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Screen Anime Online Screaming Service Ends its Run

Date: 2021 June 01 11:08 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

Normally by now we would have posted details of June's line up for Screen Anime, the streaming film festival. However now with cinemas opening back up and (hopefully) things getting slowly back to pre-COVID normality the curated streaming film festival has run it's course. The festival lasted for a year! Which is impressive by itself.

Anime Limited are still offering some movies streamed via Crunchyroll each month in the UK, Ireland and the US. While those who are still members of Screen Anime would have received a digital gift card for the AllTheAnime.com store via email, prorated based on the amount of time left in their subscription.

Anime Limited are also launching Anime (Un)Limited for £17.99 a year you'll get A 10% discount on all orders placed at the AllTheAnime.com store (which will have paid for itself fairly quickly if you buy a lot of anime). A free copy of their glossy high quality magazine, plus exclusive products and offers for members such as vinyl variants or other unique products.

Additionally tickets are now on sale for LUPIN III: THE FIRST, exclusively in Showcase Cinemas on Wednesday 2nd June 2021.

Read More... | Souce: Anime Limited

Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train UK Cinema Release Details

Date: 2021 May 19 16:59 | Posted By:

Category > Anime > Film

As things start to open up in the UK cinemas are warming back up too. Funimation UK are getting off to a good start this year by releasing Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train on 26th May 2021 across the UK and soon in Ireland too.

You can find a screening near you on the official UK website.

The TV series caused a massive spike in the manga sales and a movie was the natural progression of the franchise. The movie did rather well in Japan, becoming highest-grossing film ever at the Japanese box office.

In this feature film Tanjiro and the other heroes (plus the annoying Zenitsu) go on an adventure to investigate the death and disappearances on a steam train. Action ensues.

To be honest, we found the TV series incredibility enjoyable (despite the annoying Zenitsu). If you haven't already you can watch the series legally on Crunchyroll. We suggest you watch it before going to a screening (although chances are you've already seen the show so don't need to hear what we think about it). The show itself is a great mix of action, adventure, along with the importance of family and freeing your sister from being cursed to live as a demon.

Read More... | Souce: Demon Slayer Movie Offical UK Website

Screen Anime May 2021 Streaming Line Up

Date: 2021 April 26 20:00 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

Streaming curated film festival Screen Anime have just revealed their May 2021 line up.

Headlining this time around is Tokyo Ghoul S, the live action follow up to the original live action movie.

Billed as classic, they've also go some old school anime in the form Belladonna of Sadness.

Under the festival favourite banner we're offered Psychic School Wars, while under curated Screen Anime will be showing The Relative Worlds.

For their TV billing we've got part 2 of Eureka Seven.

This line up is set to run from 25th April 2021 until 25th May 2021. The subscription based service costs £3.98 a month or £39.98 per year. You can also gift a subscription for up to a year.

Read More... | Souce: Screen Anime

Crunchyroll Team up with Anime Limited to Bring Movie Night at Homes Series from 1 May 2021

Date: 2021 April 21 20:21 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The good folks at anime streaming service Crunchyroll have teamed up with anime distributor Anime Limited (aka All The Anime) to bring Movie at Home to Crunchyroll. The season brings a new film each month to Crunchyroll from Anime Limited's portfolio. From the 1st of each month each film will be up on the service for a month to enjoy.

Some of the shows are restricted to the UK and Ireland, while others are UK, Ireland and the USA.

The showcase kicks off with Penguin Highway from 1st of May 2021. They've got some great stuff lined up. Including Patema Inverted, Promare, Giovanni's Island, the delightful Mai Mai Miracle and some Makoto Shinkai films running from January 2022 until April 2022. This a great way to catch a movie you wouldn't always have a chance to see.

Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll

Key Stateside Crunchyroll Talent Joins UK's Anime Limited in Expansion Move

Date: 2021 April 15 21:05 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The good folks at anime distributors Anime Limited have just sent us details of their new hire and key leadership promotion.

The anime firm have announced that they've hired Miles Thomas as their new Chief Marketing Officer. Miles was previously at the anime streaming giants Crunchyroll for 8 years making waves as he expanded their social media network and setup the Editorial Programming department. He brings his industry and domain knowledge to an already strong firm.

Internally there's been a bit of a restructure with Jessica Poce having also been appointed Chief Operating Officer and Kerry Kasim has been promoted from her position as VP Marketing to the role of General Manager, UK and Ireland.

The details of the expansion plan aren't fully explained in the press release, they hint at expanding to other territories and verticals. Reading in-between the lines we're guessing they intend to expand their music offerings and maybe their streaming services, but we're just inferring this from their press release.

It's interesting to see the next stage in the anime industry as Manga Entertainment fades away as it gets absorbed into Funimation, which in turn also owns Crunchyroll.

Anime Limited has always had excellently presented releases. Their collectors and ultimate editions always contain a ton of extra content and are fantastically packaged (we're eager to get our hands on their upcoming release of Violet Evergarden). They've also always been good at cinema releases, bringing Your Name and Mirai to name a few to the big screens. Anime Limited have also gone the extra mile at events as they tend to bring guests from Japan to events like the MCM London Comic Con. We hope they continue with these core strengths as they expand and are interested to see what they've got planned.

Read More... | Souce: Anime Limited

Manga UK to rebrand as Funimation

Date: 2021 April 13 20:42 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

Venerable UK anime brand to be retired in favour of new parent company's identity, social media idents to be moved over to existing Funimation UK addresses.

In an announcement on its official blog, Funimation confirmed that their UK home video division, Manga UK, will rebrand as Funimation. The fan-favourite UK anime label will start changing over to its parent labels identity, starting with their website and social media teams. The post also states that Blue Exorcist and its Kyoto Saga retcon would be available to UK and Irish viewers to celebrate. The change is expected to be completed by May 2021.

Read More... | Souce: Official Funimation blog

Crunchyroll Spring 2021 Line Up

Date: 2021 March 28 14:19 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The good folks from anime streaming service Crunchyroll have revealed their line up for Spring 2021.

It includes the return of old favourites such as the highly anticipated latest season of My Hero Academia, some new Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Digimon Adventure and of course One Piece. Along with the conclusion of Fruits Basket, titled Fruits Basket: The Final Season (hmmm, a bit like Attack on Titan there).

New seasons include To Your Eternity, which we're curious to see how the anime adaption will compare to the manga. The intriguing ODDTAXI, plus a whole crop of different titles such as Tokyo Revengers, Zombie Land Saga Revenge (Season 2), The Slime Diaries, JORAN THE PRINCESS OF SNOW AND BLOOD, Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro, Osamake: Romcom Where The Childhood Friend Won't Lose, Those Snow White Note.

Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll

Culture Gate to Japan Art Exhibition Opens Online and at Airports Across Japan

Date: 2021 March 27 11:11 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

We've just been sent some interesting details about the Culture Gate to Japan Art Exhibition. Set around the airports of Japan each exhibition focuses on a different aspect of Japanese art, history and culture relevant to each location. Kansai International Airport will be hosting a manga themed exhibition, which includes new works by artists including Yuki Urushibara (Mushishi), Machiko Satonaka, Yoshihiro Yamada, Yuichi Yokoyama and more.

But you can't get to Japan right now to enjoy this I hear you cry! Well the reason we're publishing this is the official Culture Gate website has lot of interactive content for you to enjoy from each exhibition online. So you don't have to go hopping around each airport of Japan to get exhibition experience.

We've been told "There are high-tech, contemporary artworks by 29 artists installed at eight locations across Japan. Each location's exhibition is inspired by the culture and history of the region of Japan it is located. From the mysterious soundscapes of Hokkaido's indigenous Ainu people to the vibrant history of Okinawa's ancient Ryukyu Kingdom, diverse cultures can be found throughout Japan. Through this project, artists and creators seek to reinterpret and convey the appeal of these rich cultural resources, each molded by the particular regional climate in which they developed. As the gateways to these unique regions, airports are the ideal location at which to exhibit these works, inviting visitors to discover new aspects of Japanese culture."

Read More... | Souce: Culture Gate to Japan

Screen Anime April 2021 Streaming Line Up

Date: 2021 March 23 20:50 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The good folks from Screen Anime the curated monthly streaming anime festival have sent us the details of their April 2021 showings. As always they've got a great line up.

For April they headline with Makoto Shinkai's Children Who Chase Lost Voices (also known as Journey to Agartha).

Then they've also got the Tiger &Bunny Movie - Tiger & Bunny: The Rising. Set in a world where superheroes get sponsorship from big name brands similar to sports personalties.

They've also got five short films from Production I.G, in the form of Pigtails & Other Short Films.

While for their curated offering, they have RE:Cyborg 009.

For their TV series offering this time around they'll be showing Eureka Seven Part 1.

The shows are available from from 25th March 2021 until 25th April 2021. The subscription based service costs £3.98 a month or £39.98 per year. You can also gift a subscription for up to a year.

Read More... | Souce: Screen Anime

Funimation App Launches on Nintendo Switch

Date: 2021 March 22 20:12 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The good folks from anime company Funimation (who own Manga UK and Cruchyroll) have just sent us details about their Nintendo Switch App. The app is now available on Nintendo Switch in the UK and Ireland. They also plan to expand to other territories in the coming months.

Read More... | Souce: Funimation

I Hear the Sunspot: Limit Volume 3 Manga Release Details

Date: 2021 March 11 20:59 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The good people from One Peace Books have just sent us the release details I Hear the Sunspot: Limit Volume 3. The final volume of the manga is due out on 13th April 2021. The publishers promise us that "The moving love story between two young men, the hard-of-hearing Kohei and the eternally-optimistic Taichi, reaches a tear-jerking finale".

They also tell us it's "Praised for its nuanced representation of disability, and named a best graphic novel for teens in 2019 and 2020 by the American Library Association's YALSA division, I Hear the Sunspot: Limit showcases the protagonists' immense emotional growth while continuing its thoughtful exploration of disability representation and issues."

One Peace Book always publish an interesting range of manga, and this one is certainly worth adding to your reading list.

You can pre-order the book from all the usual places including Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, US Bookshop.org, UK Bookshop.org.

Read More... | Souce: One Peace Books

Discotek Media Announce New Titles for Late 2021 and Beyond

Date: 2021 March 12 20:43 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

US anime boutique label Discotek Media announced on Monday night via Twitch a number of new licence acquisitions and details on already announced titles. They also gave updates on the status of titles they are working on and the state of where they are.

Read More... | Souce: Discotek Media

Women Make Animation Online Event

Date: 2021 March 06 14:07 | Posted By:

Category > Events

The good folks from the Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival have teamed up with Wales One World Festival to Celebrate International Women's Day. Together they'll be hosting free family friendly online event on 13th March 2021. The event will show case works by up and coming female directors. They'll be showing various family friendly short films on the Zoom Stream. The event is free to attend, but registration is required.

They'll also be running a free drawing workshop with the Japanese animator and illustrator Chie Arai.

Read More... | Souce: Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival

Screen Anime March 2021 Streaming Line Up

Date: 2021 February 28 16:28 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The good folks from Screen Anime the curated monthly streaming anime festival have sent us the details of their March 2021 showings. As always they've got a great line up.

For March they headline with the live action adaptation of Tokyo Ghoul, along with the classic anime Mind Game, which marks the directorial debut of Masaaki Yuasa. For the festival favourite they'll be showing The Case of Hana & Alice and for the final feature Summer Days with Coo will be showing too.

For the TV Series subscribers will be treated to the popular sci-fi show Planetes.

This month we highly recommend Mind Game and Planetes, but everything they've got (as always) is worth your time.
The shows are available from from 25th February 2021 until 25th March 2021. The subscription based service costs £3.98 a month or £39.98 per year. You can also gift a subscription for up to a year.

Read More... | Souce: Screen Anime

Talk Series Announced - The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2021

Date: 2021 February 17 21:02 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The good folks from the Japan Foundation in the UK have sent us a reminder about their Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2021. As we've mentioned before in addition to the eighteen finest and most talked about recently released Japanese films, the programme will host 7 online talks where 8 Japanese directors in total will talk about their work and explore issues existing in Japanese society.

They've curated 18 Japanese titles under the theme of This is My Place - Carving out a sense of existence and belonging in Japanese Cinema.

You can sign up to watch the films and talks at home check out https://onlinecinema.jpf-film.org.uk.

As always we've they some really good titles.
The live action adaptation of Little Miss Period stands out. If you enjoyed the manga or are curious about personifications of that time of the month, then it's well worth catching!

For anime fans they'll be showing HELLO WORLD, a romantic story with a sci-fi twist.

Read More... | Souce: The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2021

The Original Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 comes to Crunchyroll

Date: 2021 January 25 21:39 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The good folks from streaming anime service Crunchyroll have just sent us news that they'll be streaming the original Gundam Series Mobile Suit Gundam 0079. This is the original 1979 anime that started it all!

Hugely influential, it's the start of the massive Gundam franchise, the show that spawned so many other shows and countless bits of merchandise (which was the point of the show).

Crunchyroll have both the sub and English dubbed versions available.

Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll

Screen Anime February 2021 Streaming Line Up

Date: 2021 January 23 14:39 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The good folks from Screen Anime the curated monthly streaming anime festival have sent us the details of their February 2021 showings. As always they've got a good line up.

Headlining this month is Mamoru Hosoda's Mirai. It's a charming movie about a small child with of course a Hosoda like twist. You can read our review of the Oscar nominated movie here.

They've also got the first ever anime feature film Momotaro: Sacred Sailors. the Japanese 1945 propaganda film was made using prisoners of war as the voice actors. It's interesting from a historical and academic standpoint and certainly worth watching.

If you're looking for a melancholy sci-fi romance type anime film then HAL is for you.

But if you want some old school anime with a very sweary 1990's dub, Sci-fi action extreme violence and exploding neck collars then the classic Cyber City Oedo 808 is for you.

For the TV show they've got the visually stunning Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo.

This is such a a great selection this month. It's available from 25th January 2021 until 25th February 2021. The subscription based service costs £3.98 a month or £39.98 per year. You can also gift a subscription for up to a year.

Read More... | Souce: Screen Anime

AmeChibi Rescheduled to October 2022

Date: 2021 January 23 13:55 | Posted By:

Category > Events

As we've mentioned before popular fan run anime convention AmeCon's mini con AmeChibi was postponed from April 2021. The AmeCon committee have now announced AmeChibi will be running Friday 14th to Sunday 16th of October 2022.

All bookings for AmeChibi with the venue will be automatically transferred over (as long as it was made by the link sent in AmeChibi registrations email) and your membership for the event will automatically be transferred over too.

We think October 2022 is a realistic date to run, being more than a year in the future hopefully the COVID-19 situation in the UK would be under control and normality would have returned. The AmeCon committee are also being very clear about refunds and other logistics.

We do notice that that weekend is likely to be before MCM Comic Con London based on their previous runs, which means some fans will be able to have two full geek weekends!

Souce: AmeCon

The Japan Foundation UK Touring Film Programme 2021 Line-up Announcement

Date: 2021 January 16 20:10 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

We've just received details from the good folks at The Japan Foundation in the UK. They've just revealed the line up for The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2021. The yearly film festival has always been a great way of seeing a wide range of Japanese films. This year around for the first time ever the festival is going online. It's set to run from 19th February to 10th March 2021.

Screening dates will be announced on Friday January 22nd 2021.

They've curated 18 Japanese titles under the theme of This is My Place - Carving out a sense of existence and belonging in Japanese Cinema.

Anime wise they'll be showing HELLO WORLD, a romantic story with a sci-fi twist.

They've also got the live action adaptation of Little Miss Period. The movie is based on the manga about personified visitations of that time of the month.

As always they've got a lot of good stuff showing and we're spoilt for choice. This time around you'll be able to watch it from the comfort of your own home.

Read More... | Souce: The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2021

Crunchyroll Announces International Slate of Anime Dubs for Winter 2021

Date: 2021 January 06 20:02 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

For those anime fans out there that enjoy a dub, you'll be pleased to hear that anime streaming service Crunchyroll have revealed their anime dub line ups for some of the top shows of the latest seasons of Dr Stone, Jujutsu Kaisen and Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World.

Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll

Screen Anime January 2021 Streaming Line Up

Date: 2020 December 26 13:31 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The good folks from Screen Anime the curated monthly streaming anime festival have sent us the details of their January 2021 showings. As always they've got a good line up.

This time around brings us the magnificent Miss Hokusai the story of Hokusai's daughter. The Place Promised in Our Early Days which marks Makoto Shinkai's feature film debut. You may have seen his other works Your Name and Weathering with You.

If you fancy a dark story with a fairy tale feel, then Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade is for you. From Mamoru Oshii the director of the original 1995 Ghost in the Shell feature film.

If you're after something a bit off beat then the Genius Party Beyond anthology is for you.

While last, but no means least if you're after something really off beat, fast paced and enjoyable then the TV series offering of The Tatami Galaxy is for you. It's from director Masaaki Yuasa who also did Night is Short, Walk on Girl and Lu over the Wall.

This is such a a great selection this month. It's available now until 25th January 2021. The subscription based service costs £3.32 a month or £33.32 per year. You can also gift a subscription for up to a year.

Read More... | Souce: Screen Anime

Discotek Media Teases New Releases for 2021

Date: 2020 December 23 12:51 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

After showing off their releases for the start of 2021, Discotek have announced the next batch of titles for 2021. Unlike their earlier announcement, these titles have no release dates or preorder link details.

The list includes older titles, OVA's, newer shows and standalone movies. They also gave an update on their future release of Project A-Ko on blu-ray.

Titles announced are:

  • Arion
  • Bananya 2
  • Black Rock Shooter
  • City Hunter 2
  • Fighting General Daimos
  • Grimms Fairy Tales
  • Kenichi The Mightiest Disciple
  • Kodocha
  • Laserion
  • Lupin The 3rd: The Columbus Files
  • Lupin The 3rd: The Return of Pycal
  • Lupin The 3rd: Part 3
  • Mahoraba
  • Medabots Season 3
  • Memories

Read More... | Souce: Discotek Media

An Interview with Sara Linsley Manga Letterer

Date: 2020 December 14 20:51 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

Localising manga is more than just buying the rights and getting it translated, there's also sorts of factors to consider to bring it to market. While people often consider the translation there's another part of the localisation process to consider, the letterer! All the words you read on the page aren't just magically put into place, there's actually a lot of art and craft to lettering a manga page. So we thought we'd catch up with a manga letterer to find out more about the process.

Sara Linsley is a software developer and comic book letterer living in NYC, she has done lettering for manga including Sweat and Soap, Spoof on Titan, LDK and Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches. Recently she's also just released a font of her own intended for manga use! We thought we'd catch up with Sara over e-mail to find out how letterer can make or break a good localisation.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Sony Buys Crunchyroll for $1.175 Billion USD

Date: 2020 December 10 21:14 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The news is out! Streaming anime platform Crunchyroll have just been bought by Sony for $1.175 billion (USD). In their corporate structure Sony will put Crunchyroll as part of the Funimation Global Group.

This means Sony now own a substantial amount of the English speaking distribution companies, in the UK they own Manga Entertainment UK along with Funimation UK and in Australia they own Madman Anime Group (which was a part of Madman Entertainment) and in the US they own Funimation.

Crunchyroll's General Manager Joanne Waage says:

"We are excited to embark on this new journey. Crunchyroll has built a world-class brand with a passionate fan-base of over 3M subscribers, 50M social followers and 90M registered users. These amazing fans have helped to propel anime into a global phenomenon,

"Combining the strength of the Crunchyroll brand and the expertise of our global team with Funimation is an exciting prospect and a win for the incredible art form of anime."

Lots of people are publishing their own opinion on this acquisition. At Otaku News our own opinion on this is neutral to negative. We've been hearing whispers of this deal for at least a month. Funimation now have a large chunk of the English speaking anime distribution market and a monopoly of anime streaming services. Worldwide their competition includes Netflix which have been releasing some truly excellent and innovate anime recently. Also consider Amazon Video who do have some good titles such as Vinland Saga but is limited and discovery of decent anime on the Amazon platform is difficult at best.

Additionally less competition generally means less innovation and a lower likelihood of beating their rivals offerings. So those nagging issues with video play back on certain versions of certain players might not be prioritised to fix any more. The question remains what will happen now that Funimation has two streaming platforms with their own Funimation offering and Crunchyroll. Will they be merged under one brand? Will they be kept separate and the technology consolidated? When such technology platforms get merged, it isn't always the best platform that wins, there could be other internal considerations that don't always present as a good result to end users.

Will all the Funimation titles be ported across to Crunchyroll now or vis-versa? Will some titles where the streaming rights are owned by other companies be pulled from Crunchyroll now they're owned by a rival? What will happen to staff with duplicated roles in both companies? At this stage it's all speculation and we'll have to wait and see how it turns out.

Read More... | Souce: AT&T

Screen Anime December 2020 Streaming Line Up

Date: 2020 December 02 20:57 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The good folks from anime streaming festival Screen Anime have just announced their line up for this month. It includes a mix of the late great Satoshi Kon's films in the form of the joyful Millennium Actress, along with the psychological thriller Perfect Blue. Plus some Fate/Stay Night Heaven's Feel II Lost Butterfly, then for those who like a bit of action we've got Psycho-Pass movie Sinners of the System. For the series screening they've got the madcap Anonymous Noise.

Screen Anime have also launched their apps for for iOS, Android, tvOS, and Amazon Fire TV.

The subscription based service costs £3.32 a month or £33.32 per year. You can also gift a subscription for up to a year.

Read More... | Souce: Screen Anime

Mangamo Releases Android App

Date: 2020 November 26 20:58 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The good folks from manga subscription service Mangamo. They've just released their app on Android, so you can grab it from the Google Play Store. The app is already available iOS (iPhone and iPad) on the Apple App Store.

The app itself has a great collection of top tier manga titles including Attack On Titan, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Fire Force, In/Spectre and Fairy Tail. A subscription costs $4.99 USD a month and is a great way to read manga officially. The service is offering a 30-day free trial for new Android users and is also available globally for iOS and offering a 30-day free trial for new iOS users. So you can try before you buy.

Sony have also just invested in Mangamo via the Sony Innovation Fund. Sony have a large interest in the anime industry already owning 95% of Funimation, in turn also own Manga Entertainment in the UK and Madman Anime Group via Aniplex. So it looks like Sony is also expanding into manga distribution!

Read More... | Souce: Mangamo

Anime Limited Announces 2021 release dates and Xmas Sale details

Date: 2020 November 21 23:23 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

UK anime label Anime Limited followed up on their earlier announcement of new titles with release dates and news of their yearly Christmas sales. They also teased further releases for 2021.

Read More... | Souce: Anime Limited at Cloud Matsuri

Crunchyroll Announces Autumn 2020 Dub Slate

Date: 2020 November 14 15:12 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The good folks from anime streaming service Crunchyroll have just announced their dub line ups for autumn 2020.

It includes the dub of Jujutsu Kaisen, I'm Standing on a Million Lives, Tonikawa: Over the Moon For You and Noblesse

Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll

AmeCon Postponed from April 2021

Date: 2020 November 09 20:32 | Posted By:

Category > Events

With COVID-19 still limiting what you can do across the UK, the fan favourite anime convention AmeCon rescheduled their AmeChibi to April 2021. They've now revealed that the April 2021 event has been postponed. The committee are being transparent and clear that it's unfeasible to run the event as it stands in April 2021. They're currently figuring out all the details with the venue about their options and will let everyone know what will happen next in due time.

It should be noted that AmeChibi hasn't been cancelled (as incorrectly reported elsewhere), but postponed until a future date. At the moment there is too much uncertainty so they cannot commit to a date.

Souce: AmeCon

Discotek Media Announce 2021 Titles

Date: 2020 November 08 14:20 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

Hot on the heels of Anime Limited's own solicitations for 2021, US anime label Discotek Media has announced its latest batch of releases. These include their second 4K UHD release and an SD on BD release.

The line up is as follows:

  • Lupin The 3rd: The Castle Of Cagliostro (4K UHD)
  • Kiss X Sis
  • Hajime no Ippo The Fighting!
  • Genocyber
  • The Legend of Black Heaven
  • Symphogear G Season 2

Read More... | Souce: Discotek Media

Anime Limited Showcases Upcoming Release as of November 2020

Date: 2020 November 05 20:16 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

UK anime company Anime Limited have hosted a live stream livestream to announce details for their upcoming 2021 titles. They used the stream to promote their annual 12 Days of Christmas sales period. Set to run from the 1st to the 12th of December 2020.

They've also revealed some new titles coming soon (hopefully December, but it's tentative).

Read More... | Souce: Anime Limited

Liz and the Blue Bird at The Leeds International Film Festival 2020

Date: 2020 October 25 18:52 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

Update: Due to COVID restrictions The Leeds International Film Festival 2020 have had to move online for the whole event.

The Leeds International Film Festival always offers some interesting movies. In 2006 they ran the UK Premiere of Paprika by the late great Satoshi Kon. They've just launched the LIFF 2020 programme.

Anime fans will be interested in Liz and the Blue Bird from Naoko Yamada (A Silent Voice) and Kyoto Animation. It is set to play at City Varieties Music Hall on at 10:00 am on Saturday 7th November and 1:45pm on Sunday 8th November 2020. At this stage it's not clear if it'll be a subbed or dubbed screening. The film is a must for fans of the Sound! Euphonium Series (which you can pre-order from Anime Limited).

We're also waiting for the festival to reveal more details around it's screening of The Message - Onoe Caponoe as part of it's music video competition. The music video is from creative duo TOCHKA. You can catch the part animated video here.

Some of the festival will be taking place in the real world, while other bits will be online via the Leeds Film Player.

Thanks to Jordan Scott for sending us details of the festival.

Souce: The Leeds International Film Festival 2020

Scotland Loves Anime Festival 2020 Details and Call to Crowdfunding

Date: 2020 October 17 18:18 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

With the ongoing trend of everything moving online due to the constraints of COVID-19, the Scotland Loves Anime Film Festival have teamed up with Screen Anime to bring the 2020 festival online. The collaboration is an obvious choice as the founder of the Scotland Loves Anime is also the CEO and founder of Anime Limited, which runs Screen Anime.

The online festivities will run from 25th October until 25th November 2020. Additionally to help the ailing cinemas industry. Screen Anime will also be supporting the festival's crowdfunding efforts, donating two-thirds of all proceeds made during the festival to its usual hosts, the Edinburgh Filmhouse and Glasgow Film Theatre cinemas.

You can help support their funding efforts by visiting their Crowdfunder page, you can receive some nice goodies for supporting the festival too.

Highlights for the festival include a lot of the lovely Lupin III (try saying that twice as fast), along with some Love Live!, breaking the letter L convention they'll also be showing some upside Patema Inverted, some Penguin Highway, plus Weathering With You with an exclusive optional commentary track featuring Dr. Jonathan Clements. We haven't heard the commentary track, but if it's anything like his other commentaries it will be well worth listening to in order to gain extra insight into the movie and anime production in general.

Plus they'll have the Production I.G. Short Film Collection, and some work in progress features around The Tiger and the Fish and Inu-oh.

Read More... | Souce: Scotland Loves Anime Festival 2020

Akira 4K Blu-ray UK Release Details

Date: 2020 October 16 21:36 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The good folks at Manga Entertainment UK have just announced a Akira 4K Limited Blu-ray Release. This release follows on from the recent cinematic outing of the movie in the UK and Ireland.

The luxury set includes the newly remastered 4K version of Akira on 4K UHD Blu-ray, 2 standard blu-rays plus a 40 page booklet.

The release is due out on Monday 30th November 2020. It's set to retail for £59.99.

You can pre-order Akira 4K from Zavvi.com for £49.99 or from Amazon.co.uk for £44.99.

Read More... | Souce: Manga Entertainment UK

Spirits of Action: Japanese Manga and Sports Online Talk

Date: 2020 October 14 19:41 | Posted By:

Category > Events

With COVID-19 still placing restriction on events the good people at Japan Foundation London have got a great range of talks and workshops appearing online soon.

One talk we're excited about is the Spirits of Action: Japanese Manga and Sports . Yoshimura Kazuma will discuss the position of 'sports manga' in Japanese culture and how its contents have evolved to reflect the time. After the presentation anime and manga expert Rayna Denison will join in the conversation.

The online event is set to run at 12:00pm (BST) on Wednesday 28th October 2020. The event is free to attend virtually but places are limited and registration is essential.

Read More... | Souce: Japan Foundation London

Farming Life in Another World Manga Release Details

Date: 2020 September 27 13:34 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The good folks from One Peace Books have sent us details of their latest manga acquisition - Farming Life in Another World. The isekai manga is pitched as guy gets transported to fantasy world, but instead of fighting monsters and villains he sets up a farm and gets involved in agriculture. It forms part of that isekai sub-genre of getting transported to another world and doing normal things (we're thinking of The Hero and His Elf Bride Open a Pizza Parlour in Another World, amongst others). This is the manga adaptation of the popular light novel of the same name by Kinosuke Naito.

Farming Life in Another World comes out on Wednesday October 28th 2020 in print and digital. You can pre-order it from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

Read More... | Souce: One Peace Books

Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival 2020 Details

Date: 2020 September 24 20:36 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

While many events have had to be cancelled this year due to the current COVID-19 crisis a lot of events have been able to shift online. As a result it means there are some great festivals and talks you can go to while staying comfy at home while not having to travel. So the good folks at the Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival will be celebrating their 10th anniversary with short film screenings and events on their YouTube channel and via Zoom.

We've been told there will be 3 Zoom meetings and 4 short film programmes featuring award winning film makers and emerging talents from various universities across Japan.

All films are in Japanese with English subtitles and everything is free to view. Some events do require booking. Content wise the stream is declared safe for children, the equivalent of a U rating in UK cinema. So will be appropriate for all ages.

The Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival has always had a great line-up, so now you just need to keep a weekend free to appropriate some truly lovely animation!

Everything is set to run on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th October 2020.
Check out their festival programme for more details and remember that streaming times are in the UK times.

Read More... | Souce: Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival 2020

Screen Anime October 2020 Streaming Line Up

Date: 2020 September 23 19:42 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The good folks at online anime film festival channel Screen Anime have revealed their October 2020 line up.

As always they've got a bit of something for everyone, movie wise they've got the premiere of Birthday Wonderland from Keiichi Hara (Miss Hokusai), Fate/Stay Night Heaven's Feel 1: Presage Flower (a little something for Fate/Stay fans). They've also got the classic Makoto Shinkai film 5 Centimeters Per Second, this is the Your Name director's earlier film and has a good dose of Shinkai melancholy.

For something a bit different they've got the eclectic Genius Party, which contains an anthology of 7 short films from some of the most celebrated directors in anime including Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, Carole & Tuesday) and Masaaki Yuasa (Ride Your Wave).

Series wise they'll be showing Bartender, an 11 episode TV series, about a hidden bar in Ginza and it's great bartender who knows just the tipple you'll need.

Screen Anime is available in the UK & Ireland for £3.98 a month or £39.98 for a year. Members can take advantage of benefits including discounts at Anime Limited's online store and more. Currently the service can be access via your web browser, with apps promised for for TVos, iOS, Android & Amazon soon.

Read More... | Souce: Screen Anime

Violet Evergarden Collector's Edition Blu-ray UK Release Details

Date: 2020 September 21 19:57 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The good folks from anime distribution company Anime Limited have just revealed the details of their Violet Evergarden Collector's Edition Blu-ray. It features the series, the OVA and extend version of the series finale theatrical versions and more. The show is dubbed in English and also in Japanese with English subtitles.

As well as all the content on blu-ray it contains a 156 page artbook, some art cards and stamp books too.

The Kyoto Animation series is renowned for it's high production values. It's a lavish lush show with so much detail. It's set in a post war European-esque world the series follows the aftermath of the war. It focuses on Violet Evergarden, a young girl raised as a deadly weapon and must adapt to becoming an Auto Memory Doll. She must learn how to transcribe people's thought and feelings in words, she has to learn how to capture their own thoughts into writing better than they can themselves. It's a curious mix of writing with a side dash of violence as we look into Violet's past.

The collector's edition is due out on 30th November 2020, with Anime Limited taking pre-orders on Friday 2nd October until Thursday 29th October 2020. The set will retail for an SRP of £69.99 with Anime Limited selling it for £39.99.

The show is currently available to watch on Netflix.

Read More... | Souce: Anime Limited

Animex 2020 - International Festival of Animation, VFX & Games

Date: 2020 September 17 20:48 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

With COVID-19 still limiting peoples movements online virtual events have been proving popular. Animex The International Festival of Animation, VFX & Games has moved on-line and is set to run from Monday 21st September to Friday 2nd October 2020. The event is free to virtually attend this year so book now to grab a place.

The event is packed with workshops, screenings, Portfolio Reviews, Talks, exhibitions and much more.

Founded 20 years ago by Teesside University the festival aimed at creating a world-class inclusive festival that would draw some of the games and animation industries' brightest lights and future stars together to share their knowledge with the next generation.

This is event will be of interest to those who want to get into the animation industry, regardless of if you want to work in VFX, video games, animation or something else! Or for those who are curious to see the inner workings of a creative industry.

Read More... | Souce: Animex - International Festival of Animation, VFX & Games

Mangamo Announce New Titles at Virtual Crunchyroll Expo 2020

Date: 2020 September 05 21:17 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

As part of the Virtual Crunchyroll Expo this weekend online manga App Mangamo have just announced some interesting titles on their service. Deathdeus: Hero of the Dead and My Evil Stepbrother Make their English Debuts, along with Erementar Gerade and it's sequel.

The concept for Deathdeus sounds interesting and the busty main character has clearly been targeted towards a certain demographic!

Read More... | Souce: Mangamo

Akira 4K Comes to Cinemas in the UK and Ireland

Date: 2020 August 29 13:08 | Posted By:

Category > Anime > Film

The good folks from Manga Entertainment UK have just revealed that they'll be bringing the 4K edition of Akira to cinemas around the UK and Ireland soon. The screenings will include select IMAX screens and up to 300 other locations.

At the moment locations are to be confirmed, but you can register your interest on the booking website.

Akira is regarded one of the most seminal anime movies ever made. It's a classic dystopian future has influences on movies, cyberpunk culture and even predicted that the 2020 Olympic games would be held in Tokyo! It's one of those movies you just have to see on the big screen to fully appreciate.

Read More... | Souce: Manga Entertainment UK

Burn The Witch to Stream on Crunchyroll in October 2020

Date: 2020 August 24 18:49 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The good folks from anime streaming service Crunchyroll have sent us details of a new title released in October 2020. Burn the Witch is based on the manga by Tite Kubo, who is best known for Bleach. This anime is set in the same universe, but this time around in London! Not normal London, Reverse London, a special hidden side of city where dragons roam. The story focuses on the adventures of witch duo Noel Niihashi and Ninny Spangcole who are protection agents for Wing Bind (WB) an organisation for dragon conservation and management.

The trailer shows scenes from London, that are all around Westminster. We've got the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Bridge, and other Thames landmarks making prominent appearances, City of London Dragon Crests, a shot that looks like Shad Thames. We really love playing a game of spot the locations with stuff like this! Some artistic liberties seem to have been taken, does that looks like a US style fire hydrant in the trailer (blink and you'll miss it)? But then again Reverse London could indeed have American style fire hydrants as they've also got an Emergency Dragon Blockade System (this is one of the unwritten rules of London, you don't talk about the Emergency Dragon Blockade System, it's just known, like standing on the right and walking on the left on the escalator...).

If you big action and shonen then it looks the Burn The Witch anime will hit the spot. It'll hit Crunchyroll early October 2020.

Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll

Manga Entertainment UK Winter 2020 Release Schedule

Date: 2020 August 14 20:10 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The good folks from UK anime distributor Manga Entertainment UK have just announced their winter 2020 line up.

Headlining the releases they've got the very popular Dr. Stone which includes an hmv exclusive blu-ray release.

They've also got some Golden Kamuy (featuring a very CGI bear), Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest, Cautious Hero: The Hero is Overpowered but Overly Cautious, Kemono Michi: Rise Up and The Quintessential Quintuplets.

Read More... | Souce: Manga Entertainment UK

Jujutsu Kaisen Exclusively on Crunchyroll this Autumn 2020

Date: 2020 August 12 19:53 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The good people from streaming service Crunchyroll have just sent us details of their up coming anime release. Jujutsu Kaisen will stream from October 2020 exclusively on the streaming platform. The show is a dark fantasy horror focusing on a world where Curses can run rampant.

The series is based on the manga by Gege Akutami and is currently being released by Viz in English. You can buy it from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk if you want to get ahead and see what to expect!

Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll

Crunchyroll Announces Removal of Sentai Filmworks Titles from Streaming Service

Date: 2020 July 31 21:33 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

Crunchyroll's rights to a number of Sentai Filmworks titles have expired, site gives users 24-hours to catch up on series before they leave the service.

Crunchyroll announced on July 31st that over 70 titles, which currently are licensed through Sentai Filmworks, will leave the service on August the 1st 2020. This leaves users less than 24 hours to watch these hours if they don't already subscribe to Sentai's streaming partner site, HIDIVE. Online, users have been vocal in their displeasure of the lack of notice given to them by Crunchyroll. While most of the titles affected are available on HIDIVE for UK and Irish viewers, some are not by virtue of licensing rights.

Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll

Crunchyroll Hits 3 Million Subscribers

Date: 2020 July 28 20:47 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The good folks from anime streaming service Crunchyroll have sent us the details of them passing a landmark number. They now have over 3 million subscribers, and over 70 million registered users.

To put this in perspective, when Crunchyroll started in 2006, it took about 10 years for them to hit 1 million subscribers, then it took them 2 years after that to break over 2 million subscribers. These are users who pay to use Crunchyroll and get to avoid ads along with seeing anime ahead of regular registered users.

The press release includes an interesting infographic detailing the growth of the service. It's always interesting to see actual numbers too.

On average subscribers watch 100 minutes of content a day (which works out about 4 25 minute episodes). This is about 35 billion minutes viewed over the past year.

Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll

Screen Anime July and August 2020 Line Up

Date: 2020 July 23 20:35 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The good folks from streaming anime film festival Screen Anime have just revealed their July/August 2020 screening line up. This round is set to run from 25th July 2020, it includes two features from the amazing studio Science SARU, including a premiere of Ride Your Wave, keeping on with the watery theme they'll also be showing Lu Over the Wall.

Then to keep it a bit fun and sentimental they'll also be showing the charming Mai Mai Miracle, we discovered the film at it's Barbican Screening in London in 2009 and were immediately fans.

Then they'll be polishing that off with some mecha action with Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution Anemone.

For their TV series offering, they'll be continuing the agricultural adventures of Hachiken with series two of Silver Spoon. Where we're introduced to more farming life and some extra horse riding too. Oh, plus a puppy. Anime is always better with puppies!

You can sign up to Screen Anime for £3.98 a month or £39.98 a year.

It's available in the UK and Ireland via your web browser, with apps for TVos, iOS, Android and Amazon to follow over the coming months.

You can read our review of Lu Over the Wall here.

Read More... | Souce: Screen Anime

Weathering With You UK Blu-ray and DVD Release Details

Date: 2020 July 19 13:31 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

The good folks at anime distributors Anime Limited have just revealed more details about their up coming home video release of Weathering With You.

The Collector's Edition, Standard Blu-ray Edition and Standard Edition DVD will all be released on Monday 28th September 2020.

While the Deluxe Edition with UHD Blu-ray/Blu-ray and soundtrack CD will be released as a Zavvi.com exclusive on Monday 2nd November 2020 (with pre-orders open from Monday 20th July 2020 at 11am).

The collectors edition includes steelbook packaging, the film on Blu-ray and DVD, and the original soundtrack on CD.

While the Deluxe edition includes steelbook packaging, the film on Blu-ray, 4K UHD Blu-ray, 104 page book, poster, art cards and a bonus Blu-ray (contents of the bonus Blu-ray to be confirmed).

The Collectors edition is set to retail for £39.99, but you can pre-order it for less, while the Deluxe Edition is set to retail for £69.99.

Anime Limited also revealed that they've now got the whole Makoto Shinkai back catalogue and will release 5 Centimetres per Second and Children Who Chase Lost Voices From Deep Below (aka Journey to Agartha) in due course.

You can pre-order the Collectors Blu-ray, regular Blu-ray or Standard DVD from Amazon.co.uk.

Why not read our review of Weathering With You?

Read More... | Souce: Anime Limited

Yen Press Previews 13 New Manga Acquisitions For December 2020

Date: 2020 July 05 12:31 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

It's convention season and traditionally a time of big license announcements, but conventions aren't really running in the physical world, however Anime Expo Lite offered a virtual experience and the chance for companies to announce their up coming releases and acquisitions.

Yen Press have just announced 13 new manga acquisition, which include

  • A Witch's Love at the End of the World
  • Strawberry Fields Once Again
  • The Vampire & His Pleasant Companions
  • Slasher Maidens
  • Eniale & Dewiela
  • Mieruko-chan

Plus some new light novels:

  • The World's Finest Assassin
  • Reincarnated in a Different World as an Aristocrat
  • The Place Promised in Our Early Days
  • The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten
  • Unnamed Memory, King of the Labyrinth
  • Reign of the Seven Spellblades

We're very excited about Eniale & Dewiela from Kamome Shirahama who is also responsible for Witch Hat Atelier.

Read More... | Souce: Yen Press

The Real World Locations from Sing 'Yesterday' For Me

Date: 2020 July 04 12:57 | Posted By:

Category > Anime

Anime streaming service Crunchyroll have just sent us details of a great article they've put up exploring the real world locations used in the anime Sing 'Yesterday' For Me. It's always interesting to see how detailed and close to real world locations certain anime titles are.

We must admit we've got a soft spot for title, it's a bit of a slow burner gentle slice of life romance. You can catch it now on Crunchyroll.

We've also run similar articles before, including that time we discovered the actual house used in Kinmoza. Kinmoza is currently available to watch on Crunchyroll too.

Souce: Crunchyroll

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