Ask John: What Is The Viridian Collection?

Question:
What is Viridian Collection? Define what it is and how it different from a normal collection boxset.

Answer:
This question arises frequntly enough to justify addressing it.

FUNimation formally defines its Viridian Collection line of anime DVDs as “Containing the essential titles for any well-rounded DVD collection exploring the pop-culture phenomenon known as Japanese animation.” This is obviously a bit of an exaggerated marketing ploy since many of the titles in the Viridian Collection are not “essential titles for any well-rounded” anime DVD collection, and contrary to its implication, the Viridian Collection does not comprehensively represent “the essential titles for any well-rounded” anime DVD collection because the Viridian Collection excludes all titles not distributed by FUNimation. In effect, the Viridian Collection line of anime DVDs are a selection of FUNimation’s discount priced re-releases. Referring to the Viridian Collection as a “greatest hits” line isn’t exactly accurate because certain reduced priced re-releases that certainly qualify as “greatest hits,” such as Fruits Basket and Dragon Ball Z, are not part of the Viridian Collection.

Since viridian is a shade of the color green, the Viridian line of anime DVDs are intended to save consumers “green” (money). Furthermore, many of the Viridian Collection DVDs make use of relatively environmentally friendly packaging, or are made from partially recycled material.

The contents of Viridian Collection DVD sets sometimes differs slightly from earlier releases. For example, FUNimation’s initial Samurai 7 DVD boxed set includes seven supplemental booklets while the Viridian Collection re-release set does not include the booklets. On the other hand, FUNimation’s original Burst Angel DVD boxed set contains the 24 episode television series while the Viridian Collection re-release includes the TV series and the OVA.