What did you RECEIVE today? PHOTOS EDITION!

New arrivals this week!

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2023 HAUL VER 2.2

Not posted photos but I also received the Summer Ghost bookmarks earlier in the week. At least that's now sorted.

Anywho, the big batch of the week is the Discotek Media haul. Throughout last year I've done monthly hauls for this distributor, but for this year I am looking into making it bi-monthly instead (one haul every 2 months) so that there's room for other things to sort out, but pre-orders will be an exception to the rule (see GaoGaiGar in January as an example). The plan to get at least 50 titles this year still remains.

Now one difference here with this haul is that I have ordered it through Rightstuf, with the combination of both its GotAnime membership (10% discount) and a coupon code (also 10% discount) which brought the price down to make the overall haul roughly £30 cheaper than United Publications. The exchange rate between USD to GBP will be a key component to whether ordering through Rightstuf will make the difference in cost, in other words the better the rate the better the price.

This batch we have 10 releases with the usual goal focusing on various titles released throughout the Discotek years. More titles were going to be added but the price of the shipping getting higher was too much.

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Starting off with the three films released for the 4K Ultra HD format. Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro is an interesting one to pickup because of my stance with the Lupin franchise in regards to home video. I am expecting Anime Limited to tackle the rest of the Lupin catalogue (for instance they have Lupin the Third Part 6), however this film was licensed and released by Studio Canal, and while they have done 4K releases for various films, it's easy to assume their release won't be on the same scale as Discotek's. In addition, Discotek has had the license to Cagliostro since 2014 and given how popular it is, it is also easy to take a guess that the window of availability could reach its end. In any case I decided to get the film sooner than later.

Also picked up is Robot Carnival, which is a film I have been intrigued by for a while. Discotek did a region free Blu-ray release and then decided to bring it over to the 4K format. I was hoping Anime Limited would license the film because they would then release it as a combo pack, because some extras were not brought over to the 4K disc, but for now I am focusing on making sure I have access to the film.

Plus we have Space Adventure Cobra the Movie, the first 4K release for anime in the west. I checked out the HDR comparison and yeah it's quite the difference. I have yet to delve into any of the Cobra titles so this will be my first entry into the franchise.

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Next we have two released from the first era of Discotek Blu-rays where they just released titles without a slipcase. First we have Golgo 13: The Professional, a film that I have heard about from the moment I got into anime decade ago. The UK did release the film but only on DVD, so Discotek putting it out on Blu-ray had me interested. Surprisingly nothing was done for the UK side so in the end I decided to get the Discotek release considering it's an old license by this point.

The other is School Days, the infamous NTR show. I have not actually seen the anime aside from its ending scene because that was all over the place. I own the visual novel and played through that instead of the anime (and somehow got the best route from the looks of it) and I personally found the VN to be a much better experience than what was said about the anime. Blu-ray does work on Region B as known before.

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Moving on we have the modern Discotek era of Blu-rays where almost everything had a slipcase and a Blu-ray. These five in particular are titles that aired between 1999 to 2008 in Japan and released by Discotek between 2018 to 2021.

Starting off with the two shows released by Discotek in 2018, beginning with Library War by Production I.G with director Takayuki Hamana and music by Yoko Kanno which is interesting. I actually thought this show was released without a slipcase until just recently so that's a nice bonus.

Also released in 2018 is Stellvia by Xebec with director Tatsuo Sato. Wanted to own some more sci-fi anime and this one hasn't been referenced as much as others so I wanted to check it out, even though I believe this show has been available for UK streaming in a long while, but Blu-ray is my preference in most cases. Having the director of Nadesico tied to the anime is also neat. The discs do work on Region B, but Disc 2 starts off with an extra.

In 2019 we have Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales by Toei Animation with one director for each story; Tetsuo Imazawa (Yotsuya Kaidan), Kouzou Nagayama (Tenshu Monogatari), and Kenji Nakamura (Bake Neko). I actually hadn't heard about this anthology series before Discotek picked it up but I was aware of the Mononoke series, so hearing that this was basically the start had me interested even further. It's not often you get horror themed anime these days as well.

In 2020 we then go straight into Kamen no Maid Guy by Madhouse with director Masayuki Sakoi. Like Ayakashi I hadn't heard of the series before, but that's what makes Discotek interesting. Madhouse during the 00s released a lot of great stuff so hearing about what this series is and having the Cautious Hero director involved makes for a fun watch I reckon.

Then in 2021 we got ourselves The Legend of Black Heaven by A.I.C & A.P.P.P. with director Yasuhito Kikuchi. This one I have heard about but mainly because of the infamous clip with a black male character (the dub is better but basically sounds like a GTA clip) which was something. Either way, Discotek rescued the series and gave it an upscale, plus the more 90s anime we get the better. Fun trivia: When you play this on a Region B player it's stuck to a live-action bonus feature.

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Tactical supremacy, lords and ladies.

Second time I buy Ogre, hoping this time I'll finish it (lol) - the steelbook is extremely sensual 💦

AL slipcase CE hype

Now I have a second copy of Liz that I can not watch, all is well 👌

Triangle Strategy has an awful name and a CE that's kinda barebones but I found it at a good price and I was in when I read it was Matsuno/GOT in style and 2/3 story with consequences and 1/3 battles. I'm in an extremely Matsuno mood. Must be FF XVI hype.

Nintendo stays winning with their CEs and full blown artbooks. Bonus points for the size of poster, probably will be able to wrap it around my pillow so I can have multiple waifus on the same pillow. Genius.

Can't wait for the Zelda CE artbook 🤤
 
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Let's 70s! This Cutie Honey set was setting off my FOMO Detector, since it's a Discotek release from 2013. Of course, now that I've bought it they'll probably announce a Blu-ray release within 6 months.

Aim for the Ace is another of those legendary Dezaki titles that I thought I'd never get a chance to see. And Honey hails from a simpler time when magical girls didn't randomly murder people...

 
A few things from the past few days.

Upgraded my PS4 copy of SH2 to the PS5 version and I'm selling my PS4 copy for around the same price as I paid for this. I know there is the free digital upgrade but I wanted it for my physical PS5 collection.

Theatrhythm Final Bar Line arrived a day early as well which I am going to start very soon and my pre-order for the Revolutionary Girl Utena LE from Christmas also arrived, which outside of some Sailor Moon stuff and the upcoming Penguindrum movie completes my Kunihiko Ikuhara collection.

I also got this cute Pikachu pillow from my GF as a Valentine's gift.

Soul Hackers 2 (PS5), Theatrhythm Final Bar Line (Switch) and Revolutionary Girl Utena (Limited Edition) (BD)

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