Unboxing [UK]: Hyouka - Part 1: Collector's Edition (Blu-ray)

The long-awaited Kyoto Animation series has now landed in the UK! Be curious!

Hyouka is a 2012 anime series based on a novel of the same name written by Honobu Yonezawa. The anime was adapted by studio Kyoto Animation of Haruhi & Dragon Maid fame, and published by Kadokawa Pictures.

Hyouka interestingly enough wasn't made available for English zones for many years, not even for streaming. While Nichijou had some form of legal access, Hyouka was mysteriously unavailable which has made everybody curious to know why it was the case. Now the show is finally available, even with an English dub as well as online streaming.

Hyouka's license is from Funimation, however Anime Limited have the UK & Ireland rights to offer a special collector's edition release (while the US release was a standard edition only surprisingly). The UK version is technically a Funimation UK title, but much like Prison School it got the Anime Limited treatment so you could classify it as an Anime Limited license of sorts. Hyouka was part of the massive Kadokawa Pictures package deal that Funimation acquired.

The Anime Limited Collector's Edition set includes the first half of the series with 11 episodes plus the OVA episode across 2 Blu-ray discs. The audio options include both the English dub and the original Japanese with English subtitles. Subtitles are locked and the regions are B locked. All of the on-disc extras from the Funimation release carry over to the UK version.

The Collector's Edition set provides a 'Your Lie in April' style approach with Part 1 offering a chipboard box to house both collector's edition part sets. The part 1's packaging offers a chipboard box (again) but with a digipack to house the discs as well as a couple artcards. The packaging are all clean art with no logos and info specs aside from the main show's name. The info spec are on a paper sheet while the BBFC sticker is on the wrapping paper sealing the set.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages: Japanese, English

Audio: Dolby TrueHD 2.0 [Japanese, English]

Video: 1080p HD Native 16:9

Region: B

Subtitles: English [Japanese language & On-screen]

Subtitles Locked: Yes

Discs: 2

Plot Synopsis (via Anime Limited):

Beautifully animated by Kyoto Animation (Clannad, Free!, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya), Hyouka tells the story of disenchanted high school boy Hotaro Oreki. Rarely one to go out of his way to do anything for anyone else, Oreki is pressured by his older sister to join the school's Classic Lit Club in order to keep it from being abolished.

There he meets Eru Chitanda, a kindhearted and inquisitive girl who's joined the Classics Club for "personal reasons." Oreki is immediately drawn to her, but finds her endless energy a little overwhelming. After the pair is joined by Oreki's best friend Fukube and the fiery Ibara, the club is complete. Left to their own devices, the four students quickly get off track when Oreki's talent for solving mysteries sparks Chitanda's boundless curiosity. She has a mystery of her own to share, but first she needs to make sure Oreki's the right man for the job.

On-Disc Extra Content:

OVA: Episode 11.5 - You Can't Escape (Motsubeki Mono wa)

Textless Opening & Ending Songs

Trailers

Collector's Edition Extras:

Chipboard Artbox - Clean Box (Title on Spine), Digipack for Discs, Info Sheet

6 Artcards

Hyouka is available on Blu-ray and DVD from Anime Limited.