Burst Angel (Collector’s Edition Blu-ray) Unboxing

Burst Angel (爆裂天使, Bakuretsu Tenshi) is a 2004 original television anime series directed by Kōichi Ōhata, and produced by studio Gonzo. Staff credits also include series composition writer Fumihiko Shimo, character designers Kanetoshi Kamimoto & Osamu Horiuchi, and music composer Masara Nishida. The series first aired in Japan on April 2004.

Background:

“A new law and a dark underground syndicate have delivered devastating chaos to Tokyo. The city’s only chance for survival is a fearless mercenary, her dangerously beautiful comrades and a massively armed and armored mech. In this land where war has spread like a disease, they will have to put their very existence on the line and fight to be the cure.”

Plot Synopsis via MVM Entertainment, October 2022.

During the 2000s era of anime we saw a lot of original anime projects being produced and Gonzo were among the ones that had caught the eye of a lot of people with its interesting stories and concepts. Burst Angel is an original anime that essentially takes the spaghetti western genre and mixes it with gun fights. It’s a series that I’ve been aware of ever since I first got into anime in the early 2010s but I never had the chance to watch it in HD.

Funimation in North America acquired the license for the series in 2004 and released it on DVD, which included the 2007 OVA Burst Angel Infinity. Not long after the series was made available on Blu-ray in 2009 which was presented in a cardboard box and two slim amaray cases which was what they had in place for their standard Blu-ray releases until the limited editions came along.

MVM Entertainment in the United Kingdom released Burst Angel many years back when they were putting out single volumes and also thick box sets for their DVD titles. The series had remained in print for at least a decade, until eventually the DVDs went out of print. Then MVM announced they had picked up a select number of Gonzo shows they previously released and will be releasing them on the Blu-ray format, which included Burst Angel. With the Funimation catalogue slowly going out of print, it’s good timing for the series to remain in print here in the UK.

Collector’s Edition Contents:

What I like about MVM Entertainment’s collector’s editions for Burst Angel and a few other Gonzo shows is that they are basically taking the assets from Funimation’s original Blu-ray releases which is rather nostalgic in a way.

This release is presented with a rigid box containing an Amaray case to house the Blu-ray discs, in addition to 8 art cards. There’s very little in terms of physical assets but this series didn’t receive any other physical content in the previous English releases so what we have is pretty much down to availability issues.

The artwork is free of any BBFC content but the back cover does contain information about the series and disc extras, because as mentioned this is identical to the old Funimation Blu-ray artwork. The collector’s edition Blu-ray has 1000 units printed for an SRP of £59.99, and is also available as a standard edition Blu-ray, which was released a few months after.

The series has been available for a while and I purchased my copy during a Deal of the Week offer over on MVM’s retail store Anime-on-Line for £19.99, but they also had a Easter Sale offer which lowered it further to £15.99.

Physical Contents:

• Rigid Box with Amaray packaging and semi-clean artwork
• Info for specification and BBFC description on back cover
• 8 Art Cards

On-Disc Contents:

Distributor: MVM Entertainment
Released: 31st October 2022

The collector’s edition release for Burst Angel contains all 24 episodes and the OVA episode Burst Angel Infinity across three Blu-ray discs, with the encode & authoring done by Funimation via their release in 2009. The audio options are Japanese with English subtitles and the Funimation English dub.

The white subtitles are unlockable during playback, and the regions are restricted to Blu-ray players set to B.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages	English, Japanese
Audio	English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Japanese Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Video	1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio
Region	B
Subtitles	English
Locked Subtitles	No
Discs	3 BD-50s

Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:

Disc 1:

• English Audio Commentary for Episode 4 with Audio Mixer Nathanael Harrison & Voice Actresses Jamie Marchi & Monica Rial.
• English Audio Commentary for Episode 7 with ADR Director Christopher Bevins & Voice Actresses Clarine Harp & Monica Rial.
• English Audio Commentary for Episode 10 with ADR Director Christopher Bevins, Voice Actress Alison Retzloff & Voice Actor Greg Ayres.

Disc 2:

• English Audio Commentary for Episode 13 with ADR Director Christopher Bevins & Voice Actresses Caitlin Glass & Monica Rial.
• English Audio Commentary for Episode 17 with ADR Director Christopher Bevins & Voice Actresses Colleen Clinkenbeard & Monica Rial.

Disc 3:

• OVA: Burst Angel Infinity
• English Audio Commentary for Episode 24 with ADR Director Christopher Bevins & Voice Actresses Alison Retzloff, Clarine Harp, Jamie Marchi & Monica Rial.
• Japanese Staff and Cast Interviews:
  • Japanese Cast
  • CGI Artist
  • Character Designer
• The Lightness and Darkness of Jo
• Ugetsu Hakua (Character Designer) Special
• Battle Record of All 24 Episodes
• Previews of the TV Series
• Previews of the OVA
• Japanese Trailer
• Textless Songs:
  • Textless Opening “Loosey”
  • Textless Ending “Under the Sky”
• English Dub Outtakes

Unboxing Photos:

Final Notes:

Burst Angel is available to purchase on Blu-ray by MVM Entertainment in the UK & Ireland. The collector’s edition Blu-ray release can be bought through Amazon UK, AllTheAnime Store, and Anime-on-Line Store.

For the standard edition, it is also available across different retailers including Amazon UK, AllTheAnime Store, and Anime-on-Line.

(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.)