2023 HAUL VER 8.6
(note: images are hosted via AUKN for the meantime)
We have some more goodies for this update. All of the items are pretty much arriving to the end of the month which is a common approach given the delays and having to order them at the beginning of the month etc etc.
To start off, another Radiance Films release has arrived and it's the first Hong Kong addition to the label with Benny Chan's 1990 film
A Moment of Romance (天č„ęę
), which has a 4K restoration but is on Blu-ray. Like the previous Radiance Film releases we have a Scanavo case with a mini obi cover to keep the main artwork clean. Reversible cover artwork is what I use for my shelf at the moment but the front cover artwork is really good too.
Next we have a haul that has a lot of people curious! So for those who have been following my hauls for the past decade, I have never used a forwarding service from the US and it's been a tactic that I had been wanting to sort out for a long time now. With the recent talk about Stackry, which is one of many services available, I decided to give it a shot and utilise it on Sentai Filmworks' online store, because they are the only distributor who doesn't ship internationally compared to others.
This haul is a test. A test on keeping it short but also affordable, and to see how Stackry handles the delivery. The results are as follows!
Ordering from Sentai:
- Sentai's store uses the Shopify approach and ordering was pretty good, you have multiple shipping options but I went with the free shipping option which required having an order that was worth $50 in total. Three titles which were on sale added to $53 total.
- Payment was done through Monzo & PayPal with no issues, which is good given some sites in other regions can reject your card because it's not local.
- Sentai shipped the order 2 days later, but this timeframe can change as my order was placed during a weekend.
Stackry's service:
- Joining the service was pretty simple, as they do a good job guiding you through its service. You are immediately given an address and it's free to join, with options to pay for more features if needed. As I used a referral link, I also got $10 off shipping which was used automatically.
- The package arrived at Stackry in 2 days, which was done through USPS. Upon arrival, Stackry provided two photos of the packaging box and made note of its weight. Thanks to the photos I decided it was worth shipping out without any repackaging (which was $5).
- There is a VAT form that you sort out, so I noted each one as a DVD product since that's an easier way of explaining what these are for the customs folks. Despite the VAT stuff, this cleared customs without issue and was not shown on the box.
Journey & Arrival:
- For shipping to the UK I went with the cheapest shipping option which was Global Mail Direct (DHL) which included tracking. Once it landed in the UK, Evri (formerly known as Hermes) took over but tracking was also updated on DHL's side.
- Because Sentai's packaging has changed ever since they stopped using Rightstuf's warehouse, the protection is hit or miss but everything survived for the most part.
- No invoice was included inside the box for the Sentai order, just like Rightstuf's.
- Journey progress: 12th Aug (Sentai order made) -> 14th Aug (Sentai order dispatched) -> 16th Aug (Stackry received package) -> 17th Aug (Stackry order shipped) -> 19th Aug (processed in the US for UK) -> 21st (cleared UK customs) -> 22nd (arrived with Evri) -> 23rd (delivered)
Overall conclusion is that Stackry in general has done the job very well. The only issue was basically down to Sentai's packaging and that is it. I was perfectly fine with the pacing especially with the fact that tracking was included.
The next steps for this approach will be to increase the number and value of the order, to see how far it can go. In total this haul costed me $53 (Ā£42) + $18.99 (Ā£15) ($8.99 (Ā£7) due to discount) shipping = Ā£57 (Ā£49 thanks to the discount).
So long story short, I bought three Sentai Filmworks Blu-rays which were on sale coincidently.
Kids on the Slope,
Negima! & Negima!? collection, and
The Pet Girl of Sakurasou. All three titles have been tested and played on PlayStation 5.
The one that's worth noting was
Negima! which was going out of print, and I was able to get mine secured whilst a bunch of Blu-ray forum users lost out.
Kids on the Slope is the re-release version which is very handy, given the previous release was a decade ago and did have a mono issue at one point.
The Pet Girl of Sakurasou is the second release version that includes Sentai's dub.
Next we shift over to video games and here we have our first proper Limited Run Games titles, as my first LRG game (
Senran Kagura Reflexions) was not part of the mainline list. This is the first LRG order that I made through VideoGamesPlus thanks to their stock batch earlier in the month, and there are a few more on their way. In this batch we have two bullet hell Cave shoot em ups called
DoDonPachi Resurrection and
Espgaluda II.
Known in Japan as
DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu,
DoDonPachi Resurrection is one of the most well-known bullet hell games and was even released on Xbox 360 in the west. It was brought over to the Switch by Live Wire and is one of three to get this treatment from the Cave catalog. The other was
Espgaluda II which was also released on Xbox 360 but only for Japan and Switch marks its western console debut.
The third Live Wire game to get the Switch treatment that I don't yet own is
Mushihimesama, but I do have the game ordered however I won't know when exactly it will arrive just yet, as VGP had sold out before I started these orders.
Next we got back to Hong Kong Asian Cinema with five more films joining the collection. The first is the
Fight Back to School Trilogy which features Gordon Chan's 1991 film
Fight Back to School (éåøåØé¾) and 1992 film
Fight Back to School II (éåøåØé¾2) as well as Wong Jing's 1993 film
Fight Back to School III (éåøåØé¾3ä¹é¾éé幓). This collection all feature actor Stephen Chow plus there's appearances by Ng Man-tat and Anthony Wong. While 88 Films' deluxe collector's edition feature physical items, this release only has a rigid box which I suspect is down to approval and asset issues. Never-the-less it's good to have more Stephen Chow films.
Also arrived are two more slim-type releases with Ronny Yu's 1982 film
The Postman Fights Back (å·”å馬) featuring Bryan Leung and Chow Yun-fat, and Herman Yau's 1993 film
Taxi Hunter (ē士å¤å®) featuring Anthony Wong, Yu Rongguang and Ng Man-tat. The latter is often mistaken to be a Category III title but it's actually a Category IIB since some folks had been asking about that over on the 88 Films BD forum thread.
I was meant to receive a big parcel today but it looks like I won't be getting today and it was meant be delivered this morning between 9 and 10 and did see a royal mail van but it just went to the end of the cul-de-sac that I live in and turn round drove off.its nearly 3 o clock so it's a no show.
