Another year has passed once again and it had gone pretty fast. Work has been tiring and a lot has been going on, but in return I have received pay increases, bonuses here and there and most importantly paid overtime which helped speed up the pickups for specific titles here and there. Nevertheless the variety of titles that I have purchased throughout 2024 have been rather diverse, with some super lucky inclusions. I will say this has been the biggest year for pickups to date.
This marks the 12th update to the collection and since the previous ones we had some tweaks to help improve the setup. We now have a brand new phone, Google Pixel 8 Pro, to replace the Huawei P20 Pro which lasted four years but had to be replaced due to a swollen battery. The Pixel 8 Pro has been used since the start of the year so you will have noticed a difference in quality especially with the layout of the posts. All photos provided here uses its 50MP feature which adds more detail and better lightning and then optimised down to 4K resolution.
Also new to this collection update is finally replacing the old bookshelf with new Billy Bookcases from IKEA, this time in a white coloured design which looks great. In terms of technical stuff, other than the new phone I also managed to purchase a new 4K Ultra HD player, not only to have access to Dolby Atmos & Dolby Vision (because PlayStation 5 doesn’t support them) for the 4K discs but was also modified to support all-region Blu-rays to replace the old Seiki U-Vision player that I had.
The plan for 2025 is not set in stone but I have intentions to modify some parts to make it easier to allow more room for new additions. I may also have to look into purchasing a new laptop as my current one is reaching a point where it may not be able to smoothly work properly due to storage space issues or browsers taking up too much RAM/Memory.
The layout of this post has been changed a bit from previous years as I want to showcase older items that haven’t been seen for a while but also show them with the new phone’s look. I had to use the phone’s flash because natural lighting didn’t work due to reflections getting in the way and with the curtains closed and the lights on meant the shadows would also get in the way. Not easy sorting this out as it took hours to get the right presentation.
The Bookshelves for 4K & Blu-rays of Anime & Cinema
Above the Bookshelves: Anime Limited Ultimate Editions + Sentai Filmworks Premium Editions + NIS America + Viz Media + Universal
Starting off the list with the titles that are above the shelves. This is where the bigger box sets are located but also small collections from specific distributors. Once again the only new addition of titles here came from Anime Limited.
New Additions for Anime Limited (Ultimate Editions):
- Macross Plus
- Tower of God Season 1
Row #1: Crunchyroll, Funimation & Manga Entertainment UK Limited Editions + MVM Entertainment (Part 1)
The bookshelves have been realigned so instead of basing the distribution by shelf it’s now by row.
Starting off with the first row which is dedicated to the limited edition box sets from distributor Crunchyroll and their previous iterations (Manga Entertainment & Funimation UK from the United Kingdom, and Funimation US from the United States).
The older versions that Funimation USA put out are placed in the back row as we won’t be getting any more of those going forward. I have also stored most of the limited editions from MVM Entertainment here as I don’t intend to pick up as much of their releases going forward, the rest are in the rows below.
The Crunchyroll limited editions have been on a case-by-case basis as I’ve done before, but thankfully they’re not as frequent as what Funimation USA used to be. Having them be released into the UK is also handy because it saves money but they’re also slowly replicating the US versions one-to-one (i.e. no BBFC logos on the Amaray case as an example).
New Additions for Crunchyroll UK (Limited Editions):
- Attack on Titan: The Final Season: The Final Chapters
- Hell’s Paradise Season 1
- Tomo-chan is a Girl!
- Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! Season 2
New Additions for Funimation UK (Limited Editions):
- One-Punch Man Season 2
Row #2: From Classic Manga Entertainment UK & Funimation USA towards Crunchyroll
For this row I decided to go for a layout that showcases the progression from the early days of Manga Entertainment UK and Funimation USA leading up to the eventual merging and rebranding as Crunchyroll UK and Crunchyroll USA. You start off with classic Manga Entertainment and Funimation USA‘s old logo branding, then you have Funimation’s attempt into the UK via Anime Limited and their newer logo releases including their Essentials range, followed by modern Manga Entertainment and Funimation UK releases next to a few Shonen Jump titles that received releases during the distribution change, and wrapping up with Crunchyroll US and Crunchyroll UK.
I have been importing Crunchyroll’s US versions from time to time but it looks like the UK branch has finally got grasp on what they need to be doing and so far in the past few months and into the upcoming months they have released roughly 90% of the new releases which is very handy because it saves me money from having to import them. Their multi-language titles were also amended so that’s helped a lot, and whatever’s left to get I may just end up buying the UK versions as they may have lost their slipcases at this point in North America.
New Additions for Crunchyroll (Regular releases):
- Beast Tamer
- Black Summoner
- A Couple of Cuckoos Part 1
- A Couple of Cuckoos Part 2
- The Greatest Demon Lord Is Reborn As A Typical Nobody
- How Not to Summon a Demon Lord Omega
- Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan
- More than a Married Couple, but Not Lovers
- Parallel World Pharmacy
- The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie
- Sonny Boy
New Additions for Crunchyroll UK (Regular releases):
- The Aristocrat’s Otherworldly Adventure: Serving Gods Who Go Too Far
- Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill
- The Girl from the Other Side
- The Great Cleric
- Handyman Saitou in Another World
- Hell’s Paradise Season 1
- I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in the Real World, Too
- KamiKatsu: Working for God in a Godless World
- Konosuba: An Explosion on this Wonderful World!
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island
- Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Season 1 Part 2
- My Unique Skill Makes Me OP Even at Level 1
- Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2
- Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 3
- Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement
- Sing a Bit of Harmony
- That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: The Movie – Scarlet Bond
- The Legendary Hero is Dead!
- Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion
- ZOMBIE LAND SAGA REVENGE
New Additions for Manga Entertainment UK (Regular releases):
- One-Punch Man Season 1
Row #3: Aniplex of America + MVM Entertainment (Part 2) + Anime Limited + Miscellaneous Anime Releases
For this row, starting in the back we have the Aniplex of America releases, a few miscellaneous releases from different distributors, a few of MVM‘s recent collector’s editions and the standard/regular releases for MVM Entertainment and Anime Limited.
I haven’t picked up any more Aniplex of America releases for a while but I would like to catch up on a few specific titles in 2025. Standard edition releases from Anime Limited are also expected to see an increase potentially.
New Additions for MVM Entertainment (Collector’s Editions):
- Burst Angel
- NieA_7
- Samurai 7
- Trinity Blood
- Witchblade
Row #3: Sentai Filmworks & Maiden Japan
In the front, we have the standard/regular releases for Sentai Filmworks plus their sister labels Maiden Japan and ADV Films. This has had a big jump in terms of new additions thanks to utilising forwarding services to access their sales. I always found their store sales to be much better than had Rightstuf had provided and it’s been very useful and really good value in comparison to Crunchyroll’s Store at this point. I am conscious that some titles that were re-released may discontinue sooner without notice so I will need to keep an eye on their listings from time to time.
New Additions for Sentai Filmworks (Regular releases):
- Ahiru no Sora Collection 1
- Ahiru no Sora Collection 2
- Ane Log: Big Sister Moyako’s Never-ending Monologue
- Busou Shinki: Armored War Goddess
- Dai Shogun: Great Revolution
- The Eminence in Shadow Season 2
- Farming Life in Another World
- Getter Robo Arc
- Girlish Number
- I Couldn’t Become a Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided to Get a Job
- Immoral Guild
- Locodol
- Love & Lies
- Love, Election & Chocolate
- Made in Abyss: The Golden City of the Scorching Sun
- Majestic Prince
- Maria Holic & Maria Holic Alive Collection
- MEDAKA BOX & MEDAKA BOX Abnormal Collection
- MM!
- Needless
- Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time: Super Extra
- Problem Children are Coming from Another World, Aren’t They?
- Rail Wars
- Samurai Girls & Samurai Bride Collection
- SHINEPOST
- Tears to Tiara
- Triage X
- Un-Go
- Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle
- Venus Wars Remastered
- Waiting in the Summer
- Young Black Jack
- Z/X: Code Reunion
Rows #4-7: Anime Limited Collector’s Editions + Asian Cinema Limited Editions
For these rows, starting in the back we have the Anime Limited collector’s & limited edition releases on Blu-ray only, and then in the seventh row the Asian Cinema limited editions make their appearances from 88 Films, Anime Limited, Arrow Video, Eureka Entertainment and newcomer to the collection Second Sight Films.
There’s a lot of Anime Limited collector’s sets picked up and in all honestly I do intend to take a new approach towards their format going into the new year because the quality and value isn’t as good as what they used to be. They also take up a lot of space for few physical goodies which doesn’t help.
The Asian Cinema collection has blended into the main shelf due to space issues but where they’re positioned is perfectly fine for the time being.
New Additions for Anime Limited (Collector’s/Limited Editions):
- Akame ga Kill!
- Akiba Maid War
- Babylon
- Beautiful Bones: Sakurako’s Investigation
- Bleach Part 1
- Bleach Part 2
- Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War Part 1
- Blue Thermal
- Deiji Meets Girl
- Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna
- Eternal 831
- Flowers of Evil
- Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma Season 1
- Golden Time
- Granbelm -The Two Princeps-
- Great Pretender
- Gundam Build Fighters Try Part 1
- Gundam Build Fighters Try Part 2
- Harmonie
- InuYasha Season 2
- Kaiji: Against All Rules
- Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor
- The Legend of Hei
- Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Host Club Season 2
- Lupin the Third Part 6
- My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! Season 1
- Naruto Set 1
- Over the Sky
- Parasyte -the maxim-
- A Place Further Than the Universe
- Re:cycle of the Penguindrum
- Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season 2 Part 1
- Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season 2 Part 2
- Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 1
- Rental Magica Part 1
- Rental Magica Part 2
- SHIROBAKO
- TONIKAWA: Over the Moon for You Season 1
- Venus Wars
- Yohane the Parhelion: Sunshine in the Mirror
New Additions for 88 Films (Deluxe/Limited Editions Blu-ray):
- Black Cat II: The Assassination of President Yeltsin (黑貓II: 刺殺葉利欽)
- Gaira’s Guts Trilogy:
- Guts of a Virgin (処女のはらわた)
- Guts of a Beauty (美女のはらわた)
- Rusted Body: Guts of a Virgin III (拷問貴婦人)
- Island of Fire (火燒島)
- Legacy of Rage (龍在江湖)
New Additions for 88 Films (Deluxe/Limited Editions 4K Ultra HD):
- The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk 1 & 2:
- The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk (方世玉)
- The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk 2 (方世玉續集)
- Police Story 3: Supercop (警察故事3 超級警察)
- The Project A Collection:
- Project A (A計劃)
- Project A Part II (A計劃續集)
New Additions for Anime Limited (Deluxe Editions 4K Ultra HD):
- Godzilla Minus One (ゴジラ マイナスワン)
New Additions for Arrow Video (Limited Editions Blu-ray):
- J-Horror Rising:
- Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman (口裂け女)
- Inugami (狗神)
- Isola: Multiple Personality Girl (ISOLA 多重人格少女)
- Noroi: The Curse (ノロイ)
- Persona (仮面学園)
- Shikoku (死国)
- St. John’s Wort (弟切草)
New Additions for Arrow Video (Limited Editions 4K Ultra HD):
- The Good, The Bad, The Weird (좋은 놈, 나쁜 놈, 이상한 놈)
New Additions for Second Sight Films (Limited Editions Blu-ray):
- Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (곤지암)
New Additions for Second Sight Films (Limited Editions 4K Ultra HD):
- A Bittersweet Life (달콤한 인생)
Rows #4-5: Discotek Media & Nihon Nights + AnimEigo + 4K Anime Collection
On the front side of the fourth and fifth rows is our entire Discotek Media collection, including their live-action label Nihon Nights, as well as a newcomer to the collection with AnimEigo. Also with these lot is my entire 4K Ultra HD Anime collection.
There’s been a massive increase of Discotek releases throughout 2024 because I’ve been going through backlog of their older releases to make sure that I have picked up as many of the shows and films that I had wanted to own over the years as soon as possible, as the distributor wants to focus more on newer releases and pretty much remove any old stock if possible. It’s been expensive but we’re one step closer to being in a really good spot. I’m also looking forward to what AnimEigo has to offer for 2025 onwards so stay tuned for these lot throughout the next year.
New Additions for AnimEigo (Blu-ray):
- Megazone 23 Trilogy
- Otaku no Video
- Riding Bean
New Additions for Discotek Media (Blu-ray):
- 07-Ghost
- Adieu Galaxy Express 999
- Angel Cop
- Appleseed (1988)
- Arion
- As Miss Beelzebub Likes It
- Barefoot Gen 1 & 2
- Beelzebub
- BoBoBo-Bo Bo-BoBo
- Brave 10
- Cat’s Eye Season 1
- Cat’s Eye Season 2
- City Hunter
- City Hunter 2 Collection 1
- City Hunter 2 Collection 2
- City Hunter 3
- City Hunter ’91
- City Hunter: Movies & Specials Collection
- City Hunter: Shinjuku Private Eyes
- Crying Freeman
- Cyborg 009: The Cyborg Soldier
- Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure
- EAT-MAN & EAT-MAN ’98
- Elemental Gelade
- Galaxy Express 999 Collection 1
- Galaxy Express 999 Collection 2
- Galaxy Express 999 Collection 3
- Galaxy Express 999 the Movie
- Galaxy Express 999: Eternal Fantasy
- Ghost Stories
- Giant Robo
- GinRei
- Girly Air Force
- GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka the Animation
- Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting Collection 1
- Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting Collection 2
- Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting Collection 3
- Hand Maid May
- Honey and Clover
- Honey and Clover II
- IGPX: Immortal Grand Prix
- Iria: Zeiram the Animation
- Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~
- Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple Season 1
- Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple Season 2
- Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple: The Attack of Darkness
- Kiss x Sis
- Kyo Kara Maoh! Season 1
- Kyo Kara Maoh! Season 2
- Kyo Kara Maoh! R
- Kyo Kara Maoh! Season 3
- Kyousougiga
- Lady Oscar: The Rose of Versailles Collection 1
- Lady Oscar: The Rose of Versailles Collection 2
- The Law of Ueki
- Lupin the Third Episode 0: The First Contact
- Lupin the Third vs Detective Conan
- Lupin the Third vs Detective Conan the Movie
- Lupin the Third: Dead or Alive
- Lupin the Third: Farewell to Nostradamus
- Lupin the Third: The Mystery of Mamo
- Lupin the Third: Prison of the Past
- Lupin the Third: Return of Pycal
- Magical Girl Ore
- Mahoraba ~Heartful Days~
- Marmalade Boy
- Midnight Eye Goku
- Mononoke
- Overman King Gainer
- Re: Cutie Honey
- Reborn! Collection 1
- Reborn! Collection 2
- She and Her Cat -Everything Flows-
- Shin Getter Robo vs Neo Getter Robo
- Shin Tetsujin 28
- Space Adventure Cobra
- Symphogear
- Symphogear G
- Symphogear GX
- Symphogear AXZ
- Symphogear XV
- Tetsujin 28 (2004 series)
- Tetsujin 28: Morning Moon of Midday
- Tokyo Underground
- Tomorrow’s Joe the Movie
- Tomorrow’s Joe 2: The Movie
- Urusei Yatsura: Always My Darling
- Urusei Yatsura: The Final Chapter
- Urusei Yatsura: Lum the Forever
- Urusei Yatsura: Remember My Love
- A Wind Named Amnesia
- Z/X: Ignition
- Zatch Bell Movies: 101st Devil & Attack of Mechavulcan
New Additions for Anime Limited (4K Ultra HD):
- Mobile Suit Gundam: The Movie Trilogy
- Nadia: Secret of the Blue Water
New Additions for Discotek Media (4K Ultra HD):
- Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie
New Additions for Elysium (4K Ultra HD):
- The Boy and the Heron
Row #8: Viz Media SJ Books + Studio Canal & Warner Bros
For the bottom row this is similar to last year’s update where I placed the hardcover Fist of the North Star and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure manga volumes at the back as that was the only suitable space available and somewhat evergreen to make room for future volumes of both titles.
Also at the back row alongside the Viz Media volumes are a couple releases from Studio Canal and Warner Bros for the Asian Cinema collection.
Since then we have seen more progress with both titles, more notably the latter as the series is currently on the Stone Ocean arc which is pretty much close to being up-to-date. In 2025 Viz Media will start releasing the Steel Ball Run arc which is exciting.
New Additions for Viz Media (Manga):
- Fist of the North Star – Omnibus 5
- JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind – Omnibus 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9
- JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean – Omnibus 1 & 2
Row #8: Asian Cinema + 4K Asian Cinema Collection + European Cinema
Next we have the last remaining batch of releases for these bookshelves. In front of the manga books and the two distributors mentioned prior, we have the 88 Films collection on Blu-ray excluding any rigid box sets shown in the earlier rows. This collection also includes both its Japanarchy line-up that was newly introduced in 2024 and the Shaw Brothers line-up.
Also included here are the Blu-ray releases for the British Film Institute (BFI), Criterion, Curzon Artificial Eye, MUBI and Picturehouse Entertainment. Also shown here is my 4K Ultra HD Asian Cinema collection excluding any rigid box sets shown in the earlier rows, and the large sized box sets from Arrow Video with the Shawscope volumes and from Criterion with the Zatoichi box set. One more mention are two films in the European Cinema collection, one of which is in 4K. I do have another title on 4K from Studio Canal but it’s not included here.
Last but not least are some more releases shown in the back row on the bottom-right shelf, which features the limited edition releases from Third Window Films and the rest of the Arrow Video collection.
There’s not much else to be said about the Asian Cinema collection as I intend to keep that building each year.
New Additions for 88 Films (Blu-ray):
- An Autumn’s Tale (秋天的童話)
- Beauty of Beauties (西施)
- CJ7 (長江七號)
- Evil Dead Trap (死霊の罠)
- Evil Dead Trap II: Hideki (死霊の罠2ヒデキ)
- The Fearless Hyena Part II (龍騰虎躍)
- The Golden Lotus (金瓶雙艷)
- The Holy Virgin Versus The Evil Dead (魔唇劫)
- Immortal Story (海上花)
- The Inspector Wears Skirts II (神勇飛虎霸王花)
- The Inspector Wears Skirts III: Raid on Royal Casino Marine (霸王花之皇家賭船)
- The Inspector Wears Skirts IV (92霸王花與霸王花)
- Love And Crime (明治・大正・昭和 猟奇女犯罪史)
- Love Unto Waste (地下情)
- Rouge (胭脂扣)
- The Shadow Boxing (茅山殭屍拳)
- So Close (夕陽天使)
- To Kill A Mastermind (七煞)
- Tokyo Decadence (トパーズ)
New Additions for Arrow Video (Blu-ray):
- The Threat (脅迫)
- Tomie (富江)
New Additions for Arrow Video (Large-Sized Box Sets Blu-ray):
- Shawscope Volume 3:
- The 14 Amazons (十四女英豪)
- The Avenging Eagle (冷血十三鷹)
- Bastard Swordsman (天蠶變)
- Buddha’s Palm (如來神掌)
- Clans of Intrigue (楚留香)
- Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan (愛奴)
- Jade Tiger (白玉老虎)
- Killer Constable (萬人斬)
- Lady Hermit (鍾馗娘子)
- The Magic Blade (天涯明月刀)
- The New One-Armed Swordsman (新獨臂刀)
- One-Armed Swordsman (獨臂刀)
- Return of the One-Armed Swordsman (獨臂刀王)
- The Sentimental Swordsman (多情劍客無情劍)
New Additions for British Film Institute (Blu-ray):
- Ikiru (生きる)
New Additions for MUBI (Blu-ray):
- Return to Seoul (Retour à Séoul)
New Additions for Picturehouse (Blu-ray):
- Monster (怪物)
New Additions for 88 Films (4K Ultra HD):
- The Bodyguard from Beijing (中南海保鑣)
- Fist of Legend (精武英雄)
- Tai Chi Master (太極張三豐)
- To Kill with Intrigue (劍花煙雨江南)
New Additions for Arrow Video (4K Ultra HD):
- Dark Water (仄暗い水の底から)
New Additions for Criterion (4K Ultra HD):
- Le Samouraï
New Additions for Curzon Artificial Eye (4K Ultra HD):
- Memories of Murder (살인의 추억)
New Additions for Eureka Entertainment (4K Ultra HD):
- The Valiant Ones (忠烈圖)
New Additions for MUBI (4K Ultra HD):
- Perfect Days (PERFECT DAYS)
New Additions for Studio Canal (4K Ultra HD):
- Brotherhood of the Wolf (Le Pacte des loups) [not pictured in the photos]
The Glass Shelf for More Asian Cinema
Rows #1-3: Eureka Entertainment
Now we are taking a look at my glass shelf that I’ve owned for well over a decade at this point. This shelf doesn’t have much space so I had to re-arrange a lot of it over the past year.
Starting off with the first three rows we have our entire Eureka Entertainment collection excluding any rigid boxes shown earlier. This has grown a lot over the year because the distributor’s putting more focus on Asian films than their own regular selection because they sell better (the distributor mentioned this in response to folks asking about it).
New Additions for Eureka Entertainment (Blu-ray):
- Black Mask (黑俠)
- Bodyguard Kiba 1 & 2:
- 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)
- The Bride With White Hair (白发魔女传)
- Broken Oath (破戒)
- The Champions (波牛)
- The Double Crossers (鬼計雙雄)
- Early Hou Hsiao-hsien: Three Films 1980-1983:
- The Boys from Fengkuei (風櫃來的人)
- Cute Girl (就是溜溜的她)
- The Green, Green Grass of Home (在那河畔青草青)
- Future Cops (超級學校霸王)
- Horrible History: Four Historical Epics by Chang Cheh:
- Boxer Rebellion (八國聯軍)
- Four Riders (四騎士)
- Marco Polo (馬哥波羅)
- The Pirate (大海盜)
- Kung Fu Cult Master (倚天屠龍記之魔教教主)
- A Man Called Tiger (冷面虎)
- Message from Space (宇宙からのメッセージ)
- Prison Walls: Abashiri Prison I-III:
- Abashiri Prison (網走番外地)
- Abashiri Prison: Saga of Homesickness (網走番外地 望郷篇)
- Another Abashiri Prison Story (続・網走番外地)
- A Queen’s Ransom (鱷潭群英會)
- Samurai Wolf I & II:
- Samurai Wolf (牙狼之介)
- Samurai Wolf II (牙狼之介 地獄斬り)
- The Skyhawk (黃飛鴻少林拳)
- Slaughter In San Francisco (黃面老虎)
- Super Spies and Secret Lies: Three Undercover Classics from Shaw Brothers:
- Angel with the Iron Fists (鐵觀音)
- The Golden Buddha (金菩薩)
- The Singing Thief (大盜歌王)
- The Sword (名劍)
- The Swordsman of All Swordsman:
- The Mystery of Chess Boxing (雙馬連環)
- The Swordsman of All Swordsmen (一代劍王)
- Time and Tide (順流逆流)
- The Valiant Red Peony I-III:
- Red Peony Gambler (緋牡丹博徒)
- Red Peony Gambler 2: Gambler’s Obligation (緋牡丹博徒 一宿一飯)
- Red Peony Gambler 3: The Flower Cards Game (緋牡丹博徒 花札勝負)
- When Taekwondo Strikes:
- The Best of the Martial Arts Films
- When Taekwondo Strikes (跆拳震九州)
- Wolves, Pigs and Men (狼と豚と人間)
- Yakuza Wolf 1 & 2:
- Yakuza Wolf: I Perform Murder (狼やくざ 殺しは俺がやる)
- Yakuza Wolf 2: Extend my Condolences (狼やくざ 葬いは俺が出す)
Rows #4-6: Third Window Films
Next on the final three rows of the shelf is our entire Third Window Films collection excluding the limited edition digipack sets that have been shown earlier. This collection is almost their entire Blu-ray slate but I do have backlog of titles yet to be picked up. There’s also one Terracotta Distribution Blu-ray which I’ve bundled with this distributor.
New Additions for Third Window Films (Blu-ray):
- The Crazy Family (逆噴射家族)
- Fires on the Plain (野火)
- Love Hotel (ラブホテル)
- Luminous Woman (光る女)
- Mad Cats (MAD CATS)
- River (リバー、流れないでよ)
- Shadow of Fire (ほかげ)
- Vital (ヴィタール)
The Bookshelf for Manga & Novels
Row #1: Miscellaneous
Next we take a look at our bookshelf on the side that’s dedicated to the manga, light novels and artbooks. Now the layout has had some tweaks to make room for future volumes related to Seven Seas and Viz Media but for the most part it’s similar to previous years.
Starting off with the first row located right at the top, we have our large-sized books as well as any miscellaneous volumes that don’t fit with the rest of the shelf. Included here is a large-sized Vertical manga, large-sized Yen Press manga, a couple anime books, Abroad in Japan book, the Junji Ito manga collection, a few Yen Press omnibus manga, Kodansha Comics‘ hardcover manga volume, two Vertical light novel volumes and The Quintessential Quintiplets manga box sets.
In front of those books we also have Chobits Dark Horse omnibus volumes, and larger-sized Viz Media manga books. No new volumes this time around.
Row #2: Seven Seas’ Airship + J-Novel Club + Viz Media Light Novel
On the next row we have our collection of light novels from distributors Seven Seas via their Airship label, J-Novel Club and a single volume from Viz Media.
Due to focusing more on the manga side, there’s been no new updates here this time around.
Row #3: Yen Press’ Yen On
On the third row, we have our collection of light novels from the distributor Yen Press via their Yen On label. I re-arranged the layout so that the hardcover books start off the row followed by the paperback volumes.
Again, similarly to before, there’s been no new updates here this time around.
Rows #4-5: Viz Media + Kodansha Comics + Yen Press
On the fourth and fifth rows comes our manga collection from distributors Viz Media, Kodansha Comics and Yen Press. There’s been no new updates for the latter two but I have added more volumes for the former thanks to Travelling Man’s 3 for 2 offering on their Shonen Jump and Shonen Sunday titles.
New Additions for Viz Media (Shonen Jump, Shonen Sunday):
- Blue Exorcist – Volumes 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 & 13
- Chainsaw Man – Volumes 12, 13, 14 & 15
- Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – Volume 10
- Jujutsu Kaisen – Volumes 18, 19 & 20
- Komi Can’t Communicate – Volumes 8 & 9
- Mashle: Magic & Muscles – Volumes 14 & 15
Rows #6-7: Seven Seas & Ghost Ship + Dark Horse
On the sixth and seventh rows we have our Seven Seas manga collection, including their mature label Ghost Ship for the raunchy series. Because I’ve been focusing more on Viz Media and other mediums I’ve not picked up as many manga volumes as I had wanted, but I did make sure to grab some as well as include any new additions that had my interest.
Also bundled with these lot is the sci-fi series Gantz from Dark Horse. No new updates here but I do want to finish off this omnibus collection as soon as possible.
New Additions for Seven Seas & Ghost Ship:
- 2.5 Dimensional Seduction – Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6
- The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You – Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6
- Booty Royale: Never Go Down Without a Fight! – Omnibus 5
- Do You Like Big Girls? – Volumes 5, 6, 7 & 8
- Hitomi-chan is Shy with Strangers – Volumes 6 & 7
- Who Wants to Marry a Billionaire? – Volumes 6 & 7
- World’s End Harem – Volumes 13, 14, 15 & 16
- World’s End Harem: Fantasia – Volumes 8, 9, 10 & 11
Rows #8-9: Viz SIGNATURE + Yen Press + One Volume from Seven Seas
And on the final two rows of the shelf we have our larger-sized volumes from Viz Media with their mature label Viz SIGNATURE‘s manga titles plus the larger-sized volumes from Seven Seas and Yen Press.
Viz SIGNATURE is probably my favourite label due to having titles that are not for everyone, though they do take a lot of space because of their height and volumes here and there have ended up selling out which makes it harder to complete. I have added some volumes but this year was mostly focused towards their smaller-sized Shonen Jump selections.
Same situation goes for Yen Press as there are a few titles that I would like to collect but it’s down to space issues and stock.
New Additions for Viz Media (Viz SIGNATURE):
- Goodbye, Eri
- Trillion Game – Volumes 1 & 2
The Bookshelves for Video Games (feat. Radiance Films)
Next we have our brand new bookshelves for the video game collection. Now a few things to note is that a few console formats have been relocated because I want this shelf to focus more on the modern platforms, so any titles released for the PlayStation, PlayStation Vita or Nintendo DS & 3DS are in another spot. I won’t be showcasing those here since they have no updates.
This shelf covers PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Gamecube, Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360 as well as some artbooks from Bitmap Books and some large-sized collector’s editions.
I also have Radiance Films positioned on this shelf because of space issues as well, so it is out of place but works for now.
Row #0: Bitmap Books + Miscellaneous
Starting with the top row we have our Bitmap Books collection as well as various collector’s editions for various platforms. I have also placed a few duplicates of some anime on the corner as I couldn’t figure out where to place them, and my Japanese PlayStation Vita collection is located here just to have some visibility on the shelf.
New Additions for Bitmap Books (Books):
- Nintendo 64: A Visual Compendium
Rows #1R-2R: PlayStation 3
On the first two rows on the right-hand side of the corner, we have our PlayStation 3 collection which has seen a slight increase in titles. I have 109 physical games located here for the platform (with 30 Japanese imports positioned in a different spot on the shelf). There’s a bit of an overlap so I have yet to decide how to re-position the titles if I decide to pickup any more.
New Additions for PlayStation 3:
- MotorStorm
- Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
- Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
- Spec Ops: The Line
- Tekken 6
- Tekken Tag Tournament 2
Rows #1L-2L: Japanese PlayStation 3 & 4 Imports
On the first two rows on the left-hand side, is our Japanese Import collection for both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, a total of 30 and 21 games respectively. No new updates here because a lot of the imports have either been localised in the west or received an English release over in Asia.
Rows #3R-6R: PlayStation 4
On the third row all the way to the sixth row on the right-hand side is our PlayStation 4 collection. I have 192 physical games located here for the platform (with the 21 Japanese imports positioned in a different spot on the shelf).
Expect this collection to slow down much like this past year with the focus mainly towards PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch, but I will grab a game or two if its of any particular interest.
New Additions for PlayStation 4:
- Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess
- Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen
- Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends
- My Hero One’s Justice
- My Hero One’s Justice 2
- One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows
Rows #3L-5L: PlayStation 5
On the third to fifth row on the left-hand side is our PlayStation 5 collection. I have 70 physical games located here for the platform with a lot of new updates throughout the year.
It’s weird to say this but we’re already half-way through this generation for the console and while the games released have been interesting, it’s not as strong as I had expected. There’s also the fact that not every game is getting a release in physical form, plus there’s some releases that were best suited for the Nintendo Switch or the games themselves just are too expensive to grab early on.
New Additions for PlayStation 5:
- Alan Wake II
- Astro Bot
- Beyond Good & Evil 20th Anniversary Edition
- FANTAVISION 202X
- Fate/Samurai Remnant
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
- Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade
- Granblue Fantasy: Relink
- HUMANITY
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak
- Like a Dragon: Ishin!
- Metaphor: ReFantazio
- Neptunia Game Maker Revolution
- Persona 3 Reload
- Persona 5 Royal
- Persona 5 Tactica
- Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance
- System Shock
- Tetris Effect Connected
- Thumper
- Tomb Raider I-III Remastered
- Unicorn Overlord
- Visions of Mana
- Ys X: Nordics
Rows #6L-8L: Nintendo Switch
Next on the sixth to eighth row on the left-hand side is our Nintendo Switch collection. I have 88 physical games located here for the platform with a lot of new updates throughout the year, some of them are among the rarest that I’ve ever picked up which was pure luck on my part.
Nintendo will eventually be unveiling and releasing their next-gen console but they have confirmed that it will be backwards compatible with the Nintendo Switch thankfully. Just like before, this physical collection is more geared towards their first-party selection as well as third-party selection from specific genres like visual novels, shoot ’em ups and retro.
New Additions for Nintendo Switch:
- Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp
- Akai Katana Shin
- Anonymous;Code
- Another Code: Recollection
- Balatro
- Capcom Belt Action Collection [カプコン ベルトアクション コレクション]
- Capcom Fighting Collection
- Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
- Castle of Shikigami 2
- Castlevania Advance Collection
- Chaos Double Pack: Chaos;Head Noah & Chaos;Child
- Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition
- Clock Tower Rewind
- Code of Princess EX
- Cosmic Fantasy Collection
- Cruis’n Blast
- Cursed to Golf
- Deathsmiles I & II
- Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
- EXZEUS The Collection
- Fire Emblem Engage
- Fire Emblem Warriors
- Getsufumaden: Undying Moon
- Grandia HD Collection
- Hatsune Miku: Logic Paint S
- The House in Fata Morgana
- The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
- Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection Arcade Classics
- Paper Mario: The Origami King
- Persona 3 Portable
- Persona 4 Golden
- Quake II
- Radiant Silvergun
- Record of Agarest War
- SaGa Frontier Remastered
- Signalis
- Super Mario Maker 2
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Telenet Shooting Collection
- Toaplan Arcade Garage: Kyukyoku Tiger-Heli
- Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE
- Tokyo Xanadu eX+
- Triangle Strategy
- Tsukihime: A Piece of Blue Glass Moon
- Valis: The Fantasm Soldier Collection III
- The World Ends With You: Final Remix
- Yoshi’s Crafted World
Rows #6L-8L: Nintendo Gamecube + Nintendo Wii + PlayStation 2
Behind the Nintendo Switch games on the same rows are my Nintendo Gamecube, Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 2 physical collection. Now normally I just ignore these but not only have I decided to showcase these here again in this annual update, but I also added a few more games to the PlayStation 2 collection out of nowhere.
New Additions for PlayStation 2:
- The Bouncer
- Dynasty Warriors 2
- Kengo: Master of Bushido
Rows #7L-8L: Xbox 360
On the seventh and eighth rows is my Xbox 360 collection. I have 101 physical games located here for the platform. Although there’s been no updates to this collection, I may add some more here and there with the prices of these physical games slowly going up due to the Xbox 360 Store closing and Microsoft moving further away from physical media for their Xbox brand.
Rows #7L-8L: Radiance Films
In front of the Xbox 360 collection on the seventh and eighth rows is my Radiance Films collection, the only non-video game related portion on my shelf. On the seventh row are the limited edition non-rigid box releases and on the eighth row are the limited edition rigid box releases.
This collection continues where we left off previously with the focus not only towards Asian Cinema but also for European Cinema. Now I did start off the year buying a lot of backlog but to avoid oversaturation I have toned down the priority for European films to specific titles that grab my interest the most, so I will ignore certain releases here and there.
New Additions for Radiance Films:
- The Agitator: Three Provocations from the Wild World of Jean-Pierre Mocky:
- Agent Trouble
- Kill the Referee (À mort l’arbitre)
- Litan: The City of Green Ghosts (Litan: La cité des spectres verts)
- Allonsanfàn
- Black Tight Killers (俺にさわると危ないぜ)
- The Bounty Hunter Trilogy:
- Bounty Hunter: Eight Men to Kill (賞金首 一瞬八人斬り)
- Bounty Hunter: The Fort of Death (五人の賞金稼ぎ)
- Bounty Hunter: Killer’s Mission (賞金稼ぎ)
- The Bride Wore Black (La Mariée était en noir)
- By A Man’s Face Shall You Know Him (男の顔は履歴書)
- Daiei Gothic – Japanese Ghost Stories:
- The Bride from Hades (牡丹燈籠)
- The Ghost of Yotsuya (四谷怪談)
- The Snow Woman (怪談雪女郎)
- The Dead Mother (La madre muerta)
- Dogra Magra (ドグラ・マグラ)
- The End of Civilization: Three Films by Piotr Szulkin:
- Ga-Ga: Glory to the Heroes (Ga, Ga. Chwała bohaterom)
- O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization (O-Bi, O-Ba. Koniec cywilizacji)
- War of the Worlds: Next Century (Wojna światów – następne stulecie)
- Fill ‘Er Up with Super (Le Plein de Super)
- Goodbye & Amen (L’uomo della CIA)
- The Horrible Dr Hichcock (L’orribile segreto del Dr. Hichcock)
- I, The Executioner (みな殺しの霊歌)
- Le combat dans l’ile
- The Man on the Roof (Mannen på taket)
- Planet of the Vampires (Terrore nello spazio)
- Red Sun (Rote Sonne)
- The Shape of Night (夜の片鱗)
- Shinobi Trilogy:
- Shinobi: A Band of Assassins (忍びの者)
- Shinobi: Resurrection (新・忍びの者)
- Shinobi: Revenge (続・忍びの者)
- The Sting of Death (死の棘)
- A Story Written with Water (水で書かれた物語)
- Suzhou River (苏州河)
- Sympathy for the Underdog (博徒外人部隊)
- Tattooed Life (刺青一代)
- Tchao Pantin
- Tony Arzenta: Big Guns
- A Woman Kills (La Femme Bourreau)
- World Noir Vol. 2:
- Black Gravel (Schwarzer Kies)
- Cruel Gun Story (拳銃残酷物語)
- Symphony for a Massacre (Symphonie pour un massacre)
And that concludes the 12th otaku collection update, also known as the 2024 otaku collection update!
2024 has been the biggest year for pickups to date. Because of how much overtime I’ve done at work, there was plenty of room to grab a variety of titles for each medium. The books side hasn’t been focused as much, but there was so much anime, Asian films, video games and some European films here and there that took priority. Going into 2025, I do expect fewer pickups during the latter half of the year as I want to shift things around if I can.
In terms of spending, last year I mentioned that my spending was rather unstable, well this year it’s been handled much better and I was able to increase my savings without taking money out too much. This was mostly thanks to the overtime and pay increases that I received, but again I do intend to make sure this is handled in the same manner going into the new year. With the costs going up, I want to be more tactical on how to manage to variety of releases incoming.
As a reminder, a lot of my hauls are bought during sales or discounts and if I do pre-order it’s often at a discounted level that’s at a suitable range. At the end of the day, these mediums are a luxury and I may as well make use of them whilst I have the opportunity, especially later down the line they will eventually increase in value that would make it much harder to secure.
Forwarding services has helped make importing much easier to manage and has allowed me to essentially buy more titles because of it, as it saved cost with shipping and make use of discounts that I hadn’t accessed previously.
The anime collection will grow as you would expect, with a focus towards Discotek Media and AnimEigo for the quality titles whilst Crunchyroll UK and Sentai Filmworks will have some titles here and there that I want to own. Anime Limited will be toned down on the collector’s edition side of things as I’m not particularly happy with their output as of late but I will still pick up their titles that I am aware of that make the most sense to own. Everything else will be shifted to standard editions or other versions of the show.
As mentioned earlier, the video game collecting will be focused more on PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch, but I do intend to go after Nintendo’s new console once that has been released as the backwards compatibility will benefit the backlog. There will be imports from North America and Asia here and there as a lot of physical releases in Europe are non-existent or out of print/more expensive to secure.
Here’s an overall shot of most of the collection:
The Normanic Vault 
Leave a comment