Blu-ray Anime: November 2009 Releases

As the next generation of digital home video content inches forward in the form of lower-priced Blu-ray Disc (BD) players and increasingly prevalent theatrical re-releases of popular content, a lot of movie fans are well on-bard when it comes to obtaining the latest and greatest film technology has to offer. Japanese animations stateside has witnessed sprinkled Blu-ray Disc home video releases over the past six months or more; however, this coming fall and winter season will see many, many more. Offering the requisite higher definition in visual and audio quality alongside a boatload more disc space, Blu-ray is still a couple years away from being the industry standard, but western anime distributors are becoming more and more consistent with their BD offerings.

Anime on Blu-ray will reach its highest number of releases come November 2009, closely following the availability of key titles such as the girls-with-guns action anime Burst Angel and theatrical fantasy epic Escaflowne: the movie in September and October, respectively.

In November, FUNimation Entertainment and Manga Video will be re-releasing some of their best-selling titles but on Blu-ray, sure to draw diehard genre fans who wouldn't dream of enjoying their beloved anime without hi-def.

At the top of their list, FUNimation will be offering Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa ($34.98; Nov. 17th), resurrecting and rounding out Ed and Al's lifelong struggle with the secrets of alchemy. This time around though, their battle focuses on the impending conflict of alchemy and modern science, posing an ideological struggle as much a moral impasse.

Fans are also urged to keep an eye out for Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, Season One ($59.98; Nov. 17th). Distributed on three Blu-ray discs, the BD Set will retail the same day as a repriced/relabeled DVD collection ($49.98) from FUNimation (originally released November 2008). Regardless, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE is the adaptation of the CLAMP-produced manga mash-up that assembles characters and stories from numerous CLAMP past-projects into a single universe-wide fantasy-adventure. The DVD Set of Season Two is currently scheduled for late December 2009 ($69.98).

Witchblade ($79.98; Nov. 3rd) is also slated for release, as a complete Blu-ray Disc Set. The Witchblade anime is a full-length series, which uses its TVMA rating to its advantage in sending a buxom single-mother through the peril of raising a daughter while mysteriously granted the power of the devil himself. The complete series DVD release of Witchblade was initially released October 2008.

Elsewhere, Manga Video has unearthed a few titles for the Blu-ray Disc treatment this fall. Both scheduled for release late in the month, director Mamoru Oshii-influenced titles Blood: The Last Vampire ($29.97; Nov. 24th) and Ghost in the Shell 2.0 ($29.97; Nov. 24th) are each on their way as well.

The former is the scarily good, 48-minute production about a dark and petulant "original" whose centuries-long combat against the Chiropterans has been more recently replicated for lighter fare [recent A.I. news: "'Blood Plus' Anime Set #2 on Sale" (10/2009)]. The latter, Oshii's digital addendum to the mid-1990s film, again sends anime fans in the direction of an all-time classic.

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