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High School Fleet Gets New Anime Film

The official website for Aniplex's High School Fleet franchise announced on Saturday that the franchise is inspiring a new animation film project. The site is also streaming an announcement video for the film. (Note: the linked video is region-locked to Japan, a region-free version is below.) The video highlights the previous anime entries in the franchise before announcing the film. A-1 Pictures will animate the film.

Aniplex announced an "naval battle game" app for the franchise in December. The app started taking pre-registration applications on Saturday, and will launch later this year. The app's title is High School Fleet: Kantai Battle de Pinch! (Armada Battle in Crisis!).

The two-year anniversary event that originally made the announcements also announced that the original anime series is getting a Blu-ray Disc box set, and for the first time the show will have 5.1ch sound. The event also announced that the franchise is getting a slot game machine.

The original 12-episode television anime series premiered in Japan in April 2016. Aniplex of America licensed the series, and the show streamed on Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Daisuki. The anime's official Twitter account announced in February 2017 that various projects and programs are in the works.

Aniplex of America describes the story of the television series:

Living by the sea, protecting the sea, and journeying across the sea...They're the BLUE MERMAIDS! Because of a shift in tectonic plates around 100 years ago, Japan lost much of its area to submergence. To preserve Japan's territories, Coastal Cities sprung up, one after the other. Eventually, they became Marine Cities, and along with the expansion of sea-lanes to connect them, the need arose for a sizable staff to protect the seas. At the same time, maritime jobs were becoming more popular among women. Hence, the BLUE MERMAIDS, tasked with keeping the seas safe, had become every female student's dream job. This is when childhood friends Akeno Misaki and Moeka China enroll in a marine high school in Yokosuka, along with other girls who share their goal of "BECOMING A BLUE MERMAID."

An original video anime (OVA) shipped on Blu-ray Disc in May 2017.

AAS/AIS and Kanari Abe launched the main manga adaptation in Kadokawa's Comic Alive magazine in October 2015, and the manga is ongoing. Kadokawa published the manga's third volume on October 23. AAS/AIS and Tsuchii (Girls und Panzer: Little Army, Girls und Panzer: Little Army II) launched the High School Fleet: Maidens of Loreley (High School Fleet: Loreley no Otome-tachi) spinoff manga in the same magazine in June 2016, and ended it on August 28. Kadokawa published the manga's third and final volume on September 23.

Update: Added more announcements from Saturday's event, including that A-1 Pictures will animate the film, the original series is getting a Blu-ray Disc box set, and the franchise is getting a slot machine.

Thanks to Dennis R. for the first embedded video.

[Via Anime Voice]