Otaku Collection 2014: November/December Update | Devils, Sailors, Pirates & Inverted Titans

So after struggling through November and going through the massive amount of work for University, these last two months have been rough. But putting that aside I managed to get a strong amount of anime, manga and games for the collection. Across these two months I have basically picked up the latest Limited Edition sets, two quite rare video games and one huge manga box set.

Like the previous double month post, this post will be split between what I bought in November and December of 2014.

November 2014 | #1 | High School DxD New and Sailor Moon Set 1

The first pickup for November were two new limited edition sets. High School DxD is one of my favourite shows (and on the top of my guilty pleasure list) so it was a complete no-brainer to pick up the second season given that I patiently waited for it and I also picked up the first season's limited edition set that sold out faster than Attack on Titan did (until Cowboy Bebop beat it of course). It was a good thing that I pre-ordered as the limited edition set is now out of print so if you find a copy, go get it!

The second pickup was Sailor Moon. I have never seen the show before so adding it to my collection is actually pretty awesome since it's a classic gem and has spawned a huge following. Well I thought it would be awesome if it weren't for the video quality. Apologises for saying this but the video quality is bloody awful - it's basically how Funimation treated Dragon Ball Z but without the 16:9 cropping. On a positive note, the new English dub is really good and the limited edition packaging is excellent on Viz's part. It's just a shame that both the Blu-ray and DVD (yes they even screwed over that format by using their Blu-ray masters and keeping the black bars on, set 2 will fix the issue but there will be no replacements planned on the first set though) aren't in great shape in terms of video quality. I would say this - proceed with caution for this set.

November 2014 | #2 | K

The third and final pickup for November was another item bought in an eBay auction. The best part was that I got the set brand new for half the price I would had to pay for, thanks to the host of Anime Blu-ray UK who was selling the set (I also bought the Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme Vs game from him as well). I haven't watched the show yet but I was intrigued by the trailer when I saw it and let's not forget how butchered the UK version was treated (KAZE!!!). On another note, this was Viz Media's first limited edition set in a style similar to Funimation's so it was handled very well in terms of packing and the artbook is a nice addition. A second season is green-lit so I am even more curious to see what this show is like.

December 2014 | #1 | Attack on Titan Part 2, Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3, HAL and Patema Inverted

Starting off December are a bunch of anime (and one game) that had actually arrived months back (aside from Patema Inverted which arrived the same week I returned home) because of various reasons I set the address for all of them to arrive home instead.

Attack on Titan Part 2 concludes my Attack on Titan anime collection with the Ender Box to fit both of the sets together. I ordered this set from Rightstuf due to the low stock it received after a massive backlash on the lack of protection towards the limited edition digibooks so it was a no-brainer to rely on the best anime shopping site (and as a bonus it dodged customs) for this type of situation.

Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3 was an accidental mishap on the address when I ordered it. Myself and a friend were going through the latest addition in the series Gundam Reborn and I wanted to play more of it after finishing it so I ordered the third game since it was cheap. Simply put I forgot to change the address location for instant orders.

HAL was one strange situation but to summarise the events I basically pre-ordered it on their site (when it launched) and email communications didn't go well despite them replying back stating that it would be resolved (I asked for an address change and then a week later for a cancellation due to MCM issues) but in the end I had no choice but to pay for the set. Now I apologise for making this look like a rant but I don't want to tolerate this type of treatment which is why I won't be ordered from their site until they make some changes/improvements to their structure since it was quite poor in contrast to MVM's Anime on line and other anime shopping sites. As for the film itself, I enjoyed it quite a lot and the set was very nice.

Patema Inverted arrived also. I donated £35 to the set from their Ultimate Edition kickstarter and for the most part I am very happy with the set. My only complaint is the lack of the film's title printed on the artbox spine and the digipack case is quite hard to sort out. My real name is on the list at the very back of the Official Design Works artbook which is cool. As for the film I haven't had time to watch it as of yet but I will get to it.

December 2014 | #2 | Xmas: One Piece Manga Box Set 2, Danganronpa 2, Yakuza 3 and Yakuza 4

And not long after my first December pickup was Christmas Day. I didn't get any imports since I didn't want my family to go through the trouble of using my sites and the likes of custom tax etc. so I requested very little in exchange for some cash (I received a £40 Amazon UK Voucher, it might not be very useful for my anime collecting but who knows).

The big one on this pickup is the second One Piece manga box set containing volumes 24 to 46 of the long running (and still on-going) shonen series that covers the entirety of Skypeia and Water Seven in addition to the first volume of Thriller Bark (Volume 46) and once exclusive to the Japanese Blu-ray set; Strong World Chapter 0. I've nearly finished off the Skypiea arc and I'm still loving the series as usual. Expect some more One Piece to appear throughout 2015.

I also requested some more games for my collection - the part visual novel, part detective game Danganronpa 2 joins my collection and probably my best PS3 pickup in a while (and effectively quite rare in fact); Yakuza 3 and 4. I've haven't progressed on these games properly due to my time being spent on a current University assignment and getting through Persona 4 Golden.

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And that is it for my last 2014 pickups of the year, it's been a blast getting all of these anime, manga, light novel, visual novel and games added to my collection. 2015 I hope will be even better and I can confirm that there are some animes already expected to arrive at some point during the first half of the year.

Expected to arrive in January:

Cowboy Bebop - Complete Series: Amazon Exclusive Premium Edition

Time of Eve - Film: Kickstarter Deluxe Edition

Expected to arrive in February:

Love, Chunibyo and Other Delusions! - Season 1: Collector's Edition

Expected to arrive in May:

Mai Mai Miracle - Film: Kickstarter Collector's Edition w/Artbook

I decided to go ahead and order Cowboy Bebop from Amazon after noticing some stock had appeared once again that would sell out (again). After hearing that the 1080p transfer and the set was excellent I went ahead with it (I do have the cash for it in case you ask). Originally I passed on it because of my intention on waiting for the Ultimate Edition set that was being planned out but knowing me, the price and the quality control may not be worth it (Gurren Lagann's set in all honestly was great but not perfect).

Giovanni's Island I now have at a well good pre-order price of £32 and unfortunately it suffers from the same issue as Patema Inverted in which the title is once again not on the spine but the set looks great so far and uses the same slipcover style as Kill la Kill. Time of Eve was originally scheduled for Christmas but Amazon delayed it to next week so bare with me on that one.

Chunibyo and Mai Mai Miracle are basically when it's done, it's done.

Now what about everything else. What will I get in Semester 2 Part 1 of my pickups? Hmm.. well first things first I need to get the rest of Shana since I don't know how long there is for the set to last. And in terms of Aniplex I should really get Anohana the Movie because it's now on the Closeout section of Rightstuf (no counter as of yet though). Everything else is entirely up to me.