The Normanic Vault

Otaku Collection Haul for August 2026

Welcome to the Otaku Collection haul for the month of August 2026. This update features 15 anime releases, 5 physical video games, 8 live-action Asian Cinema releases and 3 live-action World Cinema releases plus 1 digital game and 4 other live-action releases.

For this haul, a couple delayed July pre-orders landed in this month, more US anime pickups including those from Aniplex and Sentai Filmworks, and a few more PlayStation 3 games acquired due to the impending store closure and FOMO going on.

Naruto Shippuden Set 2

We’re starting off the month with a very quick order. Just before the early bird concluded I ordered it whilst I was at work and about an hour later they shipped it out, I guess not many people bought it. Anyway this is Naruto Shippuden Set 2 which is the collector’s edition version of Volume 6, covering episodes 126-150 of the series. I don’t yet own Volumes 2-5 because there’s no limited edition variants for the sets so that means I don’t need to rush out to grab them right away.

In terms of the unboxing side of things, my plan is to hold out for Sets 3 & 4 as well as the rest of the volumes before covering all of them together. Bleach was a different case because those sets had more to offer on their box sets.

Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls

The latest fighting game from Arc System Works is a Marvel property! Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls caught my interest the moment it was announced and after playing it (sometime after going through the inFAMOUS games) it’s very fun. The control scheme is interesting because pulling off basic combo moves can result in special attacks being unleashed pretty early which I’m not sure if I’m a big fan of, but at the same time it does make you rethink how you want to attack your opponent and be strategic so that you can save your best special attacks for the right moment.

I’ll be going over more of my thoughts on the game in the Video Games that I Played post at the end of the year, but it’s looking good so far. Whilst many would have hoped for Capcom to produce another crossover, I’m open to see another Japan style Marvel fighting game which is what we have here, especially with the anime style designs of the roster.

Another reason I pre-ordered the game is because it was also part of The Game Collection’s 3x reward points line-up which is their new version of the £10 reward scheme which means fewer points but still more than a regular offering.

Once a Thief & Operation Scorpio

Next we have a new package from the Terracotta store which is not the July pre-orders that were delayed (thanks to 88 Films’ Shawscope Triple Feature which slipped from its end of July date to early August window). Instead we have two August pre-orders that I ordered together to ensure I had a copy sooner than later, and they both arrived ahead of their release date.

From Arrow Video we have John Woo’s 1991 film Once a Thief (縱橫四海) on 4K Ultra HD. This is the latest release from the Golden Princess deal presented in an o-card slipcase this time around compared to the previous John Woo films but still includes a booklet. The film stars Chow Yun-Fat (Hard Boiled), Leslie Cheung (Farewell My Concubine), Cherie Chung Cho-Hung (Peking Opera Blues), Paul Chu Kong (The Killer) and Kenneth Tsang (Police Story 3: Supercop).

From 88 Films we have David Lai Tai-Wai’s 1992 film Operation Scorpio (蠍子戰士) on Blu-ray, also known as The Scorpion King in some regions. This film I haven’t heard of before but sounded intriguing and includes a teaser for Won Jin’s Jump Senior (떴다! 어르신). The packaging also returns to their US slim black case style treatment but combined with a slipcase that uses a J-Ring format. The film stars Chin Ka-Lok (Drunken Master II), Won Jin (Women on the Run), Lau Kar-leung (The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter), Frankie Chan Chi-Leung (Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky) and May Lo Mei-Wei (Hard Boiled II: The Last Blood).

The Killer Extended Cut Replacement Disc

Here we have something that honestly I had lost hope considering how messy Arrow Video’s customer service has been for various folks – this is the replacement disc for John Woo’s The Killer Extended Cut (Disc 3 of the limited edition release).

For context, the original disc can be played but the functionality wouldn’t work. In other words, you couldn’t pause, couldn’t rewind, couldn’t stop the film etc. Like how on earth did that pass through quality control. Considering the disc was exclusive to the limited edition, I wanted to make sure I got the fixed version before it was too late. The disc was always Blu-ray only (whilst the main feature is in 4K) so anyone who ordered either format can still request a replacement.

I ordered the set from Terracotta and was able to get the details over to Arrow’s customer service but they didn’t tell me it was passed over to their list to sort out. Only discovered it was approved when I got an email from Arrow saying it had been dispatched this past week.

The Boxer, The Double & The Hourglass Sanatorium

Next we have the July pre-order bundle from Radiance Films, only this time three of the four have arrived. Originally planned to appear last month, there were production delays on half of the items and while one of them arrived recently over at their headquarters, the other (Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘Histoire(s) du cinéma and other works’) was still delayed so the distributor decided it was best to ship out what’s already available and get the other out as soon as it’s sorted.

From Japan, Shūji Terayama’s 1977 film The Boxer (ボクサー) on Blu-ray. The film stars Bunta Sugawara (Battles Without Honor and Humanity), Kentarō Shimizu (Mermaid Legend), Masumi Harukawa (Tokyo Pop), Hiroko Isayama (Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41) and Juro Kara (Diary of a Shinjuku Thief).

From Italy, Romolo Guerrieri’s 1971 film The Double (La controfigura) on Blu-ray. The film stars Ewa Aulin (Candy), Jean Sorel (Rosa la rose, fille publique), Lucia Bosè (The Legend of Blood Castle), Silvano Tranquilli (The Horrible Dr. Hichcock) and Sergio Doria (Death Smiles on a Murderer).

From Poland, Wojciech Has’ 1973 film The Hourglass Sanatorium (Sanatorium pod Klepsydrą) on 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray. The film stars Jan Nowicki (O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization), Tadeusz Kondrat (The Doll), Irena Orska (The Dancing Hawk), Filip Zylber (Coyote’s Morning) and Halina Kowalska (I Hate Mondays).

Terracotta Store July Pre-Orders Haul

I’ve mentioned it before that Terracotta Store have been my go-to for pre-orders in general for Asian Cinema, namely because they reminded me of Rightstuf when it came to packaging and delivery. This haul consists of titles that were released in July, however one of them was delayed to early August so I had to wait a bit longer. It didn’t help that there was another item that sold out in advance so I wasn’t sure if my copy was reserved or not given the timing.

Starting off with the 88 Films titles. The first is a Japanarchy release with Fumihiko Sori’s 2002 film Ping Pong (ピンポン) which is based on the Taiyō Matsumoto manga which as most of you would know was also adapted into an anime by Tatsunoko Production and Masaaki Yuasa.

The film stars Yosuke Kubozuka (GO), Arata Iura (Air Doll), Sam Lee (Made in Hong Kong), Shido Nakamura (Death Note) and Koji Ohkura (St. John’s Wort). The Japanarchy release includes a Scanavo package with an obi-strip, reversible cover and booklet.

Next is a Category III release but also the first in this sub-range to be released on 4K Ultra HD – Lam Nai-Choi’s 1991 film Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (力王), based on a Japanese manga by Masahiko Takajo. This is a very fun film and I’m happy to upgrade this one especially as 88 Films have once again done their own 4K restoration (their previous Blu-ray release was also an improvement over the other releases in the past).

The film stars Louis Fan Siu-Wong (Ip Man), Fan Mei-Sheng (The Young Master), William Ho (Prison on Fire), Gloria Yip Wan-Yee (The Cat) and Yukari Ôshima (Iron Angels). The film already received a deluxe collector’s edition Blu-ray release so for this re-release we have a double-sided o-card slipcase cover artwork with a J-card for logos/specs and a double-sided poster.

And then we have a Shaw Brothers 88 Asia release but the first to be in a rigid box collection. Shawscope Triple Feature offers three films; Chang Cheh’s 1980 film Two Champions of Shaolin (少林與武當) starring Chiang Sheng (The Five Venoms), Lo Meng (Ip Man films), Candy Man (Devil Hunters), Wong Lik (Five Element Ninjas) and Sun Chien (The Five Venoms); Tong Kai’s 1982 film Shaolin Prince (少林傳人) starring Ti Lung (A Better Tomorrow), Derek Yee Tung-Sing (The Sentimental Swordsman), Jason Pai Piao (Killer Constable), Ku Feng (Magnificent Warriors) and Chan Shen (Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan); and Tong Kai’s 1983 film Shaolin Intruders (三闖少林) starring Derek Yee Tung-Sing, Lau Yuk-Pok (Secret Service of the Imperial Court), Jason Pai Piao, Phillip Ko Fai (The Boxer’s Omen) and Chan Shen.

For this release we have a rigid box housing Scanavo cases and double sided posters for each film. The distributor hinted there’s more box sets like this so I’m curious to see what they have to offer. What’s notable for this collection is that they were included in Shout Factory’s Shaw Brothers Classics Volume 4 and there’s dozens of titles that 88 Films can bring over here.

Next we have an Arrow Video release which features two films together in one set both starring Reiko Ike (Terrifying Girls’ High School). Norifumi Suzuki’s 1973 film Sex & Fury (不良姐御伝 猪の鹿お蝶) also starring Christina Lindberg (The Kyoto Connection), Akemi Negishi (Lady Snowblood), Ryōko Ema (Terrifying Girls’ High School) and Naomi Oka (Assault! Jack the Ripper); and Teruo Ishii’s 1973 film Female Yakuza Tale (やさぐれ姐御伝 総括リンチ) also starring Makoto Aikawa, Arumi Kuri, Meika Seri (In the Realm of the Senses) and Jun Midorikawa (Aesthetics of a Bullet).

This is an interesting release because both of these films were first released on Blu-ray in the west by Discotek Media via their Nihon Nights label but I figured a UK release was going to happen at some point considering it’s the type of film that would get brought over here. For this limited edition release we have an o-card slipcase with reversible artwork and a booklet.

And another double feature release, this time from Third Window Films focused on director Chūsei Sone (Angel Guts: Red Classroom). First is the 1981 film Scars of the Sun (太陽のきずあと) starring Kenichi Kaneda (The Imperial Navy), Satoshi Sadanaga (The Legend of Sayo), Mirai Hayashi, Koji Tanaka (Yokohama BJ Blues) and Ken Ogata (The Ballad of Narayama), and the second is exclusive to this limited edition release which is his 1983 film Blow the Night! Let’s Spend the Night Together (“BLOW THE NIGHT!” 夜をぶっとばせ) starring Namie Takada, Eiji Kobayashi, Yuka Komatsu, Kazumi Kawai (The King of Minami films) and Shūichirō Moriyama (Porco Rosso).

Like the recent Toshiaki Toyoda double feature release, this one is also packaged with a Scanavo case, o-card slipcase and a small booklet and the disc was sorted from a different authoring company.

Fighting Force & Puzzle Quest Immortal Edition

Another Limited Run Games arrival and this time we have a set of remasters/re-releases in this batch.

The Fighting Force Collection is a compilation of two PlayStation classic games Fighting Force and Fighting Force 2 from developer Core Design, who also created the Tomb Raider games. Square Enix is the publisher but the IP came from Eidos Interactive. These games are not as well-regarded as the other retro games on the platform but its great to see more PlayStation games return on modern platforms, and these were also using the Carbon Engine. This is available on various platforms but I have the PlayStation 5 version since they were on the original PlayStation and I wanted to keep it consistent that way.

Next we have Puzzle Quest Immortal Edition, a remaster of various versions of the original 2007 cult classic Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords that came out on Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2 back in the day. Developed by Infinite Interactive (Warlords IV: Heroes of Etheria), this is a hybrid of two genres; tile-matching and role-playing. I’ve been aware of the game for quite some time and I figured Nintendo Switch was the best platform to play it which is also available in 60 frames per second.

Arrow Video 4K Ultra HD Pickups

Here we have four Arrow Video releases that I wanted to own sooner than later, most of them came from Rarewaves but one of them I pre-ordered from HMV.

Starting off with the Rarewaves package. The retailer is notorious for providing untracked delivery and can take weeks to arrive, but I suppose that’s what you get for their cheaper price offerings. These films have been on my radar, two of which were released in July.

Joel Schumacher’s 1993 film Falling Down starring Michael Douglas (The Game), Robert Duvall (Apocalypse Now), Barbara Hershey (Black Swan), Rachel Ticotin (Total Recall) and Tuesday Weld (Thief). I first recognised this film from the Foo Fighters music video of Run years back.

Dominic Sena’s 2001 film Swordfish starring John Travolta (Carrie), Hugh Jackman (X-Men), Halle Berry (Crime 101), Don Cheadle (Oceans Eleven) and Vinnie Jones (Survive Style 5+). This film looked like a lot of fun to watch despite its reception, and was released months ago so I figured I’ll grab the first print edition before it sells out.

William Friedkin’s 1985 film To Live and Die in L.A. starring William L. Petersen (Thief), Willem Dafoe (The Lighthouse), John Pankow (Bride Wars), Debra Feuer (Night Angel) and John Turturro (The Batman). Heard a lot of positive reception for this film so I figured I’ll own it sooner than later.

Wolfgang Petersen’s 2004 film Troy starring Brad Pitt (Bullet Train), Eric Bana (Hulk), Orlando Bloom (Kingdom of Heaven), Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds) and Brian Cox (Succession) amongst many more in the cast. So with The Odyssey being a big success, this had been receiving a lot more attention because it’s based on Homer’s Iliad which timeline wise is before the events of the Odyssey poem (though the two focus on different cast of characters from my understanding so you don’t need knowledge of the other).

I figured it’s probably going to sell out sooner than expected so I pre-ordered the 4K Ultra HD release from HMV. The film received a director’s cut that adds 30 more minutes of footage to the point where it makes this film 3 hours long, but Arrow Video’s release does include both versions on the 4K Ultra HD discs.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 1 & 2

I’ve been rewatching the Marvel films as well as playing Marvel Tokon throughout August and it’s gotten me interested in more of the Marvel video games. Now I won’t go crazy for most of the low budget games released over the years but there was a series that I wanted to check out for years but never gotten around to it and that was Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.

The first game released at launch for Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 and even though it was remastered for PlayStation 4 that version was delisted due to Activision’s license expired, I wanted to own the game so I went back to the PlayStation 3 release. For those unaware it’s an action game featuring a variety of Marvel Comics characters including Spider-Man, Captain America, Hulk, Wolverine and more, though a good number of characters were exclusive to the Xbox 360 Gold Edition and remasters. Soldier of Fortune & X-Men Legends developer Raven Software worked on this game.

I also picked up the second game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 though my copy doesn’t come with a manual. This game was developed by Vicarious Visions instead. Both games I ordered from CeX since I had vouchers to save money.

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM

It’s been two years since we last saw a new release from Anime Limited on the Gundam franchise (last one being the Mobile Suit Gundam Movie Trilogy 4K Ultra HD release) and now we have Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM also on 4K Ultra HD. This is also a combo pack and includes the English dub on both formats.

For those unfamiliar, this is one of the newest films released by Sunrise and takes place after the events of both Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED C.E. 73: Stargazer. The film was also made to celebrate the series’ 20th anniversary and it’s quite popular in Japan (whereas it’s not as well-liked internationally). Considering it was a newer title it was probably easier for Anime Limited to license compared to the back-catalogue of the franchise.

Sentai Filmworks Summer Sale Haul Part 2

In the previous collection update I ordered a bunch of anime from the Sentai Filmworks Summer Sale but I did two orders; the first of which arrived back then. This is the second order covering the remainder of what I picked up and it’s a smaller bunch considering I was consolidating it with a few other packages.

We’re starting off with a steelbook release for a newer anime series – Loner Life in Another World Season 1 from studios Hayabusa Film (From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman) and Passione (Chained Soldier Season 2) with director Akio Kazumi (From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman) which aired in October 2024. I’ve first heard about this isekai fantasy harem series thanks to Seven Seas translating the light novel early on though I never read the source material. It’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea but I will say the steelbook design looked pretty good and comes with a booklet too.

Next we have a selection of regular Blu-ray releases. First one is a re-release of theirs from years ago with My Love Story!! from studio Madhouse (Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End) and director Morio Asaka (Cardcaptor Sakura) which aired in April 2015. I watched the series during simulcast and it was a very solid romance anime. This did get released in the UK but as it’s one of the older Sentai discs it needed a bit of a polish so this re-release was handy. I am surprised that it hasn’t yet been licensed rescued in the UK.

Then we have another pretty solid addition to my collection after all of these years with the My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Collection, more commonly known for most as either Oregairu or the light novel name My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, as I Expected. This includes all three anime seasons except for the OVAs which were not licensed because it’s not as easy as you would think.

The first season My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU aired in April 2013 by studio Brain’s Base (In/Spectre) and director Ai Yoshimura (Blue Spring Ride), followed by the second season My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU TOO! airing in April 2015 which switched to a different team with studio Feel. (Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle) and director Kei Oikawa (Uma Musume: Pretty Derby), and then wrapping up the story with its third season My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Climax airing in July 2020 with the same team behind the latter.

For the record this anime series has been on my list to watch for over a decade, and part of the reason why it’s taken this long is due to legal streaming issues with UK access. Streaming service Anime on Demand had a package deal with TBS which included the first season which then carried over to another streaming service Animax UK which added the second season as well as a few others like Beyond the Boundary and Rail Wars. The third season was picked up by Sentai but the franchise as a whole is not available for streaming UK-wise. Fortunately Sentai do have the Blu-rays available. Animatsu & Manga did release the first two seasons but not the third.

Moving over to the next addition is a very old and obscure anime series nowadays with Queen Millennia from studio Toei Animation (Space Pirate Captain Harlock) and director Nobutaka Nishizawa (Sakigake!! Otoko Juku) which aired in April 1981. This Leiji Matsumoto series was made in the 1980s and came well after the likes of Captain Harlock, Space Battleship Yamato and Galaxy Express 999. Now in terms of how this Blu-ray release came to be, I believe it originated from Toei allowing European distributor KSM to pay for the HD restoration process to be done for their German release and in turn we got a nice transfer that Sentai was able to release for their Blu-ray.

And last but not least is another newer anime series with Sorairo Utility from studio Yostar Pictures (Go! Go! Loser Ranger!) and director Kengo Saitō which aired in January 2025. This original series first started off as a one-off special that aired on New Years Eve in 2021 which I did watch when it first came out. Did well enough to be turned into a series which is neat, because it’s basically about a few folks playing golf, a sport that you really don’t see being used in anime these days compared to other sport titles.

MediaOCD Haul Pickups

Continuing the anime pickups are two packages from the MediaOCD store. One of which is focused on Discotek Media and another from AnimEigo.

Starting off with the Discotek haul as it’s an interesting deep dive arrival. Since I own Galaxy Express 999, Submarine Super 99 and Arcadia of My Youth it makes logical sense to also go after Space Pirate Captain Harlock (which is also called Captain Harlock: Space Pirate), 1978 Toei Animation series adapted by director Rintarō. I would say out of all of the Leiji Matsumoto stories and characters Captain Harlock is the most well-known and it’s one that I was familiar with the first getting into anime, so it’s great to be able to watch the anime on Blu-ray for the first time. Discotek Media released the collection on Blu-ray on September 2024.

And next is a ‘how the hell did this come back’ pickup with Dancouga: Super Beast Machine God, 1985 Ashi Productions series from director Seiji Okuda. Similar to Legendary Armor Samurai Troopers this is a collection that includes the TV series but also a few OVAs as well; 1986’s Dancouga: Requiem for Victims and 1989’s Dancouga: Blazing Epilogue. It doesn’t have the 1987 OVA God Bless Dancougar though for whatever reason.

For a bit of background, this anime series was first picked up by Discotek Media for DVD back in July 2017 followed by a Blu-ray release using the second HD remaster (which various anime fans dislike as it removes the grain) on November 2020. Then in September 2022 it was declared out of print alongside GoShogun and Space Warrior Baldios. I was lucky enough to get my hands on the other two but not for this series, so to see this randomly show up on a Discotek Deep Dive batch was a whiplash to see. I suspect they must have found some stock in the Rightstuf warehouse that Crunchyroll rents which is how they were able to sell it.

Moving over to AnimEigo they were celebrating their latest announcements at Otakon and also held a mini-sale on the MediaOCD store which was neat because I missed out on their previous sale because the stock got eaten up fairly quickly. Thankfully their store exclusive slipcases seem to stay in print (at least for the time being) so I opted for a few titles. Even though I used my forwarding address I didn’t go for the US only titles because I didn’t want to cause any issues.

Two of the three sets is for Looking for the Full Moon, 2002 Studio Deen series adapted by director Toshiyuki Kato. This shoujo anime series had a pretty good reputation and AnimEigo were able to rescue the English dub that was considered missing for the second half of the show. They released the 52 episode series across two volumes.

And for an even more obscure anime I also acquired Sasuke, 1968 studio TCJ series adapted by Kazuo Otomo. I remember a clip of a dog getting blown up went viral at one point. This release also includes an English dub that pretty much came out of nowhere.

Aniplex of America Haul

A few months ago I ordered a number of Aniplex of America releases as a way to catch up on their releases. Fast-forward to now, Crunchyroll Store announced plans to lock their store exclusively to Mega Fan and Ultimate Fan tier members which means I can’t access it unless I upgrade my subscription which is pretty stupid. They at least provided a deadline so I made one more order in advance.

The most notable addition here is Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files: Rail Zeppelin Grace note, the 2019 TROYCA anime series and spin-off to the Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night series. It’s one of many Type-Moon Fate stories and pretty much the last one that I need for my collection (at least until Fate/strange fake comes out on home video at some point). Now I did try to obtain the series back in March but it sold out and I just assumed it was out of print or discontinued, but months later they eventually restocked so I ordered it as soon as I could alongside the 2021 Special Episode.

And then we have a newer anime series that I’ve very much enjoyed watching and surprised that it’s yet to be released over here yet. Mashle: Magic and Muscles Season 1 and the second season The Divine Visionary Candidate Exam Arc. The first season’s packaging mirrors the Japanese Blu-ray volumes whilst the second season is more in-line with their recent releases like Lycoris Recoil.

Histoire(s) du cinéma and other works

And the final arrival of the month just manages to ship out on time in the end. Earlier in mentioned that Radiance Films delayed a few of their titles and one of them was Histoire(s) du cinéma and other works, a collection of various short films and other works from French director Jean-Luc Godard.

This release is divided into three discs. The first disc is the main focus which is the 1988-1998 Histoire(s) du cinéma video project that ran for about 8 parts over the years. The second disc is for Scénarios, his final project that he worked on in 2024 alongside Exposé du film annonce du film « Scénario ». The third disc includes his other works; 1982’s A Letter to Freddy Buache (Lettre à Freddy Buache), 1985’s Soft and Hard, 1995’s JLG/JLG: Self-Portrait in December (JLG/JLG, autoportrait de décembre), and 2 x 50 Years of French Cinema (Deux fois cinquante ans de cinéma français), and 2004’s Moments choisis des histoire(s) du cinéma.

The limited edition release also includes a rigid box slipcase, Scanavo case and a booklet. There’s 5000 units for this release but I expect this will sell out sooner than expected.

Bonus: Asura’s Wrath DLC & inFAMOUS: Festival of Blood

One final add-on to mention for this month’s haul is that I also acquired a few more digital content for the PlayStation 3. Miraculously I did this just before the search function on the storefront broke which is impacting everyone who’s been trying to grab stuff.

Asura’s Wrath was a very fun action anime style fighting game that’s still not yet been remastered for modern platforms. It was also one of the first games I bought for the PlayStation 3 back in 2013 so I got away ahead of the FOMO rush throughout the years. However, even though I have 100% completed the base game and obtained the Platinum trophy, I haven’t played the add-on content which includes the game’s true conclusion. Thankfully Capcom still kept it available on the PSN store and I went ahead and grabbed both the Episode IV pack as well as the two one-off mini episodes that feature Street Fighter characters.

inFAMOUS: Festival of Blood is a non-canon standalone expansion to inFAMOUS 2 that focuses more on vampire powers for our main protagonist Cole. There’s no karma feature this time but it’s a short fun experience and I wanted to go for the 100% completion before the servers closed at the end of August (which will mean the trophies will be unobtainable after that point for the online content).

There’s a few more add-on content I can try and obtain, such as the epilogue for Prince of Persia and the DLC content related to Saints Row IV if I’m that desperate. It is still technically possible to manually and slowly find the add-on content despite the search function being broken but I’ll wait and see if it can be fixed. This shouldn’t impact the Japanese PS1 batch of games that I’m aiming to obtain in the coming weeks as the Japanese PSN store has all of them visible in their A-Z section compared to the UK/US storefronts.

Unboxing Links

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

What’s to Come for the Hauls

I’ve been ordering more titles but the dates have shifted for a few.

September 2026

  • Arrow Video & Toy Robot Video Pre-Orders Haul:
    • A Better Tomorrow Trilogy (Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD)
    • Ninja Wars (Limited Edition Blu-ray)
    • Raging Fire (Limited Edition Blu-ray)
    • Wicked Priest Collection (Limited Edition Blu-ray)
  • Crunchyroll UK Summer Sale Haul:
    • ARIFURETA: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest – Season 3 (Blu-ray)
    • Berserk of Gluttony (Blu-ray)
    • Gods’ Games We Play (Blu-ray)
    • The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World (Blu-ray)
    • In Another World With My Smartphone – Season 2 (Blu-ray)
    • The Strongest Magician in the Demon Lord’s Army Was a Human (Blu-ray)
  • VideoGamesPlus Haul:
    • Killing Time: Resurrected (Nintendo Switch)
    • Moon (Nintendo Switch)
    • Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties: Definitive Edition (Nintendo Switch)
  • Other Pickups:
    • Onimusha: Way of the Sword (PlayStation 5)
    • Paprika (Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray Steelbook)
    • Super Bomberman Collection (Nintendo Switch 2)
    • Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter (PlayStation 5)

October 2026

  • AnimEigo & Discotek Media Haul:
    • Hana Yori Dango (SD-BD)
    • Monster – Collection 1 (Blu-ray)
    • Sgt. Frog: The Original Movies 1-5 Collection (Blu-ray)
    • Sketchbook ~full color’s~ (Blu-ray)
    • Vampire Princess Miyu (Blu-ray)
    • Zegapain (Blu-ray)
  • Radiance Films October Pre-Order Bundle:
    • Fantastique: The Dreams and Nightmares of French Cinema (Limited Edition Blu-ray)
    • La marge (Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray)
    • The Monster (Limited Edition Blu-ray)
    • Planet of the Vampires (Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray)
    • Visitor Q (Limited Edition Blu-ray)
  • Other Pickups:
    • CONTROL Resonant (PlayStation 5)
    • Final Fantasy Resonance (PlayStation 5)

Post-October 2026

  • Other Pickups:
    • Capcom Arcade Stadium Vol. 2 (Nintendo Switch)
    • Deadlink (PlayStation 5)
    • Earnest Evans Collection (Nintendo Switch)
    • Macross II: Lovers Again (Premium Edition 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray)
    • Tenshi no Uta: The Angel Verse Collection (Nintendo Switch)

Other Tidbits

Work has been fairly quiet as of late which is very unusual but that’s due to the holiday break for one of the higher-ups and the others been pre-occupied by various live events that they needed to attend. This did mean I only had three hours of overtime which I was able to claim back to attend a hygienist appointment (which I don’t have to worry about until February now). Because I spent too much on Monzo Flex in the past couple of months I toned down my spending for the month of August which was moderately successful overall, but I didn’t estimate the fuel costs correctly so I went slightly into overdraft on one of my accounts by like a pound which I was able to amend. Pretty much had that appointment not showed up it wouldn’t have been an issue.

September is going to be a similar case though rather than having to worry about any appointments it’s travel to the cinema and back as it does eat up a bit of fuel each time. I plan to watch more films over the coming months but fuel can make or break it if its too much. Wasn’t an issue up until the past few months I’d say. That said, I was able to continue putting money into my savings for the first time in a short while which is thanks to the recent pay rise, but again let’s see how the months go by.

Also one of my shelves almost gave me a heart attack because the screws went loose. It’s been stable for the past six years and then during my time off work it just suddenly happened. Family member theorises it’s due to the screws that IKEA provides as the other two shelves next to it are much older and used a different type of screw which has been consistent. Out of fear I did re-organise my shelves just in case to see if I can adjust the weight a bit. Personally happy with the back row but the front row may need another re-organising later.

Anime Haul/Pickup Updates

Anime Limited

Anime Limited have been fairly quiet as of late. They’ll be running a sale on their website very soon which I don’t think I’ll take part on as it’s not a priority for me. Their latest pre-orders were for Her Blue Sky, which is the same packaging as the French release and I haven’t pre-ordered it because I want to know how the 4K disc and packaging turn out first, and Naruto Shippuden Volume 7 which I’m saving for later as its just a regular case.

Speaking of which I am committed to being more selective with it comes to Anime Limited’s special edition releases. I’ll still acquire the Gundam and Macross releases as well as a few big titles like Banana Fish and Blood+, but I don’t intend on going for the Studio Ghibli titles unless it’s a steelbook perhaps. This is partly due to their collector’s edition not offering much and they are taking up too much space on my shelf due to the padding.

Animego

AnimEigo revealed their next slate of releases. In November they’ll be releasing Sakon the Ventriloquist on SD-BD format, followed by Drucker in the Dugout on Blu-ray in December. In January A.D. Police, which is another title from the classic AnimEigo catalogue, will be coming back remastered for 4K Ultra HD which is really cool.

Other titles they have secured include House of Five Leaves (rescued from NIS America’s catalogue) for Blu-ray, Baby and Me for SD-BD format, Dog of Flanders – The Movie for Blu-ray (which I expect will probably ship exclusively to US like Romeo’s Blue Skies was), Ruin Explorers – Fam & Ihrie for Blu-ray, ReLIFE (both the TV & OVAs rescued from Crunchyroll’s catalogue) for Blu-ray, Antique Bakery (rescued from Nozomi’s catalogue) for Blu-ray and Welcome to Irabu’s Office on Blu-ray with a brand new English dub.

Discotek Media

Discotek Media finally ran a panel and live-stream which I believe is the first time they’ve done that since this time last year. They mentioned they had some challenges on their end which was why the Discotek Day events were delayed but what they revealed were all brand new and arriving sooner than expected.

In October they’ll be releasing The Big O: The Complete Paradigm collection (rescued from Sentai Filmworks’ catalogue) on Blu-ray, Digimon Digital Monsters – Season 4 (the English version for Digimon Frontiers, which the Japanese version is being released later) on Blu-ray, Lupin the Third Part II: The Red Jacket Adventures (a re-release of the out of print four-part DVD collections now together in one compact set) on SD-BD format (it is on Blu-ray in Japan but the upscale results weren’t well-received), Outlanders (rescued from Central Park Media’s catalogue) on Blu-ray upscaled using AstroRes, Penguindrum (rescued from Sentai Filmworks’ catalogue) on Blu-ray which is pretty much the same fixes that were on the UK release with the subtitle placements also amended for this particular release, and Toradora! (rescued from NIS America’s catalogue) on Blu-ray. A lot of license rescues which is always good considering how more anime from the 2000-2015 releases are slowly getting discontinued.

Other titles they’ve announced include Argento Soma on SD-BD format and Infinite Ryvius on Blu-ray, both of which were titles that Sentai Filmworks were originally going to release from the Bandai Sunrise deal which fell through (The Big O was also among that list as well which was the only one that had a release), and a third movie collection for Digimon which concludes the film line-up with 2002’s Digimon Frontier: Island of Lost Digimon, 2005’s Digital Monster X-Evolution and 2006’s Digimon Savers: Ultimate Power! Activate Burst Mode!! on Blu-ray since after that were the Digimon Adventure Tri films years later.

We also have another Lupin the Third release with the Koike OVA Lupin the IIIrd: Zenigata and the Two Lupins on Blu-ray with an English dub, and the remainder of the Patlabor franchise also rescued from Maiden Japan’s catalogue which includes Patlabor on Television, Patlabor the Movie 1, 2 & WXII Collection and Patlabor: The New Files on Blu-ray each.

Speaking of license rescues, two from Funimation’s catalogue are also coming back in print with Pani Poni Dash on SD-BD format (which is on Blu-ray in Japan but like Lupin Part II the video quality isn’t as good) and Tales of the Abyss on Blu-ray. And then we also have re-releases of Discotek’s previous catalogue with Memories coming to 4K Ultra HD and Samurai Pizza Cats now coming to Blu-ray in HD for the first time, the latter of which was previously released as an SD-BD title before going out of print. This time both the original Japanese version and English broadcast version will be in HD and released separately like Digimon.

My Discotek collection has grown a lot over the past few years and I am slowly getting to a point where I can comfortably say that I have caught up on the back catalogue. It’s not over yet as I still want to acquire the Mazinkaiser series and Nanoha series as well as a few other releases including Lupin the Third Part IV and Treasure Island, the latter of which has my curiosity as of late. There’s one more deep dive in September and after that whatever’s left is considered out of print in the catalogue.

Sentai FIlmworks

Sentai Filmworks were rather delayed with their next pre-order slate but they did reveal their October line-up featuring My Gift Lvl 9999 Unlimited Gacha: Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon, I’m Out for Revenge! and Sword of the Demon Hunter: Kijin Gentosho which are also being released by HIDIVE in the United Kingdom – this came out of nowhere and are priced pretty well too. If they keep the slim Blu-ray cases that would be amazing. Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling was also scheduled as well as re-releases for DanMachi Season 1 (with OVA), Devil Survivor 2, and Non Non Biyori collection.

My Sentai Filmworks collection has grown a fair bit over the years but I’m only grabbing the titles here and there. The only major collector’s edition type release I still need is DanMachi V which was released not long ago but I should be able to acquire it before the year is over. Like Discotek, their releases are very good for shelf-space so the more titles that are from Sentai the better it is for my collection too.

Crunchyroll

And of course we can’t ignore the fact that Crunchyroll have now restricted access to their online store to those who have either the Mega Fan or Ultimate Fan tier subscription. I only have the Fan tier so I’m locked out. It’s a pretty big deal because the Aniplex of America releases are stuck behind this storefront so I want to grab more of the titles I’ll need to upgrade my subscription to do so.

At this point I do think it’s worth comfortably saying that the days of picking up limited editions from Crunchyroll are pretty much over unless its a steelbook. Not only have they not bothered to continue shows that they’ve released in that format, like Dr. STONE and The Rising of the Shield Hero, but they’ve been releasing fewer and fewer titles when their catalogue has grown massively. It’s clear that Sony is prioritising their streaming platform over home video so hopefully the back catalogue will be rescued by other distributors in the coming years.

At least on the UK side, Suzume is finally coming to 4K Ultra HD and the Sailor Moon series is now being released one by one at a time, though I don’t want to own stacked disc steelbook sets. Also worth mentioning that Haikyu!! also managed to get released in the UK in its entirety now that Seasons 3 & 4 were scheduled.

I’ve ordered six more titles from the Crunchyroll UK sale and there are dozens of others that I also want to own but it’s all about timing due to the prices being offered. The US side is pretty much either out of print or received UK counterparts already which is such a strange feeling to see considering over the years I’ve always imported the US sets whenever possible. Looking back at my collection I do regret sticking solely to the limited editions as I didn’t consider shelf-space at the time and they don’t really hold much value outside of artwork on the case, though when they shifted the model around 2016 or so they did get better. The problem is that I can’t replace these shows with standard editions because they’re all out of print now. In my defence back then, the future was unpredictable.

Asian Cinema Haul/Pickup Updates

88 Films

88 Films have revealed their October & November slates but the former has a few Hong Kong titles starring Sammo Hung; Sammo Hung’s The Owl Vs Bumbo and Ricky Lau & Philip Chan Yan-Kin’s Where’s Officer Tuba which are in the same packaging style as Operation Scorpio. They do have a few more for United States but Eureka are releasing them over here. I have yet to pre-order Sex and the Emperor as I wasn’t sure if it was going to ship on time in September considering they tend to have delays.

Arrow Video

Arrow Video also revealed their October & November slates and there’s a solid selection of films on the way. In October we have another Golden Princess release with Tony Ching Siu-Tung’s A Chinese Ghost Story Trilogy and it’s on 4K Ultra HD this time whereas the Shout! Factory release was on Blu-ray. In November there’s a new Shaw Brothers collection that isn’t following the ShawScope volume model called Street Gangs of Hong Kong featuring seven films from directors Chang Cheh, Kuei Chih-hung, Sun Chung, Chor Yuen and Hua Shan.

I suspect they didn’t have enough films to produce a Volume 5 release or they decided to separate it from their next themed set. Also in November are two martial arts Golden Harvest films in one set with Teddy Yip Wing-Cho’s The Blade Spares None and Lo Wei’s The Hurricane. I’ve still not yet pre-ordered these sets but there’s plenty of time to do so.

Toy Robot Video

Also worth mentioning there’s a new label related to Arrow Video called Toy Robot Video and their selection is not drastically different to Arrow. I’ve got two of their releases due September pre-ordered already which are Kōsei Saitō’s Ninja Wars and Norifumi Suzuki’s Roaring Fire. Junya Satō’s Manhunt is scheduled for October followed by Jung Woo-sung’s A Man of Reason and Kaizo Hayashi’s Zipang in November which I have yet to order. Their release model is also different to Arrow’s where they don’t offer booklets but do include slipcases and art cards. Not sure what else is on the way from Asia but the fact that they have a Korean film gives me the assumption they may be going beyond just Japan and Hong Kong for their catalogue.

Eureka Entertainment

Eureka also revealed their October & November slates. There’s a three-part set Ghouls Gone Wild that includes Lau Kar-wing’s Scared Stiff, Jeffrey Lau’s The Haunted Cop Shop and Chiu Chung-Hing’s Magic of Spell which I reckon will sell out at a faster pace than the other releases and I’ve yet to order it funny enough (same with the Cruel Tales Of The Bohachi set).

Then in November we have a 4K Ultra HD limited edition set for Sammo Hung’s Wheels on Meals. I missed out on the Blu-ray’s first print edition when it first came out but to see this set it’s a second chance to get a nicer set.

Radiance Films

Takashi Miike’s Visitor Q is out this October and his other film Gozu arriving later down the line which is awesome. I have the October bundle pre-ordered as there was enough on offer to grab my interest. In November comes Radical Japan: Survival and Desire – Six Films by Shohei Imamura, which is an interesting box set because three of the films are also in 4K Ultra HD and four of the films were also previously released by Eureka Entertainment way early on in their Masters of Cinema range so we’ll have updated masters here and presumably a revised translation. And yes I have this one pre-ordered as soon as possible because the first Radical Japan box set sold out fairly fast.

Third Window Films

Third Window have been fairly quiet but they a couple more releases on their way this September & October. Previously they teased a double feature obscure J-Horror set and they revealed it to be Hirohisa Sasaki’s Crazy Lips and Gore from Outer Space which is scheduled for September. Then in October we have the long-awaited release for Gen Sekiguchi’s Survive Style 5+ which was picked up a couple years back and I believe the plan was to sub-license the film to a North American distributor but music licensing had gotten in the way for that region. So we’re finally getting it and on 4K Ultra HD for the first time (a Blu-ray version will also be available). I’ve ordered both of these directly from Third Window’s new online storefront.

Also revealed is a reprint for one of their earliest Blu-ray releases; Tetsuya Nakashima’s Memories of Matsuko which is a really good film and has been out of print for over half a decade now. It’s the same disc as before, but the packaging has been updated to use the newer/modern BBFC logo and current Third Window logo.

AnimEigo’s Whole Grain Pictures + Discotek Media’s Nihon Nights/Toku TIme

Worth mentioning that AnimEigo’s live-action branch are releasing two South Korean films on Blu-ray this November & December which are also region free and you can order them directly from MediaOCD Store. I recall if they have allow shipping to the UK, then they have UK rights so chances of a local UK release are probably pretty slim. Song Hae-sung’s Failan is out this November and Jeon Go-woon’s Microhabitat is out this December. They came out of nowhere but it’s great to see more Korean films being released because they’re very uncommon compared to Japan and China’s catalogue.

Meanwhile Discotek Media are releasing another Kamen Rider title with Kamen Rider Super-1, which just leave the very first series in the Showa Era that has yet to be released on home video considering V3 all the way to Black RX are available on Blu-ray over the past few years which is pretty impressive considering how many episodes there are for each one.

Two New Female Prisoner Scorpion films have also been licensed; #701 Scorpion and Special Cellblock X from director Yutaka Kohira. I expect both of them will see a UK release from Arrow Video later down the line considering it’s definitely the type of film they would put out (and they’ve already released a box set and one other film from the V-Cinema series prior).

Video Games Haul/Pickup Updates

Nintendo Switch 1 & 2

The Switch is still in an interesting position because they have a lot of physical versions but the performance tends to let it down quite a lot, and the excuse that being able to play it portably should be the driving factor on why you should grab it isn’t always effective. For me, if it runs super well (especially at 60 frames) then I can sacrifice resolution and go for that version.

Nintendo Switch 2 has the additional challenge of Game Key Cards. I was strongly against this, but then I read a claim by a US distributor on Twitter a while back (not sure if it’s legit or not) that Nintendo apparently won’t allow complete in-cart versions if a Game Key was already released for that specific region (so let’s take Capcom for example – Resident Evil Requiem can’t since it’s already out physically as a Game Key in all-regions, but Kunitsu-Gami could because it was only released physically in Asia). Now reading that claim, it sounds silly but this is Nintendo we’re on about who are pretty strict and I do think it has some legitimacy, however it is still early days as we have not seen any other distributor tackle this – not even Limited Run Games. If it is true, it does give me the expectation that you’re going to have to put up with either a digital version or a Game Key that I could sell later.

For now what I want to do is focus on supporting the in-cart versions as much as possible if it makes sense to own that version over the PlayStation 5 release (at least until 2028). So in my wishlist I have Culdcept Begins, Hades II, Hollow Knight, Hollow Knight Silksong, Muramasa: Revenant Blades, Truxton Extreme and most of the Nintendo first-party games including Switch 2 Editions for Xenoblade etc. I also have Super Bomberman Collection pre-ordered which is arriving later this year. Game Key versions I’ll revisit as we approach 2028 which is the point where Sony will stop physical versions for PlayStation (whilst allowing reprints for any that were released before that point).

PlayStation 3, 4 & 5

In case you have missed the memo, Sony will be closing the PlayStation 3 & Vita storefronts in the UK, Europe, Japan & US on July 2027, and this was eventually going to happen considering it was the oldest surviving console storefront from that generation. Now I have put in the effort of obtaining a lot of classic games as well as a few digital titles for the UK storefront, but there is room to acquire a couple more. As for the physical releases, I made the right call in obtaining the physical versions for a majority of the games that I was interested in over the past decade. I’m basically left with first-party games like Genji and Resistance and if I wanted to I could acquire a couple more third-party games but for now I’m only going to grab any if I feel its worth it.

As for the PlayStation 4 there’s roughly a dozen or so games remaining to acquire and I could technically opt for the Nintendo Switch version if needed. Limited Run Games are planning a physical for Onimusha 2 so that will be one of the next major ones to grab for that format when it happens.

So that just leaves me with the PlayStation 5 and it’s going to be an interesting venture the closer we get to 2028 as there’s hundreds of physical games that I’ve not yet picked up. I reckon I can get a majority before they sell out but for now my main is to prioritise on the ones that I am most happy to own. If Sony is still going to go ahead with the January 2028 deadline, then Kingdom Hearts IV is probably going to be one of the last big physical releases which is nuts.

That concludes my pickups haul for the month of August. I reckon September’s haul will be similar in terms of the amount I’ll receive but I haven’t really nailed it all down yet as I like to grab things as I go along.

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