Media-Blasters has announced the March 30 release of the second elaborate box set for the popular Rurouni Kenshin anime series.  The second Rurouni Kenshin box set will contain all 27 episodes from the second season of the samurai epic.  The complete package will be available for a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $149.95, and the box alone can be purchased for $19.95.  Long regarded as one of the best sword-fighting anime series ever, Kenshin zoomed to new popularity here in the U.S. thanks to showings on the Cartoon Network in 2003.  Orders were so high for the first Rurouni Kenshin box set that Media-Blasters had to allocate the product and demand remains high.  Likewise Viz's first volume of the English language edition of the Rurouni Kenshin manga series sold out quickly and remains in demand.

While elaborate packaging often presents manufacturers with problems since the boxes usually must be ordered far in advance even before the product is solicited, there is no doubt that anime fans have responded to the intricate presentations of key anime properties.  So as long as these products are successful, this will be a trend that continues, and retailers and manufacturers will have to deal with the problems involved in ordering, collating and re-supplying these expensive and elaborately produced items.