Back on Friday the 13th this November (terrible day!), I bought "The Castle Of Cagliostro" for £6, straight after school.
Not a bad price considering it's a great film.
But what disappointed me was the DVD disc itself.
When I found it on the shelf for the first time (among countless other anime films and collections including "Spirited Away", "Naruto Unleashed" and "Bleach"), I was excited.
The first time I'd watched it was 7 months ago, back in early April, when it was playing on British TV as part of a Studio Ghibli marathon on Film 4 (even though TCOC was created before Studio Ghibli was created).
I was captivated by it. Lupin was such a sick main protagonist, reminding me a lot of Yusuke Urameshi (wouldn't be surprised if it inspired him).
I liked it because it was so 'typical'; it was like a classic.
Ever watched Johnny English? I wouldn't be surprised if it was inspired by TCOC.
That's one of my favourite childhood films, so obviously I would really like TCOC due to it having similar 'feelings' or 'ideas' to Johnny English.
After I'd first watched it I felt a very, very slight bit of nostalgia, seeing how I wouldn't see any of the characters again.
Anyway, this all combined made me really want to buy TCOC, seeing it right in front of me, its DVD case cover reminding me of the action-packed film it was.
Trouble was that, for some reason, I couldn't buy it and had to wait until Friday.
So on Friday, straight after school I went to Cex, searched the 'anime section' shelves to find an anime film or episodes collection I could buy.
I wasn't sure whether to buy The Castle Of Cagliostro or any of the other anime DVDs I'd found and picked, since I'd already watched the former and wanted something new.
So suddenly I was like "Flip it", bought The Castle Of Cagliostro, and went home excited.
But that excitement didn't last long when I opened the DVD case to find a 'plain-looking' disc and a pure-black 'background' (no extra booklets or 'sheets', no background designs, nothing!).
Sure, it's not that big of a deal, but I wanted more out of the inside of the DVD case, out of the disc.
I decided to return it, or exchange it for something else - so straight after school, I went to Cex again, spent 10 minutes searching for any other DVD I could exchange it for.
I found One Piece Movie 7 again, standing there - I opened the DVD case so I wouldn't be disappointed if I bought it... and I loved it.
The background was different to the case cover, and is one of my favourite One Piece scenes; the disc was just as exciting as the case cover.
So I went to the counter to return TCOC, full of excitement.
Turns out that you can only return DVDs within 2 days, and it'd been 3/4 days since I'd bought TCOC. I asked if I could exchange it for something else instead, but a "Would you like to sell it?" replied to me, to which I said "Nah, it's fine".
Sad, I spent a few minutes around the 'anime section', staring at the One Piece Movie 7 DVD in disappointment - and then left.
I honestly felt hateful towards Cex for its return policy, and I was afraid that I'd start to hate The Castle Of Cagliostro too - so I decided to, out of disappointment and wanting to enjoy the film, and for the 'wait factor', wait a week and half, on the 24th, today, to watch it. My birthday.
The Castle Of Cagliostro is a special film for me, a film I can always watch several times much like Johnny English - so it'd be fitting to watch it on my birthday.
Today I came home after school, did my usual stuff and then went to watch The Castle Of Cagliostro as soon as KFC dinner was being served.
Surprisingly my 'slight hate' for it had disappeared, and I watched it with excitement, awaiting the scenes still in my mind from 7 months back.
While eating the chocolate cake, I was around halfway through the film. It was great.
