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Katsucon
2005 - Media Blasters

by Bamboo Dong,
Representative: John Sirabella

Media Blasters had a slew of licensing announcements to make at their Katsucon panel this year.

Foremost were the anime acquisitions, which include the highly anticipated Oh! My Goddess TV series, Genshiken, Hi no Tori, and Phantom. When asked if the Genshiken license also included Kujibiki Unbalance, Sirabella said that he thought it did, but had to double-check.

In regards to Kitty Media they have licensed Immoral Sisters 2 and Beat Angel Escalayer.

Meanwhile, Tokyo Shock, the live action branch of Media Blasters, has acquired a number of titles. These include Ryuhei Kitamura's Sky High, as well as Masayuki Asao's Flower and Snake. Tokyo Shock will also release Izo, One Missed Call, and One Missed Call 2, the first two directed by Takashi Miike and the latter by Renpei Tsukamoto. Moving to release more Asian films outside of Japan, they have also acquired Nightmare (Korea) and The Sisters (Thailand).

As for upcoming releases, the first volume of Grenadier will come with a figure. The first season of Magic Knight Rayearth will be re-released as a boxset. It will contain an extra disc that will hold commentaries and other extras.

In the Q&A session that followed, Sirabella said that they would try and get the voice cast from either the Geneon or AnimEigo releases of previous Oh My Goddess! properties, but no guarantees would be made.

Some of Media Blaster's anime titles have been picked up by Imaginasian to air on TV, but no titles were specified. Showtime will be airing Mirage of Blaze, as well as a several Tokyo Shock titles.

Sirabella also mentioned that Media Blasters has been trying to obtain the rights for both Battle Royale and Battle Royale 2, but so far, Toei has kept a very tight rein on the licenses.

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