The Normanic Vault

Otaku Collection Haul for November 2024

Welcome to the Otaku Collection haul for the month of November 2024. This update features 16 anime releases, 11 manga volumes, 6 physical video games, and 10 live-action Asian Cinema releases.

For this haul, we catch up on many Asian releases that have recently released this past year, plus there’s a few sale pickups for both anime and video games before the holiday season arrives.

Scifier Manga Haul

The first package of the month is another big order from book retailer Scifier, who have been my go-to for Seven Seas manga as of late. It’s been a while since I have last made one and to be honest their packaging continues to be great because all of these books arrived in really solid condition. So as much as I like going into Travelling Man, the biggest issue for them is that pricing is SRP and you’re only saving money if you go for their 3 for 2 Viz Media deals, but more importantly the increase of Italian pressed stock puts me off from picking up more volumes from them as of late.

But at the same time I also need to grow my Seven Seas collection because I don’t want a repeat situation of a few years ago where stock was barely around. This is pretty much another catch-up haul for a select number of titles that I’ve been buying volumes for. Now there wasn’t enough stock available to go for either The 100 Girlfriends or 2.5 Dimensional Seduction, so instead I focused on the others.

Starting with Booty Royale: Never Go Down in a Fight! Omnibus 5 from author Rui Takato (the illustrator who worked with Go Nagai for Devilman Grimoire manga series). I’m a few omnibus books behind but the series did go on hiatus for a while so it may be a long wait before more is released.

Then we have Do You Like Big Girls? Volumes 7-8 from author Goro Aizome. Volume 8 is currently the latest volume released in English, as Volume 9 isn’t planned to be released until next year last I checked, though I am worried about its future volumes because for some reason Seven Seas decided to put out 2-in-1 omnibus editions whilst the singles are still being released.

Next is Hitomi-chan is Shy with Strangers Volumes 6-7 from author Chorisuke Natsumi, from the main Seven Seas labelled group. I’m also a few volumes behind for this series as well but from what I have seen it is fairly easy to catch up.

Then we complete a manga series with Who Wants to Marry a Billionaire? Volumes 6-7, as there were seven in total. This is from the author Mikoto Yamaguchi, known for writing & creating the concept behind Tomodachi Game for those wondering.

And of course we have World’s End Harem Volumes 15-16 from author LINK, which is now two volumes away from completing this Shonen Jump Plus series. This is also part of the After World storyline which I’ve not read.

Last but not least we also have World’s End Harem: Fantasia Volumes 10-11, also from author LINK, which is a few volumes behind as well. Apparently in Japan its nearing its conclusion from what I have heard, but I’m more surprised it has yet to be greenlit to receive an anime adaptation in all honesty.

Crunchyroll UK Isekai Haul

Next we have a Crunchyroll UK haul consisting of three multi-language isekai titles that were released in recent months. All of these were ordered through Amazon but were price-matched against other retailers who were running a Crunchyroll sale.

First up is The Aristocrat’s Otherworldly Adventure: Serving Gods Who Go Too Far, also known as Chronicles of an Aristocrat Reborn in Another World. This isekai anime was adapted by studio EMT Squared and Magic Bus with director Noriyuki Nakamura, which aired during the April 2023 anime season. I seem to recall watching a clip where the main character was being ambushed by girls and he was crying for his dad for help him get out of there, and his dad was like “so long… boi” and yeeted himself away.

Next we have KamiKatsu: Working for God in a Godless World, adapted by Studio Palette (the same animation studio who worked on The World’s Finest Assassin and the infamous production mess for Our Last Crusade Season 2) with director Yuki Inaba, which aired during the April 2023 anime season. This series had my curiosity ever since I heard of its very bad CGI and a random scene where a dude’s head was on a real life photo of a “tractor”.

And then there’s Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement, adapted by studio Felix Film with director Hiroshi Tamada, which aired during the January 2023 anime season. This one I know the least out of the three but I noticed a number of people picked it up so I figured I’ll do the same (and it was £20 which was very cheap for a new release).

Casino, Goodfellas & Scarface

In the October haul I bought The Godfather Trilogy on 4K Ultra HD, and there were a few more mafia/gangster type films that I also wanted to own for the format. Using the Amazon vouchers that I earned from work back in September I ordered three films that were available as part of a 3 for £40 deal.

So yes, I now own Martin Scorsese’s 1995 film Casino, starring Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, and Joe Pesci, Martin Scorsese’s 1990 film Goodfellas, starring Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, and Joe Pesci, and Brian De Palma’s 1983 film Scarface, starring Al Pacino, on 4K Ultra HD as well.

Yohane the Parhelion: Sunshine in the Mirror

Anime Limited shipped out the latest Love Live! title and it’s being released before Crunchyroll had the time to sort out their own.

This is Yohane the Parhelion: Sunshine in the Mirror, a fantasy spin-off to the Love Live! Sunshine!! series. Because Crunchyroll have yet to produce an English dub of their own, Anime Limited jumped the gun and released theirs first as a subtitled only release (using Crunchyroll’s font/subs for the English translation) whilst also using Com’on Screen to author the discs for the UK & France.

Also worth noting the bonus clips and Japanese shorts included with this release do not contain any subtitles which makes their inclusion pretty pointless. I don’t foresee this UK release selling out any time soon so you are best waiting to see if Crunchyroll releases theirs in the coming months to get the better offering.

Deception IV & Dynasty Warriors 8

It’s been a while since I bought any PlayStation 4 games, in fact I haven’t picked up as much as I had done in previous years. In recent weeks I decided to be in the mood of wanting to pick up some more Japanese games for the platform and from none other than Koei Tecmo themselves. These two in particular were released first on PlayStation 3 and then received a re-release with extra content for PlayStation 4 early in the lifecycle. I bought both on eBay for decent prices and they arrived on two different days.

The first to arrive was Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends Complete Edition, this is another musou game and with the extra content for the action combat style massacre adventure. I don’t go for the Empires versions as they’re not to my liking but I am a fan of the Musou genre. There’s a few more that Koei Tecmo have released that I want to look into as well (Samurai Warriors 4 & Warriors Orochi 3) but surprisingly I don’t see these anywhere at my local CeX.

The next one to arrive was Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess, which is the extended version of the PS3 game Deception IV: Blood Ties. The Deception franchise has been around since the original PlayStation (and you can even download the first game on PlayStation 3 thanks to the PS3 Classics line-up) and it’s basically you creating various traps to stop intruders and I’ve been interested in this particular niche game for a while. I remember finding a copy in GAME that was so battered they were trying to sell it off for like a pound.

Daiei Gothic: Japanese Ghost Stories

Another opportunity to use the Amazon vouchers came by and it was by ordering the two latest releases from Radiance Films that released as part of their October line-up. I was planning to pre-order both of these but the timing wasn’t right.

First we have the limited edition Blu-ray box set release for Daiei Gothic: Japanese Ghost Stories, which includes three classic Japanese horror films produced from Daiei that were restored in 4K.

The films included are Kenji Misumi’s 1959 film The Ghost of Yotsuya (四谷怪談), Tokuzō Tanaka’s 1969 film The Snow Woman (怪談雪女郎), and Satsuo Yamamoto’s 1969 film The Bride from Hades (牡丹燈籠). The box set has a well-detailed book which includes two short stories that add more context to what the films yokai came from. It’s a well-presented release and it fits in line with the winter snow we recently received and the holiday season.

Dogra Magra

Also ordered alongside the Daiei Gothic box set is the limited edition Blu-ray release for Toshio Matsumoto’s 1988 film Dogra Magra (ドグラ・マグラ) and it’s been noted as the director’s final feature-length film. The trailer that Radiance Films presented was really good and it’s on my list to watch sooner in the backlog than the rest. Toshio Matsumoto also directed Funeral Parade of Roses which I did pick up years ago from BFI when they released it on Blu-ray.

Eureka’s November 2024 Asian Cinema Releases

Trying to keep up with the dozens of recent Asian Cinema releases this past quarter, as soon as payday came I ordered more films from Terracotta Distribution, whom I consider to be one of the best retailers in the UK especially for their packaging and solid prices (as long as you order in bulk for the free shipping). Here we have a few pre-orders that I ordered together as they were being released around the same timeframe so it paid off.

First we have an interesting release from Eureka Entertainment because it’s a collection of films from Celestial Pictures and Shaw Brothers which I believe is their first release from this production company. This is the Super Spies and Secret Lies: Three Undercover Classics from Shaw Brothers, which includes three films; Lo Wei’s 1966 film The Golden Buddha (金菩薩), Lo Wei’s 1967 film Angel with the Iron Fists (鐵觀音), and Chang Cheh’s 1969 film The Singing Thief (大盜歌王). There’s another collection of Shaw Brothers films being released next month which I have ordered.

Next we have Patrick Tam’s 1980 film The Sword (名劍), which is his first feature-length film and also a wuxia themed one. The artwork for the set is really nice and I’m intrigued to see how it fares compared to his other noteworthy works Nomad and My Heart Is That Eternal Rose that Radiance Films will be releasing early next year.

Tomie

And also arrived alongside the Eureka titles from the Terracotta Distribution Store is a new release from Arrow Films. Arrow have been releasing at least one Japanese title per month and for November they went with another J-Horror film which is an interesting choice. Ataru Oikawa’s 1998 film Tomie (富江), the first live-action adaptation of Junji Ito’s manga I believe and one of many based on the character. Considering Arrow likes to release box sets I’m surprised they only went with the first film and not all the rest together, but I suppose there were various licensing issues that prevented that.

Black Cat II: The Assassination of President Yeltsin

88 Films have had a bit of a rough time getting their new releases out there because they’ve had to deal with various issues that resulted in release date adjustments. Thankfully these two were now sorted and were part of their November line-up.

One of those is Stephen Shin’s 1992 film Black Cat II: The Assassination of President Yeltsin (黑貓II: 刺殺葉利欽), the sequel to the 1991 film from the same director. While the first film received the deluxe collector’s treatment, the second film is presented as a deluxe limited edition which is more like a first print edition release with a rigid slipcase. The case includes a booklet and fold-out poster. The film was supposed to have been released back in August but got pushed back numerous times.

The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk 1 & 2

Throughout 2024, 88 Films have been consistently been bringing films from Jet Li’s catalogue onto the 4K Ultra HD format. Though these releases don’t have English dubs, everything else is at the same quality that we come to expect from our UK distributors.

The latest release is Corey Yuen’s 1993 films The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk 1 & 2 (方世玉 & 方世玉續集), starring Jet Li and Josephine Siao in the leading roles. This 4K Ultra HD deluxe limited edition release is presented in a different style of packaging compared to previous titles, utilising digipacks instead of cases and also comes included with a booklet and poster plus the Kung Fu Bob artwork is used throughout. This isn’t a combo pack but the Blu-ray version does have the same type of packaging if you don’t care about 4K.

Worth noting that one of the films included in this release does have a frame or two removed due to animal cruelty as required by the BBFC in order to be released over here. I watched the original clip on YouTube and to be honest, it’s not noticeable from what I have seen.

Bodyguard Kiba & Yakuza Wolf

Eureka Entertainment held a mini sale with a number of first print editions on offer, and while I have ordered many of their titles, there are a few that I missed due to timing issues or were not on offer during their pre-order run.

Two of the titles I missed were available in their mini-sale so I picked up both, especially considering it looked like their first print editions are selling out. These are double-film collections starring the late Sonny Chiba called Bodyguard Kiba 1 & 2 and Yakuza Wolf 1 & 2.

The Bodyguard Kiba collection includes Ryuichi Takamori’s 1973 films Bodyguard Kiba (ボディガード牙) & Bodyguard Kiba 2 (ボディガード牙 必殺三角飛び), also known as Karate Kiba, while the Yakuza Wolf collection includes Ryuichi Takamori’s 1972 film Yakuza Wolf: I Perform Murder (狼やくざ 殺しは俺がやる) & Buichi Saitô’s 1972 film Yakuza Wolf 2: Extend my Condolences (狼やくざ 葬いは俺が出す).

All four of these films were released in North America in various collections that starred the lead actor, while Eureka Entertainment split them up across various releases. There is one collection starring the actor that’s only available in North America because the films wouldn’t make it over here uncut due to animal cruelty.

TONIKAWA: Over the Moon for You

Another new Anime Limited collector’s edition Blu-ray release arrives and it’s TONIKAWA: Over the Moon for You Season 1. The series is also known as Fly Me to the Moon for the Viz Media manga releases but for some reason it was renamed for its anime adaptation. In case you aren’t familiar with this series, it’s by the same creator behind Hayate the Combat Butler. I missed out on watching the series during simulcast but I have heard its good when you compare the show to every other Crunchyroll Original show they produced. There were two OVAs produced in-between each season but this one only includes the first.

Discotek Media Haul

The final Discotek Media haul for the year (though it may not be the final order just in case a few out of print notices occur in the coming weeks) and these all came from Crunchyroll Store’s Discotek Media sale which appeared a lot earlier than I had expected, and to be honest I forgot about the idea of another publisher sale. I used this opportunity to grab a few franchises. I didn’t want to go for too many as I know these batch hauls can be pretty expensive and there’s various other sales incoming at the time.

First up we have a classic franchise that’s been available for half a decade at this point and should have been released over here already.

Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still

Adapted by Mu Animation Studio & Phoenix Entertainment in 1992-98 and directed by Yasuhiro Imagawa, this is a sci-fi mecha and apparently martial arts?! Either way, when it came to notable robot shows this one was brought up a lot and I remembered a lot of people were excited when Discotek rescued the rights for a Blu-ray release. Manga Entertainment released the series over here in the UK many years ago but since then it’s yet to have been re-released. Discotek Media released the OVA series on Blu-ray in December 2019.

GinRei

Adapted by Phoenix Entertainment in 1994-95 and directed by Yasuhiro Imagawa, this is a spin-off or side-story to Giant Robo that was produced around the same time, focusing on the character Ginrei. Because both of these releases are relatively older at this point, being in print for at least almost half a decade, I wanted to make sure I picked them up sooner than later. Discotek Media released the OVA series on Blu-ray in December 2020.

Next we have more Lupin the Third releases for the collection.

Lupin the Third versus Detective Conan

Animated by TMS Entertainment in 2009 and directed by Hajime Kamegaki, this is a TV special cross-over between Monkey Punch’s Lupin the Third and Gosho Aoyama’s Detective Conan (Case Closed) which surprisingly works. It has been 11 years since I last watched this crossover but I’m happy to finally own it. This came out on Blu-ray after the film did due to the masters if I recall correctly, but it did get an English dub. Discotek Media released the TV Special on Blu-ray in August 2022.

Lupin the Third versus Detective Conan the Movie

Animated by TMS Entertainment in 2013 and directed by Hajime Kamegaki, the crossover returns with a theatrical film which pretty much continues where the TV special left off and I had the opportunity (like many others did) to watch this for the first time during Screen Anime back in 2020. Like the TV special, this also received an English dub. Discotek Media released the film on Blu-ray in November 2021.

Lupin the Third: Episode 0: The First Contact

Animated by TMS Entertainment in 2002 and directed by Minoru Ohara. I thought this was an OVA but it’s actually a TV special, the 14th one in the list. This is also an origin story of sorts hence the Episode 0 in its name. In addition to be provided with an English dub, a new upscale was done to improve the quality of the release. Discotek Media released the TV Special on Blu-ray in April 2022.

Lupin the Third: Prison of the Past

Animated by TMS Entertainment in 2019 and directed by Hatsuki Tsuji. This is the 27th TV special in the franchise and the most recent one to date if you exclude any films and cross-overs that came after. I keep thinking I own this but I don’t, and it was also dubbed into English which is neat. Discotek Media released the TV Special on Blu-ray in July 2022.

And finally, it’s that show that everyone loves but don’t really talk about much these days.

Symphogear – Seasons 1, G, GX, AXZ & XV

Animated by studio Satelight in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017 & 2019 and directed by Tatsufumi Itou (Season 1) & Katsumi Ono (S2-5). This is 65 episodes of anime girls using relic suits singing their way to victory. The franchise started a bit rough in terms of exposure with Funimation having the streaming rights for Season 1 and then from the third season onwards Crunchyroll started streaming the series bit by bit.

Surprisingly Crunchyroll don’t own the home video rights so Discotek managed to release each season. Also the co-creator of the franchise Noriyasu Agematsu was also involved with the Wild Arms games which was a fun fact to discover. Discotek Media released each season on Blu-ray in October 2020, January 2021, September 2022, November 2022 & February 2023 respectively.

At this point, I have picked up a total of 95 Discotek Media releases for 2024 alone. All because there were a lot of backtracking to do. Again I don’t intend on owning their entire catalogue, just most of them because they happen to be titles that I would like to own (which is also why I bought a lot of Anime Limited releases). So at this stage we are nearing the point to where I have caught up and positioned in a really good place, but I’ll go over that more later in this post.

Alan Wake II & Balatro

Here we have two games picked up during Amazon’s Black Friday sale.

I decided to pick up this indie card rougelike game called Balatro, which I discovered for the first time thanks to The Game Awards nominating it for Game of the Year. Apparently it’s really good and addictive to play so I figured I’ll grab a physical copy of the Switch version whilst it’s on sale. The European release is rated 18 by PEGI due to prominent gambling imagery despite the publisher getting it approved for a 3+ rating before its initial release.

Last year Remedy released their anticipated game Alan Wake II as a digital only title. They said they weren’t going to provide a physical release for various reasons, but fan demand must have done enough to convince them because we received one last October. I’m honestly shocked we got one in the end and wanted to pick it up as soon as possible not only to support the medium but also because I have no idea how many copies were printed, considering how uncommon the previous Remedy games have been at the moment. The physical version for this game also comes included with access to the recent expansions and a digital download code for Alan Wake Remastered which I already own physically. My plan is to revisit Alan Wake via the remaster and then play Control before jumping into this one which is more of a survival horror than twin peaks horror.

Godzilla Minus One

The 33rd Godzilla film from TOHO has landed onto UK home video! Godzilla Minus One is a really good film from the director that brought us Dragon Quest: Your Story, Lupin the Third: The First and many others. This deluxe edition set mirrors the Japanese release which the North American version also did but we have the bonus Blu-ray disc subtitled and all of it is there (the only difference are the Trailer Collection which is smaller than the Japanese version).

Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection & Signalis

The final items for the month of November are two Nintendo Switch games ordered from VideoGamesPlus.

First up we have a very anticipated collection that just got released physically (its digital version came out last September) and that’s Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection Arcade Classics. This collection includes the 1993 beat em up The Punisher released for the Arcades & SEGA Mega Drive, and various fighting games that came out for Arcade, SEGA Saturn and PlayStation; 1994’s X-Men: Children of the Atom, 1995’s Marvel Super Heroes, 1996’s X-Men vs. Street Fighter, 1997’s Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, plus the iconic crossover games released for Arcade, SEGA Dreamcast and PlayStation 1 (former) & 2 (latter) with 1998’s Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, and 2000’s Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes.

Also picked up is a survival horror cyberpunk type game called SIGNALIS, which I heard was really good and I know HEALTH produced a music video for Don’t Try with footage from this game. While the PlayStation 4 version is the better console version to get due to framerate, I felt the game would be more suited for Nintendo Switch. The game did receive a physical release in Europe but its first print had become harder to find or more expensive, whereas VGP did a new print run for cheaper.

Unboxing Links

You can view more photos & specs for the titles below:

What’s to Come for the Hauls

December 2024

A lot of items to wrap up the year, including a lot of imports, though there may be some setbacks caused by shipment delays since it is now the holiday season. To avoid talking about how many are going to appear in this month, I’ll summarise them as hauls.

One Limited Run title did actually arrive today when this post is out, but the others are currently ‘ready to ship’ but haven’t actually shipped. So if the timing isn’t right, then they may slip into January 2025.

  • Beyond Good & Evil 20th Anniversary Edition (PlayStation 5)
  • Bleach Set 2 (Limited Edition Blu-ray)
  • Clock Tower Rewind (Nintendo Switch)
  • Crunchyroll UK Black Friday Haul (Blu-ray)
  • The Good, The Bad, The Weird (Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD)
  • Hatsune Miku: Logic Paint S (Nintendo Switch)
  • Horrible History: Four Historical Epics by Chang Cheh (First Print Edition Blu-ray)
  • HUMANITY (PlayStation 5)
  • Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season 2 – Parts 1 & 2 (Collector’s Edition Blu-rays)
  • Sentai Filmworks Black Friday Haul (Blu-ray)
  • Valis: The Fantasm Soldier Collection III (Nintendo Switch)
  • VideoGamesPlus Black Friday Haul (Nintendo Switch)

January 2025

The new year has a couple of titles currently pre-ordered, with a few more expected to appear here also.

  • Assault Suits Valken DECLASSIFIED (Nintendo Switch)
  • Glover (Nintendo Switch)
  • Love and Crime (Limited Edition Blu-ray)
  • Love Unto Waste (First Print Edition Blu-ray)
  • Rouge (First Print Edition Blu-ray)

February 2025

February has a couple new additions!

  • Bubblegum Crash! (Blu-ray)
  • Bubblegum Crisis (Blu-ray)
  • Castlevania Dominus Collection (Nintendo Switch)
  • Macross Zero (Collector’s Edition Blu-ray)
  • Penny’s Big Breakaway (Nintendo Switch)

Late Winter/Early Spring 2025

There were a couple of delays that pushed two titles into 2025 but they could arrive in February.

  • C-SMASH VRS (PlayStation 5)
  • Macross II: Lovers Again (Premium Edition 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray)
  • Triggerheart Exelica (Deluxe Edition Nintendo Switch)
  • Venus Vacation Prism: Dead or Alive Xtreme (PlayStation 5)

Other Tidbits

You know the drill, work has been hectic as per usual. Due to staffing issues I had to work three weekends in a row and recent events have occurred to both good news and bad news. Got a new manager who’s offered to help when I need it for specific situations which is great, and the bad news is one of our team members is leaving the business. There is a replacement but whether things will work out long-term is not particularly clear as of yet.

On a positive note, as we are approaching the end of 2024, do expect a complete collection update at the end of the month as well as what video games I’ve completed this year!

Anime Limited

Going to keep it brief here since nothing major has occurred, but basically the 12 Days of Christmas sale starts today and they revealed earlier in a Showcase video that there won’t be any brand new surprises this time around which is honestly good because I want to put my funds on other things instead. There will be returning out of print stock and flash sales so I may get one or two items depending on what’s on offer.

The Eminence in Shadow was recently made available for early bird and despite the series being the type of show that I would own in a collector’s format, I have decided to pass on it because not only have I already picked up Sentai’s release last year, but the offering for the UK set isn’t enough to justify its value especially now that you have to pay £3.50 postage for any titles below £50.

Worth pointing out that part of the reason my shelf is rather full is because of Anime Limited’s collector’s sets being random in size. Sometimes they work and then you have a single cour series taking up double the size for no reason other than to have some more artwork on there.

AnimEigo

Let’s talk about MediaOCD’s new distributor, well basically a distributor that has been around for a few decades but I consider it more or less a soft reboot. They went off on a really good start with re-authoring and releasing most of AnimEigo’s kickstarter titles, namely Bubblegum Crisis, Megazone 23, Otaku no Video and Riding Bean. Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01 is apparently next in line sometime this April which is awesome, and that basically leaves The Dagger of Kamui, Gunsmith Cats, and Macross II: Lovers Again remaining to get the latest treatment, though unfortunately Gunsmith Cats now has some licensing issues so we won’t be seeing that coming back any time soon.

Outside of those, they have started licensing anime that’s outside of the usual existing roster. Time of Eve, both the OVA series and the compilation film version, is re-released together for this month but since I already own the Pied Piper Deluxe Edition I’m in no rush to be picking it up anytime soon. They also scheduled Nasu: Summer in Andalusia for March 2025 but unfortunately they have blocked anyone outside North America, even if you have a US address, from being able to order it on their MediaOCD store so I’ll be missing out on getting a slipcase for it. I am expecting the same for the TV series they rescued earlier in the year called Looking for the Full Moon (Full Moon o Sagashite). It was not going to be sustainable to get every single one of their titles in slipcase format so at least that’s the only thing I’ll miss if I order their US only titles on Crunchyroll Store going forward.

Discotek Media

The folks over at Discotek have been pretty silent as of late outside of mentioning the latest releases for November & December. I think they referenced a potential Discotek Day stream for December to cover what to expect for 2025 and I look forward to what they plan to bring. Their 2 month gap model for new releases has helped me a lot to catch up on their releases, because I only started to buy their titles in April 2022 when I should have done it many years prior.

So as mentioned earlier I’ve bought 95 Discotek Media releases (which includes 3 from Nihon Nights) this year alone. That means I currently own a total of 204 Discotek Media titles overall which is crazy, but when you think about how much space it takes up compared to other distributors, it honestly doesn’t do much. The way that Discotek prioritises the content of the disc versus the packaging is good for those like myself who want to be able to grab as many shows and films without taking up too much space. It’s why I don’t mind Sentai’s standard edition releases because its just the case and nothing else which adds room to buy more shows.

How many are left now for me to pick up from Discotek’s catalogue? Including the November titles that have my interest, there’s about 76 releases. However, I have filtered the list further to focus on the titles that I want to own the most so that if an out of print notice appears I don’t lose out on the shows and films that I would want more than others. Even if a title isn’t a priority I still want to own it but not right away if that makes sense.

35 releases are on my priority list. I am excluding Lupin the Third‘s TV shows at the moment as well as Project A-Ko because I am undecided on those two for reasons, but looking at my list, Kekkaishi is currently the oldest remaining series I have yet to own which was released on Blu-ray in June 2022. After that we have 14 titles in 2023; 3 Aim for the Ace! releases, Cromartie High School, 3 Lupin the Third TV Specials, Mazinkaiser vs the Great General of Darkness, Saint Tail, Tetsujin 28 FX, 3 Urusei Yatsura releases, and Virtua Fighter.

2024, the current year I have bought a few titles here and there to lower the gap but there’s still 20 releases remaining to cover; Captain Harlock: Space Pirate, Dallos, 2 Futakoi releases, Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, Kiss x Sis, Kurokami: The Animation, Lovely Complex, 4 Lupin the Third TV Specials, 2 Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha releases, Mazinkaiser: The OVA Collection, RAINBOW, Reborn! Fan Disc, Tonagura, and 2 Urusei Yatsura releases.

There’s also the Nihon Nights titles to look into but I’m waiting for a good opportunity before I get those.

And that concludes my November 2024 otaku collection haul update. Expect a huge haul to end the year.

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