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U.K. Anime Industry Announcements at MCM Expo (Updated)
posted on by Andrew Osmond
The Anime Industry panel was held at London's MCM Expo event. The main announcements are as follows:
Manga/Kaze Releases
The feature film Trigun - Badlands Rumble is scheduled for Blu-ray/ DVD on October 1.
The World God Only Knows Season 1 will debut on October 8. Season 2 has been licensed, and will be released next year.
Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings 2 will be released on DVD on September 17; there will also be a boxset with seasons 1 and 2 together.
The previously announced cinema screening of Gekijō-ban Tiger & Bunny -The Beginning- is "tentatively" planned to take place both in London and Scotland as a simultaneous release with the film's Japanese premiere on September 22. That will be followed by the Blu-ray/DVD doublepack of the TV series, with Part 1 due on October 29.
Blue Exorcist part 1, containing the first 13 episodes, is scheduled for August 20.
The return of the first two seasons of Black Lagoon (one DVD set, two Blu-ray sets) is confirmed for July 2.
Squid Girl (the complete Season 1 collection) is confirmed on August 13, and the mecha CGI feature film Planzet on August 27.
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt is provisionally scheduled for July 30, although Manga is still waiting for the master tapes of the series.
Strike Witches 2 (Complete Series Collection) will be on July 23; Spice & Wolf II is due on August 6; and Clannad After Story is scheduled for September.
The Bleach releases "will have a whole new look" to the packaging design from Season 9 Part 1, as the series is taken over by Kaze.
In a separate Kaze panel, Andrew Partridge announced that Berserk Golden Age Arc I: Egg of the Supreme Ruler (Berserk Ōgon Jidai-Hen I: Haō no Tamago) would be released on December 31 on Blu-ray and DVD. Pre-orders will go out "not too long in the future." The film is also planned to have a theatrical U.K. screening in October; Partridge mentioned the Scotland Loves Anime Event, though he did not say directly that the film would be screening there. The English dub voice cast has not yet been confirmed, although both Partridge and dub actor/director Michael Sinterniklaas expressed their personal hopes that the dub actors from the TV version of Berserk would be brought back for the new films.
Manga Entertainment also announced the following on its twitter feed:
The feature film Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike will be released in December.
The Gintama feature film (screening at the BFI Southbank on Saturday June 8) will be released by Manga, DVD only.
Puella Magica Madoka Magica will be released as a three-disc “Complete Series” set in mid-October. A Blu-ray edition is “very likely.”
MVM Releases
Bodacious Space Pirates will be released in 2013, as will be Dream Eater Merry and Rozen Maiden: Ouverture.
The first season of Rosario and Vampire will be released in September, with Rosario + Vampire Capu2 following in October.
Shakugan no Shana Second will be released in 2013; MVM is also trying to acquire the spinoff films, OVAs and the third TV series.
Mayo Chiki is scheduled for November.
MVM is aiming to release one anime title a month. Given the strong presales for Broken Blade, where the Blu-ray presales have substantially exceeded those for the DVD, MVM is looking at “two or three” other anime titles for possible Blu-ray treatment. (Broken Blade is released on Blu-ray and DVD in June, due to MVM teaming up with Madman in Australia.)
MVM also tweeted that, “All titles coming out this year will be available for pre order on our site tomorrow.”
The website UK Anime Network reported the following:
Licenses for the anime in the Gundam franchise stay with Bandai; all other former Beez licenses have been released back to the former licensors.
The website Anime on Demand now holds the rights to Season 2 of Lagrange - The Flower of Rin-ne, which will be aired in the summer.
Update - More details added
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