Unboxing [UK]: Persona 3 the Movie -#1 Spring of Birth- - Collector's Edition (BD/DVD)

It took its time but Anime Limited have managed to release the first film of four for the Persona 3 anime series. I was going to go after the Japanese sets but the rate wasn't good enough to afford them sadly.

Persona 3 the Movie is a series of films based on the awesome game Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 released back on the PlayStation 2. The Persona 3 movies follow the story of the game but each film is set in each season, so for example Spring of Birth is set during the Spring part of the story where our main character transfers to a new school and how our story begins.

There are four films in the Persona 3 anime series:

 - #1 Spring of Birth -

 - #2 Midsummer Knight's Dream -

 - #3 Falling Down -

 - #4 Winter of Rebirth -

Aniplex hold the license to these films in Japan and North America, but have only released them using the Japanese Blu-ray sets with English subtitles, so there's sadly no English dub offered whatsoever. A very missed opportunity I would say, considering the PS2 game has a very good dub cast.

This release from Anime Limited is the collector's edition Blu-ray and DVD combo, using art from the Japanese Blu-ray limited edition plus housing the discs with a digipack and sturdy box. While the Japanese release includes commentary, original soundtrack and other goodies; this release has no bonus features and its physical extra is a 36 page booklet. The regions are B and 2 only. The subtitles are unlockable, and the colours are Yellow for main dialogue and White for on-screen stuff.

The booklet itself is pretty much identical to the Japanese release, with some stuff cut out like soundtrack notes, promo for the P3 Stage Play, and a sticker collection of sorts; that's about 6 pages I've noticed so far.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages: Japanese

Audio: DTS-HD MA 5.1

Video: 1080p HD Native 16:9

Region: B

Subtitles: English

Subtitles Locked: No

Discs: 1

DVD Specs:

Languages: Japanese

Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1

Video: SD NTSC 16:9

Region: 2

Subtitles: English

Subtitles Locked: No

Discs: 1

Plot Synopsis (via All the Anime):

"If I told you that there’s more than 24 hours in a day, would you believe me?" 

The “Dark Hour”—the time which exists between each day. During those hours, the town stands still, the people are　transformed into mere objects, and countless monsters called “Shadows” run rampant through the town. 

Only the Personas, beings with special powers, are able to combat these creatures.

Makoto Yuki, a transfer student at Gekkoukan High School, is suddenly awakened with the powers to control a Persona. Yuki is recruited to join other Persona summoners of his school in the “Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad.” 

As they continue to investigate the situations surrounding the Dark Hours, they all come face to face with their shocking fate…

On-Disc Extra Content:

None

Collector's Edition Extras:

Chipboard Artbox with Clean Art (no logos, title on spine, no info), info on paper and Digipack for the discs

36-page Booklet

Persona 3 the Movie -#1 Spring of Birth- is available on Blu-ray and DVD from Anime Limited. Aniplex hold the license for North America but at the time of this post there is no news on a domestic home release.