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Discotek Licenses Giant Robo, Kimagure Orange Road, Galaxy Express 999, More

Discotek Media announced at its Otakon panel on Sunday that it has licensed the Giant Robo and Area 88 OVAs and the Lupin the 3rd: Blood Seal of the Eternal Mermaid anime movie. The company also licensed the Kimagure Orange Road, Galaxy Express 999, Psycho Armor Govarian, Bobobo-bo Bobo-bo, Space Warriors Baldios, Voltes V and God Mars television anime series, as well as the Message from Space: Galactic Wars and Space Wolf Juspion live-action series.

Discotek will release all seven episodes of the 1992 Giant Robo OVA on Blu-ray Disc, in HD with Japanese audio, subtitles, and both English dubs. The release will also include the Gin Rei OVA.

The anime is based on Mitsuteru Yokoyama's 1967 Giant Robo manga and follows the struggle between the Experts of Justice and the organization Big Fire over the last sample of the Shizuma drive, a revolutionizing new form of renewable and recyclable energy. U.S. Renditions and Manga Entertainment previously released the OVA with dubbing by Animaze, and Media Blasters re-released the series on DVD in 2004 with a new dub by NYAV Post.

The company will release Kimagure Orange Road in two Blu-ray Disc sets, one covering the television series and one covering the OVAs and finale movie. Both will be in Japanese with subtitles. The anime is based on Izumi Matsumoto's Kimagure Orange Road manga series, which ran in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 1984 to 1987. The 18-volume story followed a boy with supernatural powers as he dealt with a love triangle between two girls in his high school.

The 48-episode television anime ran from 1987 to 1988, the eight-episode OVA debuted between 1989 and 1991, and the finale film debuted in 1988. AnimEigo previously released all three. A second movie, Kimagure Orange Road: Summer's Beginning, debuted in 1996, and ADV Films released it in North America.

Discotek will release the Galaxy Express 999 television anime in three Blu-ray Disc sets. The show will be in Japanese with subtitles. It is an upscale, but not the same upscale that was released in Japan. Discotek said that its version "preserves more detail and film grain."

The story of the anime and manga follows a young orphan named Tetsurō as he travels with a mysterious woman named Maetel through the galaxy on a space train, in the hopes of obtaining a cybernetic body. The train stops at many planets along the way, often leading to adventures for the two.

The original 18-volume manga ran from 1977-1981 and the 113-episode television anime series aired from 1978-1981. An anime film alternate retelling premiered in 1979. The franchise then spawned multiple other movies, specials, and OVAs. Discotek previously announced in June 2017 that it would release Rintaro and Leiji Matsumoto's Galaxy Express 999 and Adieu Galaxy Express 999 anime films on Blu-ray Disc. Discotek Media released both films on DVD in June 2011.

The company will release Bobobo-bo Bobo-bo as a standard definition Blu-ray Disc set that includes all 76 episodes both in English and in Japanese with subtitles. The 2003-2006 television anime series adapts Yoshio Sawai's slapstick comedy manga about an Afro-haired man on a quest to protect hairdom from the authoritarian tyrant, Czar Boldy Bold 4th. Cartoon Network ran the series on American television in 2005, and Viz Media began publishing part of the original manga.

Illumitoon Entertainment released part of the anime in 2007, but did not complete the series before it stopped releasing anime entirely. North American anime distributor S'more Entertainment released the full series, but the release did not have subtitles for the Japanese version.

Discotek will release the Lupin the 3rd: Blood Seal of the Eternal Mermaid (Lupin III: Chi no Kokuin Eien no Mermaid) television movie on Blu-ray Disc, and it will include both Japanese with subtitles and a brand new English dub featuring the cast of the Lupin III television series (Tony Oliver, Richard Epcar, Lex Lang, Michelle Ruff, and Doug Erholtz). The movie aired as a television special in December 2011. The movie follows Lupin as he meets a young girl named Maki, who may be connected to a big treasure and another mysterious girl.

The company will release the Psycho Armor Govarian television anime in a standard definition Blu-ray Disc collection that includes all 26 episodes in Japanese with English subtitles. The anime by Go Nagai and Knack Productions aired in Japan in 1983. The story is about young children with the ability to form solid objects from psychic energy and Govarian, a robot that can regenerate through psychic energy.

Discotek Media will release the entire Space Warrior Baldios television anime series on Blu-ray Disc in Japanese with English subtitles. The anime aired in Japan from 1980-1981.

The company released the Space Warrior Baldios anime film on Blu-ray Disc on May 1. The film debuted in 1981, and serves as both a summary and conclusion the television anime, which was cancelled prematurely.

Discotek describes the Space Warrior Baldios film:

Instead of cleaning up their own nuclear waste, Planet S-1 brings their dirty work to Earth. Their military rulers want to knock us all off so their dying world can relocate here. Flying against fate, an S-1 rebel tries to defect to our side. But can a desperate and divided World Federation welcome him with open arms? Is this young Marine Leigan an ally or a spy? Can his robot ship Baldios and our Blue Strike Force unite to defeat The Red Fighters? And will it even matter if the impending doom arrives ahead of schedule? It's space war fought on the environmental front. The ultimate battle for survival.

The Voltes V television anime will ship as a standard definition Blu-ray Disc release, and will include the entire series in Japanese with subtitles. The 40-episode anime originally aired in Japan from 1977-1978. The story follows five pilots of the giant robot Voltes V and their battles against a mysterious alien race.

Discotek will release the God Mars science-fiction television anime as two standard-definition Blu-ray Discs. The complete collection includes the entire 64-episode series, the movie retelling, and the OVA sequel God Mars: The Untold Legend in Japanese with subtitles.

The series based on Mitsuteru Yokoyama's (Tetsujin 28/Gigantor) manga originally aired in Japan in 1981-1982. The story centers on Mars, who was sent as a baby to Earth with the eventual goal of destroying it. However, after being adopted by a Japanese family and given the name Takeru, Mars grows up experiencing the beauty of the planet and its inhabitants, and he questions his mission. Mars uses the powerful robot God Mars to protect the Earth from his people, even being forced to fight his own brother.

Right Stuf previously released the 95-minute film version of the series in North America. Hulu also began streaming the TV series in North America in 2013, marking its first English release in North America. Video streaming service Tubi TV has added God Mars to its streaming catalog in October 2017.

Discotek will release the Area 88 OVA on DVD. The DVD includes the 3-part OVA, as well as the theatrical cut of the first two parts (the third part was the same in both its theatrical and home video release). It will be in Japanese with subtitles and dubbed in English. Extras includes detailed liner notes, the original Central Park Media dub of the first episode, and the ADV dub for the movie versions.

Both Eclipse Comics and Viz Media published Kaoru Shintani's classic aerial mercenary Area 88 manga in North America. The manga inspired an original video anime (OVA) series in 1985 as well as a television anime series in 2004. The manga also inspired several games, including an arcade shooter that Capcom released overseas as U.N. Squadron.

Discotek will release Message from Space: Galactic Wars, a live-action television spinoff of the 1978 science-fiction film, as a standard-definition Blu-ray Disc set that includes all 27 episodes in Japanese with subtitles.

The company will also release Space Wolf Juspion, a live-action early metal hero tokusatsu show, on standard-definition Blu-ray Disc in the first quarter of 2019. This Blu-ray Disc set includes all 46 episodes in Japanese with English subtitles.

Source: Email Correspondence, Discotek's Twitter account