One of the most critically acclaimed anime titles to be released in recent years has now arrived all around the world, and the UK release came out just in time with the other territories.
The Deluxe Edition took a little longer than the other versions, but it is now available with only 2000 units available.
Your Name. (Kimi no Na wa.) is an anime movie directed by Makoto Shinkai (5 Centimeters per Second, The Place Promised in Our Early Days), animated by CoMix Wave Films and released in Japanese theaters in July 2016. The film became a huge sensation in Japan, managing to earn the fourth-highest-grossing film of all time in the country's box office (nearly beating Disney's Frozen which was huge also).
Your Name premiered at Anime Expo 2016 but the licenses were acquired not long after. UK distributor Anime Limited bought the UK & Ireland rights followed by US distributor Funimation who bought the US & Canada rights. The UK even got a theatrical release on 18th November 2016 which performed pretty well considering anime doesn't do too great in the country, while the US didn't get it until 7th April 2017.
The home video release is now here, and the version I went for is from Anime Limited. There are three versions to choose from; the standard edition, the collector's edition steelbook, and the deluxe edition. The deluxe edition is the version that I went for, and it offers way more content than even what Funimation has to offer. Both the collector's and deluxe edition offer the Blu-ray, DVD, and the Japanese original soundtrack from RADWIMPS. The UK releases do not offer the English voiced songs which are available standalone anyway (the same goes for the Japanese OST also).
Now a lot of folks will probably be wondering about the audio and video quality of the discs - well unfortunately the UK & Australian discs are the worst version of the film so far in terms of quality due to the poor authoring done by Australian distributor Madman Entertainment. The issues with the discs include the audio being bizarre during numerous scenes (most notably when the music appears) and the video quality suffering from banding, incorrect brightness, and compression artefacts on certain scenes. There is good news however, as Anime Limited will be offering a special replacement programme by authoring their own version of the Blu-ray to replace the existing discs that folks who own the release have. You will have to send your Blu-ray disc to them and also contact them in order to qualify for the replacement. You can find out more information over on the Anime UK News site.
Outside of the issues, there are other bits of information worth mentioning. The Blu-ray & DVD discs contain the original Japanese audio with English subtitles using the Japanese soundtrack, the English dub using the Japanese soundtrack, and the English dub using the English-voiced soundtrack. Funimation's release does not offer the English dub with Japanese soundtrack which makes this region's release unique. The disc regions are locked to B and 2 (NTSC) only, while the subtitles are unlockable and are free of any issues or mis-spellings (in other words, there's no issues with the subs).
The Deluxe Edition release offers a clean chipboard box with the main title on the spine (BBFC logo and other specs are on a info sheet) and a digipack for the three discs. Alongside the film on both formats as well as the Japanese original soundtrack, we have a 128-page booklet (which is twice the size of the Funimation release), a folded A3 poster, 10 artcards and a Mitsuha bracelet. The SRP for this release is £59.99 and is exclusive to Anime Limited's online store and Zavvi only.
An Ultra HD Blu-ray release is not included with any UK version, however Anime Limited are considering the format sometime in the near future.
Blu-ray Specs:
Languages: Japanese, English
Audio: DTS-HD MA 5.1 [Japanese, English]
Video: 1080p HD Native 16:9
Region: B
Subtitles: English
Subtitles Locked: No
Discs: 1
DVD Specs:
Languages: Japanese, English
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 [Japanese, English]
Video: SD NTSC 16:9
Region: 2
Subtitles: English
Subtitles Locked: No
Discs: 1
Plot Synopsis (via Anime Limited):
Mitsuha and Taki are total strangers living completely different lives. But when Mitsuha makes a wish to leave her mountain town for the bustling city of Tokyo, they become connected in a bizarre way. She dreams she is a boy living in Tokyo while Taki dreams he is a girl from a rural town he’s never visited.
What does their newfound connection mean? And how will it bring them together? Find out in the latest film from the acclaimed auteur Makoto Shinkai.
On-Disc Extra Content:
English Trailer
Japanese Promos
Makoto Shinkai Filmography
Special TV Program
Deluxe Edition Extras:
Chipboard Artbox: Clean Art, Logo on Spine, Digipack for Discs, Info Sheet for other info/specs
Japanese Original Soundtrack
128-page Booklet
Folded A3 Poster
10 Artcards
Mitsuha Bracelet
Your Name. is available on both Blu-ray and DVD from distributor Anime Limited.
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