Forum - View topicThe Mike Toole Show - Revenge of the Special Edition
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Kyjin
 Posts: 126 Location: Los Angeles |
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Wow, the .hack//SIGN set brings back memories. That was released when I really started to get into anime, but I was in middle/high school and couldn't afford the limited edition sets, so I always picked up the single dvds when I could. Only limited edition I specifically got for .hack was the final dvd in the series with the extra bonus episodes.
The only limited edition anime that I specifically made sure to buy were the Code Geass sets released a couple years ago. The first two dvds of Season 1 came with a gorgeous collector's box (look it up online, it's nice), a soundtrack, drama cd, and manga. The rest of the limited releases came with soundtracks, drama cds, and manga or novels. Since it's my favorite anime, I wanted to have it all. 
I think video games had the best incentives for limited releases or preorder bonuses. I pre-ordered Chaos Legion just to get a pocket watch with the main character, and Xenosaga Episode I for a tshirt. Atlus tends to do releases with soundtracks as well, which are always nice. |
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InnocentSorrow59
Posts: 156 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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I actually re-watch FMA, in fact not just rewatch but re-read the manga as well. Not to mention old episodes of One Piece, and BASARA at times as well. (Which I'm also planning on pre-ordering the combo pack for because of the calendar it comes with...)
I hope DVDs never go away. I know I can probably just download a whole series, which a lot of friends tell me to do when I complain about not having enough money for a series, but I don't want to! I want to own a box set! Even if it's not a Limited Edition that comes with figures or posters. |
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Tenchi
 Posts: 4474 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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I'm 100% total physical media until I die. I have hundreds of anime DVD's and I hope to say in a few years' time that I have hundreds of anime Blu-Rays (in terms of SKU's, I only have 9 so far, Ponyo, Summer Wars, two copies of the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya movie, one Japanese and one domestic, the Baka and Test box set, and, most importantly, the four K-On! singles). It is true that there are some shows I haven't yet revisited, but I like having them anyways, I like their shelf presence and I like that I can revisit them anytime I want to without an internet connection.
The shows I revisit the most these days are slice-of-life comedies where you can pretty much just put in any episode out-of-sequence and enjoy because there isn't some huge overarching plot in the background, mainly Strawberry Marshmallow, K-On!, Azumanga Daioh, Kamichu!, and Lucky Star. I would desperately love to add Minami-ke to that physical media slice-of-life mix if only one of the remaining licensors would add it. I also rewatch 1980's comedies like Urusei Yatsura, Ranma ½ (mostly the first season, so that counts as 1980's), and Project A-ko, and, from the 1990's, I rewatch my favourite out-of-sequence episodes of Sailor Moon, Pretty Sammy TV/Magical Project S, and Cardcaptor Sakura. Many of the shows I have I technically already revisited when I bought them as I first saw them fansubbed, mostly in the VHS fansub days, back when there was more of a "gentlemen's agreement" that you'd buy the shows you enjoyed fansubbed if and when they got licensed. On an unrelated note, despite Netflix, video-on-demand, Internet television, I still think some sort of linear cable will be around for decades, for those of us who enjoy channel surfing, who like the "order" the traditional television schedule gives to their evenings, or who just like having noise in the background as they use the Internet. Last edited by Tenchi on Sun Jan 15, 2012 4:56 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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zawa113
 Posts: 7358 |
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I loved the extras for the Gurren Lagann LEs! With LEs clearly on the way out, I knew I had to go all out for at least one show, and having seen GL in fansubs, I knew that was the show I wanted to do it for! I really loved the show and knew I was gonna buy it on DVD anyway, right? Might as well go all the way!
Set 1 came with the awesome artbox where it opens from Gurren's mouth and it's all flame design on the inside, and a little plastic core drill with a little green LED light in it so you can light it up. Set 2 came with a drawstring backpack. It's actually of very nice quality, I use it every convention personally. Set 3 came with a soundtrack and the first volume of the manga. Although I'm big on manga, I loved the show too much to be instantly sold on the manga, and though I still wasn't with the bundled volume 1, it was an enjoyable read. Who knows, I might've picked up the series someday if it ever finished publishing, but of course now it never will. I feel like all of the other artboxes I have series for were really just artbox+vol 1, so nothing as impressive as Gurren Lagann was for me. |
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Sheleigha
 Posts: 1673 |
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I got suckered into the Code Geass CEs :p I was waiting for the Anime Legends sets to come out, but one day I was at my local Best Buy and saw that the vol 1 CE was $10.... With all the goodies inside I couldn't say no!! Luckily I held off in buying any of the manga then too, so an extra bonus! A great decision I made, the box IS beautiful! And I eventually did get the CEs for all the other volumes in the series. Although, I was pretty disappointed with how the R2 CEs were made... I like the slip cover and all, but when I rearrange my collection, I want all the mangas to be together. I don't want the slip covers to get squashed, but I guess I can just fit an empty DVD case in there, to replace the manga volumes. |
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8467 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Not to mention its horrible Blue Water English dub. Man, that release was kind of a mess. At least it came with a cool booklet with character and mecha profiles. I have all four limited editions of the first season of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. The funny thing is, the "broadcast order" discs have sort of lost their cachet over time, and the only extras I was interested in were the CDs. There's no way I'm using those pillowcases. I actually have the Eye of Vogler set of Giant Robo, but the jewel cases cracked so I keep the discs in plastic CD protectors in a drawer. I don't have any room for the Eye, anyway. Same for the Haruhi box. I think the best special edition thing I got was the FMA movie, Conqueror of Shamballa, with its built-in booklet with several pages of interviews. I guess the DBZ Dragon Boxes can be considered "special editions", but they didn't come with any extras like the two Japanese sets did. Last edited by penguintruth on Sun Jan 15, 2012 5:16 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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staab99
 Posts: 123 |
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Man this was such a wonderful article!
as for my favorite it probably was the first GTO boxset that Tokyopop released. It came with the first 5 dvds along with a free t shirt. I wore that t shirt for several years before it finally had a major hole in it to be thrown away. Recently I picked up B Geta H Kei LE with the mousepad from Rightstuf. I remember going back to bestbuy and seeing those starter kits for about 25-30 bucks, those were the days! lol 
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050795
 Posts: 230 |
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I guess I must be a mutant among anime fans, because if I love a show I buy it, so I can watch it over and over again. Same with video games and books I just don't understand how people can read/watch/play something they say they love only once. Well I suppose it's people like me who are helping keep the anime DVD market afloat.
I liked the article, one thing that I have missed in the area of cheep box set releases is all the cool and crazy extras that used to came in box sets. I am glad that some companies are starting to include little extras in their releases again, I for one don't mind pay a little extra for them (and yes I am eagerly awaiting the my Fate/Zero box set!). |
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penguintruth
Posts: 8467 Location: Penguinopolis |
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I rewatch my collection over and over again, too. Every year I go through almost the whole thing. Sometimes there are shows I leave out until the next cycle. I get plenty out of my discs. |
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Cecilthedarkknight_234
 Posts: 3820 Location: Louisville, KY |
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my personal favorite?? That would have to be hare plus guu with the collectors wig "god that still cracks me up", gurren lagann with the light up drill and my all time favorite pani poni dash art box with all of the dvd's... heh such good times. I miss collectors editions like this with cd's, art books and little bits of swag but times change. I do re-watch mos of the shows I buy at least once if not twice year depending on the show. Azumanga daioh, Evangelion, When they Cry, Gad Guard are all ones I will always re-watch like re-run of married with children or scrubs
Last edited by Cecilthedarkknight_234 on Sun Jan 15, 2012 5:45 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Surrender Artist
 Posts: 3264 Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
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One of the reasons that I tended to avoid premium editions is that the special content rarely interested me. Shirts? Keychains?!? Even soundtracks. None of them are alluring. What does appeal to me is background information and additional animated content. Part of why I love the new Revolutionary Girl Utena sets is the books full of information about the development and content of the series. I love things like these and wish that more were offered. Further, the reason that I ordered the limited edition of Princess Jellyfish is the animated shorts that will be included with it. Tchochkes are of little interest to me, but added content and information is very appealing.
That's my strategy as well. I have the good fortune(?) to tend to forget a significant degree of detail about things that I've seen, so I can usually enjoy watching them over again after some time has passed. In those cases wherein I don't, it's usually something that I really like and can enjoy repeatedly (e.g. Galaxy Express 999 Last edited by Surrender Artist on Sun Jan 15, 2012 5:29 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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mgosdin
 Posts: 1302 Location: Kissimmee, Florida, USA |
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Since I was in heavily involved in the expansion of the Internet in the late 1990's & early 2000's, I did have access to equipment good enough and connections fast enough to do the very early streaming. My sons took more advantage of that than I did.
We did buy the collector's Raxephon in the day and that sad t-shirt that my oldest boy wanted, but which only held up to a few uses. Oddly I was able to buy a newer one of the t-shirts recently that was of much higher quality than the original. Now that I have the time and inclination I have bought collector's editions for myself - Oreimo for one. And yes, I do rewatch what I buy. Mark Gosdin |
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reibainokami
Posts: 1 |
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Despite my expensive taste in anime
, I was never one to go for the SEs. Mostly because I've often had trouble even finding anime in my area, and when I do the price usually shows a mark up; mostly due to having only have one big box electronics store (Best Buy) and one major bookseller (Barnes & Noble). And neither offer the anime/manga discounts I used to get at Borders. 
One thing that I noticed that wasn't mentioned in Mike's article was about the sudden growth of Blu-Ray collections. I'll take a $49 double-layer blu-ray with an entire series and its OVAs, etc over a group of DVDs anyday! Makes me more likely to rewatch a series, too. And yes, I do shell out $8 a month for Hulu to watch new stuff and to try out series I might have missed. No point in spending cash or expending effort for something I won't watch. A few series I revisit: Evangelion Eden of the East Angel Beats! |
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Sheleigha
Posts: 1673 |
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Speaking of rewatching shows, the only time I may not, is for blind buys. Still, I usually end up getting attached to those and keeping them as well. I LOVE rewatching stuff for two reasons: to experience the amazing piece of art again, and to remember what happened. I now watch so much media, that I'm rather forgetful with what happened on even some of my favorite shows! I like sitting there going "oh yeahhhh I forgot this or that happened!"
I wonder if nowadays, the "watch a show once" situation is for the younger crowd? As tech rapidly evolves, I believe our lives do too, and many people only seem to get gratification out of watching something ONCE and then moving on. I have met a person who has told me "why rewatch something? I watched it once and still remember it, why do I need to watch it again?" To me its an oddity, because everyone I know who watch any sort of media WILL watch their favorite movies over and over. Maybe not in a short time span, but eventually. |
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Lord Geo
Posts: 2569 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
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Really nice article, Mike. I do have artboxes, but only a few "special editions". I do have the Eye of Volger (bought it for $20 from the MB booth at my first Otakon), and luckily the jewel cases are still intact. I do have all of VOTOMS plus to ammo tin, but I bought the ammo tin seperately from TRSI, so I don't have that extra disc and booklet... I am now slightly disappionted. Then there's that weird-as-hell Speed Grapher artbox, plus the "house" that Ghost Slayer Ayashi got.
Funny thing with me is that I have both the OVA and the figure... But I never even knew that there was a special edition for Bastard!! until, literally, yesterday. I bought the OVA back in 2004 at my local Best Buy for $29.99 (and it was worth every penny!), and then a year or two later I bought the Jugulator figure online. Great OVA, great figure, and I would easily buy the OVA again if it was given a re-relase, especially if there was some sort of upgrade to it, like improved video... But considering that we got essentially the same thing Japan got, except with an English dub, I doubt much more could be done to it. |
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