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Tuesday, 1 July 2014

Otaku Collection 2014: June Update | Limited Editions, Premium Editions and what not.

I'm now back home for the summer and with that I was able to save some cash from my time in University and spend some time catching up on building my anime collection. So here's all of the titles that I got for the entirety of June 2014.



Pickup 1 - OniAi, Funimation's first subtitle only release
The first title for this month was Onii-chan Dakedo Ai Sae Areba Kankeinai yo ne!, best known as OniAi. This show was Funimation's first attempt for releasing titles without an English dub but giving them a Limited Edition combo at a budget price. This title sold out in a matter of weeks back in the beginning of the year and later received a second print run (which is what I was able to get). The show itself is slightly more than average, it has got some humour to it and I do love the reference it brings out in each episode but I felt they over did the fanservice to the point where I wasn't sure whether I would appreciate it or not. Don't get me wrong I do like the ecchi shows (heck I do own a few like High School DxD and Maken-Ki!) but my main problem were the character's age. Thankfully they pulled a twist at the end and the story was overall good. Considering the show was only £21 (UP1USA), it was worth it to be fair but only if you like fan service. The opening is awesome by the way.


Pickup 2 - More Limited Edition Funimation sets and an Anime Classic 'Screw Up'
The next batch is a mixture of new and old. The following that were included was Aria the Scarlet Ammo, Date A Live and Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar Part 1, each given a Limited Edition artbox. Also included was Heaven's Lost Property Season 1 Anime Classic.

I'm currently watching Aria, Heaven's Lost Property and War on Geminar so I can't give out a proper full opinion yet but I am enjoying all three of them. I did finish Date A Live recently and it is a great show to watch. There were a few reasons I picked up DAL though; one was that the license in the UK has been given to the wrong hands (Viz Media Europe, also known as KAZE) and secondly the show has an infamous meme which involves the character Kurumi. When I got the series however my expectations got what it wanted, a fun series with a great story. The music itself is worth mentioning as the show does have a great soundtrack alongside the opening and closing tunes. While Date A Live does have an English dub, I tried it out for the first few episodes and it felt flawed due to the production and voice acting (the actors were fine but it was a poor job to be honest) so I ended up choosing the original Japanese language which sorted the issue out (there was one missing subtitle but you can easily guess what they were saying when you watch it). Overall the show was very good and I look forward to watching Season 2 which I can watch on Animax but I can easily wait for the Funimation release.

Now it's time to mention Heaven's Lost Property. This is technically my first release from the Anime Classic label (Black Lagoon is part of the label but doesn't use the Anime Classic style cover though it uses the budget price) and it is actually a strange one to explain. With Blu-ray versions, you would expect the show to be released in Blu-ray sized format and with a Blu-ray sized cover. However the show was never released Blu-ray sized (not until Season 2's release and then Angeloid of Clockwork) and there was tons of stock left for the standard release before it. Funimation ended up using the original stock and added a Blu-ray sized slipcover to the series, quality control at its finest. The community wasn't happy (I wasn't happy either) and Funimation responded with a solution which made it even worse - DVD sized slipcover or an empty Blu-ray case in addition to no plans for changing the product to where it should be and creating the inserts for the Blu-ray case. I decided to get the revised version in the end which was the DVD sized slipcover.



Pickup 3 - NIS America Premium sets and Another manga
The third pickup was actually a random choice. It was my birthday at the time and I wanted to continue getting shows with Limited/Premium treatment (as getting standard versions would feel wasteful since they're around for far longer) and so I decided on buying three sets from NIS America; Daily Lives of High School Boys, Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl and Nyaruko: Crawling With Love.

I've known Daily Lives for a very long time (like Nichijou (similar show and concept) the show is popular on YouTube) and while only watched about four episodes it's hilarious to watch and highly recommended for anyone who wants comedy. I watched only 1 episode of Psychoelectric Girl (original title being Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko) from studio Shaft (who are known for adapting the lovely Monogatari franchise and the incredible Madoka Magica series) and it's a great start, the main female lead is rather strange to be honest. Just to note, I have yet to watch Nyaruko as I'm saving it for now.

I also picked up the Another omnibus manga. The Another franchise is rather unique as the anime, manga and light novel have the same story but different turn out of events (like watching and reading the Walking Dead for instance) which is great and I will be looking forward to reading it.

Unboxing - Daily Lives of High School Boys (Premium Edition)
Unboxing - Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl (Premium Edition)
Unboxing - Nyaruko: Crawling With Love (Premium Edition)


Pickup 4 - Baka & Test OVA and Level E
The final pickup of the month were Baka & Test's OVA set and the Limited Edition set for Level E. Picking up the OVA Collection means I now own all of the Baka & Test content released on Blu-ray from Funimation, and there's a good reason why I bought the set instantly. Just recently Funimation announced the September 2014 line-up and it includes all of Baka & Test in Super Amazing Value Edition form (which baffles me when Season 1 sold very well), the problem is that the OVAs are included with Season 2 and all of them are DVD only. So I got it and watched the OVA episodes in one go, overall it's actually fun to watch and I do like the opening they have for the two episodes. It is strange that the OVAs were released separately but at least they were released in the end.

Level E is a show that I find to be one of the best under-looked titles out there in anime. It's hilarious, amusing, very misleading (or shall I say 'trolling') to the numerous situations the characters are in and yet the show sold terribly over in the states. That's a shame so I'm glad that I picked up this set before it went out of print because it's an awesome show and I do recommend you at least check out the first three episodes to get an idea of what the show does (it gets weirder after that). The show is based on a 90s manga (which is short so there won't be a second season) so everything is not filler. Like Shiki, this show doesn't deserve the SAVE value it deserves to be an Anime Classic.


So that's it for this month's collection update I have a few titles incoming:
 - The Devil is a Part Timer! has been ordered and will arrive around the week of 22nd July
 - Toradora! should arrive at some point in July
 - And I have another Japanese PS3 import coming up from Nippon Yasan.

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Member of the Anime UK News forum, and also once part of the Sheffield Hallam Visual Arts society throughout 2013-2017. Been collecting anime since 2012 and supported the anime distributors ever since. Also been hanging around on the Blu-ray forum and Fandom Post forums.

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