It’s holiday gift guide time! We’re in the last stretch of 2016, and we’ve been racking our brains for Digital, Blu-ray, and DVD related gifts for friends and family for the holidays. Everyone loves that warm and fuzzy feeling you get as you see the smile on someone’s face when you’ve given them a gift that means something to them. In this gift guide we’ll go over some of the gifts we’re looking to get for our loved ones (and maybe a few special treats for ourselves), and through this hopefully help you narrow down the list of potential gifts for the fellow fans and collectors in your life.
This Digital, Blu-ray, and DVD Holiday Gift Guide consists entirely of ideas voted in by ToonZone’s crew. Participants created a gift suggestions list. From there, a master list was created. Each of us selected our top ten gifts and assigned them a point value from 1-10. The gift ideas with the highest point value made this list.
Is there a gift on here that you’re thinking of getting for someone? Is there one you would have included that isn’t in the guide? Let us know in the comments!
The Iron Giant: Signature Edition
The Iron Giant is an animated film that follows young Hogarth Hughes as he discovers and befriends a giant robot who crashed to Earth from space. The film is set during the Cold War, in the late 1950s, where the robot seems to have lost its memory during the fall. Hogarth teaches the robot about life and the concept of choice while a single-minded and paranoid federal agent, Kent Mansley, attempts to find and destroy the giant at all costs.
If you haven’t seen The Iron Giant, you’ll want it in your collection because it’s one of the best animated films of all time. The Iron Giant: Signature Edition Blu-ray includes two versions of the film… the original theatrical release, as well as the Signature Edition which includes new scenes that add depth to the story. The Signature Edition release also includes Feature-Length Commentaries by Director Brad Bird, Head of Animation Tony Fucile, Story Department Head Jeff Lynch, and Giant Animation Supervisor Steven Markowski.
-Contributed by Eileen “Harley” Cruz
Check out The Iron Giant: Signature Edition on Amazon.com
The Legend of Korra: The Complete Series
Seventy years after Avatar: The Last Airbender, a new avatar named Korra must maintain peace and balance in the world. Faced with challenges ranging from political parties, spirits from the other realm, and her own internal conflicts, Korra has her work cut out for her. Fortunately, you can watch the entire journey unfold in the The Legend of Korra: Complete Series on Blu-ray or DVD. If you’ve missed out on the individual season set, then good news! The complete edition repackages the previous releases. Combined, the fifty dollar price tag is way cheaper than buying the older sets. As a bonus, it comes packed with a sneak peek preview of The Art of the Legend of Korra from Dark Horse Publishing, another worthy purchase of its own.
Fans of Avatar will have much to love about The Legend of Korra, it maintains the same level of quality storytelling that invites nuanced characters and complex scenarios. The animation is breathtaking, featuring detailed backgrounds, respectable portrayal of East Asian culture, and amazing martial arts choreography. People who enjoy long-term narratives will have much to discuss from this show as well as anime fans of which Korra takes many cues from. The Legend of Korra is a richly layered series, tackling ambitious themes and political issues most all-age shows would not. It’s truly one of a kind.
-Contributed by Neo Yi
Check out The Legend of Korra: The Complete Series – Blu-Ray on Amazon.com
Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders
Batman and Robin once again answer the call of justice when Penguin, The Joker, Riddler and Catwoman all threaten the safety of the citizens of Gotham City. Will the Dynamic Duo be able to take down their fiendish foes and save the day? We’ll find out in Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders!
Original 60s Batman actors return with Adam West voicing Batman, Burt Ward voicing Robin, and Julie Newmar as the voice actress of Catwoman. Features include Those Dastardly Desperados which explores how the villains became more than just antagonists, and A Classic Cadre of Voices which shows us some of the vocal work that went into capturing the spirit of the 60s Batman show and thereby infusing it into Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders.
The animation in Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders is gorgeous. The story and dialogue are just as campy and puntastic as you’d hope. It’s a worthy gift for that fan of the 60s Batman show that’s in your life.
-Contributed by Eileen “Harley” Cruz
Check out Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders on Amazon.com
Sailor Moon Crystal Set 1 Limited Edition Blu-ray/DVD
Sailor Moon Crystal is new anime adaptation of the Sailor Moon manga series by Naoko Takeuchi, made in commemoration of the series’ 20th anniversary. It is a reboot of the classic magical girl property, and more closely follows the original manga. The Set 1 Limited Edition Blu-ray contains the first 14 episodes, extras, an art booklet, and seven art cards featuring the main characters.
The original Sailor Moon anime was one of the gateway series for many anime viewers, though it fell by the wayside with its outdated dub and nineties animation. Sailor Moon Crystal is a great update, taking the modern day approach to adapting source material and leaving most of the filler behind. Everyone should experience the definitive magical girl series, and this box set is a great gift for those just starting an anime collection and for anime pros alike (though I do lament that new Sailor Moon fans will never get the joke about Jupiter having the most talent).
-Contributed by Defunctzombie
Check out Sailor Moon Crystal Set 1 Limited Edition Blu-ray/DVD on RightStuf
Zootopia
Zootopia is an animated movie about Judy Hopps, a young rabbit police officer, and Nick Wilde, a con artist fox, who work together to solve a crime spreading throughout the city of Zootopia. The cast of characters include Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, and singer Shakira in a singing and speaking role. The film displays themes of prejudice and discrimination through animals in a child-friendly way that speaks to real-world concerns.
The Blu-ray set features a variety of bonus features including deleted scenes and featurettes detailing the ideas and development of the film. With fun characters and touching moments, Zootopia is one of the best animated films of the year and easily worth a purchase for the holidays.
-Contributed by Greg91
Check out Zootopia on Amazon.com
Kubo and the Two Strings
Kubo and the Two Strings is a 3D stop-motion film from Laika the same studio behind Coraline, ParaNorman, and The Boxtrolls. In his directorial debut Travis Knight takes us to a fantastical version of medieval Japan, where the descendant of a fallen samurai is pursued by the supernatural family of the “Moon King” and the evil spirits they command. To survive, the young Kubo must gather the three mystical artifacts his father once used. Joining him is the protective and maternal Monkey and confident but forgetful Beetle, both of whom have much deeper connection to Kubo than is first apparent.
Kubo is a truly special film that looks and feels like nothing else released in 2016, as if one is truly viewing a storybook coming to life and being dazzled the same way villagers are when Kubo is using his magical instrument to animate paper to tell his own stories. To its credit it also arrives at an ending that averts the neat, tidy and thoroughly pleasant nature of other “family friendly” movies, instead going for an outcome that satisfies and surprises while also feeling genuine and just a bit bittersweet. Kubo is a treasure for the eyes and the mind, and not to be missed.
-Contributed by GWOtaku
Check out Kubo and the Two Strings on Amazon.com
Transformers: The Movie 30th Anniversary Edition
The film that made every kid cry over a giant robot’s death, Transformers: The Movie was returns just in time for its 30th anniversary with a new Blu-ray release. Set twenty years after the popular TV show, the Autobot-Decepticon war rages on, leaving a young upstart named Hot Rod to protect the Matrix of Leadership from falling into enemy hands. Meanwhile, a giant planet-eater threatens the galaxy.
The Transformers fanbase is already huge, owing much of its earlier growth to this movie. Transformers: The Movie was not only a defining moment in 80s pop culture, but an influential gateway that planted the seeds for its growth into the massive money-making juggernaut it is now. It proved toy-based products can be a labor of love for both professionals and fans. The Blu-ray is filled with bonus contents and creator commentaries that details the process of the film, their experience behind the set, and acknowledgment of the growing fandom. With its cheesy sci-fi setting and dramatic musical score, Transformers: The Movie is the perfect popcorn movie. It may not offer a lot of meat, but its basic good-vs-evil plot means even newcomers today can dig in.
-Contributed by Neo Yi
Check out Transformers: The Movie 30th Anniversary Edition on Amazon.com
April and the Extraordinary World
April and the Extraordinary World is a French-Belgian-Canadian film that proves that 2D animation can still be a medium for high-flying, crowd-pleasing adventure. The movie dares to imagine an alternate steampunk reality where Napoleon never lost and history took a very different track, but by the mid-20 century all is not well. One by one famous scientists around the world start to disappear, from Albert Einstein to Enrico Fermi. Meanwhile the French Empire is compelling labor and obedience from the remaining scientists and soon enough the scientist family of April is targeted, just as they hit upon the secret to an invulnerability serum. Only young April escapes, unwittingly carrying the secret to the formula in tow. Years later April is a young and capable woman, all too ready and willing to leap into adventure when her grandfather’s reappearance and a secret message from her father set her on a collision course with a conspiracy plot that has to be seen to be believed.
April was the award-winning feature film of the 2015 Annecy Film Festival, and it’s easy to see how it became a critical darling. With its outlandish twists and turns, likable heroine, imaginative set pieces and a classic macguffin plot, this has the appeal of a Hayao Miyazaki movie mixed in with the thrills of an Indiana Jones adventure. And oh yeah, the talking cat has its moments too.
-Contributed by GWOtaku
Check out April and the Extraordinary World on Amazon.com
Cowboy Bebop: The Complete Series
Set in 2071, Cowboy Bebop follows the misadventures of the bounty hunting crew of the Bebop. Spike is a practitioner of Jeet Kune Do who hides a dark and complicated past just beneath an easygoing facade. Faye’s devastatingly gorgeous looks distract from a sharp mind focused on parting you from your money. Jet is their no nonsense leader intent on keeping the crew’s eye on the bounty hunting prize.
Cowboy Bebop is a masterpiece. It showcases what is possible with the perfect marriage of animation, story, voice acting (both the Japanese and English casts), and music. You’ll probably watch the series more than once and find yourself captivated by the excellent soundtrack which features heavy blues and jazz influences. It is one of the few shows to transcend the sub-genre of Japanese animation and hook those that are not normally prone to watching other anime. This latest Blu-ray release contains all 26 episodes, as well as audio commentary for some of the Sessions featuring various Japanese and English voice actors, the Director, and the Composer.
-Contributed by Eileen “Harley” Cruz
Check out Cowboy Bebop: The Complete Series on Amazon.com
Deadpool
After receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis, former Special Forces operative Wade Wilson agrees to undergo an experimental treatment that will cure his cancer and let him be with the woman he loves. But things don’t go the way he planned, and instead he’s tortured and disfigured until finally mutating into the Merc With a Mouth known as Deadpool. Now he wants revenge, and he’s gonna get it in all his R-rated, high definition glory.
This is a gift you should avoid if the recipient is under the age of maturity in your country, because there are hundreds of swear words, several scenes of nudity, and an overabundance of violence at just about every turn. But that aside, even though it’s not perfect, it’s a Deadpool movie that does the character proud. The soundtrack is good, the laughs counter the sour points, and the pop culture references abound.
-Contributed by Defunctzombie
Check out Deadpool on Amazon.com
Take a look at our other Holiday Gift Guides!
2016 Holiday Gift Guide – Video Games | 2016 Holiday Gift Guide – Comics & Collectibles
The Digital, Blu-ray and DVD 2016 Holiday Gift Guide would not have happened without defunctzombie, Eileen “Harley” Cruz, Greg91, GWOtaku, James Harvey, Jave, Light Lucario, Neo Yi, slai and Yojimbo.