This week’s home entertainment releases are slim, even for the final week in a month with five weekly ship dates instead of four, but there are a few items of real interest including the latest season of the best police procedural on American TV, a gritty medieval historical drama that should appeal to fans of Game of Thrones, new editions of two anime classics that have been selling for big bucks online, plus a reduced price edition of the complete Beauty and Beast live-action TV series.
TV on DVD
This week’s top release is simply the best police procedural on American television, Major Crimes: The Complete 5th Season (Warner Bros., 880 min., $39.99). A strong ensemble cast and great writing that deftly mixes drama, mystery, and humor makes this TBS series far superior to Blue Bloods, the long-in-the-tooth Law & Order, or any of the other cop shows on the over-the-air networks. Those who enjoy hard-hitting realistic medieval dramas will enjoy The Last Kingdom: Season 2 (Universal, 480 min., $39.98, BD $44.98). This Netflix-financed series adapts the last two novels in Bernard Cornwell’s The Saxon Stories, which is set in war torn ninth century England. This well-produced series should please those fans of Game of Thrones, who might wish for a little more historical realism mixed in with the copious amounts of gore and intrigue. Other contemporary shows of interest include the excellent legal drama Suits: Season 6 (Universal, 682 min., $44.98), the Oprah Winfrey-produced family drama Queen Sugar: The Complete 1st Season (Warner Bros., $29.98), and a collection that includes all 70 episodes of the Kristin Kreuk/Beauty and the Beast series—Beauty and the Beast: The Complete Series (Paramount, $52.99).Animated TV offerings include the single-disc Transformers: Robots in Disguise: Overloaded and Decepticon Island (Shout Factory, 88 min., $14.95), plus the single-disc The Pink Panther Show: Blue Racer (Kino, 109 min., $19.95), and The Pink Panther Show: Sheriff Hoot Kloot (Kino, 109 min., $19.98).
Vintage TV offerings include the 1950s TV series Decoy: The Complete 39-Episode Series (Film Chest, 1,014 min., $19.98), which starred Beverly Garland as television’s first female cop in a leading role; and Hart to Hart: The Complete Series (Shout Factory, 5,300 min., $159.99), which collects all 111 episodes of the stylish series starring Robert Wagner and Stephanie Powers as a couple of unlikely ultra-rich crime solvers.
Anime
Funimation is releasing three series that are new (on disc) to North America including the multi-media series Endride, Part 1 (Funimation, 300 min., BD/DVD Combo $64.98), which collects the first 12 episodes of a 2016 Brain’s Base fantasy series that is also a phone game and features character designs by Nobuhiro Watsuki (creator of Rurouni Kenshin); the first 12 episodes of the fascinating 1920s period detective saga Gosick, Part 1 (Funimation, 300 min., BD/DVD Combo $64.98), the 2011 series from Bones that was originally licensed by Bandai, but is getting its North American disc premiere on Tuesday; and The Shonen Maid Complete Collection (Funimation, 300 min., BD/DVD Combo $64.98), a 12-episode 2016 series from 8-Bit that is based on a shojo manga series about a neat-freak teenage boy who works as a maid.
But the two most interesting Funimation releases this week just might be two anime offerigns that have been released here before. The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya is a 2010 anime film produced by Kyoto Animation that is based on the fourth light novel in Huruhi Suzumiya series by Nagaru Tanigawa, and at 162 minutes it is the second longest anime film ever made (surpassed only by the 70 mm version of Final Yamato that clocks in at 163 min.). The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya was originally released here by Bandai Entertainment in 2011, and Blu-rays of that release are selling for close to $90 on Amazon. The 2008 Lionsgate edition of Speed Racer: The Complete Classic Series Collection is also now selling at a premium ($89.99 on Amazon), so Funimation’s new Speed Racer: Complete Collection (Funimation, 1300 min. Dubbed Only, $24.98, BD $29.99), which includes all 52 episodes of the classic 1960s anime series that introduced many American kids to anime is welcome indeed, especially since the series is now available in hi-def for the first time.Discotek Media continues to release new editions of classic anime, and this week’s offerings include Arcadia of My Youth (Discotek, 130 min., $24.98, BD $29.98), the 1982 Toei production that provides an origin story of Leiji Matsumoto’s Captain Harlock; and the 1997 Lupin the Third TV special, Lupin the Third: Island of Assassins (Discotek, BD/DVD Combo $29.98).
But this week Discotek is also releasing a series a much more recent vintage, the 2014 game-centric Hi-SCoool! SEHA Girls: Complete Collection (Discotek, 325 min., Subtitles Only, BD/DVD $49.95).
The other new anime release this week is the Himouto! Umaru-chan: Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, 325 min., $59.98, BD $69.98), a 2015 slice-of-life comedy series from Doge Kobo based on the seinen manga by Sankaku Head about teenage girl who is perfect at school, but turns into a chip-munching chibi monster when she gets home.
Theatrical Movies
After a spectacular slate of releases last week, it’s back to slim pickings. The most successful of this week’s theatrical movie releases is the Christian-themed The Shack (Lionsgate, “PG-13,” 132 min., $29.99, BD $39.99), which earned $56.6 million and did a lot better job of pleasing audiences than it did the critics, who gave it only a 19% positive rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
The comedy Fist Fight (Warner Bros., “R,” 91 min., $29.99, BD $35.99) wastes a talented cast (Ice Cube, Tracey Morgan, Charlie Day) in a shrill saga about a “fight” between two very mismatched high school teachers.
Unfortunately things don’t get much better with the teen drama Before I Fall (Universal, “PG-13,” 198 min., $29.98, BD $34.98), which is based on a YA novel by Lauren Oliver about a teen girl in a Groundhog Day-like time loop, but at least Before I Fall features a winning performance by Zoey Deutch—and, it’s a veritable Citizen Kane in comparison to Collide (Universal, “PG-13,” 200 min., $29.98, BD $34.98), a drama about two American ex-pats in Germany who get mixed with a drug gang in this tepid thriller, which posted the sixth worst debut ever for a film debuting in 2,000 theaters, and followed up that sterling performance with the second biggest second weekend drop ever (-87.2%).