Nevertheless, Scottish distributor Anime Ltd. had what they called "a hard sale" trying to get it screened theatrically in the United Kingdom. They persevered though, and managed to give the film some great editions on Blu-ray and DVD as well.
Best of these is the Ultimate Edition, one which is just as oversized as Anime Ltd.'s Gurren Lagann and Patema Inverted Ultimate Editions. While this oversizing makes for rather cumbersome digipacks, it does allow for larger artwork and larger books. And boy, does this one have a great book!
So check out the gallery below, and see what a great edition this great film got. Click on the edge of the images to go to the next slide, or in the center to get a bigger version.
And here it is: a very large box with a wrapper!
The wrap contains all the titles and BBFC-ratings, and without it the box looks positively pristine.
All contents taken out: the book, the digipack, and a poster card which doubles as the certificate of authenticity.
All contents opened. Very nice artwork on the inside of the digipack, and the book is fantastic.
A closer look at the book. It is a 92-page trade paperback with a wrap-around dust cover. It is not actually a sketchbook, but more a production overview, an artbook, and contains all sorts of background information.
While at 92 pages this is not the thickest book we've seen, this sure is one of the densest, and it contains a lot of information. There is a stellar amount of historical background covered here, with the regional conflicts of Sakhalin around 1945 being covered in detail. There are maps, pictures... this is excellent stuff.
Further in the book, you get sketches, drawings, paintings, interviews... this book is basically a museum about the film, all by itself.
It's a numbered edition, and with only 1000 copies you can call this one severely limited.
The end...
An absolutely stellar release.