Jerome and Andrew took to the stage on Friday to announce a range of titles to be released through Manga UK, Animatsu, and KAZÉ, alongside re-iterating plans for some already known titles, and discussing some recent success.
Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F, which was released in cinemas at the end of last month, managed to achieve the second highest screen average on opening day, being beaten only by live-action film The Martian. I think everyone can agree that’s brilliant for a title targeted at a relatively small audience. The home media release has been confirmed for January 25th 2016 on DVD, Blu-ray, and newly announced Collector’s Edition. Presumably, the Battle of Gods/ Resurrection F double pack is also still on the cards.
They reminded us that another theatrical release is planned for November 10th, that of Boruto: Naruto the Movie. I was here in London last Friday purely to watch the Boruto fan screening, and I can assure you that it was more than worth the £50 in train tickets, so at around £10 for a ticket for the general release, you’re certainly in for a treat. And make sure to stick around for the post-credits scene, it will answer the big question ever-present throughout the movie.
Andrew and Jerome kept the theatrical announcements coming, with news of three further cinema release dates for movies from Animatsu, Attack on Titan live-action movie 1, Yakuza Apocalypse, and Garm Wars: The Last Druid. Attack on Titan sees a release this year, on December 2nd, with Yakuza Apocalypse following a month later on January 2nd. Unfortunately, it’s then a longer wait until March 14th for Garm Wars. These three titles are live-action, so I’ll be hoping Manga find some more anime films to release theatrically next year; that said, I’ll endeavour to see all three of these in the cinema.
Fans have been waiting much longer than they should have had to, but Evangelion 3.33: You Can (Not) Redo is scheduled for 7th March 2016 on DVD, Blu-ray and Collector’s Edition.
Code Geass: Akito the Exiled, episodes 1 and 2 will be arriving March 21st 2016 from Kazé, a release that I certainly was not expecting out of the blue. Kazé’s Code Geass blu-rays a few years back were a commendable effort, but hopefull they can really knock it out of the park with Akito the Exiled. A Persona 4 the Animation complete series collection from Kazé as DVD and DVD/Blu-ray combo packs is planned. It was confirmed that Kazé have One Punch Man for home media release, but this was expected seeing as Viz Media Europe are part of the consortium that licensed the title.
It seems Animatsu have the most announcements, with a crazy amount of awesome titles due for release. Fan-favourite title My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU (Oregairu) has had both seasons licensed by Animatsu – woohoo! – and the first of these seasons is due for a 2016 release. Hopefully they utilise Sentai’s blu-ray masters for this release, as the subtitle typesetting on those is what all anime releases should strive for. Both seasons of Haikyu! are due for release; season one will be spread over two volumes next year. Animatsu also picked up Food Wars (Shokugeki no Souma) and School-Live! (Gakkou Gurashi) for a UK home release; these two popular titles are sure to generate hype for Manga and Animatsu and are my favourite announcements of the weekend so far. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (Danmachi) has been announced for release, and a Collector’s Edition is a possibility – fingers crossed. My Love Story! is getting a two part release on DVD and blu-ray; again, a Collector’s Edition may be produced.
While Anime Limited announced they had rescued the first season of KyoAni title The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Animatsu made sure to counter by announcing KyoAni’s Amagi Brilliant Park for home media. Hopefully, like Chunibyo, they manage to get the OVA (episode 14), as it feels more like a real episode than episode 13 did. To finish off Animatsu’ s announcements, Humanity Has Declined and Blade Dance of Elementalers (generic red-haired girl in magic school) were announced for release.
The final announcement was that there will be an Akame ga Kill announcement on 30th October. Personally, I’m expecting it to be the reveal of a Collector’s Edition release in line with the recently announced US Collector’s Edition.
During the Q&A section of the panel following announcements, the Manga UK team provided some information regarding some titles they don’t have.
- Hunter x Hunter is expected to remain digital-only as Jerome doesn’t think Viz Media have UK rights
- Animatsu don’t yet have season 2 of Hitsugi no Chaika, but are waiting to be offered it
- Toei tend to look for a TV broadcast deal, so Dragon Ball Super will have to wait until they give up on that, but Jerome thinks Toei won’t want to wait as long as they did with DBZ
- There is no chance of a theatrical release of Naruto: The Last, with the focus being on Boruto. – This is a shame, as it means the UK release of movie 7 is a month and a half after the theatrical release of movie 8.
- They don’t yet have the Haikyu movie, but it shouldn’t be ruled out; in addition, they are interested in Yowamushi pedal.
- Manga would love to finish releasing Hellsing Ultimate, but they don’t think they’ll be given the license
- It’s unlikely any old Dragon Ball films will be screened, as there wouldn’t be enough interest from the public, or the cinemas. – A shame, I’d enjoy traditionally animated theatrical releases over digitally animated any day.
- High School DxD New won’t be released by Manga as they cannot get the UK rights from FUNimation any more
- FUNimation do have other plans for UK rights of their properties, but it’s unknown what they are.