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Wednesday 1 April 2015

Otaku Collection 2015: March Update | Everything is Limited these days (Part 2)

It's that time again for another round up on what I have picked up over the last month. These include the final pickups I was able to get from the first half of 'Semester 2'.


Pickup #1 | Space Dandy and Unbreakable Machine Doll

The first two pickups for March were existing pre-orders. I wanted to get some more Funimation LE sets for my collection while also backtracking a bit so I went ahead and ordered Space Dandy, a show that I intentionally waited for the Blu-ray, and Unbreakable Machine Doll, another show to try out even though I haven't seen it...

Due to my silly timing I was only able to watch few anime over the course of March and luckily I was able to watch the entirety of Space Dandy Season 1. And yes I really enjoyed it. The main problem that I think many anime viewers will encounter is the first episode, it's way out of place. Granted there is some fanservice every now and then in the show but the first episode literally shoves it in your face. Heck, when myself and a friend were watching the first episode in the main room the other guy that was around gave us a disgruntled look because of the fanservice. Sigh. But beyond that the show is like any other Watanabe show, it's just amazing. I also recommend the English dub which is one of the best in recent years. The Funimation set is AB but it's also available in the UK from Anime Limited.


Pickup #2 | Sword Art Online

Oh boy, wasn't this a fiasco.

As I have mentioned countless times, this was 'and I say it' an unexpected arrival to my collection. Now let me explain, I had planned to pick up the show for a while but I was expecting it to last until the summer. But then the Fairy Dance arc went out of print and I literally lost hope. I wanted those sets because they look and were handled way better than the UK release was (and also I like the Aniplex sets). I was just lucky enough to grab a copy of Box Set 3 from eBay for a high price but nowhere near as high as what many were selling right now. United Publications were able to send me the other sets which was great.

But on the plus side this means I'm one step closer to catching up with the Aniplex sets. I do want to get all of them because of the quality discs and packaging. And about 90% of the time are flawless and are way better than any other version out there. All that's left now is to get the other half of Fate/Zero, get Blue Exorcist and that will leave all of the other 'cheaper' Blu-ray sets left. My priority for Semester 2 Part 2 is to get the other Fate/Zero set and Kara no Kyoukai.

Now what about the show itself, I haven't tried the English dub yet but I heard it's rather average. As for the soundtrack, it's rather decent but nowhere as replay-able as Kajiura's other works like Fate/Zero and Madoka Magica. I did get a glimpse of how Season 2's dub was handled and I like Death Gun's voice, just saying.


Pickup #3 | Hyperdimension Neptunia and dozen PSN games

Not long after the SAO fiasco, I went ahead and decided to spend the rest of my cash on video games, because I haven't done that in quite a while (the last ones were those Japanese PS3 imports and the ef visual novel).

Starting off the list was Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, this game is very good. I enjoyed the first game and I had as much fun in the sequel as I had before, there are a couple of issues that I think should be addressed. Granted I haven't finished the story yet but these were mainly technical issues. First of, the game is buggy and quite often will crash every now and then. I had to reload the 12th act dozens of times because every time I would chainsaw the big guy the game would freeze, literally. Now just to note, this is on the PS3 so I don't know if this would affect other versions but this has been bugging me for a while. Besides that, the aiming can be annoying because there are occasions where I want to pull off a quick aim and shoot but the aim would go to a different guy and it's annoying. Another issue is the camera view, why can't we see enemies from even further distances? Technically we can but half of the time bullets would randomly shoot at you without even knowing they were there. This mainly occurred to some of the levels. Overall I do suggest you try out the sequel but just be aware there are some flaws still left in the game.

Other titles I bought were classic PS2 games. I loved Persona 4 Golden and I wanted to have a go at other games in the series but rather than on the portable device, on my PS3 instead. And so I downloaded Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga and Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES. FES is somewhat the definitive version of Persona 3, now many will prefer the Portable version on the PlayStation Portable since you can play as a female version of the main character but I felt FES had more to offer with an extra campaign and couple other extra features. In addition I also picked up Disgaea: Hour of Darkness and Max Payne. I've played a couple of hours for each of these games and I'm mainly saving them until I finish off a couple backlog games first.

And speaking of backlog, I also picked up Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 and Victory. NIS are re-releasing the series as one box set and I figured the original sets will be going out of print so I decided to pick up the sequels since I already own the first (and just finished it today in fact!). Hopefully they won't take as long as the first did in terms of getting the Platinum and have easier gameplay because the first game is tedious, doable but very annoying.


Pickup #4 | Final Fantasy Type-0 HD

And last but not least, I decided to buy the Collector's Edition for Final Fantasy Type-0 HD. I'm a fan of the franchise though I haven't played many of them I've been keen on Type-0 for quite a while since they announced it as Final Fantasy Agito back in what 2006 or something? However I don't have a PS4 but I really liked the collector's set so I decided to pick it up and at least get my hands on the Final Fantasy XV demo before the first print goes out.


And that's it for March. I didn't get that much because of Sword Art Online so hopefully I won't make that mistake of underestimating an anime staying in print again. Here is what's been pre-ordered and estimated to arrive within the next few months:

April 2015:
 - D-Frag!
 - the garden of sinners: recalled out summer
 - Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno

May 2015:
 - Darker Than Black

June 2015:
 - A Lull in the Sea (Nagi no Asukara)
 - Knights of Sidonia

July 2015:
 - No Game No Life

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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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