Industry News: MCM London Comic Con October 2017 Announcements

MCM Comic Con London returns for the October season, and the new announcement trend from May 2017 continues once again so there isn't much to say sadly. Like last time, I have reported on the latest announcements on behalf of Anime UK News.

Manga Animatsu will not be announcing titles at conventions but rather at their own pace so they won't have any new announcements. Universal Pictures as well as the Funimation label are both MIA also.

If you want to see the Anime UK News versions of the round-up, here they are:

- Anime Limited Part 1
- Anime Limited Part 2
- MVM Entertainment

Anime Limited

Anime Limited split their announcements across their two panels as well as some additional news revealed a couple days prior. Much like the last panels they only revealed one or two major things each so there wasn't much, but in a sense this is good as they wanted to lower the gap between announcement and home video release (see Ajin Season 1 and Mobile Suit Gundam Movie Trilogy as a good example of this).

Junjo Romantica [Seasons 1-3]

The Boys Love series is coming to the UK presumably as a sub-license from Nozomi Entertainment. The license includes all three seasons of the show for Blu-ray. There's no news on whether it'll have collector's edition releases, but honestly it's better off as a standard edition only release like Castle Town Dandelion. Release date is set for 2018 and will be Japanese audio with English subtitles only.

Revolutionary Girl Utena

The classic 39 episode series is coming to the UK presumably as a sub-license from Nozomi Entertainment also. The license only includes the TV series, as the Movie I believe may still be in the hands of MVM Entertainment. A collector's edition Blu-ray release is planned followed by three standard edition Blu-ray sets. Release date is set for 2018 and will contain both English & Japanese audio with English subtitles.

Tokyo Ghoul (Live-Action)

The live-action Japanese adaptation of the manga is coming to the UK for theatrical release sometime in January 2018. If this does include home video, then this will be Anime Ltd's first live-action license for their distribution. Theatrical release will be Japanese audio with English subtitles only but Funimation will probably give the film an English dub later down the line. More info via AUKN here.

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

Also known as Vampire Hunter D (2000), the second film based on the classic novel series is getting a special re-release under Anime Limited's label. The film was previously released by Studio Canal's older name Optinum Releasing on DVD. The release will include a collector's edition Blu-ray and will be English audio only as the Japanese dub is not available for license (same situation as Discotek's). Release date is set for 2018. More info via AUKN here.

Violet Evergarden

The biggest surprise in a while, Anime Limited have acquired another Netflix anime title for their catalogue. Violet Evergarden is Kyoto Animation's latest anime series and will be streaming exclusively on the Netflix platform sometime in Spring 2018. It is expected to include both English & Japanese audio with English subtitles. More info via AUKN here.

Bonus: Music Soundtracks in Vinyl format

Announced during their first panel, Anime Limited will be returning to the music business after releasing Attack on Titan's original soundtrack on CD a while back with a couple more licenses. A Silent Voice's original soundtrack will be available in both CD and Vinyl format, while a special selection of music from Trigun & Trigun: Badlands Rumble will be available in Vinyl format. Pre-orders are expected to begin later down the line and will be available for United Kingdom, Europe, United States, Canada, and Australia. Two more soundtracks have yet to be announced and more could be revealed if the market does well for them.

Bonus: More Anime on VICELAND

After the success of the previous titles being broadcast on the channel, Anime Limited have announced that both Durarara!! and Gurren Lagann will be on VICELAND in 2018. The channel will be screening them both in English audio.

Other additional information also mentioned at the panels:

• Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry is being looked at for home video. The theatrical release did well for the distributor also.
• Love Live! Sunshine!! Season 2 is confirmed to be under Anime Limited's label after the simulcast for the show was made available for the UK & Ireland.
• Sword Art Online the Movie -Ordinal Scale- home video release is currently set for Q1 2017 due to a holdback period (Aniplex reasons). English dub and Japanese audio with English subtitles is included also.
• Wolf's Rain will be pushed back to 2018 as they plan to include more content if possible to celebrate the show's 15th anniversary. The release will include all 26 episodes and all 4 OVAs on Blu-ray in standard and collector's edition sets. English dub and Japanese audio with English subtitles is included also.

Last but unfortunate news, some titles have been removed from the catalogue. Yep, both Sound! Euphonium and Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju will no longer be released under Anime Limited. While they haven't offered an explanation, my guess is due to a Macross style situation between Anime Limited, Crunchyroll, Funimation, the Japanese licensors, and Sony. It's a fucking mess to be honest. It is expected that a few more titles might be affected but Anime Limited could not confirm or deny at the moment.

MVM Entertainment

MVM wins the best announcements of the convention as per usual but this time they have basically acquired a bunch of titles from Sentai Filmworks.

Battle Girl High School

Summer 2017 series that is available to stream on HIDIVE. No further news on home video, probably going to be released in 2019.

Girl’s Last Tour
(Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou)

Autumn 2017 series that is available to stream on HIDIVE. No further news on home video, probably going to be released in 2019.

Himouto! Umaru-chan R

Autumn 2017 series that is available to stream on HIDIVE. No further news on home video, probably going to be released in 2019.  The first season is available under Manga Animatsu’s distribution and can be streamed on both Crunchyroll and HIDIVE.

Land of the Lustrous
(Houseki no Kuni)

Autumn 2017 series that is available to stream on HIDIVE. No further news on home video, probably going to be released in 2019.

Love and Lies
(Koi to Uso)

Summer 2017 series that is available to stream on HIDIVE. No further news on home video, probably going to be released in 2019.

Made in Abyss

Summer 2017 series that is available to stream on HIDIVE. No further news on home video, probably going to be released in 2019.

No Game No Life Zero

Another movie joins the MVM collection. This will be released sometime in 2018 in both English & Japanese audio with English subtitles.  The main series is also available under MVM’s distribution and can be streamed on both Crunchyroll and HIDIVE.

Princess Principal

Summer 2017 series that is available to stream on HIDIVE. No further news on home video, probably going to be released in 2019.

UQ Holder!
(UQ Holder!: Mahou Sensei Negima! 2)

Autumn 2017 series that is available to stream on HIDIVE. No further news on home video, probably going to be released in 2019.

Vatican Miracle Examiner
(Vatican Kiseki Chousakan)

Summer 2017 series that is available to stream on HIDIVE. No further news on home video, probably going to be released in 2019.

That's it for the MCM announcements for October 2017. Sadly it ain't much to show as most of the distributors decided to change their planning when it comes to revealing new titles.