Industry News: NYCC 2015 Announcements - New Manga/Light Novel Additions & More

Late again but at least I now know that all of the information from NYCC has been revealed so I can put everything together into one big post. Unlike the previous conventions I didn't think we would be getting any special announcements this time around but I was wrong because some huge titles went off this past weekend.

The distributors who announced new things were Kodansha Comics, Vertical, Viz Media, Yen Press as well as Aniplex and Funimation. Crunchyroll and Viewster also unveiled some new things but I'll be leaving them out this time around.

I'm going to start with the obvious so let's get straight to Funimation.

Funimation

Good lord their panel was just disastrous, it was pretty much full of recap from previous conventions and even showed off trailers for Fairy Tail parts that were released ages ago instead of the latest one. Anywho they only had one big announcement (and I guess the Anime News Network podcast did take most of the new news anyway) and that is the 'final' release date for the long delayed Evangelion: 3.33 You Can (Not) Redo movie. The original release was set for February 16th 2014 and now the new date is February 2nd 2016. It's been a long while and they better not delay it this time, to make things safe they did clarify that the film will not receive any theatrical treatment. The product should look the same as what it was prior so expect a slipbox with a booklet and Region B compatible discs (as well as Region 2 & 4 for the DVD version).

Aniplex of America

Like Funimation, Aniplex pretty much showed off what they already had but they did provide trailers for two existing titles that are coming to Japanese theaters next year - the Kizumonogatari Trilogy and Sword Art Online Movie Project. Both of these are confirmed to be acquired by the distributor and is expected to come out on Blu-ray (and DVD for SAO) at some point. I doubt these two will receive the Japanese Import treatment with English subtitles so I'll be waiting for the domestic release as per usual.

Sunrise

Sunrise had some interesting stuff to announce this time around. In fact their panel pretty much unveiled way more than I was expecting.

Tiger & Bunny is getting a live-action hollywood film adaptation. Now usually this is a bad sign because the last one Dragonball Evolution was a complete disaster and other titles are in development hell (with so far the exceptions being Akira, Death Note and Ghost in the Shell as those seem to be going ahead as planned). This time Bandai Namco is involved with the production and considering this series' setting it could work as a hollywood film especially as the characters each have their own product placements.

The next set of announcements were related to Gundam. Rightstuf is expected to release six more Gundam titles in 2016 - Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, After War Gundam X, Gundam Build Fighters, Gundam Build Fighters Try and Gundam Reconguista in G in addition to the Mobile Suit Gundam Movie Trilogy already scheduled for early 2016 on DVD. The six titles will be released on DVD while Reconguista in G is getting a Blu-ray release also. Another surprising piece of news is that Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans will be getting an English dub, scheduled for early 2016.

Outside of Rightstuf, the panel also confirmed that news on NIS America's Love Live! English dub is scheduled for reveal sometime at the end of October and Discotek's Giant Gorg release is set for end of January 2016.

Viz Media - Anime

Viz Media pretty much won the convention with their announcements because they blew everyone's minds with what they showed off. After many years of demand and supposedly being caught in a bidding war, the distributor have managed to acquire the rights to the 2011 anime series of Hunter x Hunter. The series will be released on Blu-ray and DVD next year with an English dub. It's funny how Viz got it when they keep telling fans on social media that someone else has it etc. but it's finally resolved.

The other anime-related announcement came from the Sailor Moon panel. The voice actress and folks who worked on the Sailor Moon Viz English Dub have announced that Sailor Moon Crystal will be released starting next year with the first set containing the Dark Kingdom arc. The Blu-ray version will the exact same as the Japanese release so don't expect Viz screwing it up this time. Crystal will also get an English dub.

Viz Media - Manga

Now it's time to unveil the manga announcements! Viz Media provided some very surprising additions to their catalogue this time around.

Usually sport titles are a danger these days but Viz Media have decided to acquire the rights to Haikyuu!! and Kuroko's Basketball. This is excellent news as I'm a big fan of the anime adaptation and I'm happy to see Viz has changed their minds on these two, especially when it's been highly requested on social media. Kuroko's Basketball is getting the 2-in-1 treatment (30 volumes to 15 volumes) while Haikyuu!! will be single releases.

Over on the Shojo Beat label, Yona of the Dawn (Akatsuki no Yona) and Everyone's Getting Married (Totsuzen desu ga, Ashita Kekkon Shimasu) were picked up for print release. Yona of the Dawn has received a big fanbase thanks to the anime adaptation so I'm sure it'll do very well in sales.

Three more titles were announced for print release - Black Clover, Seventh Garden and Monster Hunter: Flash Hunter. Black Clover was initially part of Viz's Weekly Shonen Jump digital distribution. All of the titles are scheduled for Spring/Summer 2016 release.

Vertical

Vertical didn't technically announce any new titles but they did reveal a new type of service called Audio Light Novels. The best way to describe it is that it's similar to Audio Novels and Drama CDs. The two titles confirmed for this type of treatment are Attack on Titan: Harsh Mistress of the City and Kizumonogatari.

Kodansha Comics

Kodansha has a fair share of titles to announce, though only two of them were print releases. On the first day of NYCC they unveiled a special Attack on Titan announcement that turned out to be an anthology of stores from western creators due for Fall 2016. This idea is pretty sweet as the series is now popular enough to get the attention of comic book creators. In terms of story as far as I'm aware it's a prequel of sorts. In addition to westerners getting involved with manga works, Canadian artist Faith Erin Hicks announced he'll be working on a special 4-panel work for Vinland Saga Omnibus 7.

The two print titles announced at the panel were I Am Space Dandy (One Space Dandy) and Spoof on Titan (Sungeki no Kyojin). Both of these are works based on the original source material, with Space Dandy providing original stories not shown in the anime while Spoof on Titan says it in the title.

The rest of the titles unveiled were actually set for eBook releases only, which to me is a disappointment because I'm sure they'll do really well sales wise. The titles are As the Gods Will: The Second Series (Kamisama no Iutoori Ni), Fort of Apocalypse (Apocalypse no Toride), Fuuka, My Wife is Wagatsuma-san (Wagatsuma-san wa Ore no Yome) and Space Brothers (Uchuu Kyoudai). On the plus side, you can still view all five of these titles over on Crunchyroll!

Yen Press

Last but not least we have some more announcement from Yen Press!

Starting with the manga side of things, they managed to acquire Dimension W which will soon receive an anime adaptation early next year from Funimation, Orange and Studio 3Hz. As well as Corpse Party: Blood Covered, the manga adaptation of the popular PC/PSP Horror remake, Scumbag Losers (Saiteihen no Otoko), a short omnibus release from Mikoto Yamaguchi who I'm aware is currently working on Dead Tube, Space Dandy (not to be confused with I Am Space Dandy that Kodansha has picked up) which is another manga adaptation of the anime series, this one in particular is 2 volumes long, and also Unhappy Go Lucky (also known as Unhappy♪) which will also receive an anime adaptation sometime next year from studio Silver Link. All five of these manga titles are set for Spring 2016 release.

And these next lot are light novel announcements! I'm glad that light novels are finally getting the attention they deserve and so far this year we've seen a great number of titles getting the official translation treatment thanks to the Yen On imprint.

First light novel announced was Psycome, a short 6 volume series also known as Psycho Love Comedy. The series is scheduled for Spring/Summer 2016 release. And the next two light novels also have their manga counterparts licensed as well by Yen Press; Overlord and The Boy and the Beast. Both of these titles are set for Summer 2016 release.

And that concludes the announcements from New York Comic Con 2015. Some big hits were revealed which is always a good thing. I know MCM Comic Con London isn't far off so that will be the next big industry news reveal as well as the January line-up for Funimation. Stay tuned folks!