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Viz Media Adds Smashed: Junji Ito Story Collection Manga, Megalobox Anime

Anime News Network's coverage of Anime Expo 2018 is sponsored by Yen Press.

Viz Media announced at Anime Expo on Thursday that it has licensed the Smashed: Junji Ito Story Collection manga, and the Megalobox anime.

Viz Media describes Smashed: Junji Ito Story Collection:

Try not to be noticed when you eat the secret nectar, otherwise you'll get smashed… What horrific events happened to create the earthbound—people tied to a certain place for the rest of their short lives? Then, a strange haunted house comes to town, but no one expects it to lead to a real hell… Welcome to Junji Ito's world, a world with no escape from endless nightmares.

The 12th and final episode of the Junji Ito "Collection" anime also featured the same "Smashed" story.

Viz Media will release the Frankenstein: Junji Ito Story Collection book in October.

Viz Media's license for Megalobox includes the exclusive theatrical, broadcast, and home media rights, as well as the non-exclusive streaming, merchandise, and consumer products rights.

The 13-episode anime premiered on TBS on April 5, and Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired. The show's home video releases in Japan will feature new anime shorts.

The anime is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Ikki Kajiwara (pen name Asao Takamori) and Tetsuya Chiba's Ashita no Joe manga, and it features an original story. In the new story, a man called JD (Junk Dog) participates in fixed boxing matches in an underground ring in order to live. Today, he enters the ring again, but he encounters a certain person. JD wants to take on a challenge that risks everything.

Yō Moriyama (animation director for Master Keaton and Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, concept designer for Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress and Attack on Titan) directed the series at TMS Entertainment, and he was also in charge of conceptual design. Katsuhiko Manabe (Shin Kyūseishu Densetsu Hokuto no Ken: Raoh-den Gekitō no Shō, Shin Kyūseishu Densetsu Hokuto no Ken: Raoh-den Junai no Shō) and Kensaku Kojima (live-action Shinya Shokudō series) both oversaw and wrote the scripts, and mabanua (Kids on the Slope) composed the music.

Viz Media also revealed a description for its release of the NieR:Automata: Short Story Long novel:

Short fiction from the world of NieR:Automata, including the classic novella "The Flame of Prometheus," the short story "A Much Too Silent Sea," and original tales of A2, Emil and more!

Viz Media had announced in April that it will release NieR:Automata: Long Story Short this October, and will release NieR:Automata: Short Story Long in spring 2019.

Sources: Press releases, Viz Media's Anime Expo panel