Otaku Collection 2015: April Update | A bit of everything

April has passed and here's the summary of what titles I bought for the month. It's an interesting batch I should say. Rather than going into huge detail I figured I might as well summaries my pickups with a mini paragraph.

Pickup #1 | Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno

The first title to start the month is Warner Bros' release for the second Rurouni Kenshin live action film, released in the UK as a limited edition steelbook for Blu-ray. The film itself is really good and it's actually the first part of two for the arc its adapting, the other part (Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends) was recently brought to cinemas for a limited time in the UK. I do recommend this film but I suggest you start with the first film to get an idea of who the characters are etc.

Pickup #2 | Kill la Kill

The next title to join the list is the next part to Kill la Kill in the UK; the second box set for Blu-ray contains episodes 10 to 19 and a nice book. I have yet to watch the series in dub form but the show does pick up its pace during the halfway point. I was originally going to save this until MCM but Amazon dropped the price to a good amount that I felt was right for the set so I picked it up.

Pickup #3 | D-Frag!

The first import of the month goes to Funimation's release of D-Frag!, which I also have yet to watch due to other commitments. The show has been on my watch list for quite some time so it's nice to finally own the show and enjoy the antics going on in the games club.

Pickup #4 | Aquapazza: Aquaplus Dream Team

The funny thing about this title was that I first found it in my local games store and I kept forgetting the name until Metal Jesus mentioned it in his PS3 Hidden Gems YouTube video. After a while I finally had the time to pick up the game and rather than going on Play Asia or the Amazon UK Marketplace I used Amazon US instead. The game is very entertaining but I still can't manage the complicated combos (or Splash Attacks as they are called). I'm surprised this never made it to UK or European shores because it's a fun crossover fighting game.

Pickup #5 | Kara no Kyoukai (the Garden of Sinners) and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

It's been a while since I bought an anime straight from Japan so it was time for me to try this again. I went with Kara no Kyoukai, known in English as the Garden of Sinners, a film series from Ufotable and Type Moon. The series isn't going to get a Blu-ray release for a while in English zones and the DVD sets aren't really my cup of tea so I decided to import the Blu-ray that Aniplex of Japan re-released a couple of years back (in standard edition form).

In addition I found the first manga volume of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 1: Phantom Blood in Waterstones. The art-style really is cool and it does somewhat stand up in today's standards. I look forward to picking up more JoJo since the anime probably won't get localised for a while due to the music names and other complicated issues that are around. I wouldn't mind seeing Viz Media license the series since they do have the rights to the merchandise and the manga.

Pickup #6 | Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd

Well isn't this deja vu? I picked up this game exactly one year ago.

While it's true that I bought the title from the Amazon Marketplace last year with J-Stars, the version they gave me was the Asian Version which may not be an issue with others but to me it rather annoys me. I want my collection to be consistent to just the UK version, US version and the Japanese version only. The asian version makes the spines inconsistent with the first game (due to the lack of CERO logo and colour change to the bottom part) and the disc will require an asian account for DLC purposes. And so I waited a while until I decided to get the game again in the right way. I know it's picky but I want it the way it is. In the end I found the Japanese version on Play Asia for £20.

Pickup #7 | Vagabond and Vinland Saga

The final batch for April was another tour to the Waterstones store. I picked up the first omnibus volumes for Vagabond (via VIZBIG label) and Vinland Saga. Vagabond had a lot of attention online so I wanted to see what the fuss was about and after reading the first volume I am see why.

Vinland Saga also gained a good amount of attention and at a recent point the English release was put on hiatus due to sales, but Kodansha changed their mind and will release omnibus volumes six and seven (effectively putting the English release up to date with the Japanese version). As long as the sales are decent Kodansha will release more of them.

And that's pretty much it for the month. I bet some of you are wondering about the other Garden of Sinners release from Aniplex of America, it received a delay and just arrived today. Apologises for keeping it late.

Here's the current schedule for May and Early June 2015:

Week of May 4th:

K-On! Houkago Live!! HD Ver. (PS3)

May 23rd (aka MCM Comic Con London):

Dozens of TBA sets (???)

Late May/Early June:

Darker Than Black: Season 1 (Blu-ray)

Tiger & Bunny: The Rising (Blu-ray/DVD)

Early June:

Expelled from Paradise (Blu-ray)

Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Animation (Blu-ray/DVD)