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Funimation Streams Mamoru Hosoda's Films With English Dubs

FUNimation Entertainment announced with a video on Thursday that it is streaming the English dubs of all four of its films directed by Mamoru Hosoda. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, Wolf Children, and The Boy and The Beast are available for subscribers on Funimation's streaming service.

Funimation describes The Girl Who Leapt Through Time:

After waking up late, flunking her pop quiz, embarrassing herself on numerous occasions, and starting a fire in her home economics class, high school student Makoto Konno figures she's just having one of those days. And just when she thinks she's made it through, the brakes on her bike malfunction putting her on a collision course with a speeding train. The life-ending accident would have been the perfect end to the worst day ever, but the strangest thing happens—she leaps backwards in time.

After unlocking her new ability, Makoto does what any teenager would do. She re-takes tests, corrects embarrassing situations, and sleeps in as late as she wants, never thinking that her carefree time travelling could have a negative effect on the people she cares about. By the time she realizes the damage she's done, she only has a few leaps left to make things right.

Hosoda and Madhouse Studios' film based on Yasutaka Tsutsui's 1967 novel opened in Japan in 2006. Bandai Entertainment released the film on Blu-ray Disc and DVD in North America before closing its North American distribution in 2012, and Funimation announced its license in 2016.

Funimation describes Summer Wars:

Kenji is your typical teenage misfit. He's good at math, bad with girls, and spends most of his time hanging out in the all-powerful, online community known as OZ. His second life is the only life he has - until the girl of his dreams, Natsuki, hijacks him for a starring role as a fake fiance at her family reunion. Things only get stranger from there. A late-night email containing a cryptic mathematic riddle leads to the unleashing of a rogue AI intent on using the virtual word of OZ to destroy the real world, literarily. As Armageddon looms on the horizon, Kenji and his new "family" set aside their differences and band together to save the worlds they inhabit.

Hosoda and Madhouse Studios' original movie opened in Japan in July 2009, and Funimation released it in North America.

Funimation describes Wolf Children:

Hana was a student before she was a mother. She was bright and pretty, and her future held endless possibilities. Then she met a man, who turned out to be a wolf, and together they built a family. Hana loved her mate fiercely, but fate took him from her, leaving her alone with two unusual kids she didn't know how to raise. Frightened of being discovered, Hana and her Wolf Children fled to the countryside to build a new life.

Raising her little wild things was an adventure. It left Hana bruised, scratched, exhausted, and joyously overwhelmed as her pups grew stronger and wandered further every day. This is a mother's journey. Teach your children to chase their dreams - and smile through the tears as they disappear into the world in search of who they will become. Hana wasn't always a mother, but it was always what she was meant to be.

Hosoda established Studio Chizu in 2011 to produce Wolf Children, and the film debuted the following year. Funimation released the film in North America.

Funimation describes Wolf Children:

When Kyuta, a young orphan living on the streets of Shibuya, stumbles into a fantastic world of beasts, he's taken in by Kumatetsu, a gruff, rough-around-the-edges warrior beast who's been searching for the perfect apprentice.

Despite their constant bickering, Kyuta and Kumatetsu begin training together and slowly form a bond as surrogate father and son. But when a deep darkness threatens to throw the human and beast worlds into chaos, the strong bond between this unlikely pair will be put to the ultimate test- a final showdown. Can the two finally work together using all of their combined strength and courage?

Studio Chizu also produced The Boy and The Beast. The film debuted in July 2015 and Funimation released the film in North America.