I've ordered my copy! Thanks, CyanideBlizzard!
My pleasure! Helping keep other Umihara fans informed is the least I can do as payment in return for having such a fantastic place for us to gather.
I also got my set, and I'm incredibly impressed with the quality.
The box itself is higher quality than I expected, especially in comparison to retail collector's. Feels sturdy, and opens from right to left on the bottom side. It's also rather deep, and not necessarily wide or tall which makes it fit fairly nice for storage purposes.
Toshinobu Kondo provides a rather nice page of information talking about his history with gaming and his personal fondness for Umihara Kawase. The back of the paper is the same note but in Japanese, which I thought was a rather nice touch to provide the original transcript and the translation.
This is really where we get into the meat of things. There's a lot of material in here. On the far right we've got a folded poster of Umihara Kawase in some swimwear, and going left we've got a set of stickers. Or I believe they were? I actually only took photos and then packed the box back up before getting back to work so I'll actually have to check that out again because I want to make sure, but I'm 90% sure!
Either way, moving on we've got a replica cartridge with the Western logo for Sayonara Umihara Kawase ++ alongside the original SFC artwork. As mentioned in their previous posts, the cartridge is not playable, but it definitely feels/is authentic. Was a really nice touch, and has a mold for it at the bottom of the box to be nicely inserted into.
Then we've got the Vita game itself, alongside the soundtrack. It's really nice for both of these things to be offered, despite the fact that the game does not add much and I believe the soundtrack is the same one that's already available. Still a nice addition to the set, even if both are easily acquirable.
The art book strikes me as the same type you see in NIS America anime Collector's box sets. Hard covered and pages appear to be semi-glossy as well. It's a rather quality item, and outside of Toshinobu Kondo's personal doujin releases the first time we've seen an art book of Umihara Kawase.
Overall, I must confess I'm extremely impressed. This was more than worth the purchase, IMO, and very well handled by the Strictly Limited team. I didn't know what to expect, since I've never bought from them before, but they did a really nice job handling this set. You get the impression that they really wanted to handle this with love.
Hopefully those who ordered a copy will be just as pleased!
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