What’s to Come for the Hauls
April 2024
We have a couple of interesting titles arriving in April. There were also a few delays but that’s fine.
- Beautiful Bones: Sakurado’s Investigation (CE Blu-ray)
- The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (LE Blu-ray)
- Burst Angel (CE Blu-ray)
- Gundam Build Fighters Try Part 1 (CE Blu-ray)
- The Inspector Wears Skirts II (Blu-ray)
- Lupin the Third Part 6 (CE Blu-ray)
- A Place Further Than the Universe (CE Blu-ray)
- River (Blu-ray)
- A Story Written with Water (LE Blu-ray)
More are to be expected as per usual!
Other Tidbits
With a new phone and a new player now sorted, I suppose that just leaves me with more shelving that needs to be sorted out at some point! I did check the prices at the start of the year and it was not going to be cheap due to the shipping but hopefully I get past that hurdle to sort out the gaming shelf since that’s getting full as it is.
In terms of workload, things are slowly improving but ideally I wouldn’t stick around long-term but there’s new members joining the team so that’s neat to see at least.
Anime
It looks like Crunchyroll is slowly getting their heads in place for how to handle the UK market, because so far every single anime planned for release in North America throughout May and June are all planned for June and July over here, which was completely unexpected.
The downside to this is that some titles are priced at £54.99 ($69.98) which sounds fine from a US anime fan’s perspective but our market doesn’t work with that price range and it also doesn’t look good when you compare it to a collector’s edition that goes for the same prices. The multi-language titles are increasing which means are packaging being modified for sale in France & Germany.
Again I have no issue with the languages on the discs themselves, I just don’t want to own a physical release that has been modified around just to save on costs. It would make more sense if all regions had this but its just the UK that gets shafted. Crunchyroll did the same thing with the Australian market but that wasn’t too bad as it was just US imported stock since the Australian ratings board doesn’t require the rating to be printed on the discs.
Chainsaw Man and Konosuba the Movie I consider to be special exemptions to my criticisms because both of these were not released in North America and therefore there wasn’t much artwork to use in that regards.
Meanwhile over at Anime Limited they have been slowly releasing titles from Sentai Filmworks under their branding, but some titles have yet to receive any sign of a collector’s edition like Rent-A-Girlfriend and Venus Wars but those were probably delayed due to production issues. The April early bird slate is likely to be focused on B: The Beginning Succession, Babylon, Gundam Build Fighters Try Part 2, Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 1, Rental Magica Parts 1 & 2, and Venus Wars. They did say that Eureka: Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution had some production issues which delayed its early bird plans.
Discotek Media haven’t said anything about their upcoming June 2024 slate but we did see two older live-action shows go out of print which is no surprise given it’s been half a decade already for them. I am hoping that whatever comes next in their out of print batch that it doesn’t cause an absolute headache once again.
But I’ve made good progress catching up, so below is what I have left to get from their early years:
Barefoot Gen, BoBoBo-Bo Bo-BoBo, Galaxy Express 999 Collections 1-3, Giant Robo, GinRei, Love Hina Again, Osamu Tezuka’s A Thousand and One Nights & Cleopatra, Reborn! Volumes 1 & 2, Shin Tetsujin 28, Space Adventure Cobra, Symphogear Season 1, Thermae Romae, Toriko the Movie: Secret Recipe Of Gourmet God, and Zatch Bell Movies.
And there’s also a number of titles from their 2021 range:
Arion, Black Rock Shooter, Cutie Honey: The Live, Hajime No Ippo The Fighting! Collections 1-3, Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~, Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple Season 1, Kodocha Season 1, Legendary Armor Samurai Troopers, Lupin the Third vs Detective Conan: The Movie, Lupin the Third: Return of Pycal, Mahoraba ~Heartful Days~, Project A-Ko, Saiyuki ReLoad, Sgt. Frog Season 1, Symphogear G, and Z/X Ignition.
The sooner I catch up, the cheaper it will also be as they did reduce the SRP on their releases over time. The discontinued Discotek titles have reached as recent as the 2021 range, with some from 2022 & 2023 due to licensing that must have been kept from their DVD agreements or the Crunchyroll shows reaching the end of its contract.
And that concludes the March haul for 2024. Pretty happy with the outcome of the haul, so look forward to the next one.
The Normanic Vault 
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