What did you RECEIVE today? PHOTOS EDITION!

June Haul #5

So apparently I forgot to post the final package for June but I was also distracted by various things going on.



Switch Haul 2026 - Red Art Games June Haul.webp

#10: Red Art Games Sale Haul
Arriving at the very last minute was a sale haul from publisher Red Art Games that I ordered a few weeks prior. I’ve been meaning to pick up a couple of their games for a while and this sale was a good opportunity. Because they’re located in Europe there were shipping fees but no customs and I didn’t even get a shipping notification, just ones from Royal Mail which was random.

Croixleur Sigma, an action hack ‘n slash game by developer souvenir circ. (Touhou Project! Azure Reflections). Originally released for PlayStation 4 and Vita, the game was brought over to PC and eventually the Nintendo Switch. Limited Run Games did the physical releases for PlayStation but Red Art Games handled the Switch release.

Demon Gaze Extra, a dungeon RPG by developer Experience Inc. (Stranger of Sword City) which originally released on PlayStation Vita (and I do own that version but didn’t get around to playing it as this remaster came along). While the game was also released on PlayStation 4 it’s gameplay style I felt was better suited for the Switch platform.

Goblin Slayer Another Adventurer: Nightmare Feast, a tactical RPG by developer Apollosoft (Langrisser I & II) based on the popular light novel/anime franchise. I was surprised when I saw that a tactical RPG was being made since most anime games tend to be action, fighting or visual novels.

Sonic Wings Reunion, an arcade shoot ’em up also known outside Japan as Aero Fighters Reunion is a brand new instalment in the niche franchise by developer Hamster Corporation (ACA Arcade Archives games). The version I have is the ‘Deluxe Edition’ which comes with an o-card slipcase and booster pack cards. The standard edition was what I was going to go for but that edition sold out during the sale.



July Haul #1

In this portion I have received a couple packages but it's not as frequent as before. Partly due to delays by Anime Limited, Stackry and Terracotta so there's going to be more in August than anticipated.



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#1: Terracotta June Pre-Orders Haul
The first haul of the month would have appeared in June but the timing of the shipment lead to the package arriving at the start of the next month instead. From Terracotta store I pre-ordered two new releases from 88 Films and two new releases from Radiance Films.

From 88 Films we start off with a new Shaw Brothers release that's also a Golden Harvest title. Alex Law Kai-Yui's 1988 film Painted Faces (七小福) with actor Sammo Hung (Dragons Forever). The film also stars Lam Ching-Ying (Mr Vampire), Cheng Pei-Pei (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon), Lee Din-Hing, Yeung Yam-Yin and Chung Gam-Yam. The Blu-ray's first-print edition includes an o-card slipcase and a poster.

Next we have a new addition to the Category III collection of Hong Kong film cinema with Cash Chin Man-Kei's 1996 film Sex and Zen II (玉蒲團II玉女心經), an erotic historical-fantasy film that is also uncut for its UK release. The film stars Shu Qi (Resurrection), Loletta Lee Lai-Chun (Shanghai Blues), Elvis Tsui Kam-Kong (The Grandmaster), Ben Ng Ngai-Cheung (Red to Kill), Ken Lok Tat-Wah (Black Mask) and Wong Yat-Fei (Shaolin Soccer). The Blu-ray's first-print edition includes a clean o-card slipcase with uncensored artwork and a poster.

From Radiance Films we have two Japanese films from director Shōhei Imamura, a director I've known about for years but never once owned any of his films up to this point. The first we have is his 1966 film The Pornographers (「エロ事師たち」より 人類学入門) starring Shoichi Ozawa (The Ballad of Narayama), Sumiko Sakamoto (The Ballad of Narayama), Keiko Sagawa, Masaomi Kondo (Horrors of Malformed Men), Haruo Tanaka (Ikiru) and Ganjirō Nakamura II (Floating Weeds). This film is also presented on 4K Ultra HD from a 4K restoration.

The second is his last feature-length film with 2001's Warm Water Under a Red Bridge (赤い橋の下のぬるい水) starring Koji Yakusho (Cure), Misa Shimizu (Shall We Dance?), Mitsuko Baisho (Dreams), Mansaku Fuwa (A Snake of June), Isao Natsuyagi (Like Father, Like Son) and Yukiya Kitamura (The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House). Both films' limited editions includes a scanavo case with reversible artwork, and a booklet.

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#2: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 & Pain
With Sony discontinuing the storefronts for both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in July 2027, this also causes a ripple effect with the physical media versions which happened during their previous attempt in 2021. During that time I did acquire a number of titles including the Ratchet & Clank Future saga, inFAMOUS games and a few others including Prince of Persia HD Collection, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, Way of the Samurai 4 and even the Japanese imports for Resident Evil Chronicles HD Selection and the Dungeons & Dragons Mystara Eiyuu Senki collection from Capcom.

So I came pretty much prepared for the most part with this inevitable news, but there are a couple physical versions that I can try and get my hands on. Two games that I picked up here came from retailer CeX and that was using the vouchers that I had earned from selling a couple items to the store.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is the 2014 action-adventure game by developer MercurySteam (American McGee Presents: Scrapland) and publisher Konami which continues the events of the 2010 game and 2013 digital PSN game Mirrors of Fate. This second game had been slowly going up in value so I went ahead and grabbed a copy before it was too late. Surprised both games haven't been remastered yet but I suspect it'll be handled last in the order of release.

Pain is a 2007 action game by developer Idol Minds (Life is Strange games, Ratchet Deadlocked HD) and publisher Sony which is a pretty simple concept that is similar to Burnout's Crash mode where you swing people into objects and cause them pain with ragdoll physics and random stuff. It's gained a fair amount of popularity over time and has tons of DLC which I may look into if I enjoy it a lot. The online portion is no longer active but the physical version is sought after because there was no North American version and prices at the moment are around £40+.

There are more physical games for PlayStation 3 planned, which includes the Killzone Trilogy as I discontinued Killzone 2 & 3 from my collection in preparation (because Killzone HD is on the disc).

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#3: Dunkirk, Interstellar & The Prestige
In preparation for The Odyssey I watched many of Christopher Nolan's films on 4K Ultra HD each day leading to the film's release, but there were a couple that I hadn't yet owned on the format so I went ahead and ordered them.

2006's The Prestige starring Hugh Jackman (X-Men), Christian Bale (Batman Begins), Michael Caine (Dressed to Kill), Scarlett Johansson (Under the Skin) and Rebecca Hall (The Town). This one I knew the least from Nolan's catalogue post Batman Begins and I was very surprised by its direction. It reminded me a lot of the Count of Monte Cristo story and I very much enjoyed it from start to finish.

2014's Interstellar starring Matthew McConaughey (True Detective), Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada), Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), Michael Caine, Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea) and John Lithgow (Shrek). Last time I saw the film was on a regular cinema screening back in November 2014 so it's been a long time since but it was so memorable that I remembered a lot of the scenes going into this rewatch. The IMAX scenes were great, the story and music are fantastic and I consider this to be my favourite Nolan work so far.

2017's Dunkirk starring Fionn Whitehead (Great Expectations), Tom Glynn-Carney (House of the Dragon), Jack Lowden (Benediction), Harry Styles (Don't Worry Darling), Barry Keoghan (Saltburn), and Tom Hardy (Mad Max: Fury Road). While its a solid war film and presentation-wise looked great, I do think its let down by its story-telling and a few predictable scenarios. Definitely one of Nolan's weaker works but it's not a bad film.

At the time of this write-up the only Nolan films I don't yet own are Following, Memento and Insomnia, none of which have 4K UK releases but a few Blu-ray releases here and there.
 
July Haul #2

In this portion I picked up a few items in town yesterday.



PS4 Haul 2026 - Batman Arkham Trilogy.webp

#4: Batman Arkham Trilogy
After watching The Dark Knight Trilogy again I was interested in exploring more of the Batman games. So after seeing The Odyssey I went to town straight after and sold more items to CeX to receive new vouchers. In the store they had copies available for the Arkham games for decent condition.

Batman: Return to Arkham is a compilation of two remasters for PlayStation 4 with Batman: Arkham Asylum released in 2009 and Batman: Arkham City released in 2011, both developed by Rocksteady Studios. I have played the first one on Xbox 360 but never got around to the rest of the series. The Return to Arkham collection has both games across two discs.

Batman: Arkham Knight is the fourth mainline game in the series but third in the main trilogy by Rocksteady Studios released in 2015 for the PlayStation 4. There was a trilogy set released later down the line but this meant that Arkham Knight was a digital download code only so if you wanted to own all three games on-disc you'll need these versions that I have.

This does mean I don't have Batman: Arkham Origins and Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate for the PlayStation 3 which weren't developed by Rocksteady Studios so I'll have to look into that at a later point.

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#5: Asian & World Cinema HMV Pickups
A little bit later in the town trip I went to HMV and acquired a number of films for the Blu-ray format.

Three of which belong to distributor Radiance Films and were available in their limited edition format that includes a scanavo case with reversible artwork, and a booklet.

Georges Franju's 1959 French film La tête contre les murs, known in English as Head Against the Wall. The film stars Jean-Pierre Mocky (Litan), Pierre Brasseur (Eyes Without a Face), Paul Meurisse (Diabolique), Charles Aznavour (Shoot the Piano Player), Anouk Aimée (La Dolce Vita) and Jean Galland (The Earrings of Madame de…).

Luchino Visconti's 1957 Italian film Le Notti Bianche, known in English as White Nights. The film stars Maria Schell (The Hanging Tree), Marcello Mastroianni (La Dolce Vita), Jean Marais (Beauty and the Beast), Marcella Rovena (Europa '51), Maria Zanoli (Europa '51) and Elena Fancera.

Jean-Pierre Mocky's 1970 French film Solo also starring himself as well as Sylvie Bréal (The Man Who Lies), Anne Deleuze (Chloé), Denis Le Guillou, René-Jean Chauffard (Blood and Roses) and Marcel Pérès (Children of Paradise).

The Visconti film was released last December and I had forgotten about it until I noticed the set was on sale during Radiance Film's webstore which sold out, and I don't know if it was out of print or just out of stock in general, but fortunately it was available elsewhere (his other two films that Radiance have released sold out of their limited edition sets so he's a pretty popular director).

The other two were released last June and were mostly due to Jean-Pierre Mocky being featured in both films. Whilst I wish I had another box set of his works, I'm happy to go with the individual sets. I originally was going to pre-order the June bundle that included the two Mocky films as well as the two Imamura films mentioned earlier but plans changed.

The next two films were individual releases that were on my radar and were available in the moment.

The first is Genki Kawamura's 2025 Japanese film Exit 8 (8番出口), which is based on the very popular indie horror game of the same name. The film stars Kazunari Ninomiya (Gantz films), Yamato Kochi (The Samurai and the Prisoner), Naru Asanuma, Kotone Hanase (Suzume) and Nana Komatsu (Silence).

Neon acquired the US license in North America while Vertigo Releasing & Vision Home Video handled the UK side. I watched the film at the cinema last April and liked what I saw, and to give the distributor credit, they provided a pretty solid package altogether for the price point which includes a slipcase, scanavo case, double-sided poster and four art cards.

The second is Yoshihiro Nishimura's 2008 Japanese film Tokyo Gore Police (東京残酷警察). The film stars Eihi Shiina (Audition), Itsuji Itao (Love Exposure), Yukihide Benny (Psycho Gothic Lolita), Jiji Bû (Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl), Ikuko Sawada (Helldriver) and Cay Izumi (RoboGeisha).

This very unique and bizarre film I've seen appear here and here on home video but never bothered to pick it up. And recently the director Yoshihiro Nishimura sadly passed away and figured this film may sell out not only because of that news but also due to being well received in general. The UK release was distributed by Yume Pictures which I have no information for, but I do know the US release was handled by Media Blasters which includes its own English dub, however the UK release has more extras on the Blu-ray disc itself (the US has a few short films on DVD).
 
Damn I but I like Christopher Nolan, I'll watch anything he makes-I've gotta go see The Odyssey in the next few days. I've still got to get Tennant and Oppenheimer for my collection of his films and I'd have to say that Interstellar is my favorite.
 

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I received a few items from Crunchyroll this week; three Blu-ray titles and two vinyl LP soundtrack releases. One of the LP soundtracks is from my all time favorite anime series, and the other is from my all-time favorite Girls with Guns anime. I still have my somewhat unique Technics SL7 "Close-and-Play" linear tracking turntable from 1981, and I'm in the process of setting up some of my vintage stereo equipment in my living room again, including my turntable.


Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus Box Set
Woodpecker Detective's Office Collector's Edition
Possibly the Greatest Alchemist of All Time


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The Apothecary Diaries Original Sountrack LPs
Noir Original Soundtrack LPs


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Yes, I would like to start buying more anime LPs; I actually just ordered the Josie: The Tiger and the Fish LP set yesterday as well. I just hope my turntable still works properly - it will probably need at least the rubber drive belt for the linear tracking arm replaced from dry-rot after 45 years. It did still work about 7-8 years ago before I had to put all of my stereo equipment in storage when my parents moved in with me. It's a shame I didn't start buying anime LPs sooner because I've missed a lot of awesome anime soundtrack LPs over the past few years, especially ones from the UK; I was really drooling over some of the titles when they were released.

The SL7 is one of Technic's "clam-shell" linear tracking turntables that will play an LP in any position - mounted vertically on a wall, or even upside down. One of them can be seen as a prop in the 1982 movie Blade Runner, mounted on the wall in Decker's apartment. I got all excited when I first saw it featured in the movie, since I had just recently purchased one myself. ☺️
 
Yes, I would like to start buying more anime LPs; I actually just ordered the Josie: The Tiger and the Fish LP set yesterday as well. I just hope my turntable still works properly - it will probably need at least the rubber drive belt for the linear tracking arm replaced from dry-rot after 45 years. It did still work about 7-8 years ago before I had to put all of my stereo equipment in storage when my parents moved in with me. It's a shame I didn't start buying anime LPs sooner because I've missed a lot of awesome anime soundtrack LPs over the past few years, especially ones from the UK; I was really drooling over some of the titles when they were released.

The SL7 is one of Technic's "clam-shell" linear tracking turntables that will play an LP in any position - mounted vertically on a wall, or even upside down. One of them can be seen as a prop in the 1982 movie Blade Runner, mounted on the wall in Decker's apartment. I got all excited when I first saw it featured in the movie, since I had just recently purchased one myself. ☺️

Because I'm old I remember these turntables, though I didn't remember specifically which the SL7 was until I looked it up. I do remember that one having seen it again, but the ones I primarily remembered were the SL10 and SL15, the fully square ones that just had a window on top rather than the sort of half acrylic dustcover design of the SL7. Of course they made a whole bunch of different models of these that were cheaper and not as nice looking as time went on. The 7/10/15 I think are pretty timeless designs that still look like something that could've been made today:
https://www.vinylengine.com/library/technics/sl-7.shtml
https://www.vinylengine.com/library/technics/sl-10.shtml

I never had one of those, but I had a SL-M3 at one time; based on when I see it was made I guess it was the late 1980s:
https://www.vinylengine.com/library/technics/sl-m3.shtml
Better pictures here:
Technics SL-M3 Turntable Repair & Service | LiQUiD AUDiO

Before that, while in college I had a SL1200MkII. I haven't had a turntable since the early 1990s, and finally sold the remaining vinyl I had last year, after holding onto it for years not knowing what to do with it, as it was basically worthless where you couldn't even give it away for many years because no one wanted it. I had quite a bit of anime music on vinyl, all Japanese releases.
 
Yes, I would like to start buying more anime LPs; I actually just ordered the Josie: The Tiger and the Fish LP set yesterday as well. I just hope my turntable still works properly - it will probably need at least the rubber drive belt for the linear tracking arm replaced from dry-rot after 45 years. It did still work about 7-8 years ago before I had to put all of my stereo equipment in storage when my parents moved in with me. It's a shame I didn't start buying anime LPs sooner because I've missed a lot of awesome anime soundtrack LPs over the past few years, especially ones from the UK; I was really drooling over some of the titles when they were released.

The SL7 is one of Technic's "clam-shell" linear tracking turntables that will play an LP in any position - mounted vertically on a wall, or even upside down. One of them can be seen as a prop in the 1982 movie Blade Runner, mounted on the wall in Decker's apartment. I got all excited when I first saw it featured in the movie, since I had just recently purchased one myself. ☺️

Sir, do not question my speed-reading abilities :P
 
Genki Kawamura's 2025 Japanese film Exit 8 (8番出口
I loved this when I saw it on the big screen and this post reminded me to actually order it (thanks Grav!!), after initially planning to pre-order but promptly forgetting. Was quite worried it would be out of stock/print, but managed to just order now from hmv, who seem to have the best price currently, via their eBay store, through which delivery is free compared to £3 via their own website🤷.
 
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