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New Service to Stream Tekkaman, Creamy Mami, Yatterman
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Japan's Yomiuri Group announced on Wednesday that it is joining forces with anime studios Pierrot, Tezuka Productions, and Tatsunoko Productions to launch the video streaming and crowdfunding platform "Anime Sols" in North America.
The service will focuses on the North American audience and feature properties owned by the parent companies as early as next spring. Along with streaming Japanese anime titles, the site will offer goods and rewards for fans to purchase as incentives to support various properties. The funding will allow fans to directly support the Japanese companies, receive goods unavailable anywhere else, and give supporters the opportunity to own titles on home video.
The Yomiuri Group named four titles in the site's launch lineup: Tekkaman, the Space Knight, the Bander Book film, Creamy Mami, the Magic Angel, and the 2008 Yatterman remake.
The 1975 Uchū no Kishi Tekkaman science-fiction robot series aired on American TVs in 1984. The story takes place on an inhospitable earth due to pollution. As mankind seeks out a new home, an alien race called the Waldaster attack Earth to conquer it. The only thing between the Waldaster and Earth are the Space Knights, Earth's defense force against the alien threat. Tatsunoko Production produced the series.
One-Million Year Trip: Bander Book is a 90-minute film based on Osamu Tezuka's original story that premiered in Japan in 1978. The sci-fi story follows the human boy Bander as he returns to Earth after being raised by aliens to locate his biological parents. The story was created for a 24-hour telethon in Japan and has never before been available in North America.
The magical girl series Magical Angel Creamy Mami aired from 1983 to 1984. The series is collected into 52 episodes and four OAVs. The story follows Yuu, who gains magical abilities after encountering a spaceship. She uses her newly acquired powers to become a 17-year-old pop star and hopefully win the heart of her crush. Studio Pierrot handled animation production for the series, which has not previously been available in North America.
A remake of the 1977 Yatterman anime television series, the 2008 remake follows Dorombo Gang, a group looking to acquire the a mysterious gem called the "Skull Stone" which in turn will reveal the location of the largest vein of gold in the world. However, locating the Skull Stone proves difficult due to faulty information from the group's leader and a pesky couple of do-gooders called the "Yatterman". Produced by Tatsunoko Productions, the series has not previously been available in North America.
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