UK Anime Distributor Anime Limited Discussion Thread

Just Passing Through said:
My mistake. I thought it was one of Manga’s early “dump the VHS onto disc and be done with it “ releases.
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All of those had a distinctive generic black case with some key art and the title in a generic font on a red banner. Even at that they were better quality than what Kiskei were doing with their Gunbuster and extremely cut Urotsukidoji dvds.

Urotsukidoji 4 is missing 2 episodes and about half the runtime of the remaining episodes was missing. I don't know why they bothered trying to release hentai especially as it was before the adult R-18 rating had been established.
 
fathomlessblue said:
I'll admit to being a bit glib. Obviously blu rays are more expensive to produce here (Justin Sevakis recently said getting BBFC certification adds roughly an additional £5 per 13 episode release), particularly with CE packaging, while I still had to use a proxy shipper & pay imports to get my set here. However, it's still an absurd difference in pricing vs amount of content in my eyes, particularly given they're using Sentai's masters as their disks.

It does seem like the company is struggling quite a bit to get licenses, but they've also been in the business producing genuine bespoke collectors set long enough now that it's impossible not to see fairly dispassionate releases like this as anything but cynical. I honestly have no idea how well the company is doing, & I really don't want them to go under, but at the same time, I just can't support releases like this. Even as a long-time Patlabor fan, I don't feel adding a shiny new box and a small booklet adds enough bang for my buck given the price and the lack of key features.
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I completely understand where you are coming from. I do wonder how AL are doing as well. Not getting the Suzume licence seemed odd considering they had a lot of Shinkai's previous films, so I wonder if they simply couldn't get it or if Crunchyroll just got in there first for whatever reason.

£30 for a single blu-ray film does seem steep - but then again, if they are more expensive to produce in the UK I get it. But it still leaves a sour taste in your mouth.

I have no idea what Anime Limited's track record is with standard editions as I've only been buying from them properly for less than a year. Does every collector's edition/limited edition get a standard edition eventually? Or is it only select titles they turn into standard editions? I ask this because I am a lot more willing to try out an anime I haven't seen before for a more reasonable price (which standard editions tend to be). I'll grab CEs/LEs if they're on discount or if it's an anime I genuinely love for full price.

If the mega, hardcore Patlabor fans aren't going to snap these up because of previous superior releases, then who is this for? As someone who has never seen Patlabor before but thought the synopsis sounded like something that would interest me, I don't think I can justify the price of £70 for 3 blu-ray films. If there were standard editions for ~£15 a pop, then sure I'd be more inclined to take a punt on it as it seems interesting and I want to support legal, physical releases of anime in the UK.

But hey, maybe that's just the going-rate for boutique anime blu-rays these days with inflation and everything else going on - I'm no business person.
 
Received my 4. December international Christmas Sale order at last, it being the Neon Genesis Evangelion Limited Edition box set (containing the OG TV series and films, with both the original US ADV/Manga Ent. subs and dubs, and a home video version of EoE) to upgrade my standard set, along with 2023 Green and Red Christmas Mystery Boxes. Because some still need to get theirs, the pictures are in spoiler tags (list of all the items because of Customs, and showing the titles stacked onto eachother).

I gotta say, I'm quite impressed with how quick well they packaged it with the FedEx boxes and bubblewrap around the Blu-Rays as tightly as possible to prevent moving. The Evangelion box set came in a medium sized box on its own with bubble wrap and some airbags in it as well, while the large box of mine got both mystery boxes wrapped solely in bubble wrap.

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BrokenPhoenix said:
I have no idea what Anime Limited's track record is with standard editions as I've only been buying from them properly for less than a year. Does every collector's edition/limited edition get a standard edition eventually? Or is it only select titles they turn into standard editions? I ask this because I am a lot more willing to try out an anime I haven't seen before for a more reasonable price (which standard editions tend to be). I'll grab CEs/LEs if they're on discount or if it's an anime I genuinely love for full price.
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From what I've read before, it's very dependent on the anime licensee. E.g. AniPlex' licensed titles are known to only get "collector's"/limited editions with higher pricing, sadly.
 
Disappointing about Patlabor, another UK release without the UK dubs... Not surprising though as I had little faith AL would bother to get them. No Manga UK dubs No buy for me. Hopfully some new people will get enjoyment out of these great films.
 
BrokenPhoenix said:
I have no idea what Anime Limited's track record is with standard editions as I've only been buying from them properly for less than a year. Does every collector's edition/limited edition get a standard edition eventually? Or is it only select titles they turn into standard editions? I ask this because I am a lot more willing to try out an anime I haven't seen before for a more reasonable price (which standard editions tend to be). I'll grab CEs/LEs if they're on discount or if it's an anime I genuinely love for full price.
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There are exceptions (and probably a lot more of them these days), but the general rule of thumb was that films got a standard edition at or close to the launch of the CE, while TV shows waited until the CE was sold out before working on a standard. You hopefully won't have to wait too long if you want a cheaper option for Patlabor.

Hopefully.
 
Was planning to pre-order the Patlabor movies but will have to put if off for the time being, January ended up being a more expensive month for me than planned (because of boring irl stuff).

Though from what everyone is saying it seems it'd be cheaper and more worth it to get the complete Sentai set (if it is still in-print?) as it includes everything else on-top of the movies.
 
Lucky_Deity said:
Was planning to pre-order the Patlabor movies but will have to put if off for the time being, January ended up being a more expensive month for me than planned (because of boring irl stuff).

Though from what everyone is saying it seems it'd be cheaper and more worth it to get the complete Sentai set (if it is still in-print?) as it includes everything else on-top of the movies.
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Correct. The Maiden Japan (it’s not technically a Sentai release, they’re only distributing it) set is also Region free.
 
Dai said:
It's geoblocked rather than region locked. It will play on an unmodded UK Playstation due to quirks in the way their location data is set.
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Interesting, I might take the plunge then on that release then.

I've had a little Google and have seen that it's been confirmed to play on PS3 and PS4. Would it be the same on a PS5? I can't seem to find any confirmation.
 
BrokenPhoenix said:
I've had a little Google and have seen that it's been confirmed to play on PS3 and PS4. Would it be the same on a PS5? I can't seem to find any confirmation.
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Yes, it will work on PS5 too.

If you're just getting started with Patlabor, it's worth knowing that there are two continuities, but the differences between them are negligible.

1: 1st OAV series - movies
2: TV series - New Files

The only real differences are the ways people join the team initially, and that the TV continuity has a lighter tone overall. It's all great stuff though.
 
Scavenger said:
The geoblock on Patlabor is only triggered if country code is set to Japan.

I recommend the Japanese Movie 1+2 set which goes for around £40 before shipping. Has the original Japanese Dolby Surround track, Japanese Renewal redub, Bandai dub and English subtitles. It will go out of print in August because it's a limited time offer.
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Dai said:
Yes, it will work on PS5 too.

If you're just getting started with Patlabor, it's worth knowing that there are two continuities, but the differences between them are negligible.

1: 1st OAV series - movies
2: TV series - New Files

The only real differences are the ways people join the team initially, and that the TV continuity has a lighter tone overall. It's all great stuff though.
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Thank you very much for the info.
 
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I went with Patlabor Movie 1 and 2. Don’t like the 3rd film very much. On the Anime Limited site it says release date 29th of this month for all of these so that’s pretty cool.
 
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