PinkuBentoBox

Geneon’s DVD releases are really a mixed bag. I’m not quite sure how they decide how to package each title, but it seems to be a bit of a crapshoot a lot of the time. Over the last week I recieved three Geneon releases in the mail - the first volumes of Black Lagoon and Rozen Maiden, and the second Hellsing Ultimate OAV.

I’m not even going to go into the relative merits of each title, or even into the technical aspects of the discs - I’ve already seen the material on all three via fansubs, and I know Geneon’s work well enough to be confident that the actual discs themselves will be quality releases. The consistency of the material on the discs is not an issue. Instead I want to talk packaging and pack-ins.

Now, all three items are earmarked as ‘limited editions’. I’m a bit of a consumer whore. Generally speaking, if a release has a limited edition version, I will buy it. However when something is being passed off as a ‘limited edition’ then I kind of expect to get something to justify that moniker. Rozen Maiden really disappoints here. The ‘limited edition’ comes with simply the first DVD and a collector’s box. While the box is quite attractive (though it’s not real velveteen), this is NOT worthy of being considered anything more than having a box bundled with it. Putting silver lettering on the outside of the box proclaiming the ‘limited edition’ status is akin to taking a Volkswagen and writing ‘Porsche’ down the side.

Given the huge song-and-dance that Geneon made online when they picked up Rozen Maiden, you’d think that the release itself would feel a little more like they value it. They aren’t even doing two separate boxes for the two seasons - instead the box fits six discs, indicating that the two seasons will be smushed together into a single 6-disc release. While this might be a good thing for some people (one less box to deal with) these are two distinct seasons and should be kept separate. I get the strong impression from the way they’re handling the release that they don’t really consider the property of much value and are just throwing it out there quickly so they can focus on other things. And when a product feels like it is not valued by its producer, by extension you feel undervalued as a customer, which is generally not a good thing.

Hellsing Ultimate feels like it’s come from a completely different company. The disc is packed with bells and whistles, you’ve got a second disc with extras, the packaging itself is attractive and the metal case really adds a professional, polished feeling. The included ‘artbook’ would be better described as a series of storyboard sketches with their animation realizations on the facing pages, which is extremely attractive. Overall it’s a fantastic release, I really feel like I got something special with it.

Black Lagoon, however, is the release that I really want to talk about. First off, like Rozen Maiden, Black Lagoon had two short seasons. However unlike RM, Black Lagoon’s two seasons were in no way distinct. They have the same OP and ED, and because of the self-contained 3-episode story arcs nature of the show, Black Lagoon feels more like it was a single series split in half and broadcast as two chunks. There was only a quarter of a year between each part too. Here’s where it gets odd. Black Lagoon appears set to be split into two separate seasons for the DVD release. Why? I have no idea.

But that’s not what I want to talk about, specifically. Instead I want to give Geneon a massive, emphatic thumbs up for their packaging on this. The Limited Edition volume one release comes with a second disc with extras on it. While the extras aren’t that interesting to me, I like the fact they’re separate. More importantly, it does not come with yet another crappy cardboard box. Instead, they have included a metal case, the same kind as the Hellsing Ultimate metal cases. Opening the case up reveals the bonus DVD and three extra slots for the three discs that comprise the first season. In other words, I can have the whole season in a slim, attractive and durable metal case that fits into a single slot in my DVD rack. Considering that my DVD collection is beginning to get very large, and my DVDs have to compete for space with my ever-expanding PVC harem, space is becoming a big issue for me and I really appreciate this. In fact, I would love to do away with boxes entirely if it meant getting metal cases like this. I’d even be willing to fork out every 3-4 volumes for another one if the series was longer. My only gripe is that there was a huge sticker on the case which left behind a horrible sticky residue which didn’t wash off and took paint with it if I tried to scrape it. (A tip to anyone else with the same problem: I eventually discovered that cooking oil will get rid of it easily.)

Am I the only one who would really like to see this used in further releases from the company?

Geneon announced over the weekend their acquisition of Lyrical Nanoha and Lyrical Nanoha A’s. My proposition to Geneon is that they please keep these two seasons separate and don’t combine them like Rozen Maiden, and that if possible the Black Lagoon-style metal case is included instead of the usual cardboard box too.