News
Crunchyroll Adds Big Windup! 2, ARIA the Natural, Martian Successor Nadesico Anime to Catalog
posted on by Karen Ressler
Crunchryoll announced on Thursday that is adding the Big Windup! Season 2, Aria the Natural, and Martian Successor Nadesico anime. All three anime from Right Stuf's Nozomi Entertainment are launching on Thursday in the United States and Canada.
The 13-episode Big Windup! Season 2 sequel series adapting Asa Higuchi's baseball manga originally aired in 2010. Funimation released the first 26-episode television anime series on DVD in North America in 2009, but the company said in 2010 that it would not license the second season of the series. Nozomi Entertainment released the second series on DVD in 2016.
The series centers on Ren Mihashi, a losing pitcher who quit his middle-school baseball team after his teammates harassed him — they think he only became a pitcher because his grandfather ran the school. In high school, Ren is forced to become a pitcher again, but he and his new team eventually recapture the spirit of the game. Tsutomu Mizushima (Big Windup!, Girls und Panzer, Another) directed the series at A-1 Pictures.
Hal Film Maker animated the 2005 television series Aria the Animation, and it later inspired two more television series — Aria the Natural in 2006 and Aria the Origination in 2008 — as well as original video anime (OVAs) in 2007 and 2015. Junichi Satō (Sailor Moon, Princess Tutu) directed all installments in the anime franchise. Crunchyroll is already streaming the first series with English subtitles.
Right Stuf licensed the three television series and the 2007 OVA in North America with English subtitles. The company ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to release all three series and both OVAs, including 2015's Aria the Avvenire, with an English dub.
Crunchyroll describes Martian Successor Nadesico:
The Jovian Invaders have destroyed our base on Mars, wiped out our space fleets, and now only one ships stands between Earth and Totally Annihilation! Privately funded by the mysterious Nergal Corporation, the High Mobile Battleship Nadesico is the most formidable fighting machine ever conceived, but due to a shortage of trained soldiers the crew is a little unorthodox. Against an assistant cook as a pilot, a general's daughter in command, and the largest contingent of geeks and misfits ever sent into orbit, the poor Jovians won't stand a chance!
The series aired from 1996-1997 in Japan, and ADV Films released the series on VHS and DVD. Nozomi Entertainment rereleased the series on DVD in 2012 and on Blu-ray Disc earlier this year.
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history