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Aniplex of America Reveals Mahouka, Expelled from Paradise BD Release Plans

Aniplex of America revealed its release plans for The irregular at magic high school television anime series and for the Expelled from Paradise anime film at its panel at Anime Boston on Friday.

Aniplex of America will release The irregular at magic high school in three Blu-ray Disc volumes. The company will release the first "Enrollment Arc" volume on June 30. The second "Nine Schools Competition Arc" volume will ship in September, and the third "Yokohama Disturbance Arc" volume will ship in December.

The first volume will include Japanese audio and English subtitles. Bonuses include a textless opening, three "Get to Know Magic Studies" short videos, trailers, commercials, a special booklet, and a box and collectable pin-ups with illustrations by character designer Kana Ishida. The first volume will retail for US$89.98 with a store price of US$69.98.

Aniplex of America streamed the series, which is based on Tsutomu Satou's light novel series, as it aired along with Crunchyroll. Aniplex describes the story:

Magic--A century has passed since this concept has been recognized as a formal technology instead of the product of the occult or folklore.

The season is spring and it is time for a brand new school year. At the National Magic University First Affiliate High School, A.K.A Magic High School, students are divided into two distinct groups according to their academic performances. The “Bloom,” who demonstrate the highest grades and are enrolled in the “First Course,” and the “Weed,” who have poor academic records and are enrolled in the “Second Course.”

This spring, a very peculiar brother and sister enroll as new students. The brother is an underachiever with some deficiencies and enrolls as a “Weed,” while his younger sister is an honor student, who enrolls as a “Bloom.”

The brother, with a somewhat philosophical expression, and the younger sister who holds feelings a little stronger than sibling love for him…

Ever since these two have entered through the gates of this prestigious school, the calm campus was beginning to change...

The show starred Yūichi Nakamura as Tatsuya, Saori Hayami as Miyuki Shiba, Takuma Terashima as Leonhart Saijō (Leo), Yumi Uchiyama as Erika Chiba, Satomi Satou as Mizuki Shibata, Sora Amamiya as Honoka Mitsui, Yuiko Tatsumi as Shizuku Kitayama, Marina Inoue as Mari Watanabe, Ryōhei Kimura as Hattori Gyōbu, Junichi Suwabe as Katsuto Jūmonji, Kana Hanazawa as Mayumi Saegusa, Mai Nakahara as Suzune Ichihara, Saki Ogasawara as Azusa Nakajō, Haruka Tomatsu as Sayaka Mibu, Tomokazu Sugita as Takeaki Kirihara, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Masaki Ichijō, and Ayumu Murase as Shinkurō Kichōji.

Manabu Ono (Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere, Saki Episode of Side A) directed the anime with assistant director Yuuji Kumazawa at the Studio Madhouse. Original novel illustrator Kana Ishida also handled the anime character designs with sub-character designer Maho Yoshikawa. Ishida, Maho Yoshikawa, and Shinichi Miyamae served as chief animation directors, while Takashi Tomioka and Satoshi Iwataki served as animation directors. Taku Iwasaki (Black Butler, Gurren Lagann, Soul Eater) scored the music with sound direction by Satoshi Motoyama and sound effects by Tomoji Furuya. LiSA and ELISA contributed the opening and ending theme songs, respectively.

Aniplex of America had released Expelled from Paradise in 15 theaters across the United States last December. The company will release the film on both limited and standard edition Blu-ray Discs on June 5.

Both editions will include Japanese and English audio with English and Spanish subtitles. The English dub cast for the film includes Wendee Lee as Angela Balzac, Steve Blum as Dingo, and Johnny Yong Bosch as Frontier Setter.

Bonuses for the limited edition include a making-of video, trailers, box art illustration by character designer Masatsugu Saitō, a booklet that will include an interview with Gen Urobuchi, and a pin-up card. The limited edition will retail for US$64.98 with a store price of US$49.98.

The standard edition will include a cover illustration by Saito, and will retail for US$49.98 with a store price of US$39.98.

Expelled from Paradise is the latest project from Gen Urobuchi (Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero), Nitroplus, Toei Animation, and director Seiji Mizushima's (first Fullmetal Alchemist anime, Gundam 00). The film stars Rie Kugimiya as the female protagonist, Angela, and Shinichirō Miki as Dingo a.k.a. Zarik Kajiwara. Hiroshi Kamiya voices Frontier Setter, a hacker from the computer world challenging real life.

Aniplex describes the story:

With Earth now left in ruins following the “Nano Hazard,” most of humanity has abandoned the planet they once called home along with their physical bodies and rebuilt their digitalized minds into a society within the cyber universe of “DEVA.”

A.D. 2400, DEVA's central council detects an incident of unauthorized access into their mainframe. Someone on Earth was trying to hack into the system. The only information DEVA was able to retrieve was that the hacker referred to themselves as “Frontier Setter.”

To investigate the mysterious hacker's motives, the high officials of DEVA dispatch System Security Third Officer Angela Balzac to the Earth's surface. Equipped with a prosthetic “material body,” Angela attempts to make contact with a local agent Dingo, but what awaited her instead was a swarm of Sandworms now infesting the Earth's surface. Angela intercepts the gruesome pests with her exoskeletal powered suit Arhan.

Will Angela and Dingo be able to find Frontier Setter on this devastated planet?

Their journey to explore the secrets of the world will begin now...!

The science-fiction film opened in theaters in Japan in November.