Welcome to the Otaku Collection haul for the month of May 2024. This update features 17 anime releases, 9 manga volumes, 4 physical video game, 6 live-action Asian Cinema releases and 2 live-action European Cinema releases.
For this haul, we have another anime import haul from North America and the Crunchyroll Store, plus there’s around round of manga pickups and a few more anime video games.
The Shape of Night & Suzhou River
The first arrival of the month is my order from Terracotta for two more Radiance Films releases in their Asian Cinema line-up. Released in April is Noburo Nakamura’s 1964 filmThe Shape of Night (夜の片鱗)from Japan, another older film that they have brought back into the spotlight. Then we have Lou Ye’s 2000 filmSuzhou River (苏州河)from China., which was originally scheduled for March but was delayed into April. This film looks intriguing and I believe this is the first Chinese film that I have bought in years that wasn’t made in Hong Kong.
Bandai Namco Anime Games Haul
Decided to see if I can get any more PS4 games for the collection as there’s a small batch of titles left to get, and among those were the Bandai Namco anime fighting games. Ordered these during the start of the month and they arrived across two days.
First we haveOne Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knowsvia CeX. The back cover was damaged but the price is half the cost of other conditions/offers so I can’t be bothered to complain. This pretty much covers the first season set of characters though I think there may be some from the second season included.
Next areMy Hero Academia: One’s Justice 1 & 2, known as My Hero One’s Justice in the west, both from an eBay seller as they had each of them together. Price was decent and while I was worried the package was missing because there was barely any tracking, it did arrive and was all good. These games cover the first few seasons of the anime.
Return to Seoul
I picked upReturn to Seoul (Retour à Séoul) in HMV. This is a 2022 French film by director Davy Chou released by MUBI. It’s also presented in a multi-language approach, with dialogue spoken in French, English & Korean throughout, and while I’ve been aware of this film for a while I only just checked out a trailer recently and decided to look into it. I wanted to own the release with a slipcase so I chose to buy it at HMV than order online.
Gundam Build Fighters Try Part 2 & InuYasha Season 2
Two more Anime Limited collector’s editions made their appearances.
First we have InuYasha Season 2, or to be more accurate the second collection of episodes. It’s been two years since I bought the first set and it’s good to see some progress finally being made, so hopefully more get released throughout the next 12-18 months. Like before this one is also authored by VDMS so we don’t have Viz assets. Disc 5 wraps up Season 1 of the series in Japan’s layout of the releases.
Next we haveGundam Build Fighters Try Part 2which finally wraps up the second Build Fighters series. VDMS authored the discs for UK & France and kept the same assets from Nozomi’s release including the Asian English dub. Now just watch Anime Limited release a complete series collection in the next few months because why not. Still silly how they handled this.
Travelling Man Viz Media Manga Haul
An unplanned trip to town again thanks to a Uni friend wanting to hang out. In Travelling Man I picked up three Viz Media volumes since I didn’t want to spend too much and went withChainsaw Manvolume 15,Frieren: Beyond Journey’s Endvolume 10 andMASHLE: MAGIC & MUSCLESvolume 15. I noticed Viz increased the prices of the volumes so it’s now £8.99 each.
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
In CeX I saw a copy ofSonic & All-Stars Racing Transformedfor the PlayStation 3 earlier in the month, and I didn’t pick it up. After a while I decided to go for it since I knew it was a well received racer for the platform. There wasn’t any other PS3 games available that had my interest so for now it’s just this one.
I might look around and see if there’s any that catch my interest but I don’t want to pick a game up for the sake of it (for instance I saw Cross Edge and Trinity Universe in town but passed on both as I knew they were very outdated on its gameplay setup).
Scifier Seven Seas Manga Haul
It had been a while since I last made an order from Scifier and finally sorted one out, as they are my go-to place for Seven Seas manga at this point because their pricing and packaging have been spot on. No discount code this time, though they did reveal one literally just as my order had been shipped. Here we have six Ghost Ship manga volumes to keep these titles going.
We haveDo You Like Big Girlsvolumes 5 & 6, which for some reason the distributor is now releasing omnibus editions so I’m concerned about the future volumes for collecting at this point. Since the series started its second part, we haveWorld’s End Haremvolumes 13 & 14 which begins the After World storyline. This manga has ended officially at around volume 18 so there’s just a few left to go now. And then there’sWorld’s End Harem: Fantasiavolumes 8 & 9 which I believe is still on-going.
Prison Walls: Abashiri Prison I-III & The Valiant Ones
I have mentioned before about how I have been rather behind on the Eureka Entertainment catalog but I wanted to make sure I picked up a few from their May line-up. The first isPrison Walls: Abashiri Prison I-IIIcollection from Teruo Ishii which includes Abashiri Prison (網走番外地),Another Abashiri Prison Story (続・網走番外地)andAbashiri Prison: Saga of Homesickness (網走番外地 望郷篇), all from 1965 across two Blu-ray discs. The artwork for this release is great and it’s been a while since I have picked up any Teruo Ishii titles since they were mainly released by Arrow so it’s interesting to see Eureka go for his catalogue.
Next we have King Hu’sThe Valiant Ones (忠烈圖)which is my first King Hu title I believe and it’s on 4K Ultra HD which still feels weird to say for Asian films but here we are. I do wonder if the previous King Hu titles Eureka have released will be re-released onto the 4K format but time will tell.
Planet of the Vampires & Shinobi
Radiance Films continues to intrigue me with their selection. One of those is their latest Italian title with Mario Bava’sPlanet of the Vampires (Terrore nello spazio), a 1965 science fiction horror that apparently inspired Alien and Pitch Black. The artwork from the box set and the film’s influence were among the reasons why I wanted to pick it up sooner than later.
I also had the time to watch it via its Italian version (the English version is also included), and was impressed with the production design to bring that sci-fi atmosphere and while I was a bit confused over its early portions of the story it did make more sense as it progressed. The ending honestly caught me off guard as well. I recommend going into the film blind for the added mystery. Radiance has confirmed this limited edition 5000 unit box set has now sold out and is looking into a special edition version like Messiah of Evil.
Also arrived is theShinobibox set. This contains the first three films in the franchise – Satsuo Yamamoto’s 1962 filmShinobi: A Band of Assassins (忍びの者) & 1963 filmShinobi: Revenge (続・忍びの者)and Kazuo Mori’s 1963 filmShinobi: Resurrection (新・忍びの者). I recall the first three films were chosen because they were all based on the novel that they adapt, whilst the films that came after are original stories. Like the Bounty Hunter Trilogy set, this is also a nicely packaged release.
Crunchyroll Store Haul
My Stackry package arrived and included were two Crunchyroll Store orders. Here is the first of two, which is a mini Crunchyroll & Funimation haul with three titles from their catalogue. I used a discount code which helped reduce the costs.
First up we haveBeast Tamer, a fantasy series that I was aware of but never managed to watch during simulcast. The series is available in the UK, but because it’s a multi-language title the price is steep and artwork was altered to appeal to different regions, so I wanted to own the US version.
Next we haveHow Not to Summon a Demon Lord Omega, the second season to the isekai series which I have seen and enjoyed despite the studio change and shorter episode length. Since I own the limited edition of the first season via the North American branch, I wanted to keep consistency so I went for the US version rather than the UK version which is available. My copy still came with a slipcase, which is handy given it’s been out for a while.
And then there’sSonny Boywhich I have heard is very good and it’s also an isekai surprisingly. Given the series was released before the merger it’s now at an age where my copy didn’t come with a slipcase but that’s fine given the slipcase artwork and amaray cover didn’t have any differences. I’m surprised this wasn’t released in the UK but I suppose its too niche.
Discotek Media Haul
And the second Crunchyroll Store order was for my third Discotek Media haul of the year, consisting of 12 more titles. Considering that every title was available and I had most of the ‘at risk’ titles secured I felt that I could freely go for any title, so here’s a mixture of remastered classics, a couple of Shonen titles, two more Lupin the Third titles and any that had my curiosity.
Angel Cop
Animated by studio DAST in 1989-94, and directed by Ichirō Itano. This is a classic retro anime nasty title from back in the day for Manga Entertainment and was censored for UK release. When Discotek picked it up they had to deal with a pretty bad master but it was upscaled for Blu-ray, however thanks to AnimEigo’s discovery of a vault, Angel Cop was one of the titles that they managed to find the original masters and provide a much better HD restoration. I have heard this OVA series is phobic and rude but I wanted to own it as part of the classic anime scene (I always wanted to collect the retro anime UK line-up in HD form if possible). Discotek Media released the HD remaster of the OVA series in a steelbook package on February 2022.
Barefoot Gen 1 & 2
Adapted by studio Madhouse in 1983-86, and directed by Mori Masaki & Toshio Hirata respectively. Another set of classic anime and ones that did receive a UK release by none other than Studio Canal and their previous name Optimum Releasing. While Jin-Roh and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust were rescued by Anime Limited, Barefoot Gen was not, and I’m kind of baffled given its a well known title in terms of its coverage. Perhaps there were licensing issues in the UK, but regardless Discotek released it on Blu-ray years back and I didn’t want to risk losing out on it. You may notice that this release I have is indeed reprinted to be in a curved slipcase, but I can also confirm the spine has been amended (the first print had the spine aligned to the wrong way around like AL’s Utena box). Discotek Media released the films on Blu-ray on December 2017.
Beelzebub
Adapted by studio Pierrot+ in 2011, and directed by Yoshihiro Takamoto. When I got into anime and used Crunchyroll for the first time there were a few Shonen Jump titles available on the service and one of those were Beelzebub. I heard it suffered the same fate as Reborn! where it never finished adapting the entire story. It’s also semi recent in that it aired during the 2010s which feels weird, especially considering Discotek Media decided to license it for home video. Sales must have been strong enough to re-release it on a Standard Definition on Blu-ray package was a surprise. I also recognised the character for their appearance in J-Stars Victory Vs. Discotek Media released the series in an SD-BD package on September 2022.
BoBoBo-Bo Bo-BoBo
Adapted by studio Toei Animation in 2003, and directed by Hiroki Shibata. Another Shonen Jump classic but one that I first discovered through J-Stars Victory Vs. and later finding out recently the main character was voiced by Takehito Koyasu (DIO in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure) so this is going make the experience even better. Discotek Media said this was a pretty challenging one to translate due to the dozens of lines to translate and they were able to make it work on the disc. The US release was initially put out by S’more Entertainment, who were infamous for having a Japanese track with no subtitles applied (and I think there were assets on the disc itself). Either way Discotek Media saved the day and released it in its proper form. Discotek Media released the series in an SD-BD package on January 2020.
Crying Freeman
Adapted by studio Toei Animation in 1988-94, and directed by Daisuke Nishio, Jōhei Matsuura, Nobutaka Nishizawa, Shigeyasu Yamauchi, and Takaaki Yamash*ta. Another classic retro anime nasty title from back in the day for Manga Entertainment, but also censored for UK release. Discotek Media released Crying Freeman on DVD early on in their anime venture but was among the first to be discontinued. So it was a complete surprise for me to see the series return almost a decade later with a HD restoration by Toei for Discotek to release on Blu-ray with both English dubs (UK & US) included. Discotek Media released the OVA series on Blu-ray in November 2023.
Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure
Animated by studio AIC in 1999, and directed by Katsuhito Akiyama. Dual! is a series that I had never heard of prior to Discotek’s announcement, and as soon as it was mentioned that it was made by Masaki Kajishima, I immediately wanted to get it. I’m a fan of Tenchi Muyo! and its artstyle and here I can see I’ll enjoy watching it a lot. It was also dubbed by Geneon/Pioneer back in the day which Discotek included here. In Japan it was released on Blu-ray but technically in SD to my knowledge, so for this release it’s presented in a Standard Definition on Blu-ray package. Discotek Media released the series in an SD-BD package on February 2024.
Goku Midnight Eye
Adapted by studio Madhouse in 1989, and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri. Once again another retro anime classic from the Manga Entertainment era, I have seen a few of Kawajiri’s works but I don’t believe I have seen any from Space Adventure Cobra creator Buichi Terasawa. Goku Midnight Eye only has two episodes, but that’s how it was back in the day for a lot of anime. Discotek Media released the DVD first, but thanks to the vault a new HD restoration was possible and so it was released on Blu-ray which I believe Japan is also receiving as well. Discotek Media released the OVA series on Blu-ray in October 2023.
Lupin the Third: The Mystery of Mamo
Adapted by studio TMS Entertainment in 1978, and directed by Sōji Yoshikawa. Believe it or not, Lupin the Third was one of the first anime franchises that I checked out back when I was getting into the medium in 2012. I watched Castle of Cagliostro first from a bootleg copy and then a friend of mine had access to the films and some OVAs. So Mystery of Mamo (also known as Secret of Mamo) was my second entry into the franchise and honestly it was a whiplash because Castle of Cagliostro was a more family friendly story, while this is not. Thankfully I understood how the franchise works in terms of its tone and style, and did enjoy the film.
But I haven’t seen the film since, so I am curious to see if my opinion changes. Discotek Media did release this on DVD years back but then released it on Blu-ray, with all 4 English dubs included as well. The 4K master wasn’t received well so don’t expect a 4K Ultra HD release from them. Discotek Media released the film on Blu-ray in March 2022.
Lupin the Third: Return of Pycal
Adapted by studio TMS Entertainment in 2002, and directed by Mamoru Hamatsu. The Return to Pycal OVA was another Lupin the Third title that I also watched back in the day, though to be completely honest I don’t remember much from its story other than knowing it’s a continuation from an episode or two that aired in Lupin the Third Part I. Since Discotek Media was aiming to release all of the franchise on Blu-ray when possible, they released their own upscale for this OVA to improve the video presentation. There’s no English dub but that’s fine. Discotek Media released the OVA on Blu-ray in July 2021.
Shin Tetsujin 28
Adapted by studio TMS Entertainment in 1980, and directed by Tetsuo Imazawa. Discotek have released a lot of the Tetsujin 28 titles and this is an older series that got a HD Blu-ray release. This 80s series was released in the west under the English version The New Adventures of Gigantor but Discotek here has the original Japanese version. It’s also at a point where I do think this will be next in line to go out of print, considering my copy still had the sticker on the top of the case which is what the old stock used to have. Discotek Media released the series on Blu-ray in January 2019.
Tomorrow’s Joe 2: The Movie
Adapted by studio TMS Entertainment in 1981, and directed by Osamu Dezaki. This is the movie version of the Ash*ta no Joe 2 series released pretty much at the same time as the show wrapping up. Considering the main series has yet to be licensed, and knowing how the films were well received by fans I decided to pick them up. I did enjoy the franchise’s spiritual successor MEGALOBOX, so I’m looking forwarding to watching this. Discotek Media released the film on Blu-ray in March 2022.
Zatch Bell: 101st Devil & Attack of Mechavulcan
Adapted by studio Toei Animation in 2004-05, and directed by Junji Shimizu & Takuya Igarashi respectively. Zatch Bell is among the many manga during the early 00s that have received a long running anime series (it also ran in Weekly Shōnen Sunday) and no surprise it was done by Toei. Along the way, two films were made with 101st Devil & Attack of Mechavulcan. While the main series did receive an English dub, the films did not but Discotek Media picked them up either way (the main series did receive a release by New Video Group who also covered Yu-Gi-Oh!). Given the nicheness I figured it would be interesting to check out. Discotek Media released the films on Blu-ray in March 2018.
Still a long ways to go but I am closer to being in a position where I don’t have to worry too much about losing out on specific titles in the next Discotek Media OOP batches. I have all six Galaxy Express 999 releases at Stackry currently, so I’ll need to get a few more titles before I ship it out to make it worthwhile. There’s roughly 39 titles in my list from a 2015-2021 range that I am interested in but may get lowered depending on the circ*mstances.
Unboxing Links
You can view more photos & specs for the titles below:
- (CE Blu-ray)
- InuYasha Season 2 (CE Blu-ray)
What’s to Come for the Hauls
June 2024
June is my Birthday month so expect a few more titles to appear at that point. Other than that we do have some expected appearances across different mediums. The biggest batches to arrive in this month’s haul is another Discotek Media haul due to some unexpected discontinued announcements, plus two Limited Run Games pickups with one of them being super rare at this point, and the delayed 88 Films May haul which was pushed back due to one of them moved into June.
- Adieu Galaxy Express 999 (Blu-ray)
- CJ7 (Blu-ray)
- Galaxy Express 999 Collections 1-3 (Blu-ray)
- Galaxy Express 999 the Movie (Blu-ray)
- Galaxy Express 999: Eternal Fantasy (Blu-ray)
- Fearless Hyena Part II (Blu-ray)
- Fist of Legend (4K Ultra HD)
- The House in Fata Morgana (Switch)
- Memories of Murder (4K Ultra HD)
- Mobile Suit Gundam: The Movie Trilogy (CE 4K Ultra HD)
- Persona 4 Golden (Switch)
- Rental Magica Parts 1-2 (CE Blu-ray)
July 2024
We have a few titles planned for July but nothing new currently.
- The Double Crossers (Blu-ray)
- Message from Space (Blu-ray)
- Triggerheart Exelica (Switch)
August 2024
Potentially arriving in August but may shift on its expected date is my Limited Run Games pre-order haul that I did at the start of the year.
- Cosmic Fantasy Collection (Switch)
- Toaplan Arcade Garage: Kyukyoku Tiger-Heli (Switch)
Other Tidbits
Another pay rise due to an annual review which was random but welcoming none-the-less. At this point I should try and put more focus on my savings (I do save each month for the record). There’s been some ups and downs at work so June is expected to be a bit of a mess and overtime will likely be a re-occurring problem. I have booked time off work for a week (the same week where my Birthday is) so I just need to figure out how to manage the work schedule.
Anime
So we have some new anime home video updates over the past month.
Anime Limited
Anime Limited held their MCM Industry Panel and while there were very few new license announcements, they were pretty solid picks. They revealed Akiba Maid War, Gunbuster 2: Diebuster, Macross Zero and Project A-Ko for home video as well as theatrical releases for The Concierge and Komada: A Whisky Family.
There was also more information revealed for their Macross Plus Ultimate Edition home video release which is looking pretty good, but there are some concerns about pricing at the moment which has yet to be revealed. I predicted £199.99 SRP because it was a big boxed release and art books with tons of content tend to have a lot of value out of it, but I was using Evangelion as a reference (which was a 2-cour series & two films set at £299.99 SRP) rather than their other UEs like Tower of God (a 1-cour series set at £149.99 SRP), so I updated my estimation.
Prior to me updating my estimation, apparently my initial prediction was considered as ‘actual fact’ and had been discussed across different platforms and discord servers like wildfire, with some even considering me as an actual insider. Pretty honored to discover people look to me for information here and there, but at the same time I do want to remind people that what I said was a prediction and should never be taken as fact until the information is out there. I’m saying this because a number of individuals on the Blu-ray forum really need to double check what they are reading before posting because it’s been blowing out of proportion at this point. It’s definitely nowhere as bad as the Belladonna of Sadness 4K thread at least.
Getting back on topic, the announcements are interesting. Akiba Maid War is a surprise choice but I have heard it’s a solid series by P.A. Works so I’m looking forward to owning it. Gunbuster 2: Diebuster is no surprise that they would license it but at the same time it does somewhat spoil the element of surprise for North American fans since Discotek Media would have revealed it themselves probably at their Otakon panel later in the year (for context, Discotek licensed the OVA series about a decade ago and released it on DVD).
Project A-ko is a good pick but I don’t think there’s enough value to warrant a collector’s edition especially given Discotek Media hired a few artists for the artwork on their packaged releases which look great, so I’m hoping Anime Limited’s CEs doesn’t end up as an overpriced set where its just art cards and that’s it, especially if they do decide to release the other three OVAs that came after.
Discotek Media
Moving on from Anime Limited, let’s talk about Discotek Media. So I have been sorting out more Discotek pickups which is great but they recently revealed another batch of discontinued titles – the two-part releases for City Hunter 2, and all three collection releases for Galaxy Express 999. This is surprising but unfortunate for those who are missing out on these two shows.
I never bothered with the City Hunter franchise because I’m fully convinced they will eventually see a UK release by Anime Limited given how Discotek Media has US & Australian rights (no mention of UK when they made the franchise available for streaming). Galaxy Express 999 on the other hand I was actually planning to order in my next batch but because they revealed it during the month of May, days after my latest haul, I made an emergency pick up haul to secure it. I also included the three films so that I have all of the franchise together.
With the May haul and the extra haul ordered, what’s left for the older Discotek titles is now at around 18-20 for ones released up to the end of 2020, which is pretty good progress especially considering the newer the title, the better the prices are and title selection. What’s left to pick up are three Case Closed titles (Episode “One”, Crimson Love Letter & Zero the Enforcer), Fist of the North Star the Movie, Giant Robo, GinRei, God Mazinger, Great Mazinger, Kyousougiga, Love Hina Again, Night on the Galactic Railroad, Osamu Tezuka’s Animerama films (A Thousand and One Nights & Cleopatra), Reborn!, Space Adventure Cobra, Symphogear, Thermae Romae & Toriko the Movie: Secret Recipe of Gourmet God.
For 2021 there’s 19 titles remaining, 2022 there’s 31 titles remaining, 2023 there’s 49 titles remaining and 2024 there’s 28 titles and counting. These numbers also include their Nihon Nights & Toku Time titles that have my interest as well. I do want to sort out more Nihon Nights titles so perhaps I’ll consider it for the June haul since I want to get a few more titles to bundle with the Galaxy Express 999 titles. To reiterate I am not going for a 100% complete Discotek Media collection, similar to Anime Limited they just happen to have a lot of titles that I am really interested in.
Asian Cinema
A few more updates appeared in the home video scene with some exciting titles to pick up.
Second Sight & Studio Canal
Second Sight have so far revealed two Korean films for a UK release. In June they have Jung Bum-shik’s Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (곤지암) for Blu-ray and then in July there’s Kim Jee-woon’s A Bittersweet Life (달콤한 인생) for 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray. I haven’t picked up any of Second Sight’s releases yet but they have a great reputation for their 4K discs and I’ve been meaning to pick up any of their releases like The Babadook, Dawn of the Dead, Drive, The Guest, It Follows, Possessor, and The Witch for 4K. I think the first time I heard of the distributor was from their Blu-ray release of Upgrade released years back. Long story short, I welcome the distributor going into the Asian Cinema catalogue especially if its just for Korean films because that area has been overlooked a lot, perhaps they may finally give us a release of Na Hong-jin’s The Wailing.
Speaking of Korean films I forgot that Studio Canal have finally re-released both of Yeon Sang-ho’s films Train to Busan (부산행) and Peninsula (반도) on the 4K Ultra HD format for the UK. The folks in North America I believe have had both available for a while now and I’ve only seen the former via Amazon Prime which I enjoyed a lot. I did hear the latter isn’t as good but I want to own both regardless.
88 Films & Eureka
88 Films have slowly been revealing their third quarter of titles, though I think their August slate was removed from retailers. So far we have Mabel Cheung’s An Autumn’s Tale (秋天的童話), Yonfan’s Immortal Story (海上花), and Michael Mak’s Sex and Zen (玉蒲團之偷情寶鑑) (another entry in the Category III line-up) planned for July followed by Stephen Shin’s Black Cat II (黑貓II: 刺殺葉利欽), Corey Yuen’s The Bodyguard from Beijing (中南海保鑣) (also planned for 4K Ultra HD) and Ronny Yu’s Legacy of Rage (龍在江湖). I still need to order their June line-up which I will sort out in the coming weeks, then again there has been some delays as per usual. There’s also no word on any new Japanarchy titles but they have more in the works so it’s probably not ready until Autumn.
Eureka revealed some more titles. I have their July titles pre-ordered as mentioned before, and for August they added two more to their slate with Lo Wei’s A Man Called Tiger (冷面虎) for their Classics line-up and Kinji f*ckasaku’s Wolves, Pigs and Men (狼と豚と人間) for the Masters of Cinema line-up. They have a special offer but it’s bundled with another title that I’m not interested in so I have yet to order the two so far.
And that concludes the May haul for 2024. My budget went over the limit for this month but I want to try and switch it up and have more focus on games in June’s haul if I can.
