In this forum you can talk about Anime and Cartoons such as Hunter X Hunter, Dragon Ball, The Seven Deadly Sins, Ben Ten, Scooby Doo, Kuroko's Basketball, Shaman King, Baki Hanma, KENGAN ASHURA, Fullmetal Alchemist, One Piece, Jujutsu Kaisen, K-On, Spirited Away, Negima, Powerpuff Girl, X-men, Dexter's Laboratory, Star Wars, Samurai Jack, The Simpsons, Teen Titans, Avatar: The Last Airbender, SpongeBob, Batman, Rick and Morty, Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, Attack on Titan, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Naruto, and any others. Any guest can reply to any topic if not locked. You can also share your opinion or stuff about anime and general everyday topic.
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Nasa: a space loving teenager who has turned an embarrassing name into a life goal, and who has just walked in front of a moving truck. The reason for his foolish actions and his ultimate saviour: a mysterious girl who proposes marriage when Nasa suddenly declares his feelings. The result: an adorable, addictive series that begins with a married pair of young strangers and develops into one of the sweetest anime romances in recent years.
When it comes to romance anime, especially if you’re of the more impatient sort, sometimes you just want the lead couple to cut to the chase already. With the seemingly endless flirtations, misunderstandings and revelations that can occur for dozens of episodes before the pair even so much as hold hands, the genre can quickly get frustrating– a likely hangover of romance manga that can take literally hundreds of chapters before the relationships start heating up.
This certainly isn’t the case with Kenjiro Hata’s manga Tonikaku Kawaii (‘Cute Anyway’), usually contracted as Tonikawafor English speaking readers and given the cosmic suffix Over the Moon for You for its anime adaptation. This version of the story produced by Seven Arcs, the studio behind the popular adaptation of the beloved manga Blue Period, stays relatively faithful to its original plot. Genius teenager Nasa Yuzaki is hit by a truck and saved by the girl of his dreams whom he agrees to marry. Years later, the girl, named Tsukasa, knocks on the door of his tiny apartment with a marriage form in hand ready to follow through on the promise they made a lifetime ago.
However, just because the couple are engaged and married from the first episode, that doesn’t mean that the audience aren’t allowed to indulge in some of the cutesier elements of anime romance. There are chance meetings, mysterious backstories, and the awkward encounters that come with sharing a space – and all with the ice having been broken as soon as the relationship began. The relationship still needs to deepen and develop, but you aren’t stuck with the tiresome wait for the couple to realise their true feelings, covertly fight against a love rival, or break through any number of misunderstandings.
For those of you interested in Japanese folklore and traditional stories, Tonikawa bases much of its theming and elements of its plot on The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, primary popularised in the West by Isao Takahata’s adaptation The Tale of Princess Kaguya. Itfeatures a princess found in a bamboo shoot who comes from the moon and who must return to her heavenly family at the end of the story. From the outset, Nasa notices Tsukasa’s similarities to the legendary princess as he lays looking up at her from site of his accident – notably, her ethereal beauty. But does this mysterious girl have any concrete connection to the myth? You’ll have to watch to find out…
Getting married before love truly develops isn’t an entirely foreign concept for anime viewers. The Ancient Magus Bride was a successful version of the arranged marriage trope that combined a Gothic aesthetic with a surprising sweetness, while the currently airing Spy x Family uses a marriage of convenience for an appealing combination of action absurdity and slice-of-life comedy. But Tonikawa doesn’t come with these caveats; the two characters at the start of the story genuinely seem to love each other from their first meeting, making for a viewing experience that’s much easier going and comforting than most anime romances. In terms of relevant comparisons for manga readers, Tonikawa is also a good choice for fans of Ayuko Hatta’s Ima, Koi o Shiteimasu (usually translated as ‘Ima Koi: Now I’m in Love’), a shojo romance that similarly cuts to the chase with the main couple (spoilers) getting together pretty much immediately.
Tonikawa: Fly me to the Moon is a perfect example of anime comfort food – the kind of warm, moreish story that’s perfect for bingeing over a handful of cosy nights in. Visually, it’s what you’d expect, as a fairly polished shonen style anime with a celestial tinge in its more mysterious moments, and the animation here does a fantastic job as a vehicle for a story that’s sweet, simple, and straight to the point. This is a great series for hopeless romantics waiting for romance to hit them like a truck, and a solid guilty pleasure for those less willing to admit their soppier tendencies – don’t worry, we won’t tell.
Zoe Crombie is an associate lecturer and PhD candidate at Lancaster University working on Studio Ghibli. Tonikawa: Over the Moon for You is released in the UK by Anime Limited.
GET A SNEAK PEEK OF SCIENCE SARU’S HOTLY ANTICIPATED NEW SERIES IN CINEMAS THIS SEPTEMBER
London, UK, 7th August 2024 – Do you believe in ghosts, or aliens? You had better believe that one of this year’s most hotly anticipated anime is receiving a very special big screen debut! Anime Limited are excited to announce that DAN DA DAN: First Encounter, a wild and heartfelt love letter to B-movies with the soul of a teen romcom, will be released in cinemas across the UK and Ireland in a special preview event for one-night only on Friday 13th September, debunking superstitions by giving fans the unmissable opportunity to enjoy a sneak peak of the upcoming series’ first 3 episodes on the big screen.
Based on the popular manga serialised in Shonen JUMP+, the home of Chainsaw Man and Kaiju No.8, DAN DA DAN is a supernatural thriller/romantic comedy mash-up about the unlikely partnership between Momo a street-wise girl from a family of mediums, and Okarun, a bookish boy obsessed with aliens. As the two compete to disprove the existence of the other’s passion, they get caught up in encounters with both spiritual and paranormal, imbuing both teenagers with powers beyond belief – and maybe something else. DAN DA DAN: First Encounter will feature the first 3 episodes of the series, ahead of its broadcast this October, alongside exclusive interviews with key staff including the manga’s original author, Yukinobu Tatsu.
The out-of-this-world humour and energy of DAN DA DAN makes it a perfect fit for the fan-favourite Science SARU (Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, The Colors Within), with studio veteran Fuga Yamashiro (INU-OH, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!) making his directorial debut, and a pulse-pounding score by celebrated composer kensuke ushio (The Colors Within, Chainsaw Man). The original manga’s author, Yukinobu Tatsu, previously worked as an assistant on Tatsuki Fujimoto’s global hit series Chainsaw Man and Fire Punch.
Synopsis:
DAN DA DAN follows Momo, a high school girl from a family of spirit mediums, and her classmate Okarun, an occult freak. The two of them start talking after Momo rescues Okarun from getting bullied. However, an argument ensues between them – Momo believes in ghosts but denies aliens, and Okarun believes in aliens but denies ghosts. To make the mutual deniers believe in each other, Momo goes to an abandoned hospital known for its UFO sightings, and Okarun goes to a tunnel that is said to be haunted. In each place, they encounter overwhelming paranormal activity that transcends comprehension. Amid these predicaments, Momo awakens her hidden power and Okarun gains the power of a curse to challenge the paranormal forces! Their fateful love begins as well!?
The story of the occult battle and adolescence starts!
DAN DA DAN: First Encounterwill be released in cinemas across the UK and Ireland on Friday 13th September, in Japanese with English subtitles.
For further information, please contact Fetch Publicity | Josh Stevens | josh@fetch.fm
Founded in 2012, Glasgow-based Anime Limited is a subsidiary of PLAION PICTURES and represents Japanese animation interests in the UK, France, and beyond. With a thoughtfully curated lineup of films, series, and soundtracks, Anime Limited has earned its title of Europe’s favourite anime distributor. Whether through fan-centric cinema runs, beautifully packaged collector’s editions, or sharing the best of anime music on vinyl, We offer bespoke experiences for all fans for titles such as Attack on Titan, BELLE, Cowboy Bebop, JUJUTSU KAISEN, Neon Genesis Evangelion, One Piece Film: RED, Spy x Family CODE: White, Your Name, and Weathering with You.
Earlier this month, we lifted the lid on our full release plans for bringing Naruto to Blu-ray, and it’s been fantastic seeing so much excitement and enthusiasm for our Collector’s Edition release of this classic show from all of you – be sure to get your pre-order in if you haven’t already!
Of course, that product reveal also left many of you asking the question – what about BLEACH? Well, it’s finally time for us to lift the lid in full on our plans for this particular shonen powerhouse, so start powering up your bankai while you read on to find out what we have in store for you!
Before we start though, a quick note for your calendars – pre-orders for BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 1 begin on August 1st, while BLEACH Part 1 pre-orders begin on August 15th. Both pre-orders will open at 5PM UK time, so now you’ve set reminders for those important dates and times, let’s proceed!
Before we get on to the classic, original BLEACH series, let’s start with a quick detour towards the newest iteration of the series, as this will be the first to hit retail!
BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 1
As opposed to the original show, which ran as a single series across a multitude of arcs, the brand-new continuation of Ichigo’s saga is split into clear seasons, and so for BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War we’ll be releasing this across per season sets, beginning (of course), with its first season. Let’s take a look at the contents of our Part 1 Collector’s Edition!
This release follows our typical Collector’s Edition release model which will be familiar to many of you, boasting a rigid slipcase with hosts an Amaray case (with reversible sleeve) for the two Blu-ray discs which contain the full thirteen episode season, together with a lovely 76-page art booklet packed to the brim with artwork, episode guides, behind the scenes content discussing key scenes with director Tomohisa Taguchi and original author Tite Kubo, and a whole wealth of character design artwork.
The BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 1 Collector’s Edition launches with an SRP of £69.99, but as always expect to see discounts to this price across all of the usual retailers. For our part, we’ll be launching with our usual Early Bird pricing of £39.99 for one week after the launch.
For those who prefer it, we will of course be giving the series our typical Standard Edition Blu-ray treatment, with all of the same on-disc content presented in an Amaray case.
Alongside this, we’ve also cooked up something a little special for customers of HMV specifically – whether it’s in-store or online, you’ll be able to find an HMV-exclusive version of BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 1 with a bonus O-card featuring the show’s original key visual!
Both Collector’s and Standard Editions will hit retail shelves on Monday, 30th September, so set aside some time for a bit of quality anime viewing when your copy arrives.
As we mentioned up top, pre-orders for BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 1 open TODAY, Thursday, 1st August. Make sure you’re ready by bookmarking the links below, as we’ll be running an Early Bird offer for the Collector’s Edition of just £39.99 (versus an SRP of £69.99) for our pre-order launch week!
During the Paris Japan Expo event, we gave you all our first sneak peek at our first Collector’s Edition volume of the original “classic” BLEACH series, and we were met with a wave of excitement, but also plenty of very understandable questions, so let’s delve into our release strategy for the entire 366-episode series and how you’ll be able to own and collect it!
We’ve spent quite some time hard at work on finding the optimal way to bring the series to you on Blu-ray, and given the length and configuration of the series we’ve ultimately conceived of a strategy that we believe brings fans of the show the best of both worlds – a full, BLEACH Collector’s Edition experience but without an eye-watering total cost of ownership. So, here’s what we plan:
There will be three Collector’s Edition sets of BLEACH launched throughout our Blu-ray release run – these will feature volumes 1, 6 and 10 of the series.
These Collector’s Editions will each contain just one volume of the series, but will also serve as storage boxes for additional Standard Edition volumes. For example, as we’ll see in a moment, our first BLEACH Collector’s Edition will contain Part 1 of the series, but have space to house Parts 2, 3, 4 and 5.
Each Collector’s Edition set is planned to feature a large, comprehensive artbook using all of the assets at our disposal, with artwork for each book spanning the volumes of the series that can reside within each storage box. Again, to use our first Collector’s Edition as an example, the art book included will span parts 1-5 of the series.
Put simply, to own the entire series, you’ll be purchasing three Collector’s Edition sets, and then ten Standard Edition Blu-ray releases to fill out the Collector’s Edition storage boxes. Thus, you’ll end up with a beautiful and expansive addition to your anime collection that will fit comfortably and attractively on your shelf.
Of course, if you’re just looking to own the series on Standard Edition Blu-ray, all 13 volumes will be released in that format (including those which are part of the Collector’s Edition sets), so if you want a full BLEACH on Blu-ray experience in that form we’ve also got you covered.
Each volume of the series will feature approximately 27 episodes (with some variances dependent upon the length of story arcs), with discs which match the US release as a point of comparison.
Now that we’ve laid the groundwork for our release plans, let’s get into our part 1 release specifically!
BLEACH Collector’s Edition Part 1
Let’s start with a look at our first Collector’s Edition storage box – as noted above, this initial Collector’s Edition will contain the first part of the series on Blu-ray (containing episodes 1-27), with space for Parts 2, 3, 4 and 5 on Standard Edition Blu-ray to sit snugly inside.
Our goal for these Collector’s Edition sets is sleek, stylish and striking, allowing us to focus on some of the most awesome artwork the series has to offer for our cover stars – which, of course, for this first set are Ichigo and Rukia.
Moving on to the contents, you’ll find Part 1 of the series on Blu-ray in a standard Amaray case with O-card, within which you’ll find four discs containing those first 27 episodes of the series as well as a set of three character art cards.
Also included within the storage box is our piece de resistance – a 220-page art book. This book collects character design artwork across the initial part of the series with an impressive roster of characters, as well as a collection of cover artworks from the show.
Whether you pick up the Collector’s Edition or Standard Edition of Part 1, and regardless of retailer, you’ll find the same core configuration at its heart, with that Amaray case, O-card, set of four discs and trio of character art cards. The O-card and art cards are exclusive to the first print run of each part, so be sure to pre-order early to make sure you get yours!
Our Part 1 Collector’s Edition release will sport an SRP of £79.99 (but, of course, make allowances for retailer discounts so expect to see a lower price on store fronts), with Standard Editions each sporting an SRP of £49.99.
Pre-orders for both our Part 1 Standard Edition and Collector’s Edition will open across retailers on Thursday, 15th August at 5PM – including, of course, at our own AllTheAnime.com store. We’ll also be running an Early Bird price for two weeks of just £49.99, so don’t miss this opportunity to start your BLEACH collection at this low price!
Both our Standard and Collector’s Editions of BLEACH Part 1 have a street date of November 4th 2024, so you’ll be able to find them in retail stores or arriving on your doorstep in early November.
We already have parts 1-5 of the series approved and going into production, so expect to see parts 2-5 launch for pre-order at a rate of approximately one a month, with street dates also staggered on a monthly basis. We may take a short pause in our BLEACH release schedule at this point before launching our second Collector’s Edition set – as you can imagine, these larger releases require more design and approval work so may take longer to reach completion – but we’re keen to keep up as regular a release schedule as possible until you can hold all of this beloved series in your arms to cherish!
In fact, we can give you a first peek at our designs for parts two through to five on Standard Edition Blu-ray right now, as they’re all approved and ready to roll!
As per part 1 of the series, the first print run will feature an exclusive O-card and set of three character art cards – across these releases, this first batch of volumes takes us up to episode 139 by the end of part five. A lot of BLEACH, and a lot to look forward to, so stay tuned for pre-order and release dates for each part moving forward via all of our usual channels!
And that just about sums up our plans for the UK Blu-ray releases of BLEACH, so consider the lid on what we have in store well and truly lifted! We’re beyond excited to bring this show back to our shores on Blu-ray, and we can’t wait to get both the original series and Thousand-Year Blood War into your hands!
Of course, if you have any questions, be sure to ask us in the comments section below, or drop us a message on one of our usual social media channels, and we’ll be happy to help.
Earlier this month, we lifted the lid on our full release plans for bringing Naruto to Blu-ray, and it’s been fantastic seeing so much excitement and enthusiasm for our Collector’s Edition release of this classic show from all of you – be sure to get your pre-order in if you haven’t already!
Of course, that product reveal also left many of you asking the question – what about BLEACH? Well, it’s finally time for us to lift the lid in full on our plans for this particular shonen powerhouse, so start powering up your bankai while you read on to find out what we have in store for you!
Before we start though, a quick note for your calendars – pre-orders for BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 1 begin on August 1st, while BLEACH Part 1 pre-orders begin on August 15th. Both pre-orders will open at 5PM UK time, so now you’ve set reminders for those important dates and times, let’s proceed!
Before we get on to the classic, original BLEACH series, let’s start with a quick detour towards the newest iteration of the series, as this will be the first to hit retail!
BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 1
As opposed to the original show, which ran as a single series across a multitude of arcs, the brand-new continuation of Ichigo’s saga is split into clear seasons, and so for BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War we’ll be releasing this across per season sets, beginning (of course), with its first season. Let’s take a look at the contents of our Part 1 Collector’s Edition!
This release follows our typical Collector’s Edition release model which will be familiar to many of you, boasting a rigid slipcase with hosts an Amaray case (with reversible sleeve) for the two Blu-ray discs which contain the full thirteen episode season, together with a lovely 76-page art booklet packed to the brim with artwork, episode guides, behind the scenes content discussing key scenes with director Tomohisa Taguchi and original author Tite Kubo, and a whole wealth of character design artwork.
The BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 1 Collector’s Edition launches with an SRP of £69.99, but as always expect to see discounts to this price across all of the usual retailers. For our part, we’ll be launching with our usual Early Bird pricing of £39.99 for one week after the launch.
For those who prefer it, we will of course be giving the series our typical Standard Edition Blu-ray treatment, with all of the same on-disc content presented in an Amaray case.
Alongside this, we’ve also cooked up something a little special for customers of HMV specifically – whether it’s in-store or online, you’ll be able to find an HMV-exclusive version of BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 1 with a bonus O-card featuring the show’s original key visual!
Both Collector’s and Standard Editions will hit retail shelves on Monday, 30th September, so set aside some time for a bit of quality anime viewing when your copy arrives.
As we mentioned up top, pre-orders for BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 1 open TODAY, Thursday, 1st August. Make sure you’re ready by bookmarking the links below, as we’ll be running an Early Bird offer for the Collector’s Edition of just £39.99 (versus an SRP of £69.99) for our pre-order launch week!
During the Paris Japan Expo event, we gave you all our first sneak peek at our first Collector’s Edition volume of the original “classic” BLEACH series, and we were met with a wave of excitement, but also plenty of very understandable questions, so let’s delve into our release strategy for the entire 366-episode series and how you’ll be able to own and collect it!
We’ve spent quite some time hard at work on finding the optimal way to bring the series to you on Blu-ray, and given the length and configuration of the series we’ve ultimately conceived of a strategy that we believe brings fans of the show the best of both worlds – a full, BLEACH Collector’s Edition experience but without an eye-watering total cost of ownership. So, here’s what we plan:
There will be three Collector’s Edition sets of BLEACH launched throughout our Blu-ray release run – these will feature volumes 1, 6 and 10 of the series.
These Collector’s Editions will each contain just one volume of the series, but will also serve as storage boxes for additional Standard Edition volumes. For example, as we’ll see in a moment, our first BLEACH Collector’s Edition will contain Part 1 of the series, but have space to house Parts 2, 3, 4 and 5.
Each Collector’s Edition set is planned to feature a large, comprehensive artbook using all of the assets at our disposal, with artwork for each book spanning the volumes of the series that can reside within each storage box. Again, to use our first Collector’s Edition as an example, the art book included will span parts 1-5 of the series.
Put simply, to own the entire series, you’ll be purchasing three Collector’s Edition sets, and then ten Standard Edition Blu-ray releases to fill out the Collector’s Edition storage boxes. Thus, you’ll end up with a beautiful and expansive addition to your anime collection that will fit comfortably and attractively on your shelf.
Of course, if you’re just looking to own the series on Standard Edition Blu-ray, all 13 volumes will be released in that format (including those which are part of the Collector’s Edition sets), so if you want a full BLEACH on Blu-ray experience in that form we’ve also got you covered.
Each volume of the series will feature approximately 27 episodes (with some variances dependent upon the length of story arcs), with discs which match the US release as a point of comparison.
Now that we’ve laid the groundwork for our release plans, let’s get into our part 1 release specifically!
BLEACH Collector’s Edition Part 1
Let’s start with a look at our first Collector’s Edition storage box – as noted above, this initial Collector’s Edition will contain the first part of the series on Blu-ray (containing episodes 1-27), with space for Parts 2, 3, 4 and 5 on Standard Edition Blu-ray to sit snugly inside.
Our goal for these Collector’s Edition sets is sleek, stylish and striking, allowing us to focus on some of the most awesome artwork the series has to offer for our cover stars – which, of course, for this first set are Ichigo and Rukia.
Moving on to the contents, you’ll find Part 1 of the series on Blu-ray in a standard Amaray case with O-card, within which you’ll find four discs containing those first 27 episodes of the series as well as a set of three character art cards.
Also included within the storage box is our piece de resistance – a 220-page art book. This book collects character design artwork across the initial part of the series with an impressive roster of characters, as well as a collection of cover artworks from the show.
Whether you pick up the Collector’s Edition or Standard Edition of Part 1, and regardless of retailer, you’ll find the same core configuration at its heart, with that Amaray case, O-card, set of four discs and trio of character art cards. The O-card and art cards are exclusive to the first print run of each part, so be sure to pre-order early to make sure you get yours!
Our Part 1 Collector’s Edition release will sport an SRP of £79.99 (but, of course, make allowances for retailer discounts so expect to see a lower price on store fronts), with Standard Editions each sporting an SRP of £49.99.
Pre-orders for both our Part 1 Standard Edition and Collector’s Edition will open across retailers on Thursday, 15th August at 5PM – including, of course, at our own AllTheAnime.com store. We’ll also be running an Early Bird price for two weeks of just £49.99, so don’t miss this opportunity to start your BLEACH collection at this low price!
Both our Standard and Collector’s Editions of BLEACH Part 1 have a street date of November 4th 2024, so you’ll be able to find them in retail stores or arriving on your doorstep in early November.
We already have parts 1-5 of the series approved and going into production, so expect to see parts 2-5 launch for pre-order at a rate of approximately one a month, with street dates also staggered on a monthly basis. We may take a short pause in our BLEACH release schedule at this point before launching our second Collector’s Edition set – as you can imagine, these larger releases require more design and approval work so may take longer to reach completion – but we’re keen to keep up as regular a release schedule as possible until you can hold all of this beloved series in your arms to cherish!
In fact, we can give you a first peek at our designs for parts two through to five on Standard Edition Blu-ray right now, as they’re all approved and ready to roll!
As per part 1 of the series, the first print run will feature an exclusive O-card and set of three character art cards – across these releases, this first batch of volumes takes us up to episode 139 by the end of part five. A lot of BLEACH, and a lot to look forward to, so stay tuned for pre-order and release dates for each part moving forward via all of our usual channels!
And that just about sums up our plans for the UK Blu-ray releases of BLEACH, so consider the lid on what we have in store well and truly lifted! We’re beyond excited to bring this show back to our shores on Blu-ray, and we can’t wait to get both the original series and Thousand-Year Blood War into your hands!
Of course, if you have any questions, be sure to ask us in the comments section below, or drop us a message on one of our usual social media channels, and we’ll be happy to help.
GKIDS Partners with Anime Ltd. for Home Entertainment Release of ARCANE
GKIDS Partners with Anime Ltd. & Plaion Pictures, Plain Archive, Shout! Factory, and Sugoi Co for International Home Entertainment Release ofARCANE
First Season of the Emmy® Award-Winning Series from Riot Games to be Released for Home Entertainment Platforms Worldwide in 2024
NEW YORK(July 9, 2024) – GKIDS, the Academy Award®-winning producer and distributor of artist-driven and award-winning animation, announced partnerships with Anime Ltd. & Plaion Pictures, Plain Archive, Shout! Factory, and Sugoi, to release the first season of ARCANE, the globally beloved hit series from Riot Games, on digital download-to-own and physical home media in international markets in 2024.
ARCANE will be released on digital download-to-own and physical home entertainment in Europe, South Korea, and Australia/New Zealand by Anime Ltd. & Plaion Pictures, Plain Archive, and Sugoi respectively. It will be released on digital download-to-own platforms in Latin America by Shout! Factory, who will additionally handle physical product distribution for North America alongside GKIDS.
Earlier this month, out of the Annecy International Film Festival, GKIDS previously announced it had acquired worldwide (excluding China) videogram and digital transactional rights to the first season of the internationally acclaimed series.
Fans can look forward to a full product array to be announced soon, ranging from digital to premium editions, including a 4K version exclusive to the home entertainment release.
ARCANE is set in the universe of the massively popular video game League of Legends, made by Riot Games and Fortiche Productions for Netflix. The series is co-created by Christian Linke and Alex Yee, and follows the origins of iconic League champions Vi and Jinx, as they become caught in the power struggle between the utopian city of Piltover and the oppressed underground city of Zaun.
The series debuted in November 2021 to rave reviews, garnering widespread praise for its striking animation, emotionally complicated characters, thrilling music, and overall production quality. It has been praised by critics as one of the best video game adaptations ever created. The series went on to win four primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Animated Program, as well as nine Annie Awards, including Best Mature Animated Television Broadcast Production.
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About GKIDS
GKIDS is the Academy Award-winning producer and distributor of artist-driven and award-winning animation from around the world. After an astounding 13 Best Animated Feature nominations, the company took home the Oscar in 2024 for Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli’s acclaimed feature, The Boy and the Heron. The company’s previous nominations include The Secret of Kells in 2010, A Cat in Paris and Chico & Rita in 2012, Ernest & Celestine in 2014, The Tale of The Princess Kaguya and Song of the Sea in 2015, Boy and the World and When Marnie Was There in 2016, My Life as a Zucchini in 2017, The Breadwinner in 2018, Mirai in 2019, Wolfwalkers in 2021, and The Boy and the Heron in 2024. For more than a decade, GKIDS’ influence on cinema has redefined the perception of animation as an artistic medium on par with live-action film through its stewardship of the Studio Ghibli catalog and by introducing American audiences to the critically-acclaimed films of other master filmmakers from around the world such as Mamoru Hosoda (Mirai, Belle), Tomm Moore (The Secret of Kells, Wolfwalkers), Benjamin Renner (Ernest & Celestine), Makoto Shinkai (Weathering With You), Nora Twomey (The Breadwinner), Alberto Vázquez (Unicorn Wars) and Masaaki Yuasa (Inu-Oh, The Night is Short, Walk on Girl), among countless others. Also, GKIDS is the founder and host of ANIMATION IS FILM, the annual LA-based film festival which embraces the highest aspirations of animation as a cinematic art form, and is a vocal advocate for filmmakers who push the boundaries of the medium to its fullest range of artistic expressions. www.gkids.com
About Riot Games
Riot Games was founded in 2006 to develop, publish, and support the most player-focused games in the world. In 2009, Riot released its debut title, League of Legends, which has gone on to be one of the most-played PC games in the world. In the years that followed, Riot released VALORANT, Teamfight Tactics, Legends of Runeterra, and League of Legends: Wild Rift. Riot’s titles have led to the creation of some of the most-watched and widely recognized esports in the world, culminating in events like the League of Legends World Championship and VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT), which are watched by millions of fans each year. Riot has also expanded its IP through multimedia projects across music, comic books, board games, and Arcane, its Emmy-winning animated series.
About Anime Ltd.
Founded in 2012, Glasgow-based Anime Limited is a subsidiary of PLAION PICTURES and represents Japanese animation interests in the UK, France, and beyond. With a thoughtfully curated lineup of films, series, and soundtracks, Anime Limited has earned its title of Europe’s favourite anime distributor. Whether through fan-centric cinema runs, beautifully packaged collector’s editions, or sharing the best of anime music on vinyl, We offer bespoke experiences for all fans for titles such as Attack on Titan, BELLE, Cowboy Bebop, JUJUTSU KAISEN, Neon Genesis Evangelion, One Piece Film: RED, Spy x Family CODE: White, Your Name, and Weathering with You.
About Plaion Pictures
PLAION PICTURES is one of Europe’s leading independent film labels with headquarters just at the gates of Munich. We offer tailor-made marketing solutions for films and series on all channels, from cinema to TV and home entertainment to innovative digital offers. Our goal is to entertain people with exciting, moving or humorous content – anytime and anywhere. Our unique and wide-ranging portfolio also includes a large number of renowned art house productions, numerous successful and award-winning theatrical releases and a library of over 1,600 titles. Moreover, movie fans also appreciate our high-quality special editions, which turn classics into new film experiences. Plaion is headquartered in Planegg near Munich and has branches in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Australia, the United States, Japan and Hong Kong. For more information, visit www.plaion.com
About Plain Archive
Plain Archive was founded in 2013 as an independent publisher of physical media. In 2016, Plain Archive released Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy in Blu-ray, featuring its first original documentary film Old Days. In 2019, the official screenplay and storyboard of Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite was published, becoming an instant bestseller. Plain Archive has worked with exceptional Korean filmmakers, as well as other internationally renowned directors such as Kore-eda Hirokazu, Jim Jarmusch, Denis Villeneuve, and Kogonada to craft compelling home video releases and books. www.plainarchive.com
About Shout! Studios
Shout! Studios is a multiplatform media company specializing in film and TV distribution, development, and production. The company has evolved with the changing entertainment landscape to excel in all forms of content distribution, including theatrical, digital streaming, broadcast and in-flight licensing, physical media, and more. Shout! Studios owns and manages a large portfolio of feature films, series, animation, and documentaries. The company’s creative acquisition mandate has established it as a leading independent distributor, with partners and properties including Aardman Animations (Wallace and Gromit, Shaun The Sheep), GKIDS and Studio Ghibli (including the latest Academy Award® -winning masterpiece from Miyazaki, The Boy And The Heron), LAIKA Studios (Coraline, ParaNorman), as well as Mystery Science Theater 3000 (in partnership with creator Joel Hodgson), alongside many others. Shout! Kids focuses on live-action and animated kids and family properties plus anime, and the company releases genre and horror films and television shows under the Scream Factory imprint. Shout! Studios also operates the acclaimed streaming service Shout! TV and its family of FAST channels. The company produces, acquires, and distributes new films, including Shout! Studios’ original Old Henry (Tim Blake Nelson), Linoleum (Jim Gaffigan, Rhea Seehorn), What’s Love Got To Do With It (Lily James, Emma Thompson, Shazad Latif), The Kill Room (Uma Thurman, Joe Manganiello, Samuel L. Jackson), Drugstore June (Esther Povitsky), and the Viggo Mortensen-directed western The Dead Don’t Hurt (Vicky Krieps, Viggo Mortensen). Shout! Studios is based in Los Angeles, California. For more on Shout! Studios, visit ShoutStudios.com
About Sugoi Co
Sugoi Co is a leading distributor of high-quality animation film in Australia and New Zealand and is dedicated to bringing content to fans in the most engaging and exciting ways possible. Led by Tim Anderson, co-founder and former CEO of Madman Entertainment, our team brings a wealth of industry knowledge and a deep understanding of the Australian entertainment distribution landscape. Sugoi Co has recently released “The First Slam Dunk” and “Godzilla Minus One” in Australia and continues to flex its skills in licensing, distribution, and merchandising of quality content and licensed properties.
Ever since we announced our acquisition of NARUTO – and our plans to bring it to the UK on Blu-ray for the very first time – we’ve had many of you asking for more details of what to expect and when.
Well, today is the day where we get to unleash all of our plans for the series upon you, so grab your headband, make some complex hand gestures, and get yourself comfortable as we reveal all. Oh, and above all else… believe it!
Let’s start with the most important piece of news first – the pre-order window for the first instalment of NARUTO on Blu-ray begins retail-wide on Thursday, 11th July, so make sure you have that date noted in your calendar as your invitation to begin Naruto Uzumaki’s journey at your favourite retailer.
With that out of the way, let’s move on to our next important question – what our release plans for the original NARUTO series look like!
As you’ve come to expect from Anime Limited, we’ll be releasing the series in both Collector’s Edition and Standard Edition Blu-ray formats, so let’s tackle each in turn.
Collector’s Edition Blu-ray
If you’re looking to own the greatest release of NARUTO that money can buy, then you won’t want to miss the series on Collector’s Edition Blu-ray.
Our Collector’s Editions for the original NARUTO series will be spread across a series of four Collector’s Edition sets. Each of these sets will contain eight discs, so our four sets will constitute the following episodes:
Set 1: Episodes 1-55 Set 2: Episodes 56-110 Set 3: Episodes 111-165 Set 4: Episodes 166-220
All of the discs across our release of NARUTO are being authored by ourselves for the UK, to provide the best quality viewing experience we can muster. It’s worth reminding you at this point that NARUTO comes from a pre-widescreen era, so the entire series will be presented in a 4:3 aspect ratio, using materials supplied to us by the Japanese licensor. Needless to say, the entire series will be available with both English stereo, and Japanese stereo audio with English subtitles.
Of course, when it comes to our Collector’s Edition release, the discs themselves are only part of the equation, so allow us to introduce you to our…
NARUTO Collector’s Edition Set 1 – With AllTheAnime.com Exclusive Box
One question we heard regularly from you was “Is there going to be a single box for the entire series?”, and so with that in mind we’ve crafted this glorious set, exclusively available on our own AllTheAnime.com store to offer you exactly that.
This exclusive edition of set one comes with a bonus rigid box (which you can see in the image above), which has space for sets two, three and four, giving you one beautiful box adorned with all of your favourite characters to house the entirety of NARUTO to cherish forever.
Beyond this, each Collector’s Edition set will come with its own rigid slipcase, inside of which are stored two Amaray cases (each of which has a reversible sleeve) which will house the eight Blu-ray discs present in each release, alongside a 32-page art booklet for each volume, focusing on character artwork from the relevant story arcs of the series.
This brings us to another piece of good news – our designs for the entire series are already approved and production underway! We know and appreciate that you don’t like having a long wait between volumes of an on-going series, so we’ve done everything that we can to ensure that there’s a regular cadence of releases of NARUTO – when it comes to these Collector’s Editions, you can expect one to land in retail every couple of months, with our Part 1 Collector’s Edition set for a retail release date of 2nd September 2024.
We’ll be showing off the artwork for the remaining Collector’s Edition moving forward as we get closer to the release date of each set, so stay tuned to see what the rest of your NARUTO Collector’s Edition will look like!
NARUTO Collector’s Edition Set 1 – Retail-wide
Outside of our own store, you’ll be able to find our regular Collector’s Edition Set 1 at all of your usual favourite retailers – this doesn’t include the additional box to house the entire series, but the rest of the contents are unchanged.
Each of these four Collector’s Edition sets will retail with an SRP (Suggested Retail Price) of £99.99 – of course, look out for retailer discounts at every online retailer, including our own!
Standard Edition Blu-ray
If you’re a NARUTO fan that is looking for something a little simpler, then fear not, as we’ll be releasing the series on Standard Edition Blu-ray alongside our Collector’s Edition releases, with pre-orders for our Part 1 Standard Edition also opening on July 11th, with the same retail street date of September 2nd 2024.
Our Standard Edition releases of the series will comprise of eight volumes – each of which will be a single, standard Amaray package, containing four Blu-ray discs and all of the same on-disc content as their Collector’s counterparts. The episode split of these Standard Edition volumes will be as follows:
Set 1: Episodes 1-27 Set 2: Episodes 28-55 Set 3: Episodes 56-82 Set 4: Episodes 83-110 Set 5: Episodes 111-137 Set 6: Episodes 138-165 Set 7: Episodes 166-192 Set 8: Episodes 193-220
As with our Collector’s Edition sets, all of our designs for the entire series have been created and approved already, to ensure consistency across the entire release on your shelf, and allowing us to ensure a regular cadence of releases without a long wait between volumes. When it comes to our Standard Edition releases, you should expect to see a new set drop on broadly a monthly basis from the commencement of our release in September.
To kick things off, you can take a look at our designs for parts one and two of the series below!
Each Amaray case will contain four discs, and also sports a reversible sleeve with alternate artwork if you so prefer too! We’ll be showing off the artwork for future volumes on a regular basis as we move through our release of the series.
Each Standard Edition set will retail with an SRP of £49.99, and will be available at all of our favourite UK home video retailers.
And that pretty much wraps up our look at NARUTO on UK Blu-ray – we can’t wait to start releasing this incredible series and getting into your (and our) hands – if you have any questions, be sure to let us know or drop us a message in the comments!
Of course, our thoughts are already turning towards NARUTO Shippuden, but it’s fair to say we won’t be sharing any news on that until we’re closer to the end of the release schedule for the original series. So for now, let’s luxuriate in our excitement for NARUTO on Blu-ray, and as always, thanks so much to all of you for your support – it means a lot to us.
Anime Limited announces release plans, contents of Macross Plus Ultimate Edition Blu-ray for North America, UK and Europe
Anime Limited presents the home video release of the classic Macross title in an unmissable Blu-ray Ultimate Edition – pre-orders open June 6th!
GLASGOW, MAY 25TH 2024 – Anime Limited, under license from BIGWEST, are thrilled to reveal their plans for the release of the Macross Plus Ultimate Edition, bringing this classic show to Blu Ray in English-speaking territories for the first time outside of Japan.
In a landmark moment for fans of the decades-spanning legendary Macross franchise, the beloved classic 1995 film – together with its original four-part OVA presentation – will be made available for fans for the first time in English on Blu-ray. Created by BIGWEST and Studio Nue, with Shoji Kawamori (Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Escaflowne) serving as executive director, the film marks the directorial debut of Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo) as co-director and the first collaboration with inimitable composer Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop, Escaflowne).
In keeping with the significance of this release, Anime Limited are giving Macross Plus their trademark Ultimate Edition treatment, with a luxurious and high quality release that will be the centrepiece of any discerning anime fan’s collection.
This Ultimate Edition comes packaged in a large rigid slipcase adorned with the title’s most iconic visuals, within which is contained an immense and comprehensive hardback book chronicling the history, production and creative efforts behind Macross Plus – from interviews with its creators through to character designs, background and key animation artwork, this is the world of Macross Plus as you’ve never seen it before.
Also included with the set is a series of nine art cards celebrating all of the title’s key visuals, plus an A4 “concert promotion” poster serving as an homage to virtual pop idol Sharon Apple.
This attention to detail also extends to the contents of the discs themselves – as well as containing both the movie and OVA versions of Macross Plus, an anime praised as a “visual tour de force” by Forbes, these discs also contain a wealth of options and bonus content to allow fans to fully explore the title. Features on the disc includes the full Bandai Visual dub for the OVA version of the show, as well as the Manga Entertainment dub of OVA #4, while both Neil Nadelman’s Manga Entertainment subtitles and Bandai Visual’s subtitle options are present for the Movie Edition. With a host of other extras including an interview with Shoji Kawamori and Special Visual Effects Director Ichiro Itano, this is the ultimate Macross Plus viewing experience for new and old fans alike.
In North America, the Macross Plus Ultimate Edition will be available exclusively via the Crunchyroll Store, while UK customers will be able to purchase the product exclusively from the AllTheAnime.com storefront. Pre-orders for the release will open on Thursday, June 6th at 5PM BST / 12PM EST / 9AM PST. In France, customers will be able to purchase an exclusive Macross Plus Ultimate Edition French version limited to 100 units through our AllTheAnime.fr online shop, with pre-orders opening at the same time.
Additional editions of Macross Plus will also be available for France and other European territories to follow, with more details to be confirmed later in the year.
About MACROSS PLUS
In the year 2040, on the distant planet Eden, former childhood friends Isamu Dyson and Guld Goa Bowman find themselves pitted against each other as test pilots of rival teams in a competition to decide the next generation of variable mecha fighters. The two must also deal with their own unresolved history with mutual love interest, Myung Fang Lone, who has returned as the manager of Sharon Apple, the AI pop star (virturoid) and the galaxy’s biggest singing sensation.
When Sharon’s advanced artificial intelligence gains consciousness, Isamu, Myung, and Guld must face their turbulent past and come together as Sharon Apple becomes self-aware and takes control of the Macross battlefortress itself!
About BIGWEST
BIGWEST CO., LTD., are representative owners of the Macross franchise. BIGWEST also provides planning and production for animation, as well as concerts, events, TV programs, etc., and manages related licenses and copyrights.
Founded by Andrew Partridge and Cedric Littardi in 2012, Glasgow-based Anime Limited is PLAION PICTURES’ Japanese animation arm in the UK, France, and beyond. With a thoughtfully curated lineup of films, series, and soundtracks, Anime Limited has earned its title of Europe’s favourite anime distributor. Whether through fan-centric cinema runs, beautifully packaged collector’s editions, or sharing the best of anime music on vinyl, Anime Limited offers bespoke experiences for all fans for titles such as Attack on Titan, BELLE, Cowboy Bebop, JUJUTSU KAISEN, Neon Genesis Evangelion, One Piece Film: RED, Your Name, and Weathering with You.
Anime Limited announces release plans, contents of Macross Plus Ultimate Edition Blu-ray for North America, UK and Europe
Anime Limited presents the home video release of the classic Macross title in an unmissable Blu-ray Ultimate Edition – pre-orders open June 6th!
GLASGOW, MAY 25TH 2024 – Anime Limited, under license from BIGWEST, are thrilled to reveal their plans for the release of the Macross Plus Ultimate Edition, bringing this classic show to Blu Ray in English-speaking territories for the first time outside of Japan.
In a landmark moment for fans of the decades-spanning legendary Macross franchise, the beloved classic 1995 film – together with its original four-part OVA presentation – will be made available for fans for the first time in English on Blu-ray. Created by BIGWEST and Studio Nue, with Shoji Kawamori (Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Escaflowne) serving as executive director, the film marks the directorial debut of Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo) as co-director and the first collaboration with inimitable composer Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop, Escaflowne).
In keeping with the significance of this release, Anime Limited are giving Macross Plus their trademark Ultimate Edition treatment, with a luxurious and high quality release that will be the centrepiece of any discerning anime fan’s collection.
This Ultimate Edition comes packaged in a large rigid slipcase adorned with the title’s most iconic visuals, within which is contained an immense and comprehensive hardback book chronicling the history, production and creative efforts behind Macross Plus – from interviews with its creators through to character designs, background and key animation artwork, this is the world of Macross Plus as you’ve never seen it before.
Also included with the set is a series of nine art cards celebrating all of the title’s key visuals, plus an A3 “concert promotion” poster serving as an homage to virtual pop idol Sharon Apple.
This attention to detail also extends to the contents of the discs themselves – as well as containing both the movie and OVA versions of Macross Plus, an anime praised as a “visual tour de force” by Forbes, these discs also contain a wealth of options and bonus content to allow fans to fully explore the title. Features on the disc includes the full Manga Entertainment dub for the OVA version of the show, as well as the Bandai Visual dub of OVA #4, while both Neil Nadelman’s Manga Entertainment subtitles and Bandai Visual’s subtitle options are present for the Movie Edition. With a host of other extras including an interview with Shoji Kawamori and Special Visual Effects Director Ichiro Itano, this is the ultimate Macross Plus viewing experience for new and old fans alike.
In North America, the Macross Plus Ultimate Edition will be available exclusively via the Crunchyroll Store, while UK customers will be able to purchase the product exclusively from the AllTheAnime.com storefront. Pre-orders for the release will open on Thursday, June 6th at 5PM BST / 12PM EST / 9AM PST. In France, customers will be able to purchase an exclusive Macross Plus Ultimate Edition French version limited to 100 units through our AllTheAnime.fr online shop, with pre-orders opening at the same time.
Additional editions of Macross Plus will also be available for France and other European territories to follow, with more details to be confirmed later in the year.
About MACROSS PLUS
In the year 2040, on the distant planet Eden, former childhood friends Isamu Dyson and Guld Goa Bowman find themselves pitted against each other as test pilots of rival teams in a competition to decide the next generation of variable mecha fighters. The two must also deal with their own unresolved history with mutual love interest, Myung Fang Lone, who has returned as the manager of Sharon Apple, the AI pop star (virturoid) and the galaxy’s biggest singing sensation.
When Sharon’s advanced artificial intelligence gains consciousness, Isamu, Myung, and Guld must face their turbulent past and come together as Sharon Apple becomes self-aware and takes control of the Macross battlefortress itself!
About BIGWEST
BIGWEST CO., LTD., are representative owners of the Macross franchise. BIGWEST also provides planning and production for animation, as well as concerts, events, TV programs, etc., and manages related licenses and copyrights.
Founded by Andrew Partridge and Cedric Littardi in 2012, Glasgow-based Anime Limited is PLAION PICTURES’ Japanese animation arm in the UK, France, and beyond. With a thoughtfully curated lineup of films, series, and soundtracks, Anime Limited has earned its title of Europe’s favourite anime distributor. Whether through fan-centric cinema runs, beautifully packaged collector’s editions, or sharing the best of anime music on vinyl, Anime Limited offers bespoke experiences for all fans for titles such as Attack on Titan, BELLE, Cowboy Bebop, JUJUTSU KAISEN, Neon Genesis Evangelion, One Piece Film: RED, Your Name, and Weathering with You.
Although only the most recent three weeks of posts are visible on this blog’s front page, you can navigate through the previous nine years of articles using the tags. Click on these links to find our world-class obituaries and book reviews, or coverage of Japan and China. You can read the Hugo award-winning Jeannette Ng on Japanese popular culture, the Harvey award-winning Helen McCarthy on anime and live events, Jeremy Clarke, Tom Wilmot and Jasper Sharp on Japanese live-action film, and Tom Smith on Japanese music.
Thanks to them, and to the many guest contributors who have enriched this blog over the last nine years, to the tune of over a thousand articles, and thanks to Anime Limited for supporting it for so long.
Rental Magica begins like a gentler, less assertive, but actually more professional Ghostbusters. The setting is modern Japan, where many different groups of magic users exist to deal with paranormal imbalances, or as the characters put it, spell wave contamination. In one episode, it’s mentioned such contaminations have caused everything from the Marie Celeste mystery to the Tunguska cataclysm in Siberia in 1908, showing how wide-ranging and spectacular such phenomena are.
The anime focuses on a particular magic-user group called Astral, an underdog team. Its more gifted members include a girl witch called Honami who’s first seen jetting on her broomstick along a rainy highway in pursuit of a black hound of hell, hurling pins which explode like missiles. In comparison, the team’s “leader,” a boy called Itsui, seems hopelessly out of his depth, as he’s yanked along on a Shinto shimenawa rope by the angry canine. It’s not surprising when the creature is dispatched by a rival magic-user, the girl Adelecia of the Goetia society.
However, it’s soon apparent Astral isn’t quite the bunch of no-hopers that they first appear. Honami is seemingly overpowered for such a low-level outfit, but she stays with Astral because of a terrifying childhood experience that left her with a debt to Itsui. Itsui himself may seem entirely the wrong guy for the job, which he’s only in because his dad (missing) was Astral’s former president. As the inheritor, Istsui seems to have no special magic skills or knowledge – we see him frantically cramming like any other overloaded student. But he wears an eyepatch, and when it’s removed we see his right eye has an unearthly glow and it gives the boy a second personality that’s far more commanding… though in his “normal” state, Itsui seems barely aware of it.
The early episodes focus especially on Honami, Itsui and their rival Adelecia. They’re all teens who go to the same school in their non-magic lives. Honami and Adelecia are former friends, both hailing from England; while Adelecia is supposedly the enemy now, their relationship gets complicated soon enough. We also meet Astral’s other members, including the petite but very plucky junior Shinto practitioner Mikan. There’s also the hyper-elegant Nekoyashiki, who’s as enigmatic as the cats he commands, while more Astral team members join in time.
In fact, some turn up in episodes before they’re actually introduced, as the episodes aren’t in chronological order. The second episode takes place before the first, for example. You might think of Haruhi Suzumiya, which came out the year before Rental Magica, but it feels more like a precursor to another team series, the steampunk Princess Principal.
As noted, Mikan works in Shinto, whereas Honami is a specialist in Celtic magic from parts of Britain and Europe. (This is hardly anime’s only representation of Celtic culture; it suffuses much of Ancient Magus’ Bride, while the headless bike-riding heroine in Durarara!! is a “dullahan” from Irish lore who’s actually called Celty.) In one episode, the Astral characters are asked to placate a god which resides in a Shinto shrine, and its priestess apologetically tells Honami that, as a foreign witch, she’s barred from the shrine’s inner sanctum. A consummate professional, Honami accepts the rule with grace.
In Rental Magica, other magic systems are in play – for instance, Adelecia is a practitioner of European sorcery, as suggested by her society’s name, Goetia. The show’s tone is light, but not irreverent – the forces the characters are handling are profound and dangerous. One early episode has a formless soul-eating monster that prowls a hospital at night, using urban legends as its sustenance, like something from Boogiepop Phantom.
The series was based on a light novel series by Makoto Sanda; somewhat unusually, he was also one of the lead writers on the anime version. Animation production was by the ZEXCS studio, which mostly did below-the-line work in anime. The pastel-coloured series looks like a proficient but unassuming product of its time – it was broadcast in Japan in 2007-8. However, ZEXCS would go on to make one of the most unusual TV anime ever made, the rotoscoped Flowers of Evil.
Familiar Japanese voices in the cast include Jun Fukuyama, Lelouch in Code Geass, as Itsuki, and Rie Kugimya, who voiced Al in both anime versions of Fullmetal Alchemist, as Mikan.
Many readers of this blog will know what a dating sim is. It’s a computer game where your character develops a romantic relationship with someone else, often one of multiple “possible” characters.
Actually, the definition’s more contentious than that. That above description could apply to many Visual Novels where relationships are important in the branching story, including epics like Fate/stay night and Steins;Gate. But you’ll find people claiming online that dating sims are not Visual Novels. Rather, dating sims should be seen as a different kind of game, often focused on saying the right thing to the right person at the right time, where you’re scored according to how well or badly your relationships are going.
Leaving Visual Novels aside, dating sims are a blurry continuum. Some action RPGs include dating sim elements, including the Persona and Sakura Wars series. But one obvious way to classify dating sims is to separate them into the ones where you’re a guy, and those where you’re a girl. Dating sims where a girl woos guys are called “otome” (maiden) games, and they range from the fantastical Alice in the Country of Hearts to the historical Hakuoki, which were both adapted as anime.
One of the jokes in Trapped in a Dating Sim is that its hapless hero finds himself in an “otome” game and ends up making it a boy-dates-girls game instead. That’s absolutely not what he intended, though; he wanted as little to do with dating sims as possible. At first he’s unnamed (which is how many game characters start out until their players name them). We join him when he’s playing what he thinks is a chronically horrible otome game. He’s only grinding through it because he’s been blackmailed by his younger sister. (What his sister has on him is a mystery, but it must be something really sordid.)
So our hero hate-plays the game’s intrepid girl protagonist, in a posh school full of cute guys who love her, mean girls who hate her, and endless rounds of tea parties. More incongruously, there are monster-filled dungeons, and flying motorbikes, and battles with big robots. The “rationale” is this is a game by a studio that usually caters to male audiences, bunging in what it knows, and bother the worldbuilding. Finally, after days of this drivel – the difficulty level is mercilessly high – the player finishes the stupid game. He gets up, walks outside… and is so exhausted that he tumbles down his apartment steps, apparently lethally.
Of course, he finds himself in the game he hated so much, incoherent worldbuilding and all. You’d expect he’d be one of the main characters, but instead he finds that he’s become a background extra, a generic nobody. In RPG terms, he’s a common or garden “mob”; the anime’s official subtitle is “The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs.” It’s only at this point that he’s given a name – he’s Leon Fou Bartfort, son of a minor baronet who wasn’t even in the game.
Which suits Leon fine. He’s delighted to stay in the margins of a story he loathed, like a Tolkien-hater hiding as the sixth nameless hobbit on the left. Fate, though, drags Leon into the plot through amusingly daft contrivances. First, he’s threatened with marriage to a rapacious aristo – this is a matriarchal society. To avoid that, Leon goes on a treasure hunt and ends up finding an ancient A.I. who becomes his secret confidant – we told you the worldbuilding was random. Leon’s plan is to find a low-ranking wife at the school in the game and then live quietly ever after. Only his treasure-hunting success bumps up his status to a Baron, forcing him to court the high-ranking ladies at the heart of the game…
As you may have gathered, this isn’t a power-fantasy; it’s a farce about a supposedly predictable situation spinning out of the main character’s control. Things are out of whack as soon as Leon enters the academy. The “protagonist” girl (Olivia) is around, but she’s not the protagonist anymore; another girl seems to have stolen her script and story. For all his cynicism, Leon can’t help feeling sorry for the desolate Olivia, and also for Angelica, the game’s designated “villainess” who’s outraged at her betrothed prince dallying with a stranger. Before long, Leon’s planned quiet life is forgotten as he’s fighting monsters, duelling in mecha, and relishing being the school pariah, not noticing how much he’s disrupting events. But as he causes characters around him to break character and grow beyond their scripts, will he learn to grow himself?
The show is based on a light novel by Yomu Mishima (like many successful LN series, it also spawned a manga). Given the “reincarnation” device is a staple of Japan’s portal fantasies, it’s no surprise that Trapped in a Dating Sim originated on the Shosetsuka ni Naro website, where tons of these stories began. Some fans have complained the series feels nothing like playing a dating sim, but that surely broadens its audience. Apart from the ludicrous anti-worldbuilding, where you go from a school to a flying island to a gleaming spaceship in moments, the main gag seems to be how a character’s blunders can mess up a predictable romance story – not so different from Shrek. Then there’s the mystery of the strange girl who’s stolen the part of the otome protagonist. In fan terms, she’s trying to Mary Sue a Mary Sue.
Reportedly, “otome game” stories are trending massively in Light Novels and manga at the moment. As of writing, there’s an anime serial of Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion, from a South Korean novel and manhwa. It’s not about an otome game, but it’s another story of a character (female) who reincarnates to rewrite a story from the inside, where romance mingles with murder. And then, of course, there’s the anime adaptation I’m in Love with the Villainess, whose reincarnated office lady sets out to turn a “straight” otome story into the yuri romance of her dreams.
The God of High School is an unusual, perhaps even unique anime, set in Korea, with Korean heroes, a Korean director, and based on a Korean comic. At the same time, it’s unquestionably anime, produced by Tokyo’s famed MAPPA studio. It did much to establish MAPPA’s reputation for frenzied action anime, and it’s a direct precursor to MAPPA’s subsequent hit, Jujutsu Kaisen – which would be started by the same director, Sunghoo Park,
The set-up of God of High School is comically generic. It’s set in the present-day world, but a world where “God of High School” is a massive martial arts tournament. Its contestants are super-fighters at a level you’d expect in a Shonen Jump comic, and its hero is a Shonen Jump type, too. He’s Jin Mori, a scatty, impulsive, good-natured bonehead who’s first introduced oversleeping on tournament day and having to race there on his bike – a situation that puts him in madcap adventures before he even enters the tournament. Equally naturally, he quickly bonds with two more contestants, a far more serious boy (Dei) and a fearsome sword-swinging girl (Mira).
Naturally, there’s more story than that, some involving the youngsters’ respective backgrounds, and signs that there’s more at stake than a mere world tournament. While the original God of High School strip brings in a plethora of different mythologies from around the world, it’s notable that the story hinges on a particular trickster hero who’s iconic in both Japan and Korea, but who’s originally from China. (And if that’s not enough of a clue, then the same trickster also underpins the Dragon Ball franchise, and older British viewers may know him through a live-action Japanese TV version from the 1970s.)
Still, much of God of High School’s appeal comes from its unabashedly stripped-down set-up; a big tournament with big fights. In that way, it’s like another South Korean strip that was adapted into anime, Tower of God (whose premise is “hero fights his way up an endless tower.”) Both series were the result of a partnership between the American company Crunchyroll and a massively popular Korean online platform, Webtoon.
As explained in this blog’s earlier write-up of Tower of God, the Webtoon platform publishes South Korean comics (manhwa) online to be read on smartphones. It’s been available in English since 2014; by 2022, its readership was reportedly 89 million active users. The God of High School strip can be read for free here; its author is Yongje Park, who’s no relation to the anime’s director Sunghoo Park.
In a video interview, Yongje Park says that while he was influenced by a range of media, videogames were a key inspiration. “When I was in middle school and high school, I was obsessed with Tekken, The King of Fighters, and Street Fighter the most. The character designs alone opened a world of imagination. ‘Why did this character join this tournament? What kind of past led this character to use this martial art? This character is really cool – what martial art is this?’ Such thoughts led to inspiration for working on The God of High School.”
On the anime side, one of director Sunghoo Park’s influences was an anime space adventure. This was the 1980s saga Macross – both the original TV series and the film, Macross: Do You Remember Love? That led him to move from his home Korea to Japan to study, and to enter the anime industry. His director debut was a 2017 anime fantasy-action series, Garo: Vanishing Line, also made by MAPPA, but God of High School would put Sunghoo Park on the map. He’d go from that to the first season of Jujutsu Kaisen and its hit cinema prequel, Jujutsu Kaisen 0. He’s since left the franchise; the director’s next series will be Ninja Kamui, in February.
Sunghoo Park is known for his dazzling fast, fluid fights. He’s a fan of Yoshiaki Kawajiri (Ninja Scroll) but he also credits an unnamed director for moulding his style. “There’s a director who really influenced me a lot, and that director’s storyboards too… For action scenes, they were super detailed. Like this happens, then this and this, broken up into frames. For me, they were really easy to work with… It was super easy to understand what needed to be done. It really affected me. So when I do storyboards… the action, the characters’ movements, I’ll draw out each and every one. If I run out of space, I’ll draw rectangles on the side and use those to keep drawing. It’s really a lot of work, but I think it’s also the period that’s the most fun.”
There are also parts of God of High School which bring in motion capture for greater realism, specifically for the fighting in part ten of the series. Sunghoo Park’s comments suggest he knows this could draw ire from purists. “I know how (anime) is usually drawn, but that versus filming martial arts experts… the reality that brings, I really wanted to express all of that. So the timing of 2D, the way that it’s always been drawn, the reality of the martial artists’ action; if you mixed those together, what kind of thing would it turn into?” The motion capture was created not at MAPPA but at the Sola studio, with stunt performers depicting fight schools such as taekwondo (Mori’s style) and taekkyon.
One point of trivia; the American President in the God of High School anime has a different model from the one in the source strip. In the strip, you can guess the President’s real-world model from his name, President Oba Mashariff. However, by the time the anime came out, times had changed, and the President is modelled on… Marvel’s Iron Man, as portrayed by Robert Downey Jr on screen. The character is voiced in Japanese by Keiji Fujiwara, who dubbed Downey Jr in the Marvel films. He also voiced Mira’s uncle in God of High School, while you may also know him as Holland in Eureka Seven, Maes Hughes in both versions of Fullmetal Alchemist, and the big-chinned sage student Higuchi in Tatami Galaxy. Tragically, Fujiwara died from cancer in 2020, aged just 55.
To date, God of High School and Tower of God are the most prominent examples of South Korean strips, or manhwa, being turned into anime. In some ways, it’s strange that this hasn’t happened more often. Both K-pop and K-drama have been exported to Japan with massive success, and manga and anime have been adapted in South Korea – you can find the Korean live-action Boys Over Flowers on Netflix. However, the anime industry is already so stretched with adapting Japanese properties that it may not look further afield. Or perhaps there’s a fear of consumer resistance – that a section of the Japanese audience may reject manhwa adaptions as being “not really anime.”
For the time being, webtoons are often sourced for live-action K-dramas, several available in Britain. Netflix has numerous horror series such as All of Us Are Dead, Hellbound, Sweet Home and the medieval-zombies saga Kingdom. Other webtoon adaptations on Netflix include D.P., a drama about police catching army deserters; the ensemble drama Itaewon Class; the romcom Business Proposal; and the office series Misaeng: Incomplete Life. The fantasy-action series Island is on Amazon Prime.
As of writing, another high-profile webtoon adaptation is streaming – Solo Leveling, from a hit strip on the KakaoPage platform (a rival to Webtoon). Will Japan raid the bottomless well of its neighbour’s comics on a bigger scale? We don’t know yet, but the format’s riding high in the world, and it may climb still higher. Perhaps it’ll end up so big that anime can’t afford to ignore it.
Rent-a-Girlfriend is a risqué romcom about a young man going online and… It’s as the title says. College student Kazuya is smarting after he’s dumped. That’s when he finds a website offering rental girlfriends. (“For just 5,000 yen per hour,” says the site, which was about £35 when the series was broadcast in 2020, and about £27 as of writing). As to whether rental girlfriends are anime fantasies like alien girlfriends, or whether they’re really a thing in Japan… We’ll get to that later.
Soon Kazuya is sitting in a café with a gorgeously beautiful, smiling girl. The script constantly reminds us that she’s absurdly out of his league. At the end of the date, she briefly holds his hand, and Kazuya lets himself think she liked him. Then he goes on a discussion board and finds, surprise, that’s how she treats all her customers.
Smarting again, Kazuya gives the girl a one-star review, but it’s not enough. He orders another date so he can tell the girl, called Chizuru, how he feels in person. On the day, she’s impeccably bright and friendly again… till they go to an aquarium (the archetypal date spot for Japanese youngsters), and he starts yelling at her. She drags him into a back room, breaks character, and explodes at him in turn. It’s wonderfully uncomfortable and fascinating on a human level, silly cartoon expressions and all.
Then we get the first of the story’s ludicrous twists. While they’re arguing, Kazuya gets a call telling him his grandmother, who’s dear to him, has been taken to hospital. He rushes to see her and Chizuru follows because, well, she’s a pro and still on the clock as his date. On seeing Chizuru, the grandmother naturally asks who this strange girl is, and Kazuya stammers she’s his girlfriend. Pandemonium follows, as Kazuya’s relatives had given up on the boy continuing the family line.
In a pile-on of wouldn’t-you-knows, it turns out Chizuru’s not just a student at Kazuya’s college, but she lives next door to him too! At least Chizuru has Clark Kent syndrome; that is, she looks so dowdy and studious in her normal life that none of the supporting characters recognise her as the goddess on Kazuya’s arm. Oh, and Kazuya’s ex, called Mami, is still around, reacting oddly to the news that he’s got a beautiful new girlfriend. It’s great fun seeing Chizuru and Kazuya being roped together ever tighter. And then more girls pile on in…
Rent-a-Girlfriend started as a manga in 2017, written and drawn by Reiji Miyajima, and serialised in Weekly Shonen Magazine. It’s still running as of writing, coming up to 35 collected volumes, and spawning not just this anime but a live-action series on Japanese TV in 2022. Notably, Miyajima said in an online interview that he was influenced by a news story that wasn’t about Japan – rather, it was a story about China. It was about “parents who pressure their sons to bring a girlfriend home for Chinese New Year, so they rent a girlfriend to introduce to their parents. It sounds quite silly, but I felt it was also endearing.”
There seems no reason to think rental girlfriends don’t exist in Japan. Indeed, it’s easy to find Japanese-language sites which will purportedly put you in touch with them, or YouTube videos that ostensibly show the “service” in action. It’s debatable if rental girlfriends are any less strange, or more sinister, than maid cafes or hostess clubs. Both of those undeniably exist, and both are businesses which let male customers pay to share the company of young women who wouldn’t glance at them in real life.
However, it’s worth adding a postscript to this, about the much wider claims have been made in recent years. Namely, that “rental girlfriends” are the tip of a far more extraordinary Japanese culture. In April 2018, the New Yorker ran an article, nearly ten thousand words, about what it called Japan’s “rent-a-family” industry. Written by Elif Bautman, the article claimed that “rental” actors are used for everything from giving a lonely widower a family meal to staging expensive weddings for marriage-mad parents.
The article appears to have been the inspiration for a docu-drama film about the same subject in 2020, called Family Romance LLC and directed by the esteemed Werner Herzog. In less elevated mode, the article was also the likely inspiration for a comedy spot by the American talk-show host Conan O’Brien.
I have a personal interest, as I wrote a piece for this blog about the New Yorker article, pointing up some credibility questions raised by my Japanese friends. Since then, my friends turned out to be on the money. In 2020, the New Yorker admitted several elements in its article were fabricated by the Japanese interviewees. For anyone interested, there’s an excellent summing-up of the debacle on the New Republic website by Ryu Spaeth, entitled “How The New Yorker Fell Into The ‘Weird Japan’ Trap.” I still find the New Yorker piece bracing, but as fiction; someone should make an anime of it.
The feature film Venus Wars has a special nostalgic cachet in Britain and America, at least among fans who are old enough to remember when Akira was a “new” thing. Following the release of Otomo’s film, Venus Wars was among the first batch of SF-action anime to be marketed as anime in those territories. In Britain, it was among the first video releases from Manga Entertainment, together with Project A-Ko, Dominion Tank Police and Fist of the North Star. (You can see how all these titles were run together as a “brand” in this vintage video trailer.)
Venus Wars has more specific Akira comparisons. It’s a science-fiction action-adventure, for one. The main story is set on a terraformed Mars, where two nations are at war, and several characters are forced into fighting when their city is invaded. Many of the protagonists are youngsters on motorbikes – well, kind of motorbikes, though they only have single oversized wheels, making them technically motor-unicycles. As other pundits have pointed out, the focal hero youngster – called, er, Hiro – could be mistaken for Akira’s Kaneda in some shots. That’s doubly true when he’s shown on a crimson bike.
Venus Wars was released to Japanese cinemas in March 1989, less than a year after Akira, and it was a beneficiary of the country’s bubble economy of the time. As with Akira, you can feel its greater budget in the rich textures and colours, and the sheer amount of flying rubble and gushing smoke. Early on, there’s a chase scene worthy of Akira; it starts with Hiro scuffling with cops, and builds up and up until he’s fleeing armoured vehicles over a rollercoaster of metal piping and stairways.
Venus Wars may well have been influenced by Akira – if not by the then-recent movie, then by Katsuhiro Otomo’s massively popular strip that had been running since 1982. I noted in another article how the Akira manga seems to be referenced in the TV series Gundam ZZ, broadcast long before the Akira film. But then Venus Wars also draws on the traditions established in the first Gundam series, all the way back in 1979. That’s hardly surprising, as Venus Wars’ creator is Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, who was Character Designer and Animation Director on that series.
As in Gundam, Venus Wars is an SF adventure that’s emphatically a human conflict. There are no alien invaders, and many of the war images feel uncomfortably close to the real news. Throughout its decades-long run, Gundam often asked viewers to imagine how you would feel if your home, your city, was mercilessly bombarded in warfare. That’s how the first Gundam started, with a military attack on a space colony, shown through the eyes of school-aged youngsters fleeing the carnage. Many later Gundam series start the same way – Gundam Seed, for instance.
Venus Wars is arguably more “pulpy” than them, and yet some of the details can hit harder. After all, much of the film isn’t set not on a space colony but in what’s basically a first-world city, where ordinary life is blown asunder, not by giant robots but by shelling and tanks. The setting may be a terraformed Mars, but it’s easy to project yourself into the scenario, and by extension into the real wars it brings to mind. For viewers watching the film in the 1990s, that might be Srebrenica in Bosnia, where a Japanese critic once found a mural of Akira’s scowling Kaneda. Thirty years on, you may think of the recent horrors in Gaza.
If that sounds like far too much weight to put onto a cheesy action film, then consider the scene where Hiro rants angrily about the lies perpetrated by “his” government, while his naïve girlfriend covers her ears and says she doesn’t want to know. This may be embarrassingly sexist mansplaining, but the message is still plain; question the narratives spread by the people in power (another favourite theme in Gundam). True, the anti-authority moment gives way almost immediately to a hilariously awkward scene of teen desire – and for once, it’s the boy, not the girl, who’s in a state of undress.
Venus Wars was Yasuhiko’s third anime film as director, following his previous SF actioner, 1983’s Crusher Joe, and 1986’s Arion, a splendid reworking of Greek mythology. Both Arion and Venus Wars were adapted by Yasuhiko from his own manga strips, and they had music by the same composer, Joe Hisaishi. Yes, that Joe Hisaishi, who’s world-famous for his collaborations with Hayao Miyazaki. His Venus Wars score here can feel aggressively 1980s in a way that may make viewers love or loathe it, but there’s more to notice in it. For example, the plangent piano under the scene between Hiro and his girlfriend has Hisaishi’s wistful romanticism; it’s in the same continuum as his work for Laputa and Robot Carnival.
Finally, Gundam fans should note another little link to that franchise. Lieutenant Kurtz, who eventually becomes Hiro’s superior and rival in the film, is voiced by Shuichi Ikeda. By the time that Venus Wars came out, Ikeda was already famous for playing one of the most iconic figures in SF anime – Gundam’s Char.
One way you could pitch the anime series We Rent Tsukumogami would be to describe it as Miss Hokusai meets Bagpuss. Bagpuss, if you’re too young to remember it, was a vintage British animation about a shop that collects lost objects, dolls, carvings and the like, which come alive and talk among themselves. We Rent Tsukumogami has a similar idea, except that its focus shifts between the talking objects and their human neighbours, who live in Edo, the city that’ll one day be Tokyo.
Edo has been shown in many period anime, but Tsukomogami feels particularly close to the Miss Hokusai film. Both anime have loose overarching stories, but they’re more concerned with conveying the rhythms of daily life. Indeed, the “slice of life” tag that’s often used by anime fans fits here. Both anime mix in the supernatural with daily period detail, and share Edo landmarks – for example, the red-light district of Yoshiwara and the curving wooden Ryogoku bridge, as painted by Hokusai.
However, We Rent Tsukumogami is the more gentle, humorous anime of the two. The “We” of the title refers to Oko and Seiji, the young human owners of an Edo lending shop called Izumo-ya. As the series explains, Edo’s houses are vulnerable to fires, so all but the richest inhabitants prefer to rent objects for a small fee, rather than own them. Oko and Seiji are siblings, though it’s soon established they’re not blood-related – the girl Oko was fostered by Seiji’s family following one such fire. Now their shop contains a great many objects, and some are actually “tsukumogami.”
In Japan a tsukumogami is an object that has gained its own spirit. You can see it as an extension of Japan’s age-old animist traditions, but it’s also how a child anywhere can see a beloved object – look at Toy Story, or indeed Bagpuss. (In anime, the short film Pigtails showed a girl surrounded by talking clothes-pegs and toothbrushes.) In the shop owned by Oko and Seiji, there’s a small cluster of tsukumogami, which includes a chatty comb; a princess doll; a full moon (with legs) from a hanging scroll picture; a pipe (kiseru); and a carved bat, who’s the noisiest of the bunch
The anime has an especially interesting take on the relationship between spirits and humans. As is common in these kinds of stories, the tsukumogami try to avoid being noticed by the humans, and most of the humans don’t notice them. However, Oko and Seiji are perfectly aware of their non-human neighbours, and can hear all their gossip. They avoid direct communication with the tsukumogami, but they still make use of them. For example, they can loan one of the tsukumogami out to someone, wait till its return, and then listen to the spirit gossip about what it’s seen and heard.
Many of the episodes revolve around small questions and mysteries – for example, looking for a precious object that’s been lost, or investigating someone’s agenda. One of the funniest episodes, part two, involves Japanese scrolls. Their owner is baffled that they’re starting to show weird mixes of characters from literature and folklore. That’s because the characters in the different pictures are becoming tsukomagami at night, getting into scraps, and then ending up in the wrong scrolls when morning comes. You may guess the story’s punchline if you know your Ghibli films.
The “regular” tsukumogami characters each have childlike quirks a la Bagpuss. The comb is skittish and garrulous, the moon character’s full of refined self-importance, the bat is grumpy but a softy, and so on. As for the human characters, they’re more slow to know, with the obvious question being what exactly is the deal between the official-siblings Oko and Seiji. More of their backstory is gradually divulged, while we see Oko and Seiji getting to know their human neighbours as we get to know them. Supporting characters in one story often come back in another, so try keeping track of who’s who.
The series was inspired by two Japanese books by Megumi Hatakenaka, and was broadcast on NHK General TV – NHK is Japan’s public broadcaster, and the series has rather more educational value than most anime, reminding viewers of the practices and implements of the Edo era. The anime’s director is Masahiko Murata, who doesn’t always direct such gentle fare; he helmed the grisly action series Shikabane Hime (Corpse Princess). He’s now directing the anime of To Your Eternity, the centuries-spanning manga saga by Silent Voice author Yoshitoki Oima.
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