That series, known as Parasyte: The Maxim, was distributed by Sentai in the US on Blu-ray and DVD, in both a regular edition and a whopping big collectors' edition. As a nice surprise, Animatsu Entertainment Ltd. decided to release Sentai's collectors' edition in the United Kingdom. That's an interesting development, and while the sets are pricey, I couldn't resist trying them out.
The two boxsets are huge, eye-catching and... well, you can't help but wonder what's inside. Therefore, here is a gallery of shots. Click on the edge of the pictures to scroll through them, or at the center of each to see a bigger version.
And here they are: two big hard cardboard boxes.
These are true UK releases, with BBFC ratings on the cover images of the boxes. But the good news is: these are stickers, and easy to remove! Can we make this an industry standard, please?
Each box contains one Amaray for the DVDs, one Amaray for the Blu-rays, and the physical extras.
Here is boxset one opened, which covers episodes 1 - 12. There is a smaller cardboard box with trinkets.
All contents of box one opened, and the trinkets are... well, small. There is a lot of air in that box. You get a piece of printed cloth to wipe a screen with, there is a set of temp tattoos, and a little Kubrick puppet.
A closer look at the Kubrick parasyte: they used a teddy-bear Kubrick with a translucent head, and a weird print! Still, apparently this little guy is quite collectable, and has been spotted on the Internet with strange prices attached.
Here is boxset two opened, which covers episodes 13 - 24. Apart from the Amarays, you get a set of cards and a 290 page graphic novel.
All contents of box two opened. And the Blu-ray Amaray has a nice surprise: it holds a third disc, which is the soundtrack CD. That's more like it, and makes boxset two rather overpowered when compared to boxset one!
A closer look at the cards, which are glossy, nice and reversible. There's only four of them though...
A closer look at the graphic novel. It is the entire first bundle, and comes in at a hefty 290 pages. This is a fantastic extra to have with the series.
They even kept the colored starting pages which come with some of the chapters.
All the contents together in a group photo. This is a massive, if pricey release, but the second boxset really brings excellent extras.
The end(s)!