Otaku Collection 2017: May Update | The End of University

University is over. I've finished my final year course and gotten most of the results for it so far. And since the rate got better temporarily I made use of getting a number of items.

This haul includes a number of games as well as the usual anime. In addition some of these are imports from Japan!

The May 2017 haul includes 11 anime and 10 games.

#01 | Dragon Ball Z Budokai HD Collection

First up is a game that I actually played on the Xbox 360 half a decade ago. This was one of the few games I wanted to own after renting it through Love Film and now I managed to grab a retail copy. I bought it from eBay as the prices were now in the £40s on Amazon.

#02 | Catherine and Zone of the Enders HD Collection

Next up is a game I've been meaning to own for ages and the other is one that I already own on Xbox 360. Catherine has been on my to-play list for a long time but I finally got the opportunity to pick it up. Zone of the Enders was a different case. ZOTE suffered from some technical issues on the 360 and the PS3 version received a patch for The 2nd Runner HD which is what I haven't properly played just yet. Both games were cheap to acquire new through Amazon US. I had to split the order up because it was taking way too long to ship out.

#03 | Arslan: The Warriors of Legend and The Silver Case (PS4 version)

This one was a random pickup. I went to town because I ended up receiving the Korean version of Shining Resonance (it was a gamble at £19.99). I managed to sell it but I only got £4 back which was fine by me since I just wanted to get rid of it regardless. After that I ventured into Grainger Games and found The Silver Case for £25 - which had additional stuff for the PS4 version, and Arslan Musou was also there for £15. I have finished both games at the time of this post.

#04 | Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam Part 2, One Punch Man and Your Lie in April Part 2

One Punch Man was acquired for two reasons. One was to test out WOW HD and the other reason was because I received a Region Free Blu-ray player last month so as such I wanted an anime to test it with. OPM I did watch via simulcast and really enjoyed it so I'm satisfied with the set Viz put out. Zeta Gundam and Your Lie in April came from Anime Limited's shop. YLIA in particular I nearly missed out on because I spent way too much at the end of April which stopped my card, thankfully I was able to resolve it and the payment got through in the end. My Part 1 replacement box is at home.

#05 | Monogatari series: Second Season arcs: Koimonogatari and Hanamonogatari

I finally got my hands on the rest of Monogatari's Second Season. Better late than never in fact. Long story short the exchange rate got better for the British Pound and I decided I should take advantage of it before the General Election ends. Koimonogatari was a little more priced because it's got more episodes than the other arcs. Overall I'm happy to finally finish off this season.

#06 | PaRappa the Rapper, Phantom Breaker: Extra and Shining Resonance

I wanted to make use of Solaris Japan once again and decided to order a few more PlayStation 3 games. In addition the remaster for PaRappa the Rapper just got released and a retail version was available in Japan and Asia. I decided to pick up the Japanese version since it's a rhythm game (thus making it import friendly), to my surprise the game is actually English friendly also. It's great fun too and I hope the dev's new game Project Rap Rabbit does well on kickstarter. The PS3 games I picked were a fighting game and an action RPG. All three of these games were priced around £18-20 each which is actually cheap if you think about it.

#07 | Shin Koihime Musou: Otome Taisen Sangokushi Engi

This fighting game has been on my radar for a fair while but I never bothered to go after it until it was being sold on eBay from a UK seller. I decided to go after it anyway and I managed to win the bid.

#08 | Persona 3 the Movie -#3 Falling Down- and Tokyo Marble Chocolate

Next up we have two more Early Bird orders from Anime Limited's shop. Considering I already acquired the first two films from this deal, it's no surprise that I would go after Persona 3's next instalment. Tokyo Marble Chocolate was also picked up because it's an OVA series I wanted to check out since it was announced. It's pretty good.

#09 | Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

This one was acquired when Amazon had a flash sale going on. I decided it was better for me to go ahead and strike when it's at that price and I managed to get a copy. However the set ended up being the first print version so as such the discs have Mono audio for its second season. It's strange that apparently the standard edition Blu-ray sets don't have the issue though. Either way I'm happy to own the series on Blu-ray after owning the KAZE DVD discs since 2013.

#10 | Macross 30

This game triggered my card situation apparently. Either way it took a little longer than the usual but it dodged customs. Macross 30 is an action game and I can't wait to check it out when I head back home. The original release was available on Play Asia hence why I decided to spend a little more for it.

#11 | Black Butler Season 1

This one had a rough time sorting out. I initially ordered it from Amazon just as the license expiration announcement came up and it never got updated for ages. It apparently ended up back at Amazon HQ and my order was cancelled. Stock was also gone as well. A few days later I saw Rightstuf grab more stock so I decided to order it through them instead, unfortunately it got hit by customs so I ended up paying TWICE as much as I would on Amazon. Not fair, but at least I managed to grab the show on Blu-ray before it went out of print.

#12 | Kizumonogatari Part 1: Tekketsu and Kizumonogatari Part 2: Nekketsu

The last haul of the month is the most expensive - the first two films in the Kizumonogatari trilogy. I decided to get them now than later because they're pretty expensive sets and the rate will no doubt get worse. Another reason was so that I can get ahead of the game for the Aniplex sets I want to own. So as such I'm now left with Tsukimonogatari and both volumes of Owarimonogatari for the franchise which is pretty good progress overall.

#Extra | More Films on Blu-ray

On the same day that I bought Arslan and Silver Case I also picked up some more films. Deadpool, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (remake), Minority Report, Unbreakable, Under the Skin and Zodiac.

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And that's it for the May haul. I went all out in this month because I wanted to build up my PlayStation 3 collection. In theory I could have gotten much more but the Monogatari sets took up a lot of the budget which is annoying but it had to be done at the same time. From June 2017 onwards the amount of items I'll be receiving won't be that much because I'll be unemployed. If I do manage to get a paid job then you'll notice the hauls getting better.

It's going to be a long road from now on. I did initially plan on going to MCM London's May event but I decided I couldn't go due to the focus on the PS3 games and Monogatari taking the budget. I also couldn't be bothered to go through the hassle of travel. I saw the deals that Anime Limited had on offer and they were pretty good, a bit pissed off SAO II went back to £20 each when they were £25 at Birmingham.

It's also my Birthday in June, and so far I have requested two Anime Limited sets that just went on Early Bird deals - Persona 3 the Movie -#4 Winter of Rebirth- and Prison School. Prison School was planned from the get-go but I figured I'll save myself the hassle and have Persona 3 sorted out. Black Butler Book of Circus and Charlotte were also in the deal but I haven't decided on whether I should dip in now or wait. Charlotte in particular only has one issue and that's whether the Extra Episode is going to be included in the Part 2 release since it hasn't been mentioned at all (because Aniplex were complete twats on how they handled Durarara!!x2's OVAs).

I'll make a separate blog post on the sort of items I want to acquire. I know few have asked me whether I want to work with them to get these sets cheaper but I can't do that.

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