Otaku Collection 2017: June Update | Birthday stuff, SAO Catch Up, More Games

It has been a month since I had returned home from University. I've received my results and successfully achieved an overall 2.1 grade for my Computer Science for Games course. I'm happy with the outcome as well.

Anywho from June onwards my hauls will be a mix of small and large ones. This haul covered a number of smaller items but each one was worth getting. The June 2017 haul includes 6 anime and 5 games.

#01 | Dragon's Crown and Tales of Xillia 2

The first two items of the month came from last May's order from Video Games Plus, a Canadian retailer that had a Free Worldwide Shipping promotion for any orders from CAN$50 or more which goes for about £30 back then. My main aim was for Tales of Xillia 2 which was CAN$24.99 but I needed to find a game that was at the right amount to get the free shipping. I ended up going for Dragon's Crown because it's a popular RPG that's currently no longer available for retail here in Europe due to the Atlus/SEGA ordeal. Both of these titles are part of the third stage in my Operation PS3 Haul.

#02 | Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and Star Ocean V

On the same day I believe, I went to town and discovered Persona 4 Arena Ultimax was available brand new for a decent price considering it's no longer in stock at a lot of places. I decided to get it and add it to the third stage of my Operation PS3 Haul, which surprised me considering it wasn't planned at all despite the fact that I wanted to get it (what I mean was that I didn't think I would have been able to find a retail copy in the end). In the same shop Star Ocean V was available on a bargain price for £9.99 brand new and sealed so I went for it. I do want to get Star Ocean III and IV as well at some point.

#03 | Gonna Be the Twin-Tail!!

Days later I was told that the Twin-Tail!! show went on sale for £15.99 on Zavvi and I was able to use the 10% discount from Unidays before my contract with the University expires (once you graduate you will begin to lose access to student deals). The series has been on my list for some time but the pricing was never right, heck I even forgot to get it back at MCM Birmingham.

You can view the unboxing here.

#04 | Sword Art Online II: Part 3

After playing Sword Art Online: Lost Song I decided to go ahead and finish off the series sets as I only picked up Parts 1 & 2 of the 4. I did plan on getting the rest back in MCM Birmingham earlier this year but they weren't discounted to the values I had wanted. Unfortunately there was no other drop on the price so I ended up getting this for £24. Still nice to get the show sorted out sooner than later due to Part 2 going OOP.

You can view the unboxing here.

#05 | Persona 3 the Movie -#4 Winter of Rebirth- and Prison School

For my Birthday I requested these two titles thanks to an Anime Limited early bird sale. I now have every Persona 3 movie set and I did in fact watch each one during the week, I felt Movie 3 & 4 were better than the first two in terms of the story and pacing. Prison School on the other hand I watched during simulcast and I'm glad I decided to hold out for the UK release as it not only got a better looking set but it's also uncut considering the BBFC tends to be hit or miss on some 'debatable' anime out there.

You can view the unboxings for the following here:
 - Persona 3 the Movie -#4 Winter of Rebirth-
 - Prison School

#06 | OVERLORD and Sword Art Online II: Part 4

I was given a £2.50 coupon for Anime Limited's shop due to the delay on Persona so I decided to use it on both OVERLORD and the last part of Sword Art Online II. They both arrived on the same day as the other two did. Really pleased with how OVERLORD has turned out, pretty good for a £30 set considering the US version is twice as much. SAO II Part 4 was also fairly cheaper on the Anime Limited shop so it wasn't too bad.

You can view the unboxings for the following here:
 - OVERLORD
 - Sword Art Online II Part 4

#07 | Steam Sale!
I decided to download two games from the Steam Summer sale. There were a lot to choose from, but I have my own nitpicks so I decided to select two games - The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky First Chapter and Melty Blood: Actress Again Current Code.

#08 | Crash Bandicoot: N-Sane Trilogy

Last minute pickup was one of the four Birthday gifts (the other two were Persona and Prison School). Crash Bandicoot is an American game of course, but it's great to be able to play the original three once again with this 'AAA remaster'.

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That's it for June. A pretty solid month overall. I got the Sword Art Online II series out of the way to save myself the hassle, and I have some more PS3 games for my collection.

July will see a fair more titles to my surprise. This was pretty much last minute orders. The rate got better at the very end of June so I made some more orders for a few more anime titles that were just put on sale for a day - Deadman Wonderland, Spice & Wolf, and Steins;Gate - and two more Japanese imports as I wanted to use up the 1000 yen coupon from Solaris Japan - Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! and Sengoku Basara HD Collection.

There's also the limited edition release of Monster Musume: Everyday Life with Monster Girls estimated to be at the very end of July, however Sentai has been getting some delays on their other special sets so I hope this one doesn't get it by the same problem. I also paid off the collector's edition for Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash! which is due late August. Plus I also have Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age steelbook on order as a birthday gift.