Anime Limited Announce Future Boy Conan UK Release on Blu-ray and 4K UHD Blu-ray

Date: 2021 September 28 21:00

Posted by Joe

Anime distributors Anime Limited have just announced that they have the UK rights to Future Boy Conan. The hugely significant and influential show has not had an official English language until now. GKIDS have the US distribution rights and will release it sometime late this year. While Anime Limited intend to release the series early 2022.

The series is significant as it marks Hayao Miyazaki's directorial debut, the legendary director went to co-found Studio Ghibli and make ground breaking titles such as My Neighbour Totoro and Spirited Away.

Anime Limited also mention Keep Your Hands Off, Eizouken's tribute to the show, with characters watching it and it inspiring their love of anime.

Anime Limited will release the title together on Blu-ray and 4K UHD Blu-ray, split across two collectors edition releases. They'll include a 132-page book written by Jonathan Clements (co-author of the Anime Encyclopedia and tons of other stuff) and Andrew Osmond (who wrote the BFI Film Classics: Spirited Away book, along with lots of other stuff).

The 4K Release will be the first anywhere in the world, but we think it's worth it just for the book and a chance to finally get Future Boy Conan officially in the UK is something we've been eagerly waiting for. This title is a must watch for any Ghibli fan.

Full Story

Details as follows:



Anime Limited to release Future Boy Conan in the UK

Greetings everyone! It's been a little while since we've gathered you for a major new license acquisition announcement, but we simply can't keep this to ourselves any longer and so we had to share it.

Let's get straight to the headline - we're thrilled and excited to announce that we're bringing the legendary directorial debut of Hayao Miyazaki, Future Boy Conan to the UK, starting in early 2022. What's more, we'll be releasing the entire series not only on Blu-ray, but also on 4K UHD Blu-ray for the first time anywhere in the world!

Want to know more? Oh, we bet you do, so read on for details!

About Future Boy Conan

If you're not familiar with the series (which is understandable, and it's never been made readily available in the UK), this post-apocalyptic sci-fi series arrived on Japanese television in 1978.

Adapted from American writer Alexander Key's 1970 novel, The Incredible Tide, the series marked the directorial debut of one Hayao Miyazaki, who of course went on to become the renowned creative powerhouse at the heart of Studio Ghibli. This marks Future Boy Conan as a pivotal moment in the history of Japanese animation, and a series that inspired a whole generation of creators who would go on to work in the anime industry as a result of watching the series (see the first episode of the popular Keep Your Hands Off, Eizouken for a particularly loving homage to the series).

Synopsis: Twenty years ago, a terrible war fought with magnetic weapons caused the earth's axis to tilt, and earthquakes and tidal waves destroyed civilization. Conan is born into this new world, raised by his adopted grandfather on an isolated island. But his life is forever changed when a mysterious girl named Lana washes ashore, pursued by shadowy operatives who seek to use her in a new scheme to control what's left of the world.

Our release plans

This classic series has recently received a full 4K restoration in Japan, and as always at Anime Limited we strive to bring you content in the best way possible - thus, our plan is to release the series as a Blu-ray and K UHD Blu-ray combo Collector's Edition, making our release the first 4K release of the series anywhere in the world!

Our intention is to release the series over two Collector's Edition instalments, each containing 13 episodes across two 4K UHD Blu-rays, and two regular Blu-rays.

But that's not all - our Part 1 Collector's Edition of the series will include a whopping 132-page book! Written by Jonathan Clements and Andrew Osmond, this full-blown book chronicles the history and production of the Miyazaki's directorial debut, and is absolutely packed with insight as well as delving deep into the production of every episode of the series as it recounts tales from staff members who were there and taking part in its creation. This is a must-own book for fans and anyone interested in this seminal part of anime history, and is worth the price of entry alone as the most exhausting examination of the series available in English.

Of course, this release will also include a beautiful rigid slipcase, which will house both part one and two of the series - once released, part two will simply slip inside.

As things currently stand, our aim is to release our Future Boy Conan Part 1 Collector's Edition in the first quarter of 2022 - we will of course have full details, pre-order dates and imagery of what our release will look like closer to the time.

After all that, you'd be forgiven for needing a moment to recover...

With those initial details now out in the open, we hope you're as thrilled to see this classic series arrive on UHD Blu-ray as we are, and we can't wait for you to get your hands on not only the series itself, but the included book too!