Posts Tagged ‘bandai’

Are we really almost at the end of another year? That’s almost depressing but at least we have nice firm release dates for all sorts of anime coming out for the rest of the year… oh wait, never mind.

A number of notices have come out over the last few days announcing changes to release schedules with everyone shifting things around just a little. Starting in Texas, Funimation has announced a few date changes for series that were set to be released over the next couple of weeks:

Full Metal Panic Collection: Moved to 10/12
Eden of the East Complete Collection (DVD and Blu ray): Moved to 10/19
Slayers Revolution (DVD and Blu ray): Moved to 10/19
Slayers Evolution-R (DVD and Blu ray): Moved to 10/19
Hetalia Season 2: Moved to 10/26

Why the changes? Well as the video below explains, sometimes shit happens. I’ve complained about companies changing things around without giving a reason and Funimation has done the same thing here. However, at least they were entertaining about it and weren’t completely silent which counts for something.

 

Over in the corner of the internet occupied by Media Blasters, new release dates have been set for a few of their titles which fans have been waiting to see hit store shelves (virtual or otherwise) for awhile:

Blade of the Immortal Collection: Moved to 10/19
Ikkitousen Dragon Destiny Vol. 3: Moved to 10/26
Ikkitousen Dragon Destiny Complete Collection: Moved to 10/26
Genshiken DX Collection (Season 1 + OVA): Moved to 10/26
Dairugger Collection 3: Moved to 10/26
Genshiken 2 Complete Collection: Moved to 11/2
Magic Knight Rayearth Season 2 Collection: Moved to 11/2

 

Finally, Bandai has announced their November release slate which involves 2 titles only 1 of which is a delay (kind of impressive for them these days):

Hayate the Combat Butler Part 7: Moved to 11/2
Kurokami Part 4 (DVD and Blu ray): 11/23

After simulcasting the second season last year, Crunchyroll announced today that they will be streaming the entire 52 episode first season. Licensed by Bandai, the series is now available on DVD and with the available in the United States and Canada. This series joins other series from Bandai already streaming on Crunchyroll including Eureka Seven and Code Geass.

So this is another one that I’ve always thought about checking out but never did. Should I be clearing some space in my schedule to watch this one from the beginning?

<Via AnimeonDVD>

So as part of my ‘taking time off/stepping back a bit’ I vowed to myself that I’d start putting more an emphasis on things that I enjoyed rather than try to cover every single anime news story that happened all by myself. So with that in mind, Bandai announced two licenses from the production studio Sunrise at their Otakon panel today: the 3 episode prequel to My-Otome released in 2008 My-Otome 0-S.ifr (which is a seriously annoying title to type) and the 2009 Sci-Fi action/comedy The Girl Who Leapt Through Space (Sora Kake Girl).

Moving onto more important things, Bandai also announced two cast members for their upcoming dub of K-ON! While there are still three primary roles to be revealed it has been confirmed that the dub will be handled by Bang Zoom and Stephanie Sheh will be playing Yui and Christina Vee will be playing Mio!

So how long do we have to wait to find out who will be playing Ritsu, Tsumugi and Azu-nyan?? Anyone want to take guesses or have wishes? Personally I would love to hear Karen Strassman as either Tsumugi or Azu-nyan and I really have no preference at the moment for Ritsu. I’m just excited that K-ON is coming that much closer to being added to my personal DVD collection.

Call me a bad geek but I’m not haunting the Comic Con news nearly as much as I do other conventions. I do however keep my eyes peeled for any anime announcements that happen to sneak out and this year Bandai is the first out of the gates with two new acquisitions.

The first to be announced this year is the 2008 fantasy series Tales of the Abyss. The hero of this story is a lazy nobleman’s son named Luke who has been sheltered from the outside world for most of his life. While training one night, he is transported to the outside world with a woman who attempted to take the life of his mentor. Now stuck in the outside world, Luke and the woman named Tear are forced to team up and work together to figure out why they were transported and what mysteries are hiding in Luke’s past. I vaguely remember checking out this series when it first premiered but all I really remember is deadly teddy bears and Luke being really irritating so yay I guess?

The second title to be announced is the 50 episode Gundam series from 1999, Turn A Gundam created to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the franchise. Release dates weren’t readily available for either series but keep checking back in the coming weeks as Bandai releases more information about both announcements and their first scheduled release dates.

<Via ANN>

Bandai announced something HUGE today! Like really really HUGE! Bandai has K-ON! The Kyoto Animation moe bait series that everyone has been talking about since it premiered last year is now going to be distributed by Bandai!! There aren’t any details regarding a release date but it was promised to have both a DVD and Blu ray release and I’ve officially begun my patient wait for them to be released!

So in the meantime, let us all share in this brief moment of glory together.

Wow, this week was a lot busier than it seemed while it was actually happening! Lots of new anime has been announced for TV and DVD debuts including some popular series that people have been waiting very patiently for. The big story that rocked the blogosphere last night though was the announcement that Anime News Network is getting into the entertainment business by hiring Gia Manry to write their new casual news posts. I don’t have any anti ANN sentiments (anymore) and ANN has every right to expand their coverage but come on guys, you’re already the biggest anime website in the world! You can’t leave just a little corner of the industry untouched for the rest of us?

Guess that just means the rest of us are going to have to work that much harder to remain relevant/noticed… speaking of which, there’s new anime to talk about so let’s just get to it already!

NEW ANIME

Hakuouki Season 2: At the close of the first season, it was announced that historic bishie series Hakuouki will be getting a second season. The series centers on the often animated Shinsengumi after they take in a stray girl who has accidently found out about their quest to destroy demons while searching for her father. – I admit, I gave up on this series after 1 episode so I’m not looking forward to the second season.

Atashin’chi: Already compiled into 15 volumes, a TV series that ran for 7 years and 1 movie; the weekly comedy manga Atashin’chi will be getting a brand new 40 minute 3D theatrical movie. The slice of life series revolves around a high school girl and her family made up of a salary man father, homemaker mother and a younger brother. – This sounds remarkably like Mainichi Kaasan (though this one came first I know)except the focus is on the daughter instead of the mother. Eh, I’ll pass.

IS <Infinite Stratos> : The light novel series IS <Infinite Stratos> will be getting a TV anime adaptation sometime in the future. Yes, it’s another series that features a boy entering a school filled with nothing but females but this one is different! It has mechs! – Oh who am I kidding? It’s ANOTHER series centering on a teen surrounded by nothing but females in a school setting and I’m feeling a rant building inside of me.

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun Season 2 OVA : Oooh, now THIS is news that I can get excited about! Different from the previously mentioned OVA being included with the art book, a brand new OVA series has been announced for To Aru Kagaku no Railgun (A Certain Scientific Railgun)! The first volume will hit shelves in Japan on 10/29! This is in addition to the second season of A Certain Magical Index (To Aru Majutsu no Index) which will be premiering in November so be ready for a very Misaka/Index heavy end of the year. – Just in time for my birthday, obviously they were thinking of me (yeahnotreally).

New DVD Releases: While this week was a little heavier than usual with anime announcements, there were also a few new DVD announcements this week worth your attention. Starting on this side of the Pacific, Funimation has finally launched an official website for the Bee Train produced series Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~ which has confirmed a 2011 DVD release date. The series was one of the first that Funimation simulcast in 2009 but they’ve been completely silent on the title ever since it concluded.

Meanwhile, Bandai has managed to send out a press release that lists Haruhi Suzumiya Season 2 as a 4 disc box set. The season will include all of the episodes, a host of extras, English dubbing and a special bonus CD; all of which can be yours on August 17th.

Moving back over to Japan; a DVD exclusive episode was also announced this week for Ookiku Furikabutte Season 2 (Big Windup) along with the official release date for Bungaku Shoujo. The special episode 12.5 of Ookiku Furikabutte will be included with the DVD and Blu ray releases of Vol. 7 (no release date yet, sorry).

Meanwhile the movie about a girl who eats books (no seriously) will be hitting store shelves on August 25th. The first of three prequel OVAs will also be released in standard and limited editions starting tomorrow (June 25th). Finally wrapping up the DVD news, Durarara will be including a special unaired bonus epilogue episode on its final volume (set to be released on February 23rd).

New Sora no Woto Streams: Now, if all that weren’t enough for you to take in, half of a new episode of K-ON Joins the Army… I mean, Sora no Woto has begun streaming on the official website. The new episode is labeled as episode 7.5 and was included with the 4th volume released earlier this week in Japan. Another, previously announced, unaired episode will be included with the 7th volume which hits stores on September 22nd. – ANN has posted that Crunchyroll will be streaming the bonus episodes of Durarara and Sora no Woto but the email I just got from Crunchyroll states that the deal has yet to be finalized. I’ll let everyone know when I hear something a bit more solid.

FuniCon 4.0: Finally wrapping things up, Funimation has announced that it will be hosting it’s 4th online convention panel this Friday (June 25th) at 5pm Central (3pm Pacific). Sadly I’ll be at work during that time but if anything big happens I’ll be sure to post an update after I get home.

And that’s it for this week everyone! Hopefully next week I’ll be a better judge of how busy it’s going to be and won’t have to write a short novel when it comes time to tie up all the weekly loose ends.

Oh come on, try to guess… bet you’ll never get it. Not in a million years with a billion guesses. Wait, did you just say delay their June releases to July? Man, you sure take all the fun out of this.

Bandai has poked their head out of the shadows once again this week to announce their latest set of delays:

Kurokami the Animation Vol. 2 (DVD / Blu ray): Moved from 6/8 to 7/20
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam I: Heirs to the Stars: Moved from 6/22 to 7/6
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam II: Lovers: Moved from 6/22 to 7/6
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam III: Love is the Pulse of the Stars: Moved from 6/22 to 7/6
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam Movie Collection: Moved from 6/22 to 7/6

For those of you who are keeping track at home, this is the second time Bandai has re-scheduled Kurkokami Vol. 2 this year from its original release date of of March 4th. Then again, it took over a year for them to get the first volume released so if you’re one of the few remaining fans who want to complete the collection you might want to get comfortable.

While we’re on the subject of things to come, Bandai has also announced a Gurren Lagann Anime Legends Complete Collection for July 6th which coincides with the movies being released exclusively through the Bandai Store on July 1st. At least, it will in theory. I’ll post a new update once Bandai sends out their latest update with the new release date for the set when it’s available.

Fans on both sides of the US received a bit of excitement this week when US theatrical premieres and screenings were announced for both the dark sci-fi King of Thorn and the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya movies this week. In the east, the Japan Society has announced the lineup for their Japan Cuts Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema taking place the first half of July in New York. Among the 20 films listed in the press release, the US premiere for the sci-fi thriller King of Thorn will be taking place on July 11th at 6pm. To get the more up to date information on tickets and venues, visit the official website. The futuristic thriller spent 2009 in the film festival circuit before opening in Japan on May 1st and getting largely ignored in theaters.

Meanwhile, for those of us on the other coast and can’t make it to New York the US premiere of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya has been announced for June 24th at Laemmle’s Sunset 5 theater in LA. Unlike the previously mentioned film, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya was released to Japanese theaters in Feb. and managed to pull in the equivalent of over $7 million US in eight weeks. I’m sure there are conclusions we can draw from this but I’ll allow you to come up with your own.

The movie will be shown in its original Japanese with appearances from the English dub cast (which would make more sense if they were premiering the dub but whatever), Cristina Vee and prizes being offered to fans and cosplayers from Bandai, Yen Press and Crunchyroll. Tickets went on sale yesterday and so if you plan on attending this event I suggest you contact the theater and get yourself set up early. The movie had its first US premiere in San Francisco starting May 21st lasting through this weekend at the Viz Cinema.

So I live too far away from both of these places to plan on attending. Though if I had the choice I’d much rather find a way to get to New York to see King of Thorn. Man, they get to have all the fun on the east coast! Oh wait… no they don’t.

Updated: Corrected info re: Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya US premiere. Apologies for the error.

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And here we are on Friday once again. For the last couple of hours I’ve been watching my Twitter stream light up with the excited words of those who are either about to start their holiday weekend or a weekend at Fanime. I, on the other hand, am enjoying my last few hours of freedom before I have to work through the holiday weekend. So yeah, enjoy your time off and watch a little bit of extra anime for your otaku brothers and sisters who won’t have the luxury.

Enough with that depressing stuff though, let’s jump right into this week’s new anime announcements!

New Anime:

Koe de Oshigoto: An anime adaptation has been announced for the manga series Koe de Oshigoto. The series centers on a high school girl who becomes an eroge seiyuu. Anyone else starting to notice a trend in series that feature characters in or into eroge?

Yondemasuyo, Azazel-san: A new OAD will be included with the fifth volume of the gag comedy manga in September. Featuring a detective, his assistant and magical demons that he uses to solve cases, the series got a first OAD earlier this year. The new release will tell the Seiya arc from the manga and feature all the same cast and crew including Tsutomu Mizushima (xxxHolic, Magical Witch Punie-chan) as director and animation produced by Production I.G.

Despite this being an incredibly light week for anime announcements, a few stories still managed to fall through the cracks. Can you believe they’re keeping fans waiting until next year for the second season of Baka and Tests?

Baka and Test 2nd Season Announced: A notice has gone up on the official website announcing the second season of Baka and Test is scheduled for 2011. The first season premiered this past winter and later simulcast by Funimation on their video site. – 2011? Grr! Much too long to wait!

Bandai and Sentai Clarify on Sola: So remember a few days ago when Sentai announced that they would be releasing the anime series Sola and everyone was like ‘Wut? Dozen’t Bandai have that?’ Well luckily for everyone, both companies have released statements which completely clear up any and all confusion regarding the license: Bandai says that they still have the license and doesn’t care what Sentai is doing while Sentai says we don’t want to talk about it so come back later (the exact quote in the email I got from David Williams is “I have no comment other than that word will be forth coming.”) – Boy, am I glad that confusion is cleared up.

Crunchyroll to Simulcast LilPri: Finally wrapping things up, Crunchyroll announced today that they will be simulcasting the merchandise mover… err, children’s series LilPri starting with episode 9 this weekend. The series is based on the trading card game popular in Japan right now and will premiere on the site at 8:30pm Pacific. The story centers on three grade school girls who can change into idol princesses and I assume do princess things like eat good food all the time. The full press release can be found below the cut

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A new press release was waiting for me when I woke up this morning from Sentai Filmworks announcing their new August lineup. It starts in a pretty standard fashion with a re-release and continuing melodrama:

Princess Resurrection Complete Collection – 8/3
La Corda O’Oro ~ Primo Passo Collection 2 – 8/10

Rounding out the rest of the month however are three new titles which includes what looks two Bandai rescues. Starting the month, Sentai has announced Sola Complete Collection for August 3rd and Shigofumi: Letters from the Departed on 8/17.

Both of these titles have odd histories in the US; they were originally licensed by Bandai Visual USA. After Bandai Visual failed and got out of the game, Bandai picked up the licenses and released them as individual sets last year. Now it appears that Sentai will be releasing a brand new set almost a year later. I’m not entirely sure if this means that license was bought outright from Bandai or rescued in some fashion. I do have an email out to get clarification so when/if I hear back, I’ll be sure to report back. Getting back to the series themselves, the story summaries in the press release read:

Sola:

A boy with a secret he does not know.  A girl who cannot live beneath the sun.  And the sister whose own mysterious past ties them together.   Welcome to SOLA, the extraordinary series selected as best anime of 2007 in a poll of Japanese viewers, winning double the votes of its nearest competitor and over a third of the 2 million vote total!  After a chance encounter while preparing to photograph a sunrise, Yorito Morimiya finds his life becoming dangerously involved with a strange girl named Matsuri. By giving her shelter in his own home while his sister lies sick in the hospital, Yorito sets into motion a sequence of events that will shake everything he thought he knew about his world to the core.  For even under a pure blue sky, there are secrets that begin on Earth and reach past the heavens, secrets that must never be revealed!

Shigofumi: Letters from the Departed:

Are some secrets best kept with the dead?  For most Shigofumi Mail Carriers, charged with delivering  messages from the recently departed to those left behind, the question is purely rhetorical as most Carriers are dead themselves and past the point of caring about the still breathing.  The solemn girl known as Fumika, however, is all too aware of the mortal perspective, for she is still aging: an indicator that she is somehow, mysteriously, still alive.  Yet, neither Fumika’s own personal tragedy nor the knowledge that her mail may be a mixed blessing at best will stay her grim determination to make her morbid rounds.  Though the postal scales of fate may be eternally shifted, Fumika will make sure each posthumous posting from the ultimate dead letter office reaches its intended target, even when there’s deadly postage due!

Finally, rounding out the month Sentai has licensed one brand new series with the sci-fi adventure series, Tytania on 8/24. The 26 episode Artland produced series premiered last fall and just finished airing in Japan a few weeks ago. Here’s the story summary if you’re unfamiliar:

Through fear and conquest, the Empire of Valdana holds the future of most of human space within it’s the iron hands … and for generations, those hands have belonged to the Landless Lords of the ruling Tytania dynasty.  But now the foundation of the empire is crumbling, pockets of rebellion are forming and when a mission sent to punish the city-state of Euriya is shockingly defeated, the man responsible becomes the target of a galaxy-wide manhunt!   For Fan Hyurlick, architect of Tytania’s first defeat, glory becomes desperation as his own side betrays him.  Now Fan must not only save his own life, but somehow turn the tables on opponents who have whole worlds to command!

So what does everyone think? Exciting August or a month of things you bought last summer?

<Image ©Sola Project>

Full press release below the cut

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