Petshop of Horrors - Blu-Ray

In the back alleys of Los Angeles' Chinatown, in a shop that is difficult to find unless you need it, Count D sells exotic pets. He is elegant, androgynous, and almost certainly not entirely human. His animals are unusual. His contracts are specific. Each animal is sold with three conditions, which the buyer must not violate. What happens when they do is the shop's business, not the Count's — he only sells the pet. Detective Leon Orcot, assigned to investigate a string of deaths connected to the shop, is certain Count D is responsible and equally unable to prove it. Four episodes, four clients, four animals, four violations — a chameleon who becomes a dead man's lost lover, a rabbit who becomes a slaughtered idol, a fish who becomes a grieving child's dead sister, a deer who becomes the object of a politician's obsession. The Count watches. The contract was clear. Business is business.

Pet Shop of Horrors is a four-episode OVA directed by Toshio Hirata, produced by Madhouse, and based on Matsuri Akino's manga serialized in Monthly Comic Zero Sum under Ichijinsha — running 1995 to 1998 and collected in ten volumes. The OVA was released in Japan in 1999 as four standalone episodes, each a self-contained horror story in the tradition of anthology horror with a fixed framing device. The English dub was produced by Urban Vision. Originally released in North America by Urban Vision on VHS and DVD; Sentai Filmworks acquired the license and released the Blu-ray on July 9, 2019 — a single disc, 100 minutes, with English and Japanese audio and English subtitles. The release is presented in standard definition — no HD transfer of the source material currently exists. Special features include a clean closing animation.

Notable Staff & Voice Talent

Director: Toshio Hirata
Original Manga: Matsuri Akino (serialized in Monthly Comic Zero Sum, Ichijinsha, 1995-1998, 10 volumes; English license: Tokyopop)
Studio: Madhouse
Music: Toshiyuki Watanabe

Japanese Cast:
• Toshihiko Seki as Count D
• Koji Tsujitani as Leon Orcot
• Miki Ito as Jill
• Masaya Onosaka as additional cast
• Hiroshi Yanaka as additional cast

English Dub Cast (Urban Vision):
• Sandee Yamamoto as Count D
• Kirk Thornton as Leon Orcot
• Lia Sargent as Jill

Blu-ray Features (Sentai Filmworks, July 9, 2019)

• All 4 Episodes — Complete OVA Series (~100 min) on 1 Disc
• Clean Closing Animation
• English & Japanese Audio
• Note: Presented in standard definition — no HD transfer of source material currently exists

Spoken Languages: English & Japanese Audio, English Subtitles

Edition Details

Japanese Title: ペットショップ・オブ・ホラーズ (Petto Shoppu obu Horāzu / Pet Shop of Horrors)
Original Japanese Release: 1999
Runtime: 100 Minutes (4 Episodes, 1 Disc)
Director: Toshio Hirata
Blu-ray Release Year: 2019 (U.S. Release, July 9 — Sentai Filmworks, UPC: 816726029320)
Publisher: Sentai Filmworks
Rating: 14+
Region: Region A (North America)
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Supernatural
Themes: Anthology Horror, Contract Horror, Exotic Pets, Chinatown Setting, Madhouse Production

Media assumed VG+ unless otherwise noted.

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