2025 HAUL - OCTOBER v3
More packages these past few days, some of which were pre-orders.
#09 | BLEACH Part 8 & Komada: A Whisky Family
#10 | Radiance Films October Bundle Haul
#11 | Bazaar Bazaar Haul
#12 | Martyrs
#13 | Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness
More packages these past few days, some of which were pre-orders.
#09 | BLEACH Part 8 & Komada: A Whisky Family
One of the Anime Limited pre-orders finally shipped out and here we have two new additions.
First up, we have Bleach Part 8, which covers episodes 196–223 of this long-running shonen anime series. The arcs covered here are The Arrancar Part 4 & 5 which aired in 2011. As you can guess by this point, Anime Limited are continuing to use the Viz Media discs so don't expect any improvements to the video presentation.
More importantly we have a new anime film with Komada: A Whisky Family. This is a P.A. Works film that's part of their workplace series and it's not as well known as their previous titles, but what Anime Limited has offered here is pretty decent. You can view more photos & specs on my blog.
First up, we have Bleach Part 8, which covers episodes 196–223 of this long-running shonen anime series. The arcs covered here are The Arrancar Part 4 & 5 which aired in 2011. As you can guess by this point, Anime Limited are continuing to use the Viz Media discs so don't expect any improvements to the video presentation.
More importantly we have a new anime film with Komada: A Whisky Family. This is a P.A. Works film that's part of their workplace series and it's not as well known as their previous titles, but what Anime Limited has offered here is pretty decent. You can view more photos & specs on my blog.
#10 | Radiance Films October Bundle Haul
I've been a fan of Radiance's releases and for their October release slate I decided that I wanted to own all of them altogether than just getting them individually, because if you order directly from their store you can get them for 10% off which is handy (and only applies as soon as the slate was revealed).
Starting off with Daiei Gothic: Japanese Ghost Stories Volume 2, which features three more 4K restored Japanese horror films from the Daiei company. The films included here are Tokuzō Tanaka's 1960 & 1969 films Demon of Mount Oe (大江山酒天童子) and The Haunted Castle (秘録怪猫伝), and Kimiyoshi Yasuda's 1970 film The Ghost of Kasane Swamp (怪談累が渕), also known as Masseur’s Curse. Included in the limited edition release is a booklet full of essays and ghost stories to provide more context to what the films covered, as well as the Scanavo case packaging and reversible artwork.
Next we have Harry Kümel's 1971 films Daughters of Darkness & Malpertuis presented in their limited edition packaging. These are dutch films, with the former in English and the latter in Dutch. These are well-known in the film community and their premises intrigued me so I wanted to pick the up, especially the former as it's about vampires and is also presented in 4K Ultra HD with Dolby Vision, as they are re-using Blue Underground's master. Included in the limited edition releases is a booklet full of essays, as well as the Scanavo case packaging and reversible artwork.
Also included here is François Truffaut's 1976 film Pocket Money (L'Argent de poche), a French film focused on young kids. François Truffaut is another well-known European director and a lot of his films were distributed by MGM Studios so it seems Radiance managed to secure more of them for UK release. Included in the limited edition releases is a booklet, as well as the Scanavo case packaging and reversible artwork.
Starting off with Daiei Gothic: Japanese Ghost Stories Volume 2, which features three more 4K restored Japanese horror films from the Daiei company. The films included here are Tokuzō Tanaka's 1960 & 1969 films Demon of Mount Oe (大江山酒天童子) and The Haunted Castle (秘録怪猫伝), and Kimiyoshi Yasuda's 1970 film The Ghost of Kasane Swamp (怪談累が渕), also known as Masseur’s Curse. Included in the limited edition release is a booklet full of essays and ghost stories to provide more context to what the films covered, as well as the Scanavo case packaging and reversible artwork.
Next we have Harry Kümel's 1971 films Daughters of Darkness & Malpertuis presented in their limited edition packaging. These are dutch films, with the former in English and the latter in Dutch. These are well-known in the film community and their premises intrigued me so I wanted to pick the up, especially the former as it's about vampires and is also presented in 4K Ultra HD with Dolby Vision, as they are re-using Blue Underground's master. Included in the limited edition releases is a booklet full of essays, as well as the Scanavo case packaging and reversible artwork.
Also included here is François Truffaut's 1976 film Pocket Money (L'Argent de poche), a French film focused on young kids. François Truffaut is another well-known European director and a lot of his films were distributed by MGM Studios so it seems Radiance managed to secure more of them for UK release. Included in the limited edition releases is a booklet, as well as the Scanavo case packaging and reversible artwork.
#11 | Bazaar Bazaar Haul
Been wanting to sort out another import haul and Bazaar Bazaar decided to run a sale which for once offered prices that were cheaper than other retailers.
Getting the obvious out of the way first, Cosmo Dreamer & Like Dreamer Double-D Collection is a collection of two Japanese bullet hell shoot 'em up titles and the artwork looked goofy so I wanted to own it. I've also been building a shoot 'em up collection for the Switch so it was a good opportunity. East Asia Soft published the game and whilst this is the standard edition, they are still limited regardless.
Next we have SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered, which recently came out a few months ago by Square Enix. This is a remaster of the original PlayStation game released in 1999 for Japan and 2000 for North America & European territories. Despite being the second game, it's like Final Fantasy where it keeps the formula of different playable characters but offers a different story altogether. The remaster offers similar features to the previous game, including new playable characters and quality of life improvements.
And leaving the best for last is Super Robot Wars Y, the latest instalment in the crossover tactical RPG franchise and is also the first to include Macross characters that can be used for English audiences since the previous ones didn't feature them due to licensing issues (and they were featured in much earlier instalments that didn't make it to the west). Franchises featured in this game include Godzilla Singular Point, SSSS.DYNAZENON, Code Geass, more Gundam including Witch from Mercury, Majestic Prince, Aura Battler Dunbine, Getter Robo Arc and more.
Getting the obvious out of the way first, Cosmo Dreamer & Like Dreamer Double-D Collection is a collection of two Japanese bullet hell shoot 'em up titles and the artwork looked goofy so I wanted to own it. I've also been building a shoot 'em up collection for the Switch so it was a good opportunity. East Asia Soft published the game and whilst this is the standard edition, they are still limited regardless.
Next we have SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered, which recently came out a few months ago by Square Enix. This is a remaster of the original PlayStation game released in 1999 for Japan and 2000 for North America & European territories. Despite being the second game, it's like Final Fantasy where it keeps the formula of different playable characters but offers a different story altogether. The remaster offers similar features to the previous game, including new playable characters and quality of life improvements.
And leaving the best for last is Super Robot Wars Y, the latest instalment in the crossover tactical RPG franchise and is also the first to include Macross characters that can be used for English audiences since the previous ones didn't feature them due to licensing issues (and they were featured in much earlier instalments that didn't make it to the west). Franchises featured in this game include Godzilla Singular Point, SSSS.DYNAZENON, Code Geass, more Gundam including Witch from Mercury, Majestic Prince, Aura Battler Dunbine, Getter Robo Arc and more.
#12 | Martyrs
Next we have another pre-order arriving and it's a French Extremity classic that won't be for everyone. Martyrs, Pascal Laugier's 2008 film has been on my radar to check out for a long time and it caught me by surprise to see Eureka Entertainment of all people bring it over to the UK, not only as part of their Masters of Cinema, but in 4K Ultra HD as well.
Now this limited edition also sold out so fast they had to extend the print run which is how I was able to grab my copy on time. It's a very nice release with a booklet that goes into more depth about the film, its director and the themes throughout. It's also a combo pack so the Blu-ray disc is included as well.
Now this limited edition also sold out so fast they had to extend the print run which is how I was able to grab my copy on time. It's a very nice release with a booklet that goes into more depth about the film, its director and the themes throughout. It's also a combo pack so the Blu-ray disc is included as well.
#13 | Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness
I had been intrigued to check out Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness for a while now and was originally going to order a copy from eBay like what I had done with AI: The Somnium Files nirvanA Initiative and Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris but then out of nowhere the new copies on Amazon randomly dropped to a low price and figured it was best to order it from there.
For those curious what this game is, it's a dungeon crawling action RPG experience where you need to put in the resources to survive down the abyss. Spike Chunsoft developed this one which is a rare case of a different team working on an anime IP since you would normally expect Bandai Namco to cover this. Heard its got some good stuff whilst also challenging here and there.
For those curious what this game is, it's a dungeon crawling action RPG experience where you need to put in the resources to survive down the abyss. Spike Chunsoft developed this one which is a rare case of a different team working on an anime IP since you would normally expect Bandai Namco to cover this. Heard its got some good stuff whilst also challenging here and there.
