Unboxing [US]: My First Girlfriend is a Gal - Complete Series: Limited Edition (BD/DVD) [NSFW]

Crunchyroll and Funimation have been pretty bonkers with how they select their titles for the limited edition treatment. Surprisingly this one got chosen while a number of bigger titles did not. It's a controversial-ish series but it's a guilty pleasure to watch.

The artwork presented in this boxset is considered Not Safe For Work so reader discretion is advised.

My First Girlfriend is a Gal (Hajimete no Gal) is a 2017 anime series adapted by studio NAZ, publisher Kadokawa Pictures and based on the manga of the same name written by Meguru Ueno. The show is another one of those 'harem' type tropes where our main character is surrounded by a bunch of girls, though in this case he technically already has a girl chosen to him (wait I literally just said this to another series I received, oh nevermind - the harem genre is just insanity but I love it anyway).

Okay so this is a pretty controversial show in general. I file this series as a guilty pleasure simply because I actually like the concept of a main character going on a date with a gal girl, and the other girls are pretty decent. The real issue that many are criticising outside of the fanservice stuff is actually with the main character's friends (though there have been differentiating opinions in general). One of them is straight up just disgusting to watch and is played out as a joke which will throw off many people in general. He even looks like Astro Boy which makes it worse.

Another controversy that occurred is actually with the English dub. The show was given the simuldub treatment during its original Japanese broadcast and one of the episodes was localised differently, instead providing references to other things that really shouldn't have been included in the first place. This isn't the first time this has happened either, as both Prison School and Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid had the same problem of meddling with the dub script. I can confirm that the episode remains the same as it was during the simuldub.

Here's a comparison between the two versions during episode 7 where it happened:

Funimation Simuldub + Home Video Dub:

Scene 1:

Shinpei "Listen up, as your leader I will double-- no triple, this store's sales. We'll be the number one store in the franchise - in the entire industry, the best ever. So terrifically good people you know it I know it. Together we can make Toranoana great again."
Blonde Dude "--This speech sounds familiar..."

Scene 2:

Junichi "You are crossing the line. You can't make high school girls read that crap."
Guy in Glasses "Oh, come on, it's just some light novels."
Junichi "They might be light novels, but they are heavy on the creepy sex stuff"
Guy in Glasses "Of course. Where's the fun in forcing this jail bait tricks to read something decent? Plus, most of the freaks that come in here hate women, so seeing girls degraded gives them boners and makes them happy."
Junichi "Well, maybe think about how these girls feel for once. Maybe they don't want to be debased just so you can sell a few more chicken wings to horny losers with mommy issues".
Guy in Glasses "Check out the balls on this kid. Coming here to lecture me, you dickless cuck". 

a few seconds later 

Guy in Glasses "Your day has been cancelled you guys. Another win for you SJW millennials"

Funimation Translation for Sub:

Scene 1:

Shinpei "Everyone, I will double or even triple this store's sales. We're going to have the number one sales in the franchise - no, in the industry. Let's all work together towards that goal. I'm counting on you."
Blonde Dude "--He's planning something..."

Scene 2:

Junichi "You're going too far. What are you trying to make high school girls read?"
Guy in Glasses "What? Just some light novels."
Junichi "They might be light novels, but they're far too perverted."
Guy in Glasses "And that's what's good! Why make them read something normal? The girls will get all red and embarrassed as they read them-- that's what makes the customers happy."
Junichi "Think about how the girls feel! They won't want to read embarrassing lines like that in front of other people!"
Guy in Glasses "You're pretty arrogant for a part-timer! You really want to complain about my event?" 

a few seconds later

Guy in Glasses "Today's even has been cancelled. We'll operate normally today."

Funimation released the series in both standard and limited edition sets. The version that I picked up is the limited edition release which is the traditional Crunchyroll x Funimation packaging once the two distributors joined forces.

The limited edition set contains all 10 episodes as well as the OVA episode on Blu-ray and DVD across 2 discs per format. The audio options available are both English and Japanese with English subtitles. The discs are region compatible with A, B, 1, and 2. Also included in the limited edition set is a booklet and a set of lenticular artcards featuring the female cast of characters.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages: Japanese, English

Audio: Dolby TrueHD 2.0 (for both languages)

Video: 1080p HD Native 16:9

Region: A B

Subtitles: English

Subtitles Locked: Yes

Discs: 2

DVD Specs:

Languages: Japanese, English

Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 (for both languages)

Video: SD NTSC 16:9

Region: 1 2

Subtitles: English

Subtitles Locked: No

Discs: 2

Plot Synopsis (via Funimation):

Life for Junichi Hashiba is the literal worst: he's a loser, has weird friends, and worse yet... he's a virgin! With his life going nowhere, he lets his pervy friends talk him into doing the impossible - asking out sexy gal, Yukana Yame! After all, a girl obsessed with being fashionable af and showing some skin is an easy score... right?

Somehow, Yukana agrees! But if he thinks he's got a one-way ticket to her bedroom, he's got another thing coming. Is this guy-meets-gal love story that's meant to be, or will the only thing he'll be screwing is his first chance at love?

Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:

OVA: My First Cultural Fair
Episode 4 Commentary
Episode 6 Video Commentary
Promo Videos
Commercials
Textless Opening & Closing Songs
Funimation Trailers

DVD On-Disc Extra Features:

Funimation Trailers

Limited Edition Extras:

Rigid box with clean artwork on all sides and title on spine, information is on paper sheet

Booklet featuring character information and artwork

4 Lenticular Art Cards

My First Girlfriend is a Gal is available on Blu-ray and DVD from Funimation.