What did you RECEIVE today? PHOTOS EDITION!

My last package completing my 5/28 order from Sentai finally arrived today. The order shipped in 3 separate packages - I received the Blu-ray on 6/1, the 24x36" poster on 6/5, and the set of four 11x14" posters just today.

Oh, and, by the way, today (it's still Saturday here in the US) is my 65th Birthday! 🎂 👴


Elfen Lied Complete Collection Blu-ray
Call of the Night Season 2 Key Image Poster 24x36"
Princess Principal 4-Poster Pack 11x17"


I already had an available 24x36" black wooden poster frame to use for the Call of the Night poster, and I purchased a set of four matching 11x17" black wooden frames for the four Princess Principal posters. I'll be hanging all these framed posters on one of my bedroom walls. Elfen Lied Blu-ray was used for size reference in poster photos.

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I received another steelboook from Crunchyroll yesterday, and had some time this morning to do a photo spread for it. The shrink wrap was put on really ugly, with all the seams showing on the front side of the Steelbook, so I unwrapped it right away and put it in a steelbook protector to take the first two photos with the J-card:


Perfect Blue 4K+BD Steelbook

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And finally (sorry for the triple-post!), I received two Blu-rays in private sales from fellow blu-ray.com anime forum members yesterday and Thursday:


Scarlet Movie
The Patients of Dr. Maro (18+)

Since the Dr. Maro Blu-ray is 18+, I've spoilered the image because the cover is mildly NSFW but is censored:
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Didn’t think I’d pull the trigger on this so soon, but I noticed a price drop at Officeworks and one left at my local so I took the plunge. Had about $300 of points I earned through work. The supermarket have a 10% off gift cards so I paid most of the remainder with that. Now I just need to trade in my original Switch.

I confess I got Bananza last year, long before I got the console. I think they made a mistake with the price one day and I pounced before they could fix it. This is the game I was most excited to play. It’s clear I’ll probably buy anything made by the Mario Odyssey team.

As for Story of Seasons, I noticed it went down to $60 ($42 USD) one day and decided to go for it. Good thing since it went up to $113 ($79 USD) the next day. Wait for me, Arata.

Preordered Digimon Time Stranger and am excited for StarFox though I might wait to see if I can get a better deal later.
 
June Haul #1

We have one package from Wed 3rd plus the rest arriving on Wed 17th & today.


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#01: The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story
The first item of the month is a Japanese PlayStation 5 import that I've wanted to own for a couple of years now, and it's been pretty pricey. But an opportunity came and I managed to get a copy at a solid price!

The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story is a Full-Motion Video game developed by studio h.a.n.d., the folks behind Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and Neo: The World Ends with You, and published by Square Enix. It's been on my radar for a while because I wanted more of the adventure visual novel style similar to 428: Shibuya Scramble and this one fit that niche. It's gotten decent reviews and the Japanese physical release includes English support which is neat.

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#02: ACA Neo Geo Selection Volumes 5-8
It took a while because these collections were popular but they finally had stock over at VideoGamesPlus, and I ordered the next four in the series.

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ACA Neo Geo Selection Volumes 5-8 from Hamster Corporation continues the collection of classic Neo Geo games for the Nintendo Switch, featuring fighting games, sports games, side-scrolling shooters games and more from SNK.

ACA Neo Geo Selection Volume 5 includes Aero Fighters 2 (Sonic Wings 2), Aggressors of Dark Kombat, Art of Fighting 2, Burning Fight, Cyber-Lip, The King of Fighters 2002: Challenge to Ultimate Battle, Real Bout Fatal Fury, Super Sidekicks, Thrash Rally, and Twinkle Star Sprites.

ACA Neo Geo Selection Volume 6 includes Aero Fighters 3 (Sonic Wings 3), Football Frenzy, The King of Fighters ’98, The Last Blade 2, Over Top, Real Bout Fatal Fury Special, Samurai Shodown IV: Amakusa’s Revenge, Sengoku 3, The Ultimate 11: SNK Football Championship, and Zed Blade.

ACA Neo Geo Selection Volume 7 includes Fatal Fury Special, The King of Fighters 2003, King of the Monsters 2, Metal Slug 5, Pleasure Goal: 5 on 5 Mini Soccer, Power Spikes II, Prehistoric Isle 2, Puzzle Bobble, World Heroes 2, and ZuPaPa!

ACA Neo Geo Selection Volume 8 includes Art of Fighting, Blue’s Journey, Crossed Swords, The King of Fighters '99: Millennium Battle, Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle, Metal Slug 2, NAM-1975, Puzzle Bobble 2, Super Sidekicks 2, and World Heroes 2 Jet.

There's two volumes remaining for me to collect as there's 10 in total. The ACA collection is considered among the best versions to play for a lot of classic retro games, and Hamster have done work bringing other games including Arcade versions onto modern platforms as part of the Arcade Archives series and Console Archives.

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#03: Magnificent Bodyguards 3D
One of the most delayed and anticipated Asian Cinema releases has finally made its appearance. 88 Films have spent a long time sorting out their UK Blu-ray release for Lo Wei's 1973 film Magnificent Bodyguards (飛渡捲雲山) starring Jackie Chan. Originally slated for a release in September 2024, the film was delayed and stuck in production hell due to the work and effort in restoring not only the film itself but also the 3D effect, which is why this release is also a collaboration with the folks at 3-D Film Archive.

The deluxe limited edition release includes three Blu-ray discs; one for 2D, another for 3D using the Blu-ray 3D format, and exclusive to this release is a third disc for the Anaglyph 3D version that allows you to watch the film using the classic Red/Blue glasses. While my multi-region Panasonic player does support Blu-ray 3D playback, the LG C1 TV does not so having an alternate version available for 3D is handy. Also included in this release is a booklet and a 3D art card.

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#04: Tokyo Xtreme Racer
Continuing the Japanese import line-up is another PlayStation 5 release and a relatively recent one from developer Genki. The classic Tokyo Xtreme Racer series, known in Japan as Shutokō Battle and in Europe as Tokyo Highway Challenge for the original release on SEGA Dreamcast, came back with a brand new instalment for modern platforms. Originally started on Steam, the game eventually made its way onto PlayStation 5 and a physical version was made available in Japan with English support.

One of the reasons I wanted to get this game is because modern platforms were missing the retro Japanese racing franchises that were prominent on PlayStation and PlayStation 2 era like Initial D, Bandai Namco's Ridge Racer, Capcom's Auto Modellista, Konami's Enthusia Professional Racing, and Atlus' High Velocity/Touge series, and while I liked Gran Turismo I wanted more of that era so this game coming back from Genki was a nice welcome. Of course there's also Screamer also coming back from Italian developer Milestone but let's just say you'll be seeing that appear pretty soon.
 
I received one anime steelbook from Anime-On-Line on 6/17. Because the US Steelbook only includes a 4K disc, I decided to get the UK 4K version since it also includes a Blu-ray disc, and thus a second slot inside the steelbook. I just snagged an inexpensive US standard edition copy from an anime forum friend last week, so I can always swap the Blu-ray inside the steelbook from Region B to Region A if I want. Here is my usual steelbook photo spread for this one:


Scarlet 4K+Blu-ray Steelbook

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June Haul #2

We have one package from Sat 20th plus my Birthday haul today.


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#05: The Dangers in My Heart Season 2
The second season for The Dangers in My Heart has now landed in the UK. Sentai Filmworks haven't yet released any new editions for this particular season so Anime Limited went ahead with their own version. I was worried at first because they tend to not always get the right assets for their special editions but here it's as faithful as the first season which is good.

You can view more photos and specs on my blog.

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#06: Birthday Haul
I have now reached the 31st anniversary of my existence. So that means more stuff for the collection. Like the past few years I focused more on the 'less is more' approach.

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Starting off with the surprise item of the haul which I was not expecting at all. This is the LEGO Tuxedo Cat set from the LEGO Ideas range. LEGO has been part of my childhood and I've enjoyed building them whenever possible so while I've gotten my Mum the Botanical plant sets I was aware of this one for a while and figured it would be pretty funny to own considering my sister's cat looks similar to the design. And my parents literally picked it up which was generous of them. I plan to build it before my sister pays a visit just to see their reaction.

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Next we have a film joining the 4K Ultra HD collection with the Wachowskis' 2008 live-action adaptation of Speed Racer. Based on the classic anime and manga series, this film flopped when it was first released but later became a cult classic and has aged well over time. I've not seen the film in a very long time so this 4K HDR release by Warner Bros is a nice treat to explore.

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In the anime world we have Konosuba: God's Blessing on this Wonderful World! Season 3 distributed by Crunchyroll UK on Blu-ray. I am a big Konosuba fan but didn't get around to watching the third season when it first aired so this is a good opportunity for me to catch up on Kazuma, Darkness, Megumi and the Aqua thing. While Anime Limited and Discotek Media distributed the first two seasons using Crunchyroll's license, Crunchyroll took over for this season like they did with the film and spin-off.

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In the Asian Cinema scene I finally have the very first Godzilla (ゴジラ) film from Ishirō Honda, released in Japan back in 1954. Criterion did release that big book box set but I wasn't fan of its design and they eventually re-released the first film for the 4K Ultra HD format which is what we have here. It's one of their digipack type releases and also comes included with a small booklet.

This release also includes Godzilla, King of the Monsters, Terry O. Morse's 1956 version that was made for US audiences.

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And last but not the least is a brand new 2026 racing video game with Screamer, developed by Italian studio Milestone. This is a reboot of their 1995 MS-DOS video game when they were originally known as Graffiti (which is available on GOG for those interested). Now on paper you're probably not familiar with Milestone, but they are in fact the developers behind Hot Wheels Unleashed which is a super fun racing game. The anime style we have here is also from Japanese anime studio Polygon Pictures, the folks behind HUMAN LOST, Knights of Sidonia, and the 3DCG animation for Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence and The Sky Crawlers with Production I.G, so it's interesting to see how it holds up with this release.
 
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