Overseas Cheaper Alternatives to AoA BD Releases

Didn't really notice any, but I figure to save money you've gotta make some sacrifices so I was down with that. I don't have the money or inclination to buy super expensive anime releases when all I want to do is watch it and have physical discs.
 
Following confirmation that Anime Limited's release of Plastic Memories uses Hanabee's masters, both distributors' releases are given one listing. Although I've read about Hanabee's track record in terms of release quality, I'm not marking it yet until I get proper confirmation, but chance are that it could be marked as orange.
 
Following confirmation that Anime Limited's release of Plastic Memories uses Hanabee's masters, both distributors' releases are given one listing. Although I've read about Hanabee's track record in terms of release quality, I'm not marking it yet until I get proper confirmation, but chance are that it could be marked as orange.
I have heard from Seronas on Discord that the author is better than Aldnoah Zero and Fate (he owns the Australian discs). Obviously I can't comment on the video quality since I don't have the right equipment to do an proper analysis (I will leave that to the folks on the BD forum).
 
Gurren Lagann (TV and movies) received a Blu-ray release in Australia back in 2015 by Madman, so you can add that to the list. They use the same discs as AL.

Expelled from Paradise also received an Australian release by Madman in 2016, so you can append them next to AL.

"Fate/Apocrytha" is a typo: Fate/Apocrypha is correct.

Black Butler Season 1 is missing from the list - Madman released it on Blu-ray (I believe it uses the Funimation discs for it, like what happened with FMA:B).

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai has officially released in Australia (and very soon for UK), so that can be added to the list.

Split AL's and Madman's Sword Art Online Alternative Gun Gale Online -- I believe AL clones AoA, while Madman reduced the disc count.
 
Last edited:
Thanks!

I completely missed the typo for Fate/Apocrypha, so thanks for pointing it out to me.

Regarding Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, I gave MVM's release and Madman's release 1 listing, as it seems very likely that MVM will be using Madman's discs.

As for Expelled from Paradise, I'm guessing Madman used the Anime Limited UK/@Anime France discs for their release?
 
Just Passing Through had recently reviewed Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai on myReviewer, and it stated on the review that it's the rare Blu-ray disc that has issues with its audio presentation, yet JPT didn't exactly state what the issues were. All it did say following it were this:
The dialogue is clear, the stereo sound stage is put to good use bringing the show across, and the show’s music drives the story well. The actors are suited well to their characters, and the subtitles are accurately timed and free of typos.
 
Just Passing Through had recently reviewed Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai on myReviewer, and it stated on the review that it's the rare Blu-ray disc that has issues with its audio presentation, yet JPT didn't exactly state what the issues were. All it did say following it were this:
I was speaking generally. There were no issues with Rascal.
 
I noticed that MVM's release of Fate/Zero has the same disc count as the domestic release. Any info if they are using Aniplex's masters for this one?
 
So is the Unlimited Blade Works coming from MVM next month using Aniplex masters?
Same discs as the Hanabee release.

What's the quality of Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai? It's near the same as Aniplex?
Reviews and comparisons on AUKN's Discord suggested that Madman did a pretty good job and its close to the Aniplex release (not identical).
 
Anyone knows something about Magi - The Kingdom Of Magic from Kaze? I read a comment on amazon about a very serious problem:

"Can't watch as 2nd disc keeps skipping. Don't buy. I've had problems with 3 separate seasons of Magi all bought from amazon." (from Magi - The Kingdom Of Magic: Season 2 - Part 2 [Blu-ray]).

It's on all releases or this guy has a bad copies? On other sites I read a positive feedback (maybe not good as Aniplex, but cool alternative).
 
Anyone knows something about Magi - The Kingdom Of Magic from Kaze? I read a comment on amazon about a very serious problem:

"Can't watch as 2nd disc keeps skipping. Don't buy. I've had problems with 3 separate seasons of Magi all bought from amazon." (from Magi - The Kingdom Of Magic: Season 2 - Part 2 [Blu-ray]).

It's on all releases or this guy has a bad copies? On other sites I read a positive feedback (maybe not good as Aniplex, but cool alternative).

The check discs I reviewed (with retail labels on the discs) had no issues for me. It could be bad luck, or a bad batch (but given how few discs per title Kaze released in the UK, it would probably be just the one batch. It could also be a player incompatibility. Kaze's Ungo Blu-ray release just didn't work on Panasonic Blu-rays.
 
Last edited:
I have the four Kaze releases of Magi, also purchased from Amazon.co.uk, but they are all still sealed so I can't confirm any issues with the discs. I own two Oppo players and never had any disc read problems with any anime, so I wonder if it may be more an issue with the guy's player. I just picked up the two Aniplex sets of Magi during the 2020 Rightstuf Holiday sale, so now I don't really need the Kaze sets, although I do like the matching blue DVD-sized slipbox / digipak packaging for them, so for now I'll keep them.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, thanks for opinions. The series is nice to me, but the Aniplex releases (and now even more so, because one is OOP) were too expensive for what I like this series. The Kaze release is cheap and looks very nice. So I prefer to pay less, even if it looks a little worse. I read the reviews, and they were rather positive, but I doubted the Amazon review. It felt a bit strange because no one had mentioned the problem, and it is serious. At least I will be tempted by this edition (on some day) ^^. Thanks.
 
I have the Kaze release season 1.1 and 1.2 and 2.1 (No 2.2) on blu ray, but its still on my too watch list (so can't really watch too close as want to aviod spoilers), but I've put in season 2.1 disc 2 in and I didn't notice any visual skipping after a few min (but was on mute).
I'm happy to test a few more disc in this sort of way if it helps.
But I picked mine up second hand so not sure there original origin.

From defective and dispaopintment thread:
Magi: The Labyrinth Of Magic season 1 part 1 (Kaze): Numerous subtitle problems.
But that looked to be the only thing mentioned

EDIT: I also suspect if you buy all the parts season and they all skip, I would think its actually that buyers blu ray player rather than the discs as the disc will have been released at differnt times.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top