Welcome to the Otaku Collection haul for the month of September 2026. This update features 7 anime releases, 10 physical video games, and 4 live-action Asian Cinema releases plus 10 digital games.
For this haul, I put some more focus on the video game collection, followed by receiving a batch of anime from a recent Summer sale, a 4K upgrade of a classic Satoshi Kon film and the latest pre-orders from Arrow Video & Toy Robot Video.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword
The month begins with a brand new video game release from Capcom. Onimusha: Way of the Sword is the first mainline instalment since the PlayStation 2 era and is a fantastic action game. I finished it after 30 hours of playtime and I’ve really enjoyed the characters, story, gameplay and the overall challenge it gives. The Game Collection had a version that came with a lenticular slipcase so I opted for that edition.
Limited Run Games Haul
Next we have a Video Games Plus haul that consists of a couple Limited Run Games releases thanks to a brief sale they ran in late August. Here I went with a couple more for the Nintendo Switch of varied genres, mostly niche releases remastered for modern platforms.
Killing Time: Resurrected is a first-person shooter that ultilises live-action footage and imagery which created a very unique experience compared to other shooters back in the day. Originally released in 1995 exclusively to the 3DO (created by 3DO developers as well) on consoles, Nightdive Studios remastered the game for modern platforms with better resolution, frame rate and other enhancements to make the experience even better. They also managed to get better quality images for the live-action content which is an neat addition.
Moon, also known in Japan as Moon: Remix RPG Adventure, is a very unique JRPG by Japanese developer Love-de-Lic (who later made UFO: A Day in the Life which was also re-released for modern platforms under Console Archives) which was only released in Japan for the original PlayStation. Supposedly Undertale creator Toby Fox was inspired by this game which helped bring this game to the west. This is not part of Limited Run Games’ numbered releases, instead their distribution partner label so reprints are generally possible.
Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties: Definitive Edition is a slideshow live-action adventure game created in 1994 by United Pixtures. Released during a time where Full-Motion Video and live-action adult stuff was pretty popular in the video game scene especially in the west, it was considered one of the worst games ever made but also a cult classic on the 3DO. Limited Run Games remastered the game for modern platforms with an added behind-the-scenes section with various interviews going over how the game was made and the people’s reception towards it which is a fun way of making the package more entertaining. The physical release does require a massive patch likely to fix some issues on the launch release so not everything is on the cart itself.
Crunchyroll Summer Sale Haul
The Crunchyroll Summer sale was coming to a close and I sorted out my haul when Rarewaves finally began their brief 10% discount promotion. I went through the selection and picked six fantasy titles for the collection. As I held off on watching anime during simulcast, sometimes it’s better to wait for the home video version if its been long enough.
I was worried about my order at first because Rarewaves in my previous anime haul did provide one of the titles without a slipcase when other retailers did so it put me off but thankfully each of these have their slipcases.
First we have ARIFURETA: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest Season 3, an isekai fantasy harem series that had a rough first season but eventually studio Asread slowed it down to adapt the material more faithfully. Surprised it reached three reasons. I’ve not watched Season 2 yet as I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read more of the light novel first. The anime aired during the Autumn 2024 season with some episodes pushed into the Winter 2025 season.
Next we have Berserk of Gluttony Season 1, a dark fantasy series that’s been on my radar ever since I first heard of the light novel. Studio A.C.G.T. handled the adaptation. The anime aired during the Autumn 2023 season.
Gods’ Games We Play is a modern fantasy series which wasn’t on my radar initially but the art style and premise had me intrigued. Studio Liden Films handled the adaptation. The anime aired during the Spring 2024 season.
The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World Season 1 is a fantasy series where the MC pretends to be a commoner and attends a school so you can figure out what happens next, but I personally am a fan of the overpowered MC shocking the cast in these situations. Studio Cloud Hearts handled the adaptation. The anime aired during the Winter 2023 season.
I also finally got around to picking up In Another World With My Smartphone Season 2, another isekai fantasy harem series. The first season was rather entertaining and popularity from the west helped bring in another season which is a rarity. Studio J.C.Staff takes over the adaptation this time around. The anime aired during the Spring 2023 season.
And last but not least we have The Strongest Magician in the Demon Lord’s Army Was a Human, a fantasy series where a human is part of the Demon Lord army. There’s a few anime in recent years that have done this but it’s not an isekai this time. Crunchyroll decided not to dub this series so it’s probably gone under the radar. Studio A-Cat handled the adaptation. The anime aired during the Summer 2024 season.
The quality of the anime here is of course down to you but I have a soft spot for these genres and tropes. Considering Crunchyroll have been slowing down on their physical releases I do plan to grab more from their UK catalogue and hopefully more before the end of the year.
ACA Neo Geo Selection Vol. 9-10 & Gundam SEED Battle Destiny
Once again Video Games Plus ran another 2x points sale and I figured I’ll have a look. Ended up going for a Nintendo Switch Japanese import haul and picked up three titles.
Starting off with ACA Neo Geo Selection Volumes 9 & 10, which conclude the Arcade Archives Neo Geo series of SNK games. There’s 10 games per volume which means I now own 100 Neo Geo/SNK games for the Nintendo Switch which is a weird feeling but on the shelf it’s pretty neat.
ACA Neo Geo Selection Volume 9 includes Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory, Karnov’s Revenge, The King of Fighters 2001, King of the Monsters, Magical Drop II, Magician Lord, Samurai Shodown II, Street Hoop (Dunk Dream), Super Sidekicks 3: The Next Glory and World Heroes.
ACA Neo Geo Selection Volume 10 includes The King of Fighters ’97, Magical Drop III, Metal Slug 3, Ninja Master’s: Hao Ninpo Cho, Pop’n Bounce, Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers, Samurai Shodown V Special, Sengoku 2, Stakes Winner and Super Baseball 2020.
Interestingly I noticed that a couple of the games included in the 10 volume series were in fact delisted from digital storefronts but are on the physical release; Neo Geo Cup ’98: The Road to the Victory (in Vol. 4), The Ultimate 11: SNK Football Championship (in Vol. 6), Super Sidekicks 2 (in Vol. 8) and Super Sidekicks 3: The Next Glory (in Vol. 9). The delistings had something to do with references to China and Taiwan.
The other import game that I picked up was Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Battle Destiny Remastered, which is a remaster of a Japan only 2012 PlayStation Vita release. It’s a battle action game and honestly such a random pick to get the re-release treatment but I suspect it’s because it’s probably received fairly well in Japan and considering the anime’s anniversary they decided to bring it back.
The Nintendo Switch release was also localised for the west but the physical was only available in Japan and Asia but includes English support which is handy, so props to Bandai Namco for providing that option.
Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter
Also arriving on the same day as the VGP package is Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter, Falcom’s latest remake of the The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky series. The main key difference here is that instead of Clear River Games handling distribution it’s PM Studios for GungHo but at least it’s still a proper physical release.
I won’t be playing this game any time soon as I want the whole trilogy first, but unfortunately Falcom have pretty much admitted they haven’t even started a remake for 3rd Chapter yet so this will pretty much be the final physical release for PlayStation at this point (Switch 2 owners won’t have this problem, but it would be nice if 1st Chapter got a Switch 2 physical to match).
Paprika
This took longer than it should to arrive from Amazon but I finally have the 4K Ultra HD release for Satoshi Kon’s Paprika now in the UK. Sony Pictures distributed the Blu-ray almost twenty years ago and they kept it to themselves for this release (probably better than having Anime Limited release a padded out overpriced set) with a pretty nice steelbook to go with it.
I own Sony’s Blu-ray release and this one is pretty much a big upgrade overall. Also the first Satoshi Kon film to incorporate HDR with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos as well. Now you may have noticed the film is rated 18 compared to the previous release being a 15. The main film wasn’t re-rated but when Sony rated the extras for this release the commentary bumped it up to an 18 so I would assume the main film probably would have been the same rating had they got it re-submitted.
Arrow Video & Toy Robot Video Terracotta Haul
Next we have our latest Asian Cinema releases from two distributors; Arrow Video and a new label called Toy Robot Video who are pretty much related to Arrow but doing their own branding and packaging styles. I pre-ordered their September releases together in one haul.
We’ll start off with the Arrow Video releases first. The highlight of this haul is A Better Tomorrow Trilogy on 4K Ultra HD which is the latest instalment to the Golden Princess package deal. The films included in this collection are John Woo’s 1986 film A Better Tomorrow (英雄本色) & 1988 film A Better Tomorrow II (英雄本色2) as well as Tsui Hark’s 1989 film A Better Tomorrow III: Love and Death in Saigon (英雄本色3: 夕阳之歌).
These films star Chow Yun-Fat (Hard Boiled), Ti Lung (Drunken Master II), Leslie Cheung (Happy Together), Emily Chu Bo-Yee (Rouge), Waise Lee Chi-Hung (Bullet in the Head), Dean Shek Tin (Drunken Master), Guan Shan (Police Story 2), Kenneth Tsang (The Killer), Anita Mui Yim-Fong (Rouge), and Tony Leung Ka-fai (Three… Extremes).
Arrow Video’s limited edition includes all three films in three separate cases housed inside a rigid box with an o-card slipcase alongside a double-sided poster and a booklet. The artwork was done by Tony Stella who sadly passed away earlier this year. Worth noting that while Arrow have been revising the translations for their Golden Princess releases, only the first film in this collection received this treatment as the second & third films are re-using the Shout! Factory translations.
Next we have the Wicked Priest Collection on Blu-ray, a collection of five films produced by Toei. These include Kiyoshi Saeki’s 1968 film Wicked Priest (極悪坊主), Takashi Harada’s 1968 film Wicked Priest 2: Ballad of Murder (極悪坊主 人斬り数え唄), 1969 film Wicked Priest 3: A Killer’s Pilgrimage (極悪坊主 念仏人斬り旅) & 1970 film Wicked Priest 4: The Killer Priest Comes Back (極悪坊主 念仏三段斬り), and Buichi Saitō’s 1971 film Wicked Priest 5: Breaking The Commandments (極悪坊主 飲む打つ買う).
These films star Tomisaburō Wakayama (Lone Wolf and Cub film series), Bunta Sugawara (Battles Without Honor and Humanity film series), Kenjirō Ishiyama (High and Low), Hōsei Komatsu (Lady Snowblood), Masumi Tachibana (Shogun’s Joy of Torture), Asao Koike (Horrors of Malformed Men), Eitarō Ozawa (Ugetsu), Minoru Ōki (Horrors of Malformed Men), Hiroko Sakuramachi (The Tale of Oiwa’s Ghost), Ichirō Nakatani (Harakiri), Yuki Jōno (Red Peony Gambler: Gambler’s Obligation), Tatsuo Endō (Daimajin), Takashi Shimura (Seven Samurai) and Tōru Abe (The Human Condition).
Arrow Video’s limited edition includes all five films across three Blu-ray discs with an o-card slipcase and a booklet.
Now we have Toy Robot Video’s releases. They’re different to Arrow Video because there’s no booklet with these releases (they could be added for future ones) which adds more ease in case you miss a slipcase later down the line. What they have done is add an extra o-card mini-sleeve on top of the slipcase but doesn’t cover all of the BBFC logos which is bizarre (and somewhat defeats the purpose of the sleeve). They’ve been releasing new titles since September and so far it’s been an interesting range especially for Asian films because there’s also Korean films which is very uncommon in the UK so I’m looking forward to those.
For now we have the first two Japanese releases. Kōsei Saitō’s 1982 film Ninja Wars (伊賀忍法帖) starring Hiroyuki Sanada (Ringu), Jun Miho (Fatal Frame), Yuki Kazamatsuri (Sailor Suit and Machine Gun), Sonny Chiba (The Street Fighter) and Noriko Watanabe (His Motorbike, Her Island), and Norifumi Suzuki’s 1981 film Roaring Fire (吼えろ鉄拳) also starring Hiroyuki Sanda and Sonny Chiba as well as Etsuko Shihomi (The Bullet Train), Mikio Narita (Graveyard of Honor), and Toshiaki Minami (Delinquent Girl Boss film series).
Super Mario Bros. Wonder & Xenoblade Chronicles – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Haul
A last minute addition to the collection came from myself discovering that my points for The Game Collection were going to start expiring one by one in the coming weeks so I decided it was best to use them all up at once. Thankfully the next expiration date for the points after redeeming them is now in a year’s time so that’s assuring.
Anyway, for this mini-haul I wanted to build the Nintendo Switch 2 collection but they’re not exactly cheap and don’t go on sale (plus a majority are Game Key Cards which is not a priority for the time being, like digital they don’t have as much value compared to physical carts at their price). Here I bought two Nintendo Switch 2 Edition releases, which allow you to play the original Switch version on the Switch 1 console and the upgraded Switch 2 version on the Switch 2 console using the same cartridge. Plus because these are re-releases they’ll have the latest patches on the cart which is neat.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is the latest 2D platformer for the Mario franchise. I didn’t pick up the original Switch release prior, so when a Switch 2 Edition was first announced, I decided to go for that instead. I haven’t played any Mario game in a long time outside of the Super Mario 64 game that was included in the 3D All-Stars collection, but I have heard this one was very good. The Switch 2 Edition includes 4K resolution support, an additional playable character Rosalina, expanded multiplayer support for LAN/local wireless plus four player online, and a new area called ‘Meetup in Bellabel Park’ with extra multiplayer mini-games.
Then we have a game that I did initially own previously but sold in favour of the Switch 2 Edition which is Xenoblade Chronicles, an Action RPG from Monolith Soft (Disaster: Day of Crisis, Xenosaga), first released on Nintendo Wii. It was remastered for ‘New’ Nintendo 3DS, followed by a ‘Definitive Edition’ on Nintendo Switch like enhanced visuals but performance was hit or miss. And now we have the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition which adds 4K resolution support, 60 frames per second gameplay, fully voiced Heart-to-Heart conversations and Ether Jets to speed up traversal in the world. This game is also notable for having a British English dub which is neat. I do plan to grab the sequels as well as the spin-off Xenoblade Chronicles X at a later date, considering each of these are super long.
Bonus: Digital Game Pickups on Steam
A while ago I acquired a whole bunch of digital games on PC as a way to build that collection up in the case where I end up going down that route. Though I only do it for games that are on sale or part of a Humble Bundle as it’s pretty good value.
Recently I decided to pick up another bundle that had my intrigue which was dedicated to dungeon crawling themed titles. It was called ‘Crawling Through the Dungeon’ and featured 10 games for Steam for about £12.
In this bundle we have Astalon: Tears of the Earth, a 2021 metroidvania style game by developer LABS Works, The Bard’s Tale Trilogy, a 2018 remastered collection by Krome Studios of three classic first-person dungeon RPGs originally developed by Interplay Productions in 1985-1988, BroomSweeper, a 2016 minesweeper style game by developer BandsWithLegends, CiniCross, a 2026 roguelike nonogram (Picross) puzzle game by developer Hydrobates, Crawl, a 2017 action multiplayer game by developer Powerhoof, Cthulhu’s Reach: Devil Reef, a 2026 action roguelike by developer The Fine Arc, Dungeon Drafters, a 2023 card-based tactical RPG game by developer Manalith Studios, Dungeon Tycoon, a 2024 dungeon construction simulation game by developer Lunheim Studios, Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls, a 2009 Dungeon RPG game by Japanese developer Acquire based on Andrew C. Greenberg & AnimEigo founder Robert Woodhead’s Wizardry franchise and Xanadu Next, a 2005 Action RPG game by Japanese developer Nihon Falcom which is a spin-off to the Dragon Slayer franchise.
So you can probably see why I was quite intrigued to grab this collection as there’s a great variety of unique takes on the dungeon genre here. I do own Xanadu Next on GOG but because it’s on Steam it’s essentially an added bonus.
What’s to Come for the Hauls
I have finally placed more pre-orders though some won’t be around for a fair while. Meanwhile there’s been some movement to existing pre-orders; the AnimEigo/Discotek haul I did should finally get shipped out in October which was delayed due to Vampire Princess Miyu (which now has an actual cover they managed to get sign-off at the very last minute), one of the Limited Run Games packages has now shipped out, and AnimEigo’s kickstarter campaign for Macross II: Lovers Again is nearing completion but I don’t think it’ll arrive here until November at the earliest.
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)
- Limited Run Games Pre-Order Haul:
- Earnest Evans Collection (Nintendo Switch)
- Tenshi no Uta: The Angel Verse Collection (Nintendo Switch)
- 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)
- Terracotta Pre-Orders Haul:
- A Chinese Ghost Story Trilogy (Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD)
- Ghouls Gone Wild (Limited Edition Blu-ray)
- Manhunt (Limited Edition Blu-ray)
- Sex and the Emperor (Limited Edition Blu-ray)
- Third Window Films Pre-Orders Haul:
- Crazy Lips & Gore From Outer Space (Limited Edition Blu-ray)
- Survive Style 5+ (Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD)
- Other Pickups:
- Ace Combat 8: Wings of Thieve (PlayStation 5)
- CONTROL Resonant (PlayStation 5)
- Dynasty Warriors 3 Remastered (PlayStation 5)
- Final Fantasy Resonance (PlayStation 5)
- Super Bomberman Collection (Nintendo Switch 2)
- Telenet Shooting Collection I+II (Nintendo Switch)
November 2026
- Terracotta Pre-Orders Haul:
- Shawscope Presents: Street Gangs of Hong Kong (Limited Edition Blu-ray)
- Shawscope Triple Feature Volume 2 (Limited Edition Blu-ray)
- Wheels on Meals (Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD)
- Other Pickups:
- KPOP Demon Hunters (4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray)
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo Switch 2)
- Macross II: Lovers Again (Premium Edition 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray)
- A Man of Reason (Limited Edition Blu-ray)
- Radical Japan: Survival and Desire – Six Films by Shohei Imamura (Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray)
After November 2026
- Treasured Films Haul:
- Red to Kill (Limited Edition Blu-ray)
- Run & Kill (Limited Edition Blu-ray)
- Other Pickups:
- Capcom Arcade Stadium Vol. 2 (Nintendo Switch)
- Deadlink (PlayStation 5)
Other Tidbits
Workload continues to be stable for a second month in a row and whilst I am very happy with one half of the job role, the other half is now going into a direction that concerns me because I don’t have a team to support me on this like before. It’s going to end up being too much for me personally but we’ll just have to see how we go as the months progress.
You also probably noticed that the unboxings have been pretty uneven as of late. Rest assured I will still continue to release them on the blog but it’s just not as active as before because the anime special editions have dwindled over the past year. Anime Limited’s output for the most part has been pretty mediocre but when that right title comes around I’ll definitely unbox it for the blog. Crunchyroll look like they’re stepping down from producing special editions in favour of steelbooks or digipack releases and Sentai still release premium sets but on a irregular basis. And of course anything Aniplex related is locked behind a paywall with Crunchyroll’s pricier memberships.
The Asian Cinema releases I have a good amount to cover but unlike anime I want to put in the additional effort of ensuring those posts have some value written-wise than just bullshitting my way through it. In other words I want to watch those films unless there’s enough info I can compile together from the multi-film box set releases. Sure many of them will have discontinued since but no harm preserving those sets regardless.
Anime Haul/Pickup Updates
Discotek Media
Since the last month we have an update on their release slate i.e. the November batch which includes Argento Soma, the Japanese versions for Digimon Frontier and Digimon Tamers, Lupin the IIIrd: Zenigata and the Two Lupins, Pani Poni Dash! and Patlabor on Television. Of the lot the ones I’ll be getting are Argento Soma and Pani Poni Dash!
They also revealed the final batch of their Deep Dive line-up which are older titles now available via the MediaOCD store. Getting the bad news out of the way, both Kurokami the Animation and Mazinkaizer OVA Collection which were released in 2024 didn’t make the cut so they’re officially out of print or discontinued going by what was said on the titles that didn’t make it to the store.
Whilst I did manage to acquire the former, the latter I’ve still not yet grabbed and it’s baffling it’s gone considering the film that was released a year prior, Mazinkaiser vs the Great General of Darkness, is still available. Either they forgot about them, the releases sold so badly they don’t want to bring it back, or it’s gone because of licensing situations beyond their control.
On the good news, the last remaining titles that did make the cut include the Blu-ray versions for the Project A-ko films, Arion, Blue Seed, Cyber City Oedo 808 Steelbook release, Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure, Lady Georgie, Saint Tail and Thermae Romae.
My next Discotek Media hauls are planned, with another batch to be ordered alongside the existing pre-order haul, and another for November/December time.
Asian Cinema Haul/Pickup Updates
88 Films
At the very last minute, they just revealed their release slate for December. Before that they also added a second collection of Shawscope Triple Feature for November which includes three more films released by Shout! Factory already over in North America; Chang Cheh’s 1970 film Vengeance! and 1971 film The Deadly Duo, and Tony Lou Chun-Ku’s 1983 film Holy Flame of the Martial World. I’ve got this collection pre-ordered already.
For December we have another 4K Ultra HD upgrade from the Jackie Chan collection, this time it’s The Fearless Hyena which last saw a Blu-ray release in August 2020. There’s also a webstore exclusive version that includes an o-card slipcase and interestingly a bonus Blu-ray disc covering Chan Chuen’s Fearless Hyena Part II which was already released on Blu-ray in May 2024 but I’ll be getting this version for the slipcase because I do quite like them.
Also in December are a few slim Blu-ray releases similar to Operation Scorpio with Patrick Tam Kar-Ming’s 1987 film Final Victory, John Woo’s 1974 film The Young Dragons and 1975 film The Dragon Tamers. I reckon these will sell out fairly fast given the staff involved with these films so I’ll be pre-ordering them as soon as possible.
Treasured Films
I don’t recall mentioning this UK distributor before. Similar to the other boutique labels they focus on obscure films for horror fans and recently they have slowly entered the Asian Cinema scene which started with two Japanese films; Hiroki Yamaguchi’s 2005 film Hellevator: The Bottled Fools and Kenta Fukasaku’s 2007 film X-Cross.
Now they just announced two more films, this time from Hong Kong and they’re ones I have been anticipating for quite sometime but weren’t too sure if they would make it over here; Billy Tang’s 1993 film Run and Kill and 1994 film Red to Kill. These are notable because of their Category III status in Hong Kong which is the same rating given to Erotic Ghost Story, Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky, Triads: The Inside Story and The Untold Story (all unrelated despite the word story in their name). US distributor Error 4444 released both films a few years back and their extras are included in this release which I suspect Treasured Films are also using their master as well which is fine as I recall Error’s releases are considered pretty solid.
That concludes my pickups haul for the month of September. October is stacked so stay tuned for that.
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