Akiba Maid War (Collector’s Edition Blu-ray) Unboxing

Akiba Maid War (アキバ冥途戦争, Akiba Meido Sensō) is a 2022 original television anime series directed by Sōichi Masui, and produced by studio P.A. Works. Staff credits also include series composition writer Yoshihiro Hiki, character designer Manabu Nii, and music composer Yoshihiro Ike. The series first aired in Japan on October 2022.

Background:

“In the spring of 1999, bright-eyed Nagomi Wahira moves to Akihabara with dreams of joining a maid café. She quickly dons an apron at café Ton Tokoton, AKA the Oinky Doink Café, but adjusting to life in the big city isn’t easy. Paired with the dour Ranko who never smiles, Nagomi must do her best to elevate the Oinky Doink Café over all other maid cafés vying for top ranking, but she soon discovers not everything is as it seems amid the frills and thrills of the maid cafés of Akihabara…”

Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, September 2024.

P.A. Works have produced a number of original anime shows and they have been surprisingly interesting for the most part. I wasn’t a big fan of Fairy Gone and Charlotte was alright but Nagi-Asu: A Lull in the Sea was great and their adaptation of Another was entertaining. I do have Shirobako and their adaptation for Ya Boy Kongming! but not watched them just yet though I am well aware of how loved those two were when they first aired, and of course I’ve not even checked out Uma Musume Pretty Derby which sparked another big franchise for Cygames (the studio didn’t work on the later seasons though).

They have worked on a number of different genres and here with Akiba Maid War it’s a late 90s setting with maid cafes with a bit of a twist to them. I don’t know much of the twists that the direction goes but it captured people’s attention so I knew it was one to check out.

Sentai Filmworks picked up the streaming and home video license for Akiba Maid War before the series first aired and made it available through HIDIVE exclusively. I missed out on that but it did well enough to be released on home video with an English dub. In a surprising move, Anime Limited picked up the UK & Ireland license to release the series over here (normally for Sentai Filmworks titles it would be from MVM Entertainment).

Collector’s Edition Contents:

While Anime Limited picked up the rights I’m not surprised they went ahead with providing a collector’s edition for Akiba Maid War.

This release is presented with a rigid box containing a Scanavo case housing the Blu-ray discs, in addition to a 20-page booklet and 3 art cards. The booklet only covers character designs for the characters featured in the 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. A standard edition Blu-ray was also made available on the same timeframe.

The series was made available as an early bird during the month of August, and was on offer for £39.99 with the Anime Unlimited membership lowering the cost down to £36.99.

Physical Contents:

• Rigid Box with Scanavo packaging and clean artwork
• Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
• 20-page Booklet
• 3 Art Cards

On-Disc Contents:

Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 2nd September 2024

The collector’s edition release for Akiba Maid War contains all 12 episodes of the series across two Blu-ray discs, with the encode & authoring done by Sentai Filmworks via their March 2024 release.

The audio options available are Japanese with English subtitles and the Sentai Studios English dub with optional English subtitles for the Hard of Hearing. The yellow subtitles are locked during playback and the regions are compatible with Blu-ray players set to A & B.

Blu-ray Specs:

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

Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:

Disc 2:

• Japanese Promos
• Web Previews
• Clean Opening Animation “Maid Daikaiten (メイド大回転, Great Maid Revolution)”
• Clean Ending Animations “Meido no Komoriuta (冥途の子守唄; Lullaby of the Underworld)”
• Disc Credits

Unboxing Photos:

Final Notes:

Akiba Maid War 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 AllTheAnime Store.

The standard edition is available to purchase 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.)