Unboxing: Broken Blade – The Complete Collection (Blu-ray) [UK]

Last monday MVM Entertainment released their first Blu-ray boxset, in conjunction with Madman Entertainment, into the UK and unlike Manga Entertainment UK’s Blu-ray releases this one comes with a variety of amusing surprises.

The Broken Blade blu-ray boxset features the usual items you would come to expect from a Blu-ray release, such as the blue Amaray Case with space for 2 Discs and a cover, however its the artwork on the cover that makes this release interesting.

Previous DVD releases from MVM Entertainment had poor artwork, most notable as Ah My Goddess! which had one large picture of the main characters as its artwork, with no information on the back telling you what the show is about. However the Broken Blade Blu-ray not only features a summary of the story, but it also lists the episodes available, blu-ray specifications and screenshots of the show itself, making this a change from the usual approach.

I assume the reason for the ‘professional’ looking artwork is because Madman Entertainment, who publish Anime and Manga in Australia, were involved with its production, if Madman Entertainment wasn’t involved with the production of this disc the artwork may have come out differently, but this is speculation of course.

On the outside this release shows no signs of input from Madman Entertainment or the Australian rating board, however once opened you’ll notice on the disc’s the Madman Entertainment Logo and the M Rating (for Mature) from the Australian’s Rating board, this is most likely because Madman Entertainment will use the same discs, but a different boxart.

Further proof that Madman Entertainment is using the same disc’s is when the blu-ray is inserted into the player, as after the copyright message appears, a message from Madman & MVM is displayed stating that trailers encoded on this disc may not be available in your country, this is because both companies agreed to using Sentai Filmworks Blu-ray master, so everything (except the Madman & MVM logo’s) is exactly the same as the American release.

MVM Entertainment’s first entry into the Blu-ray market is an example of how Anime on Blu-ray should be in the UK, with a reasonable price bracket and a nice overall package.

In terms of the Anime itself, Broken Blade is a six episode long OVA series, with each episode lasting 55 minutes in length. On Disc the picture quality is stunning and is a show i highly recomend to watch in HD, in addition to this the Audio track(s) included are both in 5.1 DTS HD, making this release ‘near’ cinematic and one that is highly enjoyable to watch – even if you have never heard of the series before. That being said, if your a Gundam fan you’ll enjoy Broken Blade as both series have the same traits, such as mecha robots and unskilled pilots.

Broken Blade is now available to purchase in the UK on both Blu-ray and DVD and is being distributed in the UK via MVM Entertainment.