Archive for February 2017
Buying Zettai Karen Children Overseas
Some readers of the Zettai Translation Project scanlations have shown an interest in supporting the mangaka and purchasing the series in its multiple formats overseas, as it has not been published in English. I've put together this guide to enable the Western fans of the series to purchase the volumes on their own!
Note: This guide is written from a United States buyer perspective. I can not provide guidance with things like customs fees or any taxation that your country may offer.
So, without further ado, let's jump in!
ANIME:
The anime series, which ran for 52 episodes, a "special," and an OVA, was never dubbed in English, though it has been published in English, under the title Psychic Squad. This series, released only on DVD, was put into four "collections," purchasable on Amazon.com:
- Psychic Squad Collection 1
- Psychic Squad Collection 2
- Psychic Squad Collection 3
- Psychic Squad Collection 4
These DVDs, which contain English subtitles, do not include the OVA.
In the Japanese market, a Blu-Ray Box was released; Amazon Japan will allow overseas purchasers to buy it with a credit card, the same way as you would normally, with their special Global shipping. There are two options for purchasing this:
The Blu-ray Box on its own is wonderful, and contains all of the episodes plus the OVA. If you're willing to pay more, you can even get a lovely B2-sized wall scroll of the box's cover art. However, these higher definition episodes lack English subtitles.
In the case of The Unlimited - Hyoubu Kyosuke, the series was, again, not dubbed. However, the US market was given a blu-ray option this time as well:
Which contains English subtitles. There is also a DVD option, as seen in the listing.
The Blu-ray Box for this series is also wonderful, and contains a CD which has extra character songs that were only released initially with the special editions of the DVDs. There was a special edition released of this as well, however it was only purchasable through a proxy, as it was an Animate exclusive, and it is no longer available.
Buying the manga is a bit more difficult: there is no English equivalent. Some volumes can be purchased through third-party sellers on the US Amazon, but not all of them. The volumes can also be purchased from the Japanese Amazon, and they are covered under their global shipping as well!
*Note: Not all of the volumes seem to be in stock as of the writing of this list. Please keep checking back to find the ones you want!
I also highly recommend Kinokuniya, a Japanese-based bookseller with locations in the United States, to try and find some volumes as well, if Amazon Japan doesn't have what you need.
SPECIAL EDITIONS:
Many volumes of the manga also have "Special Editions," which are more expensive runs of the same volume that have extra bonuses, such as supplemental specials, straps, pins, postcards, and occasionally drama CDs. These special editions are easy to obtain if you pre-order them initially from Amazon Japan; however, if you are looking for older ones, you will have to search the aftermarket, which is a subject I will go further into in another post.
It's easy to tell which is the special edition of a volume: it will cost more!!
Next time, I'll talk about buying CDs, individual DVDs, and other media!
