Unboxing [US]: Baccano! - Complete Series: Standard Edition (Blu-ray)

Perhaps one of the most impressive English dubs out there. It's time to take a trip to the flying pussyfoot with Baccano!

Here's an overview/unboxing for the standard edition of Baccano! on Blu-ray from Aniplex of America.

Anime Collection Update: Baccano! and Clannad

As a replacement for KAZE's condensed version of UN-GO, I bought Baccano! after Aniplex's announcement that their Blu-ray release will be going out of print.

A standard set that contains all the episodes including the Bonus OVAs with Textless opening and endings as extras. The cheapest Blu-ray release from Aniplex USA.

I also bought the first season of Clannad, the anime adaptation from Key's Visual Novel games. Great series and one of my favourites. This was purchased as part of my experiment with importation, this time focusing on a Sentai Filmworks title and a Aniplex title (hence Baccano!).

Baccano!: Complete Series (Blu-ray)
Region: A, B & C (Blu-ray)
Clannad: Season 1 (Blu-ray)
Region: A ~ B possible (Blu-ray)

Baccano! is an interesting release title from Aniplex as the DVD version is released under Funimation which probably explains why the Blu-ray version was never released outside other English countries than USA.

Blog News: UN-GO and Future Plans

This post will be much different than my other posts as they directly go towards what will happen over the next few months.

The first thing that I should mention now is that the unboxing for UN-GO will be put on hiatus because the version published by KAZE has been condensed and does not contain all the special content and quality that previous versions of UN-GO have; for instance the Sentai Filmworks release which came out months prior. As much as I want the show itself, it is unacceptable to shove all 11 episodes and the OVA film on a single Blu-ray disc and not to mention KAZE's usual locking problem and bad quality control affecting the product as a whole. UN-GO has already been a defective by not allowing Panasonic Blu-ray owners to play the series on their players due to incompatibility issues. The DVDs I cannot yet confirm however other than they are two discs due to the usual DVD standards.

As a UK anime fan, I would recommend you skip this release if you want a decent Blu-ray version and purchase the Sentai Filmworks version which is compatible with Region B players using the same method carried out to other releases such as Angel Beats!, Clannad and The World God Only Knows. Not only will you still be supporting the industry but you will also contribute to getting KAZE out of the UK market for their own faults with other precious products gone defective due to their stupid quality assurance. It is not Manga UK's fault that their collaborations have provided us with this situation so don't go and blame them for this.

The second thing to mention is that because I got UN-GO as a birthday gift, I don't want to spend my own money for it due to money shortage so in exchange for this I will be getting the Aniplex release of Baccano! on Blu-ray whom have confirmed it will be going out of print soon, so it was best to pick this up before it goes away. I apologise that I haven't got a good unboxing for UN-GO but I will get this release before the end of the year passes by.

The third notice is the money shortage, I have spent about £200 of anime over the past few weeks due to being late to the otaku phrase and as an adult now I have to earn money. With university in the next few months, I will still be able to get future anime releases under the condition that I can't simply get an import every now and then. Imports released by Sentai Filmworks, Section 23 and Maiden Japan will always be available for the next few years whereas Funimation and Aniplex will limited in terms of stock. I have planned to purchase the All the Anime release of Cowboy Bebop on Blu-ray plus some of their releases in October, MVM's Another and possibly Monogatari Season 1 depending on the quality of the product. For imports, Funimation's High School DxD is planned in case the BBFC censors the release like they did with Ikki Tousen Dragon Destiny, and finally Section 23's Elfen Lied release is on the cards though I will wait in case of Sentai's new locking system takes effect.

The fourth notice is for the blog posts in general, I will be inactive from 25th July to 8th August for Holiday reasons I cannot avoid. I will continue to post the remaining unboxings for the rest of my titles including Code Geass so stay tuned and support the industry.

Unboxing [US]: Clannad - Complete Season 1 (Blu-ray)

Next up on the unboxing is the popular visual novel based romantic drama from Kyoto Animation and Key, Clannad. This is my first Sentai Filmworks copy and another import from North America.

This Blu-ray copy is the complete first season containing all 24 episodes; 22 episodes based on the Visual Novel, an extra recap episode and the OVA known as Another World, Tomoyo Chapter. There are three discs included in this copy, each up to nine episodes at a time with the third and final disc containing the last 6 episodes and extra content.

BD Language: English, Japanese

BD Video: 1080p HD Native 16:9 ratio

BD Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

BD Subtitles: English (Sign Translations), English (Japanese Dub w/Sign Translations)
BD Region: A, B (via bypass)
BD Discs: 3

BD Defects: Requires bypass for Region B Players

Plot:

Okazaki Tomoya is a delinquent who finds life dull and believes he'll never amount to anything. Along with his friend Sunohara, he skips school and plans to waste his high school days away.

One day while walking to school, Tomoya passes a young girl muttering quietly to herself. Without warning she exclaims "Anpan!" (a popular Japanese food) which catches Tomoya's attention. He soon discovers the girl's name is Furukawa Nagisa and that she exclaims things she likes in order to motivate herself. Nagisa claims they are now friends, but Tomoya walks away passing the encounter off as nothing.

However, Tomoya finds he is noticing Nagisa more and more around school. Eventually he concedes and befriends her. Tomoya learns Nagisa has been held back a year due to a severe illness and that her dream is to revive the school's drama club. Claiming he has nothing better to do, he decides to help her achieve this goal along with the help of four other girls.

Clannad is a great series and one of the best shows done by Kyoto Animation, part of the special collaboration trilogy with Key that includes Air and Kanon (2006). Clannad is best bought with its sequel ~After Story~ as both are required to get the complete story but it is very worth the money spent especially in High Definition (both are HD Native). 

This version is US Imported because Manga Entertainment will never offer a Blu-ray version due to being too niche (FUN FACT: I asked them whether this would get the Blu-ray treatment alongside others for AskManga back in the March 2013 Podcast). A Complete Collection will be available for DVD only in the UK.

Extra Content (On-Disc):

OVA: Another World, Tomoyo Chapter

Clean Opening Animation

Clean Closing Animation

Trailers

Sentai & Viz BD titles: How to play them on Region B Blu-ray Players & PAL PlayStations

Good news everyone, Sentai Filmworks published anime on Blu-ray can be played on Region B players. This trick was found throughout the internet and will allow anyone to watch their favourite show from the publisher without having to worry about getting a Multi-Regional player.

For PlayStation:

01 - Load the disc in as usual

02 - When the Region Lock screen appears, press Triangle and select the Go to option.

03 - Then select Title

04i - For the first disc, select Title 4

04ii - For the other discs, select Title 3

For Region B Blu-ray players:

01 - Load the disc in as usual

02 - When the Region Lock screen appears, press the Search button (or Options for Philips, Tools for Samsung)

03 - Select Title and then the title number of the first episode on the disc:

03i - 4 for starting disc 1

03ii - 3 for starting other discs

Everything will be available including subtitles for both English and Japanese and the episodes. The Pop-up Menu is available however when the last episodes finish or reaching the Title Menu, it will reset to the Lock screen but you can still use the method above.

Sentai Filmworks Examples:
Titles locked to A but were successfully tested:

AKB0048: Season 1 ~ Disc 1 Title 5, Others Title 4
Angel Beats: Complete Collection
Battle Girls: Time Paradox: Complete Collection
Canaan: Complete Collection
Clannad: Complete Collection
Clannad: After Story: Complete Collection
Fate/Stay Night: Collection 1
Fate/Stay Night: Collection 2
Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works
Garden of Words
Heaven's Memo Pad: Complete Collection
Infinite Stratos: Complete Collection
K-ON!: Season 2, Part 1
K-ON!: Season 2, Part 2
K-ON!: The Movie
Mardock Scramble: The First Compression (Director's Cut)
Mardock Scramble: The Second Combustion
Needless: Part 1 (works by selecting Top Menu)
Needless: Part 2 (works by selecting Top Menu)
Needless: Complete Collection (works by selecting Top Menu)
Penguindrum: Part 1
Penguindrum: Part 2
The World God Only Knows: Season 1
The World God Only Knows: Season 2
Un-Go: Complete Collection

Already available for Region B compatibility titles:
Another - Complete Collection
Bodacious Space Pirates - Part 1
Bodacious Space Pirates - Part 2
BTOOOM! - Complete Collection
Campione! - Complete Collection
Dusk Maiden of Amnesia - Complete Collection
Ef: A Tale of Melodies - Complete Collection (Season 2)
Ef: A Tale of Memories - Complete Collection (Season 1)
Elfen Lied - Complete Collection ~ under ADV Films/Section23 label
Girls und Panzer - Specials Collection
Girls und Panzer - TV Collection
Hiiro No Kakera Tamayori Princess Saga - Season 1
Hiiro No Kakera Tamayori Princess Saga - Season 2
Inu X Boku Secret Service - Complete Collection
Kokoro Connect - OVA Collection
Kokoro Connect - TV Collection
La storia della Arcana Famiglia - Complete Collection
Little Busters! - Collection 1
Little Busters! - Collection 2
Medaka Box - Complete Collection (Season 1)
Medaka Box: Abnormal - Complete Collection (Season 2)
Mysterious Girlfriend X - Complete Collection
Queen's Blade: Rebellion - Complete Collection (Season 3)
Say I Love You - Complete Collection
Shining Hearts - Complete Collection
Tsuritama - Complete Collection


Maiden Japan/ADV Films Examples:
For titles released under the Maiden Japan label, they work the same way as the method above with Sentai Filmworks. However, for certain titles such as Patlabor Mobile Police: TV Collection 1 there are a few alterations; for disc 1 it's Title 6 for English Dub and Title 7 for Japanese Dub, and disc 2 onwards it's Title 5 for English Dub and Title 6 for Japanese Dub.

Patlabor Mobile Police: Early Days OVA - Complete Collection
Patlabor Mobile Police: TV - Collection 1 ~ Disc 1 Title 6 (EN)/7 (JP), Others Title 5 (EN)/6 (JP)
Patlabor Mobile Police: TV - Collection 2
Patlabor Mobile Police: TV - Collection 3
Patlabor Mobile Police: TV - Collection 4
Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise

Viz Media Examples:
For titles released under the Viz label, they can also work on Region B players by pressing the Menu button (or Pop-up menu button) on the remote. Note that once the Region Locked screen appears, you only have a few seconds before it returns to the Player Menu/PlayStation XMB.

Lagrange: The Flowers of Rin-ne - Set 1
Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan - Season 1 Set 1
Tiger & Bunny - Set 1
Tiger & Bunny - Set 2

Unboxing [UK]: Ghost in the Shell 2.0 (Blu-ray)

Name: Ghost in the Shell (2.0 Version)

Format: Blu-ray

BD Region: A & B

No. of Discs: 1

Distributor: Manga Entertainment UK

Version: Film

BD Language: English, Japanese

BD Video: 1080p HD Standard 16:9 Anamorphic

BD Audio: 6.1 DTS MA for English & 2.0 PCM for Japanese

BD Subtitles: English (for Japanese Dub)

BD Defects: None

Plot:

In the year 2029, the barriers of our world have been broken down by the net and by cybernetics, but this brings new vulnerability to humans in the form of brain-hacking. When a highly-wanted hacker known as 'The Puppetmaster' begins involving them in politics, Section 9, a group of cybernetically enhanced cops, are called in to investigate and stop the Puppetmaster. The pursuit will call into question what makes a human and what is the Puppetmaster in a world where the distinction between human and machine is increasingly blurry.

Extra Content:

Original Ghost in the Shell movie

Making of Ghost in the Shell: Production Report

Theatrical Trailer

Character Profiles

Creator Biographies

One of the best sci-fi movies of the 90s and then remastered with CGI animation and better sound quality makes it the ultimate experience to watch. The original movie is included if the 2.0 version doesn't grab your eye as much as the original. Recommended if you like cyberpunk and other sci-fi films such as Akira.

Unboxing Pictures:

Unboxing [UK]: Origin: Spirits of the Past (Blu-ray)

Name: Origin: Spirits of the Past

Format: Blu-ray

BD Region: A & B

No. of Discs: 1

Distributor: Manga Entertainment UK

Version: Film

BD Language: English, Japanese

BD Video: 1080p HD Standard 16:9 Anamorphic

BD Audio: 5.1 TrueHD for English & Japanese

BD Subtitles: English (for Japanese Dub)

BD Defects: No-Signs subtitles & slightly off-sync for English

Plot:

A failed DNA experiment with plants has changed the world forever. Having demolished the moon, the intelligent and aggressive plant-life has spread to the earth and destroyed the human civilization. The few humans that remain struggle to survive, while maintaining an uneasy truce with the restless forest. One day, a villager named Agito stumbles across a stasis unit hidden deep in the forest and awakens a very cute girl from the past. Having slept for the past 300 years, Tula steps into a very different and strange world. The neighboring high-tech village of Ragna is still locked in a bitter war with the forest and when they become aware of Tula, they realize that she is the key to activating her father’s final and ultimate weapon of humanity - a weapon designed to totally destroy the forest. When Tula is taken by the warriors of Ragna, Agito makes a pact with the forest to gain the strength and incredible powers to not only save her, but to stop the weapon from destroying both the forest and his village.

No extra content is included with this release.

Personally I found this film to be slightly enjoyable, though the CGI used in some scenes look slightly off compared to the rest of the animation but nonetheless a decent plot and soundtrack. If you like Studio Ghibli films, this film is recommended.

Unboxing Pictures: