K-ON! (season 1) and other Bandai titles to go out of print

So, Robert’s Anime Corner Blog has got word from Bandai Entertainment that they’re going to cease home video distribution and publishing, with their last shipments going out in late November of this year.

 

In other words – if you have yet to buy the North American release of K-ON!’s first season on Blu-Ray/DVD and are looking to do so – or any other title from Bandai – now’s the time to do it, because it won’t be available much longer.

K-On!! Season 2 Blu-Ray US vs. JP review and comparison (vol 2)

Sentai Filmworks released the first half of K-ON!! (retitled “K-ON! Season 2” for the North American market) earlier this summer, and two months later, the second release featuring the remaining 14 episodes is here. In other words, one third of the overall TV anime is contained on these two Blu-Ray discs, and in my personal opinion the best part of the series, making it very important that Sentai have treated it right. So – have they?

K-ON! 7inch Vinyl “Donuts” BOX

So, that box set of vinyl singles from season 1? I bought it. I’m not going to do a full review of it or anything (here’s a short one: It’s very nice), but I will show off a bunch of photos.

Ritsu’s birthday

Today is Ritsu’s birthday. Ritsu Tainaka, everyone’s favorite drummer and club president. I’m not really one to celebrate fictional birthdays, personally, but if you are and are looking to do something fun in honor of the Great Forehead, why not watch a couple of K-On! episodes that focus on Ritsu?

“Crisis!?” from season 1 and “Drummer!” from season 2 should fit the bill. Both are fun episodes, and both are Ritsu-centric to an extent we don’t really see very often.

Watching K-On!! Episode 1 – “Seniors!”

A new school year starts, and the older four members of the Light Music Club are now in their senior year. With Azusa the only underclassman in the club, might this be the time to finally get serious about recruiting new members?

Watching K-On!! Season 2

With my “Watching K-On!” series of posts, which is something like part episode guide, part episode reviews, having been finished for a few months now – and with the second season being released in the US and elsewhere these days, two years after the original airing in Japan – I think this is as good a time as any to get started on “Watching K-On!!”. There’s a lot to get through, with almost twice the amount of episodes compared to season 1, and first episode out is of course episode 1 – “Seniors!”.

Note: I’ll be referring to season 2 by its original name – “K-On!!” with the double “!!” – because calling it “K-On! Season 2” every time would get old fast.

Update + Upcoming releases

Well, I didn’t plan to, but I ended up taking the last month off from blogging. That’s not to say I haven’t done anything worthwhile with my time – with the release of the K-On! movie on Blu-Ray two weeks ago, I’ve finally seen it. I won’t be reviewing that just yet, but I will say it was glorious.

I’ve also been participating in ultimatemegax’ Haruhi Suzumiya re-viewing – currently, we’re going through those fan favorite episodes, Endless Eight.

Anyway, here’s the updated list of upcoming English and Japanese language K-On! releases. One item from last month’s list taken out, one new item added.

August 28^th – “K-On!! Season 2 Collection vol. 2” anime DVD/Blu-Ray (US)

September 5^th – “K-On! Season 1 Collection” anime DVD/Blu-Ray (AU)

September 5^th – “K-On!! Season 2 Collection vol. 1” anime DVD/Blu-Ray (AU)

September 27^th – “K-On! College” manga (JP)