Otaku Collection 2015: January Update | Classics, Catalogues and Imports

It's been an interesting start so far. 2015 will hopefully be the year that I'll be able to catch up with the anime collecting and get on track on any title that shows up! But first it's that day where I present a compilation of stuff I picked up in the month of January. While 2014 was an improvement on one part, I still had some occasions where I wasn't able to collect some of the older titles so for this month I focused on a various type of things.

Due to my change of location, two of the animes arrived at home while everything else arrived at Uni.

Pickup #1 | Time of Eve: The Movie and Cowboy Bebop

The first two pickups of January 2015 (and the year in general) goes to the Time of Eve movie and the Amazon Exclusive Premium Edition of Cowboy Bebop. Time of Eve the Movie is a compilation film of the original OVA series which for this release was funded through Kickstarter and as a result were presented in a special deluxe set with the original soundtrack and a booklet. The film itself is very good and I recommend you pick this one up right away!

Cowboy Bebop on another hand, was one lucky pickup. I was originally going to wait for the UK Ultimate Edition as they had plans to release a version of the series with more goodies to it but Funimation's set was redone with 1080p video quality and a very special package that was exclusive only on Amazon. The set itself sold out and I managed to get one of the last copies to surface on the site. The show is regarded to be one of the best animes out there and it does hold strong to this day with an excellent English dub and superb soundtrack.

Pickup #2 | Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax and Initial D: Extreme Stage

After returning to Uni I decided to get some more Japanese games! The first game that popped into my head as a contender was none other than the latest crossover fighting game Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax. The game includes various characters from the Dengeki Bunko light novel publisher so that includes franchises like Sword Art Online, A Certain Magical Index, Durarara!! and even Oreimo into the mix. The game includes local and online multiplayer in addition to two additional Sega characters. If you are really keen on picking this up but don't know any Japanese there is some good news as Sega have announced it's getting localised for North America and Europe in the future on both PS3 and Vita (Europe will receive a digital only release unfortunately).

The second Japanese game I picked up is Initial D: Extreme Stage. This game (like DBFC) is an arcade game where you drive and drift against the other driver on various tracks from the Initial D franchise. You can create your own character and customise your car which is cool. Sadly there's no local mutliplayer but it does have online if you own the Japanese version. The game is priced very cheap due to being part of The Best line-up.

Pickup #3 | Anohana the Movie, Chunibyo! Season 1 and Dekamori Senran Kagura Shinovi Pack

Not long after the first uni anime batch have arrived. Starting off with Anohana the Movie, it's another Aniplex pickup and it's a very nice set with a compilation soundtrack and a poster. I haven't seen the show so I'll won't be able to see the film for quite some time but the set is very nice.

Probably the biggest shock of the month is the arrival of Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! Season 1 from Sentai Filmworks. I rarely get a Sentai title because to be quite honest they're relatively expensive and last much longer than the other titles I collect. My priority is getting the Limited Edition type sets first anyway. Chunibyo! was a special one because it's a collector's edition set. I know High School of the Dead was first but to be quite honest even that set was expensive (Chunibyo! was cheaper also) but I'll get my hands on that set later in the year. I haven't watched Chunibyo! before picking up the Blu-ray so I'm looking forward to watching this show (though I hear the second season is worse).

And let's not forget an unexpected pickup for the month - the Japanese Vita versions for Senran Kagura! I went ahead and bought them because I love the series in general and although I already own Shinovi Versus, this set was pretty much a bargain given it's two games in one package with special bonuses. Bon Appetit! retail version does contain all 20 characters plus the 2 available as DLC codes.

Pickup #4 | Blood-C and Shakugan no Shana Season 3 Part 1

The final pickup for January are some catalogue titles from the Funimation Limited Edition group. I finally got my hands on Blood-C and Shakugan no Shana Season 3 artboxes. Unfortunately, like Shana Season 2, Amazon's packaging once again damaged the sets and due to their rarity there's no point in asking for a replacement. But as long as they're doable on the shelf that's fine by me. I haven't finished watching Shana Season 2 and I do need to get the S OVAs so I'll have to put Shana Season 3 on hold for a while. As for Blood-C, looking forward to watching the show though I have heard mixed thoughts on the story and let's not forget that I already own The Last Dark from Manga UK.

Overall Thoughts

So far January is a great start to my collection for 2015. I've managed to get more Funimation LE sets and I also added some extras into the mix. February's line up is still to be determined aside from Ben-To and Senran Kagura: Ninja Flash will should arrive sometime between the 2nd-7th February if things go well in terms of retrieving them. I also have another visual novel ordered however I can't guarantee on whether it will arrive until United Publications updates the order status to 'Being Processed' due to the set apparently selling out already (MangaGamer's website states the item is still in stock however).

As for anything else, I'll probably wait and see what happens. I might get Aqua Pazza since it's another crossover fighting game I want to play (it contains various characters from eroge visual novels). It's also a perfect opportunity to import some Japanese anime due to the recession and the current exchange rate. I would get more Aniplex sets but the exchange rate from dollars to pounds is really bad so I'll have to hold it off for a while.

Pretty much here's the current schedule for my future pickups (as a good reminder):

February 2015:

 - Ben-To (Limited Edition)

 - ef ~ A Fairy Tale of the Two (Limited Edition) [NSFW]

 - Senran Kagura: Ninja Flash (Limited Edition)

March 2015:

 - Space Dandy Season 1 (Limited Edition)

 - Unbreakable Machine Doll (Limited Edition)

May 2015:

 - Mai Mai Miracle (Collector's Edition Kickstarter Exclusive)