Industry News: MCM London Comic Con (May 2016) Announcements (Part 2)

MCM Comic Con is back again for London this month and there's been a whole lot of new announcements brought up. For this part I'll be covering what Anime Limited and Universal Pictures will be offering for the UK & Ireland.

Universal Pictures

Starting with Universal first as they only have two titles to offer. When Universal started getting involved in the UK anime business I was honestly worried. Warner Bros did the same thing but failed miserably with their JoJo release being terrible in terms of dubtitles, video quality and presentation. With Universal they immediately said they wouldn't pull a JoJo and took feedback from both UK Anime Network and everyone who supports the collector's market.

Now they have proven themselves with Seraph of the End and The Heroic Legend of Arslan. Seraph Part 1 just got released and it looks fantastic, heck I even want a copy even though I don't have the funds for it (I spent it on Aniplex's Nekomonogatari White with good reason). For those wondering Seraph's release includes English & Japanese audio with English subtitles as well as other European languages/sub support. The on-disc extras are the same as Funimation's but without the English dub commentaries (which are honestly hit or miss).

Now onto the main topic, Universal have announced plans to bring two more shows to the UK with the same collector's edition treatment.

Berserk (2016)

The new upcoming anime adaptation from the popular seinen manga by Kentaro Miura. The story is set after the events of the Golden Age arc which has never been touched in anime form (with the exception of that one episode in the 1997 anime). The series will be streaming exclusively on Crunchyroll.

Drifters

An upcoming adaptation of the manga created by Kouta Hirano who also made Hellsing. This looks very interesting going by the existing trailers. At the moment there is no date in sight for the simulcasts but I expect it to be streamable for the UK.

Anime Limited

The distributor that I describe to have dominated this weekend has made some interesting announcements. Back in October 2015 they announced a bunch of shows that I wasn't expecting and that surprised me a lot. I didn't think they would top it up again and boy they found a way.

Belladonna of Sadness

This classic experimental adult anime film from Eiichi Yamamoto has completed its 4K restoration in the states and will be coming to the UK on Blu-ray. Ozamu Tezuka was also involved with the production of the film. This is expected to be the same treatment that Cinelicious Pics is also giving in terms of the package (booklet for example).

Black Butler: Book of Circus

The third season (and entirely canon) to the Black Butler series. Manga UK released the first two seasons on PAL DVD only while Funimation brought out combo packs with UK compatible Blu-rays. This release so far only confirms Book of Circus with Book of Murder being unknown.

Bungo Stray Dogs

One of Spring 2016's simulcasts. As it's still currently airing, it will be a while before we'll hear news on this title in terms of home releases.

Death Parade (+ Death Billiards)

The original anime from studio Madhouse will be coming to the UK on Blu-ray with an Ultimate Edition set. The Death Billiards OVA from Anime Mirai will also be included, as well as the English dub that was used as part of Funimation's Broadcast dub treatment.

Dimension W

One of Winter 2016's simulcasts. Funimation and Bandai Visual co-operated to make this anime happen and will be coming to the UK. An English dub has been produced.

High School Fleet

One of Spring 2016's simulcasts. As it's still currently airing, it will be a while before we'll hear news on this title in terms of home releases. This is also an Aniplex title, which means that there is at least a cheaper version that will be made available.

Kiznaiver

One of Spring 2016's simulcasts. As it's still currently airing, it will be a while before we'll hear news on this title in terms of home releases.

Lupin the Third Part IV

The new iteration of Lupin set in Italy will be coming to the UK. Formats are TBA but an English dub is in the works with the cast of Lupin Part II.

Momotaro: Divine Sea Warriors

This is the first full feature-length anime to be made in Japan and it's essentially a Japanese World War II propaganda film. The Blu-ray release will use a 2K remaster with a booklet written by Jonathan Clements.

Persona 3 the Movie #1 Spring of Death

Persona 3 the Movie #2 Midsummer Knights Dream

Persona 3 the Movie #3 Falling Down

Persona 3 the Movie #4 Winter of Rebirth

All four films that adapts the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 storyline will be available separately with the collector's edition treatment. There's no news as to whether an English dub will happen as Aniplex of America have only released the films via importing the Japanese sets.

Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-

One of Spring 2016's simulcasts. As it's still currently airing, it will be a while before we'll hear news on this title in terms of home releases.

Sound! Euphonium

One of Kyoto Animation's recent anime titles from 2015, the series will be coming to the UK. The release in the states is handled by Pony Canyon whom are giving it three collector's edition parts subtitle only. It's unknown if there will ever be an English dub for the show.

The Tatami Galaxy

This unique series from Masaaki Yuasa (Ping Pong the Animation) will be back in print and on Blu-ray. No English dub has been made but it may end up being released subtitle only. The dialogue is said to be as fast as Monogatari.

Twin Star Exorcists

One of Spring 2016's simulcasts. As it's still currently airing, it will be a while before we'll hear news on this title in terms of home releases.

There's also a few more bits of information revealed on certain things.

Fullmetal Alchemist Ultimate Edition was unveiled. The entire 51 episode series will be available in one special 970 print set that contains a replica of the Gate used in the series plus two collector's edition box sets (available separately) with artcards and the usual packaging. The artbook exclusive to the Ultimate Edition is 280 pages long and 26cm x 26cm big. The set is available to pre-order now. Order before July 5th will cost £124.99, afterwards it will go up to £149.99 until release. Any remaining stock at release will be at SRP £299.99. The set will be available on 31st October 2016.

Death Parade and Fullmetal Alchemist are not the only titles to receive upcoming Ultimate Editions. Eureka Seven and The Vision of Escaflowne were also confirmed to receive the treatment. With Eureka Seven they have received the materials but have yet to decide what to include for the set. And while we know that Escaflowne has a release date (October) and details on what it'll include, we do know now that both English dubs (Bandai & Funimation) will be included on the Blu-ray alongside the two versions of the series. The Blu-ray release has been authored by Justin Sevakis.

Also announced was Anime Limited confirming that their titles will be available to stream on Crunchyroll in the near future. No news on what titles will be appearing but my guess is that it will be shows and films not streaming on Funimation Now.

Other news unveiled via Q&A includes the lack of updates for Haruhi Suzumiya Season 1, with the reason being that they're waiting for Funimation to sort out their release first. The Place Promised in Our Early Days and Voices of a Distant Star double pack has a new update; the authoring is complete but they're working on the final packaging approvals including the possibility of including the original soundtracks to these two films. And while Durarara!!x2 OVAs are exclusive to the Aniplex of America release, Andrew (El Presidente of Anime Limited) is working to try and negotiate a solution to this matter.

UPDATE: Here's the panels that AnimeBlu-rayUK and MyM managed to record:

That's it for the MCM news. Stay tuned for early July where I'll cover the Anime Expo news.