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Blood-C and Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple Released Monday

On Monday June 10, Manga Entertainment will release the 12-part series Blood-C (pictured right) on both Blu-ray and DVD. The series is a reboot of the 'Blood' franchise, following the previous Blood: The Last Vampire film and Blood+ TV series. Blood-C is also a collaboration between Production I.G and CLAMP, directed by Tsutomu Mizushima, who previously directed the anime version of CLAMP's xxxHOLiC.

In the story, Saya is a seemingly normal girl living with her father in a shrine in a small Japanese country town. During the day she goes to school and spends time with her friends at a local cafe. But when night falls Saya is called upon to protect her village from strange monsters. The BBFC has rated the series '15' for 'strong bloody fantasy violence and gore.'

Manga Entertainment is also releasing the first box-set of KenIchi the Mightiest Disciple (pictured left), carrying 26 episodes. In this martial-arts comedy series, Kenichi is an ordinary student who has been bullied all through high school. Then a girl convinces him to join her dojo and become a disciple of many martial arts styles. Director Hajime Kamegaki (Naruto Shippūden, Fushigi Yuugi) and the animators of TMS Entertainment adapted Shun Matsuena's manga of the same name, and the anime ran in Japan from October of 2006 to September of 2007.

Finally, Third Window Films will release For Love's Sake, Takashi Miike's live-action adaptation of Ikki Kajiwara's Ai to Makoto romance manga, on Blu-ray and DVD. Emi Takei (live-action Rurouni Kenshin) plays an angelic high school girl named Ai Saotome, and Satoshi Tsumabuki (live-action Dororo, Dragon Head, Ikebukuro West Gate Park) plays the "ultra" high school delinquent Makoto Taiga in the love story. Kajiwara (Ashita no Joe, Kyojin no Hoshi, Tiger Mask) wrote the original manga with illustrations by Takumi Nagayasu (Mibu Gishiden, The Legend of Mother Sarah) for Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine from 1973 to 1976.