Buyfaggery: Blu-Ray Limited Edition/Collector’s Edition Comparisons v.1

Comparisons and unboxings for (mostly) new NISA, Aniplex, Funimation, and Sentai LEs/CEs.

Fair warning

Feel free to ignore/skip through the Youtube videos if you’re only looking for my most polished work. They’re my first unboxings, so they’re a little rough around the edges.

You can’t put the genie back in the bottle on these things, so there are always going to be errors. But if the concept of unboxings interests you, and you see room for improvement, please give me some actionable feedback so I can improve for future videos.

 

Well, enough trying to frighten you away. Onto the analysis.

 

 

NISA

NISA LEs stand out. Well, they used to. NISA seems to be going through a crisis of identity right now, as their new BD releases look pretty damn close to every other company’s.

Come on, NISA. I’m buying your shit to feel special. Make me feel special!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEHo6I6q7yU

 

 

Aniplex

If there’s any company targeting their product at collectors, it’s Aniplex. But when I say targeting, I mean like a rapist. Their idea of making something a limited edition is by pricing it out of the range of most people, so that merely saying you own it provides more status than showing off something that looks cool. Want Fate/Zero? That’ll be $300. Kill la Kill? $300. Sword Art Online? $360 (but if you’re smart you’ll only buy the first arc and cut that price in half). Shit’s limited only cuz no one can afford it.

They have store exclusives on their Animate page, but I wouldn’t bother with those unless you’re really hype about a pack-in and hate money. Cuz they’re way more expensive than Rightstuf.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdRAw6TlcL8

 

 

Funimation

Oh Funi. These guys are trying to be everything to everyone. They are trying so hard. Unfortunately, no collector with a budget gives a shit. I’ll buy every limited edition from the other companies (that I’m interested in), but Funimation? Nope. I will always wait for a Funimation “limited edition” to drop in price, by half, before picking it up.

With Funi, the only shit that’s limited about the vast majority of their LEs is the name. You might get a cheap chipboard box, or slipcover, but that’s it. Real talk? I ain’t paying $60 for that. And if I can save $10 and get a standard BD box instead, I’ll go that route.

Where they make up the slack is in their collector’s editions. While they’re generally marketed as limited editions (to confuse people?), the CEs actually are in-line with the other distribution companies’ efforts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYRzC8VDvLI

 

 

Sentai

Sentai are the newest to the LE/CE scene. Considering these guys are the remnants of the anime empire that was known as ADV, it’s not really surprising it’s taken them this long to get in the game. After all, ADV thought a chipboard was all an LE needed to be special.

But what they did with Chu2 makes them my current favorite. I mean, this is Bandai-tier limited edition shit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY4_cALtvfs

 

 

If I were to rate what I unboxed (as opposed to my general thoughts of each company’s overall efforts):

NISA (The Eccentric Family): B-

Aniplex (Onimonogatari): C-

Funimation (Attack on Titan): B+

Sentai (Chu-2): A+

 

And my unboxing skills: A, for effort. Right?