The Irregular at Magic High School: Visitor Arc (Limited Edition Blu-ray) Unboxing

The Irregular at Magic High School: Visitor Arc (魔法科高校の劣等生来訪者編, Mahōka Kōkō no Rettōsei: Raihōsha-hen), also known as Mahouka Season 2, is a 2020 television anime series based on Tsutomu Satou’s light novel series of the same name with illustrator Kana Ishida, and the second season to the 2014 anime series The Irregular at Magic High School. The series was directed by Risako Yoshida and produced by studio Eight Bit, with script writer Munemasa Nakamoto, character designer Kana Ishida and music composer Taku Iwasaki. The series first aired in Japan in October 2020.

Background:

“”A battle between the most powerful brother and sister duo and the undefeated visitor”

October 31, 2095. The southernmost tip of the Korean Peninsula was annihilated by an unidentified Strategic-Class magic. Known as “Scorched Halloween,” this day marked the arrival of a new Strategic-Class magician who would shake up the world. Sensing an impending crisis, the USNA secretly deploys Stars–the most powerful magician unit in the world–in a desperate attempt to uncover the truth about the unidentified Strategic-Class magic and the magician who used it.

Approximately two months later, on December 24, as people bustle about the city decorated with Christmas lights, Tatsuya and his friends gather at Cafe Einebrise for Shizuku’s farewell party before she leaves for a three month trip to America as an exchange student. According to her, a girl about her age will be entering Magic High School as her visiting counterpart. Meanwhile, at the USNA Stars’ base, a girl prepares to go undercover to investigate First High School. Her name is Angelina Kudou Shields. She is the youngest person in the history of Stars to become commander, and as the USNA’s most powerful magician she wields the Strategic-Class magic known as Heavy Metal Burst.”
Plot Synopsis via Aniplex of America, November 2021.

Five years after the first season aired and two years after producing an original anime film, Aniplex and Dengeki Bunko announced plans to produce a second season for The Irregular at Magic High School after all this time during their light novel festival event, an event dedicated to covering Dengeki Bunko’s projects (which is the light novel publishing label who handled the source material’s release in Japan).

The Irregular at Magic High School: Visitor Arc adapts the Visitor Arc storyline which covers volumes 9-11 of the light novel material and takes place directly after the events of the previous three arcs that were covered in the first season so anime-only fans won’t be losing out on any important story details. In addition, Eight Bit and the team who worked on the original film, all return to continue work on the adaptation including some members who were involved with the first season’s production including original character designer Kana Ishida, script writer Munemasa Nakamoto and music composer Taku Iwasaki.

Aniplex of America once again acquired the rights for United States and Canada, but this time moving forward they also secured the rights for the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Allowing other English speaking territories to be able to watch the series during simulcast legally on Funimation (which at the time handled the Aniplex titles and English dub versions), though the previous season and film is unavailable.

If that wasn’t crazy enough news, Aniplex of America also decided to produce an English dub for this season with Bang Zoom! which Funimation announced for their simuldub run. After Crunchyroll was acquired by Sony, Funimation merged with Crunchyroll and the series continued streaming from there. I’ve heard clips of the dub and I think it sounds pretty good so far.

Limited Edition Contents:

The limited edition release for The Irregular at Magic High School: Visitor Arc is more in-line with the three-volume release format of the first season compared to the complete series Blu-ray box set.

The limited edition Blu-ray release is presented with an o-card slipcase, an Amaray case housing the discs, and a 38-page special booklet featuring character designs and information focusing on the cast of characters who appear in this season.

The o-card slipcase artwork has information and specs on the back cover. Aniplex are fairly random when it comes to presenting their specs, they either use a o-card strip or just shove them on the back cover. The limited edition Blu-ray set was released for an SRP of $159.98.

I acquired a bundle of The Irregular at Magic High School releases altogether from a private seller for a similar price to what would it cost to purchase them altogether from the Crunchyroll Store (excluding postage).

Physical Contents:

O-Card Slipcase with clean artwork on the front & side, information on the back
Amaray case packaging
38-page Special Booklet

On-Disc Contents:

Distributor: Aniplex of America
Released: 30th November 2021

The limited edition Blu-ray release for The Irregular at Magic High School: Visitor Arc contains the complete season, all 13 episodes, across three Blu-ray discs, which was authored and encoded by Aniplex of America.

The set includes the original Japanese audio with English subtitles and the Bang Zoom! English dub commissioned by Aniplex of America with optional English subtitles for the on-screen text.

The white subtitles are unlockable during playback, and the Blu-ray discs are region accessible to players set to A & B.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages	Japanese, English
Audio	Japanese Linear PCM 2.0 English Linear PCM 2.0
Video	1080p High Definition Native format 1.78:1 aspect ratio
Region	A B
Subtitles	English, English (On-Screen Text)
Locked Subtitles	No
Discs	3 BD-50s

Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:

Disc 1:

Web Previews:
- #01 (00:32 runtime)
- #02 (00:32 runtime)
- #03 (00:32 runtime)
- #04 (00:32 runtime)
- #05 (00:32 runtime)
Trailers and Commercials:
- Teaser (01:26 runtime)
- Trailer 1 (01:36 runtime)
- Trailer 2 (01:48 runtime)
- TV Spot (00:17 runtime)
- TV Commercial 1 (00:17 runtime)
- TV Commercial 2 (00:17 runtime)
- Vol. 1 Commercial (00:33 runtime)
- Series Commercial (00:17 runtime)

Disc 2:

Textless Opening “Howling”
Textless Ending “Na mo Nai Hana”
Web Previews:
- #06 (00:32 runtime)
- #07 (00:32 runtime)
- #08 (00:32 runtime)
- #09 (00:32 runtime)