This past weekend saw some new anime announcements, and updates on already announced titles, from MVM Entertainment, Universal, and All The Anime. MVM provided their news through social channels, while All The Anime had two panels covering theirs, alongside some Q&A time. Sadly, Manga Entertainment made no announcements over the weekend, though their social media team were wandering around on the Saturday.
All The Anime
Day one of MCM brought with it an impressive selection of theatrical announcements from All The Anime. While most of these were leaked earlier, it’s nice to see some official confirmation. The theatrical titles confirmed for release over the remainder of the year are as follows:
Project Itoh: Genocidal Organ
Genocidal Organ is the third in a trilogy of movies based on Project Itoh works, the previous two of which have already seen a home release from All The Anime. The original novel is already available from Vix Media, but we have to wait until July 12th for the movie to hit cinemas.
The Night is Short Walk On Girl
This movie is based on a novel written by the creator of The Tatami Galaxy, and is directed by Masaaki Yuasa. The UK theatrical release will be on 20th September.
Lu Over the Wall
This is another film directed by Masaaki Yuasa, and despite being released this month in Japan, All The Anime are using it to round out the year with a release on 6th December.
Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?
This film from Studio SHAFT hasn’t had a date officially set yet, but was confirmed to be coming out in the UK in the first volume of the All The Anime magazine.
Your Name IMAX Edition
We were also reminded that Your Name is headed to IMAX screens on August 23rd. These IMAX screenings will be Japanese Audio with English subtitles only, but there should also be more standard screenings offering a selection of dubbed and subbed screenings.
At their panel on the Sunday, Jeremy Graves took to the stage to announce that All The Anime would be bringing both Hyouka and Wolf’s Rain to the UK. Hyouka Part 1 will be released later this year as a collector’s edition Blu-ray and as a DVD; this KyoAni title is long overdue a release. However, Wolf’s Rain will only see a Blu-ray release, using Funimation’s upscale. It was confirmed that the Erased Part 1 release will include 6 episodes and a 92-page booklet from the Japanese releases, with an SRP of £39.99.
Surprisingly, anime is headed back to UK television; Viceland channel on Sky 153 and NOWTV will be airing Eureka Seven and both seasons of Tokyo Ghoul, most probably in a dubbed format. It’s going to be interesting to see how well this works out for All The Anime, but it’s nice to see them trying to conquer the small screen after their success with the big screen.
Universal
At the end of the day on Friday, Universal revealed details of their 2017 plans, which are as follows:
STARMYU – The first season of this anime sees a release on 28th August 2017, but it won’t be as impressive as their prior releases. It’ll be an Amaray case, with cardboard slipcase and art cards, but the SRP will be lower to reflect that.
Bakuon!! – This title was released by Sentai Filmworks in the US, but Universal will be bringing it to the UK on 28th August and will also be a standard Amaray case, cardboard slipcase and include art cards.
And You Thought There Is Never A Girl Online? – Available on 28th September 2017, this title will be released as a collector’s edition, but details of what is included are not yet confirmed.
The Heroic Legend of Arslan: Dust Storm Dance – Also on 28th September is the next arc of The Heroic Legend of Arslan, in a collector’s edition that will be similar to those from the first season.
The Heroic Legend of Arslan will receive a standard edition complete series set on 28th September 2017.
Seraph of the End will also receive a standard edition on the 28th September 2017. Both of these releases will just be an Amaray case.
Berserk (2016) – This will be a collector’s edition release on 4th December 2017.
Drifters – This title is expected to see a release similar to Berserk, on 26th December
Seven Mortal Sins – It was confirmed Universal will be releasing this title in the UK, though no details have been confirmed yet.
MVM
In terms of home media releases, MVM definitely seem to have the best to offer out of this weekend’s announcements. Announcements were made via their social media channels.
Some titles from the current season, which aren’t available in the UK due to Sentai Filmworks’ exclusivity deal with Amazon AnimeStrike, were announced for a future UK release by MVM. The titles are Armed Girl’s Machiavellism, Grimoire of Zero, Sagrada Reset, and Sword Oratoria. Sword Oratoria is a surprise as Manga Entertainment are due to release the original DanMachi on Blu-ray soon.
A couple more Aniplex titles join MVM’s catalogue in Fate/Grand Order -First Order- and Granblue Fantasy the Animation.
From the Autumn 2016 season, MVM announced three titles: Flip Flappers, Girlish Number, and Matoi the Sacred Slayer
Funimation recently announced a Blu-ray release for the tenth anniversary of Fruits Basket, and it’s great to see MVM following suit.
New Initial D, a movie trilogy was also announced for release. MVM don’t tend to self-author releases, so we assume we’ll see an Australian or US announcement from someone soon.
It was also announced that the UK release of Monster Musume should be on 2nd October as a collector’s edition combo pack similar to their No Game, No Life and Nozaki-kun releases.