Unboxing: Soul Eater NOT – The Complete Series (Limited Edition Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack) [US]

Ever since Soul Eater NOT, the spin-off prequel series to Soul Eater, began its simulcast streaming on Animax UK i was glued; and when FUNimation announced that they had acquired the home video rights to the series i was even more estatic… which of course leads me to here; the unboxing of the Limited Edition Blu-ray and DVD Combo Pack set of the series.

From the offset the outer packaging and presentation is very simplistic and basic; with the three main characters, namely Tsugumi, Meme and Anya, on the front with the entire artbox in pink with minimalistic design choices. To be blunt; it’s very basic and can be off-putting; especially since Soul Eater is known for its varied amount of artwork.

Fortunately however it’s the inside that get’s really interesting; for starters each format, DVD and Blu-ray, is seperated into its own amary blu-ray case with each case having a particular cover and distinctive artwork. The case which houses the Blu-ray discs for instance features a pink frame-worked styled sleeve with the three main characters on the front and episode listings on the back; the dvd sleeve however features the same three said characters but with Soula and Maka as well. This continuation of artwork extends to the inside whereby the entire sleeve is a character artwork; with the Blu-ray sleeve featuring my favourite design.

Disappointingly however FUNimation opted to ‘alternate’ the disc design; so while the artwork sleeve is Pink for Blu-ray and Blue for DVD the discs themselves are actually Blue for Blu-ray and Pink for the DVD. In the end it makes sense, i.e Blue for Blu-ray, but some continuation of the colour scheme would have been nice. Speaking of continuation FUNimation have returned back to full colour discs (like those seen on UK releases) as opposed to the singular colours; which of course offers a better overall design choice.

When it comes to the product itself then this set features all tweleve episodes of the series, both in English and Japanese, as well as a variety of bonus content; including an English exclusive ‘blooper reel’ and Japanese commerical collection on top of the usual content. All in all it’s a well rounded collection; and better yet the Blu-ray is region B compatible.