News

Astra Lost in Space, Megalobox Released Monday (Updated)

On Monday August 31, Manga Entertainment will release Astra Lost in Space on Blu-ray. Viz Media, which published the manga in English, describes the story:

Itʼs the first day of Planet Camp, and Aries Spring couldnʼt be more excited! She, along with eight other strangers, leave for Planet McPa for a weeklong excursion. Soon after they arrive, however, a mysterious orb appears and transports them into the depths of space, where they find an empty floating spaceship…

The manga ended in December 2017, and Shueisha published five compiled book volumes for the manga. The 2019 edition of Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! (This Manga Is Amazing!) guidebook ranked the manga at #3, and the manga won the 12th Manga Taisho awards earlier this year.

Anime Limited will also release a Collectors Blu-ray edition of Megalobox. The 13-part anime celebrates 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.

Anime Limited will release the second season of Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, carrying episodes 26 to 50. Anime Limited describes the series (spoilers for season 1):

"After the escort of Kudelia Aina Bernstein led to deadly battles, the Tekkadan organization began to rise, with Mikazuki Augus taking part. While many lives were lost, the conflict exposed the corruption of Gjallarhorn, helping the world slowly change. But as Tekkadan gained the rights to halfmetal, they began to attract attention from a new enemy—one they'll face with the Gundam Barbatos Lupus."

Manga will release Collection Five of Fairy Tail on Blu-ray and DVD, carrying episodes 97 to 120 of the series.

MVM will release a collected Blu-ray edition of the 24-part series Nobunaga The Fool.

An earlier edition of this story wrongly omitted Fairy Tail; apologies for the mistake.