2025 HAUL - JULY v3.1
A few packages for the past two weeks. I held off until now because a few of them are related to a single distributor so it made sense to bring it altogether. But that's in the second post lol.
#06: VideoGamesPlus Sale Haul
#08: AMAIM: Warrior at the Borderline, Seven Mortal Sins & Tomodachi Game
#09: Sentai Filmworks Summer Sale Haul
A few packages for the past two weeks. I held off until now because a few of them are related to a single distributor so it made sense to bring it altogether. But that's in the second post lol.
#06: VideoGamesPlus Sale Haul
Earlier in the month VideoGamesPlus ran a sale that had a whole bunch of games on offer and for this opportunity I went after a few titles for the Nintendo Switch. Now most of these did see a release in the UK but the US versions are more readily available and at a cheaper rate.
We have Danganronpa Decadence from Spike Chunsoft, a compilation of games from the adventure visual novel franchise with Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony and the spin-off Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp. Interesting decision for them to omit the other spin-off Danganronpa: Ultra Despair Girls though.
From publisher PM Studio we have the Taiwanese music rhythm game Deemo and the platform puzzle game Marble It Up! Ultra, the latter of which is a spiritual successor to Marble Blast Ultra which was a really fun XBLA game.
And from Aksys Games we have otome visual novel Jack Jeanne from developer Broccoli and designer/artist/writer Sui Ishida of Tokyo Ghoul fame, and the Dungeon RPG Undernauts: Labyrinth of Yomi from developer Experience Inc., known for their Stranger of Sword City game which I also wanted to get but currently its not compatible with Nintendo Switch 2.
We have Danganronpa Decadence from Spike Chunsoft, a compilation of games from the adventure visual novel franchise with Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony and the spin-off Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp. Interesting decision for them to omit the other spin-off Danganronpa: Ultra Despair Girls though.
From publisher PM Studio we have the Taiwanese music rhythm game Deemo and the platform puzzle game Marble It Up! Ultra, the latter of which is a spiritual successor to Marble Blast Ultra which was a really fun XBLA game.
And from Aksys Games we have otome visual novel Jack Jeanne from developer Broccoli and designer/artist/writer Sui Ishida of Tokyo Ghoul fame, and the Dungeon RPG Undernauts: Labyrinth of Yomi from developer Experience Inc., known for their Stranger of Sword City game which I also wanted to get but currently its not compatible with Nintendo Switch 2.
#08: AMAIM: Warrior at the Borderline, Seven Mortal Sins & Tomodachi Game
It's been a while since I had picked up any US releases from Crunchyroll and there was a sale on their store where I picked up a few titles. Granted they weren't super cheap and I did miss out on one Essentials release, but we have three anime here.
From studio Sunrise Beyond is the original mecha series AMAIM: Warrior at the Borderline which I have heard mixed things but I wanted to own more mecha shows especially if they were rather recent and it's by a studio that not only originated as Xebec, but is also defunct because they were absorbed into Bandai Namco Filmworks.
Next we have Seven Mortal Sins, which is an ecchi series that I did own the UK release but for shelf space I opted for the US version and it was on sale for very cheap which is expected given this is a Funimation release so they're trying to shift stock.
And a series that I did watch during simulcast is Tomodachi Game which was a lot better than I expected and wasn't exactly liked by many, but I did enjoy the premise and I would love to see more from the series (whether its a second season or the manga licensed for print).
From studio Sunrise Beyond is the original mecha series AMAIM: Warrior at the Borderline which I have heard mixed things but I wanted to own more mecha shows especially if they were rather recent and it's by a studio that not only originated as Xebec, but is also defunct because they were absorbed into Bandai Namco Filmworks.
Next we have Seven Mortal Sins, which is an ecchi series that I did own the UK release but for shelf space I opted for the US version and it was on sale for very cheap which is expected given this is a Funimation release so they're trying to shift stock.
And a series that I did watch during simulcast is Tomodachi Game which was a lot better than I expected and wasn't exactly liked by many, but I did enjoy the premise and I would love to see more from the series (whether its a second season or the manga licensed for print).
#09: Sentai Filmworks Summer Sale Haul
It's that time of year where Sentai Filmworks brings back their Summer sale haul and to be honest the selection was pretty mixed in general. The prices weren't as strong as I remember compared to previous years but there are some decent discounts for the newer releases. This sale was also timed pretty well considering I needed another package to bundle with the Crunchyroll haul for Stackry to save on costs.
First up, we have the three-episode OVA series Alice in Borderland, based on the manga series. Now this is not a complete adaptation but rather a teaser for what's to come for this franchise. The live-action adaptation that's on Netflix is really good (I've watched Season 1 so far) and I'm intrigued to see how the anime holds up. Now I did own the UK version but for shelf-space reasons I opted for the US version. The anime released in October 2014 and was adapted by studios SILVER LINK and Connect (Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody).
The Blade of the Immortal adaptation from 2019 is surprisingly solid and I dig the art style and music. While the anime does speed through the manga's source material it's still worth watching if you can deal with samurai gore and violence. The series streamed exclusively on Amazon Prime and I'm surprised it had yet to be released in the UK on Blu-ray. The anime streamed in October 2019 and was adapted by studio LIDEN FILMS (Call of the Night).
My first entry in the Go Nagai world was Cutie Honey Universe which is a modern ecchi instalment celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Cutie Honey franchise. I enjoyed the series and was gutted to miss out on Sentai's premium edition release. Since I've been building the Go Nagai anime collection over time, it was time to finally get the series from Sentai in case it eventually sells out. The anime aired in April 2018 and was adapted by studio Production Reed aka Ashi Productions (Macross 7).
A recent show, one that has been on my radar for a short while and that's Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte. The premise is what caught my interest as well as the main visual of the anime adaptation. Sounds like a lot of fun to watch, but we'll see. The anime aired in January 2023 and was adapted by studio Tezuka Productions (The Fable).
Another anime series that I did own the UK version for and swapped to the US release is Kandagawa Jet Girls, a multimedia project from Senran Kagura creator Kenichiro Takaki. I love the game and I think its a hidden gem, but the anime is more on the fanservice side. The anime aired in October 2019 and animated by studio TNK (Immoral Guild).
Next is a classic anime film that, much like Venus Wars, was originally released by Discotek Media but Sentai managed to rescue the license. Locke the Superman is a film that I'm not too familiar with outside of the artwork and licensing history but Sentai released it on Blu-ray, though it is missing the classic English dub which was on the Discotek release. The anime theatrically released in April 1984 and was adapted by studio Nippon Animation (Future Boy Conan).
Another relatively newer series is Otaku Elf, which as you can probably guess is a fantasy anime with an elf in modern Japan who loves games. I've been aware of the manga for quite sometime and the anime also looked like a lot of fun to watch. The anime aired in April 2023 and animated by studio C2C (Shangri-La Frontier).
And last but not least is a surprise pickup by Sentai from the classic Sunrise catalogue which you would normally expect Discotek to eventually get their hands on. Panzer World Galient is a sci-fi fantasy series where what if you have a giant robot in the middle of a medieval world. Interestingly it's part of a series called Takahashi Mecha that VOTOMS is also part of. I've not picked up VOTOMS yet because it had a HD remaster not long after Sentai released a SD-BD. The anime aired in October 1984 and animated by studio Sunrise (Armored Trooper Votoms).
First up, we have the three-episode OVA series Alice in Borderland, based on the manga series. Now this is not a complete adaptation but rather a teaser for what's to come for this franchise. The live-action adaptation that's on Netflix is really good (I've watched Season 1 so far) and I'm intrigued to see how the anime holds up. Now I did own the UK version but for shelf-space reasons I opted for the US version. The anime released in October 2014 and was adapted by studios SILVER LINK and Connect (Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody).
The Blade of the Immortal adaptation from 2019 is surprisingly solid and I dig the art style and music. While the anime does speed through the manga's source material it's still worth watching if you can deal with samurai gore and violence. The series streamed exclusively on Amazon Prime and I'm surprised it had yet to be released in the UK on Blu-ray. The anime streamed in October 2019 and was adapted by studio LIDEN FILMS (Call of the Night).
My first entry in the Go Nagai world was Cutie Honey Universe which is a modern ecchi instalment celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Cutie Honey franchise. I enjoyed the series and was gutted to miss out on Sentai's premium edition release. Since I've been building the Go Nagai anime collection over time, it was time to finally get the series from Sentai in case it eventually sells out. The anime aired in April 2018 and was adapted by studio Production Reed aka Ashi Productions (Macross 7).
A recent show, one that has been on my radar for a short while and that's Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte. The premise is what caught my interest as well as the main visual of the anime adaptation. Sounds like a lot of fun to watch, but we'll see. The anime aired in January 2023 and was adapted by studio Tezuka Productions (The Fable).
Another anime series that I did own the UK version for and swapped to the US release is Kandagawa Jet Girls, a multimedia project from Senran Kagura creator Kenichiro Takaki. I love the game and I think its a hidden gem, but the anime is more on the fanservice side. The anime aired in October 2019 and animated by studio TNK (Immoral Guild).
Next is a classic anime film that, much like Venus Wars, was originally released by Discotek Media but Sentai managed to rescue the license. Locke the Superman is a film that I'm not too familiar with outside of the artwork and licensing history but Sentai released it on Blu-ray, though it is missing the classic English dub which was on the Discotek release. The anime theatrically released in April 1984 and was adapted by studio Nippon Animation (Future Boy Conan).
Another relatively newer series is Otaku Elf, which as you can probably guess is a fantasy anime with an elf in modern Japan who loves games. I've been aware of the manga for quite sometime and the anime also looked like a lot of fun to watch. The anime aired in April 2023 and animated by studio C2C (Shangri-La Frontier).
And last but not least is a surprise pickup by Sentai from the classic Sunrise catalogue which you would normally expect Discotek to eventually get their hands on. Panzer World Galient is a sci-fi fantasy series where what if you have a giant robot in the middle of a medieval world. Interestingly it's part of a series called Takahashi Mecha that VOTOMS is also part of. I've not picked up VOTOMS yet because it had a HD remaster not long after Sentai released a SD-BD. The anime aired in October 1984 and animated by studio Sunrise (Armored Trooper Votoms).
