Rental Magica (レンタルマギカ) is a 2007 television anime series based on Makoto Sanda’s light novel series of the same name with illustrator pako. The series was adapted by studio Zexcs, and the staff credits for this season include director Itsurō Kawasaki, series composition writers Makoto Sanda & Mamiko Ikeda, character designer Minako Shiba, and music composed by Jun Ichikawa & Takahito Eguchi. The series first aired in Japan on October 2007.
Background:
“Destroying supernatural monsters, dispelling dark magic, It’s all in a day’s work for the mages of Astral! However, after the mysterious disappearance of the company president, they’re left in a lurch. His son, Itsuki Iba, begrudgingly fills in, but Itsuki’s unfamiliarity with magic could spell bad news for Astral – especially with their rival Goetia vying for the very same contracts. As the jobs grow ever more dangerous, they soon find that staying in business is the least of their worries.”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, June 2024.
Studio Zexcs have worked on a number of anime projects that are not as well known compared to other studios. Their most noteworthy anime is probably The Flowers of Evil which took a while to receive a following. Zexcs has at least worked on different genres including romance/harems (Sister Princess), fantasy (The Legend of the Legendary Heroes), sports (Backflip!!) and slice-of-life/drama (The Great Passage). Here we have Rental Magica, a fantasy series directed by Itsuro Kawasaki who also directed The Legend of the Legendary Heroes as well as Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings, both of which Funimation did release on home video in North America.
Rental Magica is not a series that I am familiar with other than the fact that it was part of Nozomi’s catalogue for a long time. It was one of those shows that was around that pretty much nobody talked about and not having an English dub likely contributed to that as well since it limited its reach. To be fair there are a lot of anime from the 2000s era that are not widely available as the shows you have in recent years. At least Rental Magica was brave enough to have a different way to watch the episodes in the same style as Haruhi Suzumiya which I mention later down this post.
So as mentioned, Rightstuf’s label Nozomi Entertainment licensed the US home video rights for Rental Magica back in 2009 and released the series across two parts via their limited edition DVD packaging, followed by standard editions and then a complete series Blu-ray many years later in 2022. This was also one of the last anime to be released under the Nozomi label before Crunchyroll bought Rightstuf and the licenses are pretty much in limbo (they’re still in print, but whether they stay in print is the question many have).
Meanwhile in the UK, Anime Limited had been releasing a few titles from Nozomi’s catalogue here and there, and the latest one ended up being Rental Magica. They announced the license during a botched livestream in February 2024 but it was ready to be released sooner than later.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
I’m all for older anime receiving a nice collector’s package but this one is a good example of having another opportunity to receive physical items that are pretty much no longer in print. Anime Limited have essentially replicated the Nozomi Entertainment DVD limited edition sets for Rental Magica released in 2009 & 2010, and swapped the format to be on Blu-ray.
Each part is presented with a rigid box containing an Amaray case to house the Blu-ray discs, and in each box set comes included with a couple of art cards and a big booklet (132 pages in Part 1’s book, and 144 pages in Part 2’s book). Each book contains artwork, interviews from the staff about the series and additional information about the show’s world.
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 parts are 1000 units each printed for an SRP of £69.99. A complete series standard edition Blu-ray will also made available not long after the release of Part 2’s collector’s edition.
Both collector’s edition parts were made available as an early bird during the month of April, on offer for £39.99 each or ordered together for £69.99 (with the Anime Unlimited membership lowering the cost down to £36.99 individually or £62.98 as a bundle).
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with Amaray packaging and clean artwork
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- Part 1: 132-page Booklet
- Part 1: 4 Art Cards
- Part 2: 144-page Booklet
- Part 2: 4 Art Cards
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 3rd June 2024 (Part 1), 17th June 2024 (Part 2)
The collector’s edition releases for Rental Magica contains the entire series across two part sets. The anime has two different ways to watch the series (like Haruhi Suzumiya), with a broadcast order and chronological order, which is why we have six Blu-ray discs in total (3 per part). To better explain the episode disc split, here’s a small table:
| Disc No. | Broadcast Order | Chronological Order |
|---|---|---|
| Disc 1 | Episodes 1, 2, 3 & 4 | Episodes 2, 5, 6 & 4 |
| Disc 2 | Episodes 5, 6 & 7 | Episodes 11, 1 & 3 |
| Disc 3 | Episodes 8, 9 & 10 | Episodes 15, 8 & 13 |
| Disc 4 | Episodes 11, 12 & 13 | Episodes 7, 9 & 10 |
| Disc 5 | Episodes 14, 15, 16, 17 & 18 | Episodes 12, 14, 16, 17 & 18 |
| Disc 6 | Episodes 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 & 24 | Episodes 19, 20, 22, 23, 24 & 21 |
In other words, Part 1 contains episodes 1-10 but also episodes 11, 13 & 15 from the chronological order, while Part 2 contains episodes 11-24 as well as episodes 7, 9 & 10 from the chronological order. The encode & authoring were done by Nozomi Entertainment & Rightstuf via their complete series Blu-ray release released in 2022. As there was no English dub produced for the series, the audio options available are Japanese with English subtitles only.
The yellow subtitles are unlockable during playback, and the regions are locked to Blu-ray players set to 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 | B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 6 BD-50s |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Part 1 Disc 1:
- Special Promo 1
- Clean Opening 1 “Sora ni Saku”
- Clean Closing 1 “Aruite Ikō.”
- Commercial Spots 1
Part 2 Disc 3:
- Special Promo 2
- Commercial Spots 2
- Web Commercials
- Clean Opening 2 “Faith”
- Clean Closing 2 “Aruite Ikō. [Astral Version]”
Unboxing Photos:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Final Notes:
Rental Magica is available to purchase on Blu-ray by Anime Limited in the UK & Ireland. The collector’s edition Blu-ray releases can be bought through the AllTheAnime Store (Part 1, Part 2).
For the complete series 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.)
The Normanic Vault 
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