Beautiful Bones: Sakurako’s Investigation (Collector’s Edition Blu-ray) Unboxing

Beautiful Bones: Sakurako’s Investigation (櫻子さんの足下には死体が埋まっている, Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru), also known as A Corpse is Buried Under Sakurako’s Feet, is a 2015 television anime series based on Shiori Ōta’s light novel series of the same name with illustrator Tetsuo. The series was adapted by studio Troyca, and the staff credits include director Makoto Katō, series composition writer Takayo Ikami, character designer Michio Satō, and music composed by TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND. The series first aired in Japan on October 2015.

Background:

“Most young women have lots of obsessions, but Sakurako Kujo only has two: work and bones… and since the bones are part of her work, it really comes down to just bones. However, in between collecting de-fleshed animal and human remains for her studies, Sakurako also assists the local police as a forensic consultant, where she’s developed a formidable reputation as both a corpse magnet and detective.

Assisting her in these tasks is young Shotaro Tatewaki, who is no slouch at sleuthing himself, though his primary task is to keep Sakurako focused (and keep her from occasionally “borrowing” a particularly interesting specimen). If there’s a bone to pick, a stray skull to be found, or a random skeleton hidden in a closet, you can trust this team to unearth the evidence in BEAUTIFUL BONES: SAKURAKO’S INVESTIGATION!”

Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, April 2024.

I generally check out mystery shows from time to time, whether its horror themed like Shiki or a general slice of life like Hyouka. The first time I heard about Beautiful Bones: Sakurako’s Investigation was when it was soon to be airing for simulcast back in 2015, though I was caught up by various factors and never managed to check it out. So to see the series is now available in the UK on Blu-ray is a nice way for myself to watch it finally.

In fact I actually didn’t realise the series was adapted by Troyca, as I had seen a few of their works over the years with Aldnoah Zero and Re:CREATORS. The director also worked on the Fate spin-off series Lord El-Melloi. Interesting to see they haven’t animated as many anime as other studios have done, but they’re still around with a series or two in the works.

Sentai Filmworks licensed Beautiful Bones: Sakurako’s Investigation during simulcast and eventually released the series on home video, though it didn’t warrant enough demand to have an English dub and therefore subtitled only. It was re-released years later but again still a subtitled only show. Anime Limited managed to obtain the UK & Ireland rights from a big batch of Sentai titles they secured recently.

Collector’s Edition Contents:

While Sentai have released Beautiful Bones: Sakurako’s Investigation twice, both subtitled only and in a regular format, Anime Limited found enough assets to produce a collector’s edition release for the UK.

This release is presented with a rigid box containing an Amaray case to house the Blu-ray discs, in addition to a 68-page Akira Kito Design Works booklet. The booklet included various illustrated background designs and some character designs from the anime series.

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 has 1000 units printed for an SRP of £69.99, with a standard edition Blu-ray planned for later.

The series was made available as an early bird during the month of March, and was on offer for £39.99 with the Anime Unlimited membership lowering the cost down to £35.99.

Physical Contents:

• Rigid Box with Amaray packaging and clean artwork
• Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
• 68-page Akira Kito Design Works Booklet

On-Disc Contents:

Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 29th April 2024

The collector’s edition release for Beautiful Bones: Sakurako’s Investigation contains all 12 episodes of the series across two Blu-ray discs, with the encode & authoring done by Sentai Filmworks via their release in 2020. The audio options are Japanese with English subtitles only.

The yellow subtitles are locked during playback, and the regions are accessible to Blu-ray players set to A & B.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages	Japanese
Audio	Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Video	1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio
Region	A B
Subtitles	English
Locked Subtitles	Yes
Discs	2 (1 BD-50, 1 BD-25)

Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:

Disc 2:

• Clean Opening Animation “Dear answer”
• Clean Ending Animation “Uchiyoserareta Bōkyaku no Zankyō ni”
• Disc Credits

Unboxing Photos:

Final Notes:

Beautiful Bones: Sakurako’s Investigation is available to purchase on Blu-ray by Anime Limited in the UK & Ireland. The collector’s edition Blu-ray release can be bought through the AllTheAnime 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.)