Sentai Filmworks has had a pretty strong year overall and with their December slate, they’re capping it off with a few fan favorites to be sure. Of particular interest of course is the Girls Und Panzer release, which had them hauling in a tank for Anime Expo this year. We’re also seeing the release of Btooom! and the OVAs for Kokoro Connect among other things. But we’re also seeing the first Japanese language/subtitled only Blu-ray release from the company, which is being done as a test and something that they promise won’t be common, with So, I Can’t Play H.
What will you be picking up?
Title: GIRLS UND PANZER TV COLLECTION ON BLU-RAY & DVD
- Published by: Sentai Filmworks
- Distributed by: Section23 Films
- Run Time: 300 min.
- Street Date: 12/3/2013
- Formats: BD / DVD
- Language: English & Japanese with English Subtitles
- SRP: $69.98 (BD) / $59.98 (DVD)
SYNOPSIS: You may have heard of kung fu, but the girls at Oarai Academy practice gun-fu – really, really BIG gun-fu, in fact. It’s called Tankery, and it’s the martial art of operating armored tanks! And even though the Tankery program at Oarai has been defunct for years, the student council has taken a sudden interest in the art and no one they set their sights on is safe. Which is how Miho Nishizumi, who transferred to Oarai specifically to stay out of tanks, gets drafted to join the newly revived Tankery divison. But it’s not all bad, because joining her in Team Anglerfish are her new found friends Saori, the highly receptive radio operator; Hana, a flower arranger turned gunner; Mako, their brilliant, but chronically sleepy driver; and combustible tank fangirl and loader Yukari. They may not be on the half-track to fame and fortune, and maybe some of them would rather shop for tank tops than become tops in tanks, but once their focus is locked and loaded, they’re absolutely driven. It’s mad, it’s metal and mayhem is guaranteed! It’s GIRLS UND PANZER!
Title: MAGICAL PLAY COMPLETE
- Published by: Sentai Filmworks
- Distributed by: Section23 Films
- Run Time: 150 min.
- Street Date: 12/3/2013
- Format: DVD
- Language: English & Japanese with English Subtitles
- SRP: $29.98
SYNOPSIS: Becoming a Magical Girl isn’t easy, but Padudu thinks she has most of the bases covered. She even has a magical pet and a magical cloak! Granted, her pet’s a talking fish that she wears as the cloak (and occasionally snacks on,) but now all she SHOULD have to do is wander the countryside, fight in official Magical Battles and collect enough Hanamaru stamps to become an official Magical Girl. But life isn’t always that simple, and when Padudu accidentally breaks a law, she ends up on the run and traveling with some really odd companions: There’s MyuMyu, who wears a pair of cats as a bikini, Pipin, who dresses like a rabbit and wears HER magical pet bunny as a back pack, and the nefarious criminal Nonononn, who also wanted to be a Magical Girl, and has both a Hammerhead Shark and mysterious ties to the Queen (who’s nowhere near as nice as her PR would have you believe.) So what happens when the strangest set of strangers ever set forth in an even stranger land? The one thing you can count on is that it’s going to get REALLY weird in MAGICAL PLAY!
Title: BTOOOM! COMPLETE ON BLU-RAY & DVD
- Published by: Sentai Filmworks
- Distributed by: Section23 Films
- Run Time: 300 min.
- Street Date: 12/10/2013
- Formats: BD / DVD
- Language: English & Japanese with English Subtitles
- SRP: $69.98 (BD) / $59.98 (DVD)
SYNOPSIS: In the blink of the mind’s eye, Ryuta Sakamoto suddenly finds himself transported from playing the hit BTOOOM! video game to being stranded on a mysterious island. He’s equipped with a day’s worth of provisions, a bag of bombs, a strange crystal embedded in his left hand and a huge gaping hole in his memory. But it doesn’t take long to figure out what’s going on, especially after the first person Ryuta meets tries to kill him. Someone is attempting to recreate the ultra-violent BTOOOM! game in real life, and the island has been filled with an army of other unwilling players, each armed with one of the multiple variants of explosive weapons called BIM. Fortunately, Ryuta’s an ace BTOOOM! player, but this insane version of the game has no reset switch or second lives, and there’s only one way off the island: kill seven other people before they can kill you! Can Ryuta repurpose his game-based skills fast enough to survive this ultimate battle royale? The action is ultra-violent, ultra-graphic and ultra-lethal as the ultimate blood sport is unleashed in BTOOOM!
Title: KOKORO CONNECT OVA COMPLETE ON BLU-RAY & DVD
- Published by: Sentai Filmworks
- Distributed by: Section23 Films
- Run Time: 100 min.
- Street Date: 12/10/2013
- Formats: BD / DVD
- Language: English & Japanese with English Subtitles
- SRP: $39.98 (BD) / $29.98 (DVD)
SYNOPSIS: They’ve already had their bodies swapped like musical chairs, had their ages changed at random and experienced their deepest desires taking control of them without warning, but if you thought Heartseed was finished with Taichi, Iori, Himeko, Yoshifumi and Yui, you’ve got another think coming! Now there’s a new affliction going around, and the name of this peculiar bug is emotion sickness. As in, suddenly your emotions jump out of your body and sic someone else! Needless to say, that’s more than simply awkward if you’ve got a deep rooted phobia like a fear of men or repressed emotions that you’ve been trying to keep hidden, but in some situations it can literally be deadly! What is Heartseed up to this time, and why is he making our heroes involuntarily share their innermost dirty laundry? Get ready for another trip through the emotional wringer in Kokoro Connect ~ The OVAs!
Title: DI GI CHARAT OVA SERIES
- Published by: Sentai Filmworks
- Distributed by: Section23 Films
- Run Time: 194 min.
- Street Date: 12/17/2013
- Format: DVD
- Language: Japanese with English Subtitles
- SRP: $24.98
SYNOPSIS: You never know when the chance for a new adventure is suddenly going to pop up, and even if you were born here, our world can be a pretty strange and unusual place. However, when you’re an alien princess like Dejiko, who came to Earth to break into the music industry, it’s almost impossible to go out walking without it becoming the start of something wild and wonderful. Whether Deji’s just hanging out, going on a Christmas Cruise or being kidnapped by her new arch rival Pyocola Analogue III (just call her Piyoko,) you never know what might happen next. The one thing you can bet on, however, is that Dejiko’s stalwart companions Genma and Puchiko will be right alongside her… and usually in trouble up to the tips of Puchiko’s cat ears! The deliriously wacky escapades of the globetrotting princess of Planet Di Gi Charat continue in another interplanetary collection of out of this world silliness in Di Gi Charat Specials!
Title: THE PET GIRL OF SAKURASOU 1 ON BLU-RAY & DVD
- Published by: Sentai Filmworks
- Distributed by: Section23 Films
- Run Time: 300 min.
- Street Date: 12/17/2013
- Formats: BD / DVD
- Language: Japanese with English Subtitles
- SRP: $59.98 (BD) / $49.98 (DVD)
SYNOPSIS: Banished from normal housing for the crime of adopting stray cats, Sorata Kanda’s life has gone to the dogs and now he’s been impounded in Room 101 of Sakura Hall, a notorious den of troublemakers, geniuses and weirdos. Meanwhile, Mashiro Shiina in Room 202 is the cat’s meow of the art world. However, she’s so unfocused and dysfunctional that she needs a full-time keeper to survive day-to-day life while she puts her career as a famous artist on hold and studies to be a manga creator. That’s too big a task for Chihiro, Mashiro’s cousin who lives in the same dorm and also happens to be Sorata’s teacher. But given Sorata’s weakness for taking in small, cute but sometimes not completely loveable creatures, could he be the one destined to take over Mashiro’s grooming, feeding and general, er… domestication? Well, if he’s not, too bad, ’cause no one else is stepping up and he’s stuck with it and her! Heavy petting gets redefined, the dorm’s the only thing likely to get housebroken and hopefully no one will get neutered as who’s on whose leash becomes anybodies’ guess in The Pet Girl of Sakurasou Col. 1!
Title: HUMANITY HAS DECLINED COMPLETE ON BLU-RAY & DVD
- Published by: Sentai Filmworks
- Distributed by: Section23 Films
- Run Time: 300 min.
- Street Date: 12/24/2013
- Formats: BD / DVD
- Language: Japanese with English Subtitles
- SRP: $59.98 (BD) / $49.98 (DVD)
SYNOPSIS: For years, declining birth rates have forced what’s left of the human race to cede more and more territory to other beings who have appeared to take advantage of the emptying ecological niche. Now, only a handful of humans remain among the remnants of civilization and Earth is dominated by faeries – tiny, ten-inch tall creatures of surprising intelligence. But humanity’s importance isn’t over quite yet, as young Watashi learns as she makes the decision to return to her hometown and assume her grandfather’s position as an arbitrator between the races. Unfortunately, the job isn’t going to be anywhere near as simple as she expected, and it’s going to take wisdom far beyond her years to achieve her most important mission. Because it’s not about how often you fall and fail, it’s about how often you get back up and try again, and the human race still has a lot left to accomplish in HUMANITY HAS DECLINED.
Title: SAY, “I LOVE YOU” COMPLETE ON BLU-RAY & DVD
- Published by: Sentai Filmworks
- Distributed by: Section23 Films
- Run Time: 325 min.
- Street Date: 12/24/2013
- Formats: BD / DVD
- Language: English & Japanese with English Subtitles
- SRP: $69.98 (BD) / $59.98 (DVD)
SYNOPSIS: Friends suck, and trusting someone is just setting yourself up. That’s the lesson Mei Tachibana learned after her heart was ripped out and only a shell was left where a girl used to be. But unlike so many, she found an easy solution: she’ll never make another friend. Ever. Okay, maybe that’s not as easy as it sounds, but it’s worked for Mei. Or at least it did. Until handsome, charming and annoyingly popular Yamato Kurosawa came along. Because for some freakish reason, he seems to like Mei. He even gave her his phone number! As if she would ever call him. Except she did. But only because she needed help. Still, he came. He actually came. And now things are getting way too complicated. Mei’s no princess in a tower. She’s not waiting for a knight in shining armor to rescue her. So why did he have to kiss her and confuse everything? And why are those three little words so hard to say? Between heartbeats, behind trembling lips, and unspoken with every breath, the specter of betrayals past, future and present now haunt them both in SAY “I LOVE YOU.”
Title: NYAN KOI! COMPLETE ON BLU-RAY & DVD
- Published by: Sentai Filmworks
- Distributed by: Section23 Films
- Run Time: 300 min.
- Street Date: 12/31/2013
- Formats: BD / DVD
- Language: English & Japanese with English Subtitles
- SRP: $69.98 (BD) / $59.98 (DVD)
SYNOPSIS: Saying that Junpei Kosaka’s allergic to cats is something of an understatement, just thinking about cats can make him sneeze. A fact that seems to be lost on his mother and sister, who both ADORE cats. And if that wasn’t bad enough, when Junpei inadvertently damages a statue of a cat deity, he becomes cursed with the ability to understand felines. Now Junpei must perform one hundred great favors for cat-kind or face the fate of being turned into a cat himself! Life quickly becomes a purrfect hell as every cat in the neighborhood starts sending Junpei their list of “requests.” But it’s not just the cats: the local Yakuza’s daughter is playing cat and mouse; the monk’s daughters are acting catty; Junpei’s childhood best friend is ready to use him as a scratching post; and the girl he has a secret crush on is as cat crazy as the rest! Get ready for the ultimate catfight on the road to purrdition in this cataclysmic complete collection of Nyan Koi!
Title: SO, I CAN’T PLAY H COMPLETE ON BLU-RAY & DVD
- Published by: Sentai Filmworks
- Distributed by: Section23 Films
- Run Time: 300 min.
- Street Date: 12/31/2013
- Formats: BD / DVD
- Language: Japanese with English Subtitles
- SRP: $59.98 (BD) / $49.98 (DVD)
SYNOPSIS: Never make a deal with a wet goddess you’ve only just met. That’s a lesson Ryosuke Kaga learns the hard way when he foolishly agrees to let Lisara Restole use some of his “essence” to stay in this world. Because despite her smoking hot appearance, Lisara’s actually a Shinigami, a Goddess of Death. However, she doesn’t steal years off his life like any decent Shinigami would do. Oh no, instead she sucks off his lecherous spirit, draining his ability to enjoy… well, the things that teenage boys normally spend most of their time thinking about! And now the poor degenerate’s only hope of getting his licentiousness renewed is to join the Lisara on her quest, since when she leaves our mortal plane he regains his normal immorality! But Shinigami can be really harsh mistresses and it’s going to be anything but easy to go back to being sleazy in So I Can’t Play H!
