I decided to replace the older xbox controller for my PC with a new elite series 2 core only to find out that it came with buggy firmware along with the same issue every xbox controller have by losing their bluetooth pairing information when you connect it by wire, although the xbox accessories app did tell me to update the firmware on the controller the moment it was run with the controller connected by wire which fixed the issues I had with it, but it also added one feature that has been missing for ages as I can now see the remaining battery charge.
One issue I had was with Amazon as I picked same day amazon locker pickup, which didn't happen which I suspect might have been because there wasn't an available locker to put it in since the possible delivery date was three days after when it was supposed to be dropped off which is the amount of days a package can be kept in a locker uncollected.
Better Call Saul - Complete Series, 1-6 from Sanity (for a very good price!) and The Crazy Family (Third Window Films) from Arrow
And the great thing about the Aus set is that they come in individual cases for each season! As opposed to the monstrosity that is the US/UK release that comes in one big case - which seems to be a common theme for large TV shows nowadays as it's cheaper to produce I imagine.
For a couple of years before COVID, I would watch a title then sell it.
Of course, I eventually came to regret this. How I ever thought I could survive without a copy of Vividred Operation, I'll never know.
Anyhoo, I think this is the last item from that list. Luckily, I never bought the Blu-ray as I had thought it region B compatible. It's not.
I found the combo for under £20.
I probably won't even rewatch, just hold it sometimes.
Bottom two Discotek releases were from Rarewaves in the UK and a decent price too. They also have the second Yowamushi Pedal series on DVD for less than £5.
I spotted another OOP Third Window Films release on Vinted for a very reasonable price - another Kitano film no less. Honestly, for a second hand copy, it's in absolutely pristine condition.
I also picked up Classroom of the Elite Season 1 from CEX during my lunch break at work today. They had season 2 as well but the slipcase was properly battered up, so I passed and will wait for a good price on another copy. £12 for season 1 seems a very good price for a second hand copy though.
I spotted another OOP Third Window Films release on Vinted for a very reasonable price - another Kitano film no less. Honestly, for a second hand copy, it's in absolutely pristine condition.
I also picked up Classroom of the Elite Season 1 from CEX during my lunch break at work today. They had season 2 as well but the slipcase was properly battered up, so I passed and will wait for a good price on another copy. £12 for season 1 seems a very good price for a second hand copy though.
This past week I have received another batch of items. This post was supposed to have been sorted earlier but I got ill last Wednesday and only started to slowly recover throughout today.
Due to the amount of items, this post will be split into two parts.
I took a trip to town and the goal was to hunt down some more Nintendo Switch games that I was interested in getting, though that ended up being mostly a dud because they weren't in stock. In CeX they had copies available for Super Mario Maker 2 which was among the list of games that the US retailers removed earlier in the year, causing some panic buying as a result. Since it was cheap I decided to pick it up.
After venturing into CeX I visited the local Travelling Man store and they had more stock available for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, and since they count towards the 3 for 2 Viz Media deal I picked up Volumes 4, 5 & 7. Sadly they didn't have Volume 6 in stock but I didn't want to hold off so I'll get that volume at a later point.
Next is the latest Discotek Media haul from Stackry. Now this haul was not supposed to have been sorted for this month, as my intention was to sort it out in the month of July (and keeping the bi-monthly pace) but unfortunately as soon as my previous order was sorted and shipped to the UK one series went out of print so I had to create the order and needed to sort out more to make up for the shipping costs.
Anyway here we are with 9 anime titles across 12 releases to the collection.
Galaxy Express 999 - Collections 1, 2 & 3[compatible with Panasonic Method]
Adapted by studio Toei Animation in 1978-1981 and directed by Nobutaka Nishizawa. It feels strange to own an iconic space opera anime series like the one here by Leiji Matsumoto. While I do own a few of his works, the only one I've actually seen is the Captain Harlock CG film which I did enjoy. Given this series is now discontinued on Discotek's catalog, its not the type to make a return any time soon so I wanted to own it. I wonder if the main Captain Harlock series or even the original Space Battleship Yamato series will be released on Blu-ray one day. Discotek Media released the three Blu-ray collections in December 2019, July 2020 & September 2020 respectively.
Galaxy Express 999 the Movie[compatible with Panasonic Method]
Adapted by studio Toei Animation in 1979 and directed by Rintaro. This is the theatrical version of the Galaxy Express 999 story and separate to the TV series from my understanding. Rintaro is also the same director behind Ozamu Tezuka's Metropolis for those who weren't aware. While the films are not going out of print any time soon, I figured I'll pick them up as well. There is a 4K restoration in Japan but it'll be a while before we see that get brought over to the west. Discotek Media released the film on Blu-ray in February 2019.
Adieu Galaxy Express 999[compatible with Panasonic Method]
Adapted by studio Toei Animation in 1981 and directed by Rintaro. This is the second film in the Galaxy Express 999 film series and a continuation to the 1979 film. It's funny looking at this set on the shelf because at a distance it looks like you have a duplicate copy of the first film but in reality the Adieu name is so small you won't notice it until you're up close. This film also received a 4K restoration in Japan. Discotek Media released the film on Blu-ray in February 2019.
Galaxy Express 999: Eternal Fantasy[Top-Menu compatible]
Adapted by studio Toei Animation in 1998 and directed by Osamu Dezaki. This is the third film in the Galaxy Express 999 film series and a continuation to the 1981 film despite the big gap in time between the two film productions. Osamu Dezaki, the director behind the Tomorrow's Joe films, took over the director role for this film. Discotek Media for the Blu-ray release of the film also produced an English dub to keep it consistent with the first two films that received a dub a while back. Discotek Media released the film on Blu-ray in January 2020.
Arion [compatible with Panasonic Method]
Adapted by studio Sunrise in 1986 and directed by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, also known as Neo Heroic Fantasia: Arion, this is another one of the classic Sunrise films from the pre-2000s now getting another chance with the modern audience. Unfortunately I believe Discotek weren't able to produce a dub because the M&E materials were not available which is a shame given the director is also the character designer for the Mobile Suit Gundam series and the story has that Greek mythology twist to it. Discotek Media released the film on Blu-ray in May 2021.
Reborn! - Collections 1 & 2[Collection 1: Region A Locked release, not compatible with Panasonic Method, Collection 2: Disc 1 Top-Menu compatible, compatible with Panasonic Method]
Adapted by studio Artland in 2006-2010 and directed by Kenichi Imaizumi, this is another long-running Weekly Shonen Jump series that received a long-running anime series, though unfortunately the entire story was not adapted. It is interesting to see Discotek release all 203 episodes, but I suppose it was easier than expected given Crunchyroll translated and streamed all of the episodes for a while.
Reborn, much like BoBoBo and Beelzebub, I was familiar with thanks to the J-Stars Victory Vs video game and to be honest it sounds like this series is a cult classic of sorts given the decently high rating MAL has given the series and not to mention Discotek are even releasing a Fan Disc Blu-ray later in the year that includes the OVA and a few episodes dubbed in English. Discotek Media released the complete series across two Standard Definition on Blu-ray collections in September 2018 & October 2018 respectively.
Space Adventure Cobra[Disc 1 Top-Menu compatible, compatible with Panasonic Method]
Adapted by studio TMS Entertainment in 1982 and directed by Hideyoshi Oga, Masaharu Okuwaki, Michio Sakano & Shunji Ōga with chief directors Osamu Dezaki & Yoshio Takeuchi. Since I own the theatrical film (also released in 1982 by just a few months prior), it made sense to also pick up the television series which Rightstuf released on DVD years prior before Discotek eventually rescued for a Blu-ray release. Again we have another classic space anime series for the collection which is neat. Discotek Media released the complete series on Blu-ray in September 2020.
Urusei Yatsura: Remember My Love & Urusei Yatsura: Lum the Forever[Both are Top-Menu compatible]
Adapted by studio Deen in 1985 & 1986 and directed by Kazuo Yamazaki, these are the third & fourth films in the Urusei Yatsura film series and with a different animation studio and director taking the mantle (as the first two were worked on by Mamoru Oshii & Studio Pierrot). I actually don't know which film outside of Beautiful Dreamer is considered the best one so I'm intrigued to see how it goes when I eventually check them out. Discotek Media released the films on Blu-ray in January 2022 & June 2022 respectively.
The Discotek Media collection is now consisting of 159 releases. Pretty mad, but thanks to the distributor slowing down on their release schedule it's allowing me to catch up further than anticipated. To clarity I am not going to buy every single one of their titles, they just happen to have the most interesting selection similar to Anime Limited.
In terms of anime, there's roughly 30-33 releases left to get up to being released by end of 2021, so if I manage to get most of them I should in theory be safe from any out of print last minute notices for a little while. Though anything can happen, for example titles that have been released on DVD years ago like Cromartie High School, Ghost Stories and IGPX: Immortal Grand Prix that have just been released on Blu-ray could in theory go out of print in the next 12-24 months if its the same license agreement.
So for this year's Birthday haul I decided to change things up by going for a 'less is more' approach and what I mean by this is rather than trying to get as many items of different varieties as possible within the budget that I am given, I figured it would be better to have fewer items that are more of quality. Not to say that my previous years haven't been great but we're at a point where titles are getting nicher, more pricier or there's a few other factors like stock issues or not exactly safe for work if its a manga.
Anywho, here's the haul. We start off with the anime which just arrived on time and that's Konosuba: An Explosion on this Wonderful World!, the spin-off series to the Konosuba franchise. I didn't watch this series during simulcast because I wanted to watch the Legend of Crimson film first, but I have watched it finally so I can eventually check this one out (for context I like to watch anime in order of release). This is the Crunchyroll UK release that just came out.
Next we have Hirokazu Kore-eda's 2023 film Monster (怪物), distributed in the UK on Blu-ray by Picturehouse Entertainment. Only found out it was released recently. Picturehouse also released his previous film Broker which funny enough I received in my Birthday haul last year.
Then we have a game that I had been meaning to play for years, which was then re-released across other platforms - Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance. I have played Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne but never finished it, but I am expecting a challenge with this one like the others. The original on Switch I recall ran pretty badly so the moment this re-release was revealed I was going to pick the PS5 version regardless.
For the book portion of the collection I also received Bitmap Books' Nintendo 64: A Visual Compendium which goes over the history of the console and covering over 150 titles released for it. It's got an interesting selection including Japanese imports and segments on things including Cancelled Games.
And last but not least I also received a few T-Shirts today. One from Star Wars, one from Haikyu!! and one from Kaiju No. 8, the latter two my sister bought for me.
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