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from Appleseed XIII |
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from Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero |
In Appleseed XIII, the woman commands a paramilitary force that must defend her precious Olympus City at all costs, even when a former commanding officer thought dead returns from the grave to raise hell. FUNimation has acquired the broadcast, home video, and streaming rights for the thirteen episode anime.
New to Japanese airwaves this week, Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero (Hagure Yousha no Aestetica) is an action series that tangles with Akatsuki Ohotorizawa, who has just returned home after serving in a parallel world of swords and sorcery. After battle, the hero finally returns to the real world (with a demon king's daughter, no less).
Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero peppers in the usual notes of romance, supernatural, and action associated with the cautionary return-to-normalcy a wayward hero is often entitled to. FUNimation Entertainment has acquired the simulcast rights to the anime; a future home video release is as of yet unannounced or not anticipated.
Dangerous villains, troublesome protagonists, an abused child, an the rare directorial debut of a female animation artist all contribute to the much-lauded Michiko & Hatchin, a full-length TV anime produced in 2008. Michiko is sexy, lazy, and causes problems wherever she goes (she breaks out of prison only to stir up even more trouble). Hatchin is a neat and tidy girl whose home life crumbles day by day under the weight of abusive foster care. Together, the two characters make a remarkable and entirely unlikely traveling duo once their paths intersect. In Michiko & Hatchin, the two share a muddled past together, but only time will tell if their future will be any clearer.
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from Michiko & Hatchin |
The anime presses the unique flavor and style of1980s Brazil into a slew of emerging themes, such as personal freedom and self-discovery. FUNimation has acquired the broadcast, home video, and digital distribution rights to the anime series.
Earlier in the calendar year, FUNimation announced they had acquired the home video rights to the sci-fi/psychological anime film King of Thorn (Ibari no Ou), which drops a handful of unfortunate people in a survive-at-all-costs kind of future. Produced in 2009, King of Thorn begins with the nefarious Medusa Virus, a peculiar illness that turns its victims into stone. Mankind forces hundreds of individuals into cryogenic sleep, hoping that a cure may be made, and that if not, then perhaps there will be a future available to these people should a cure is irrelevant.
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from King of Thorn |
None of them know what's happened to humankind, none of them know why they've awoken early, and none of them have any idea as to how they're going to survive. FUNimation has scheduled a DVD/Blu-ray release of King of Thorn for September 2012.
In the anime series Aria the Scarlet Ammo (Hidan no Aria), viewers take root in the grounds of a local high school that is noted for its curriculum geared toward training would-be assassins. The crime rate, apparently, has spiraled out of control. The solution? Turn the city's most talented (and fearsome) teenagers into skilled mercenaries. As Aria the Scarlet Ammo continues, Kinji is one such high school kid. Furthermore, the boy has a unique condition: whenever he's near a young woman in need of his protective services, his personality changes, and be transforms into a rather unbending force. Why is this important? Because a cute girl, Aria, has transferred into his class; and unbeknownst to Kinji, this girl also happens to be the most advanced student in the entire school. The action/comedy animation was produced last year, numbers at thirteen episodes, and was acquired for potential broadcast, home video, and digital distribution
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from Binbougami ga! |
Also acquired for digital co-broadcast, the new-to-air animation Binbougami ga! is a gag comedy through and through, based on a manga about the conflicting forces of good fortune and misfortune. Sakura is blessed with good looks, wealth, and popularity.
So much so, in fact, that she's literally sucking the positive energy out of everything around her. Naturally, the poverty gods are plotting to send her antithesis, Momiji, to set things straight.
As Binbougami ga! continues, the two girls engage in routine, petty bickering one can only hope doesn't tear the world apart due to an obvious and comical imbalance of fortune.
FUNimation has acquired the simulcast rights to this anime; a future home video release is as of yet unannounced or not anticipated.
Wrapping up, FUNimation also announced their acquisition of the girl-fights-vampire series revival Blood-C as well as its follow-up film, Blood-C: The Last Dark; the company has obtained the broadcast, home video, and mobile rights to the two titles. The series turns up another version of Saya, a chosen slayer of bloodthirsty crawlers of the night; the time featuring animation work by Produciton I.G and series direct by Tsutomu Mizushima. FUNimation also confirmed its plans to release the new anime series Eureka 7: Astral Ocean, a sequel to popular mecha anime about a band of underdogs struggling with maturity as much as they did with survival against their chosen enemies. In the new series, however, viewers meet Ao Fukai, the son of Eureka. FUNimation owns the simulcast and home video rights to the sequel series.
Other additions to the anime distributor's library include the most recent versions of the fanservice-heavy franchise Ikkitousen -- Great Guardians and Xtreme Xecutor -- both of which are twelve episodes long. In the former, Hakufu expands her talents to include fighting tournaments around the globe; while in the latter, the girl takes on a pupil. Meanwhile, FUNimation has added the full broadcast and home video rights of Jormungand to its back pocket as well. The anime about a lost child picked up by a jovial munitions trader has already started streaming online.