Third Window Films will also release Osamu Tezuka & Eiichi Yamamoto’s A Thousand and One Nights in the UK!
The first Animerama film is also coming to the UK! Also new details on Cleopatra’s UK release. Note that some artwork in this article may be deemed NSFW.
A couple months ago we discovered that the UK distributor Third Window Films would be bringing the second Animerama movie Cleopatra: Queen of Sex to the UK next year on Blu-ray. Today the distributor has unveiled to the site Screen Anarchy some more details of their 2018 release slate and to our surprise they will also be releasing the first Animerama movie as well – A Thousand and One Nights!
For those who don’t know what the Animerama trilogy is about, it’s a special project created and produced by both Osamu Tezuka and Eiichi Yamamoto aimed towards the adult audience. The films each feature mature themes such as violence and sex while also offering some raunchy scenes that many have considered to be classified as a hentai. Each of these films were all sold poorly theatrically in Japan and didn’t fare better in some locations internationally. Production was also an issue, with the first film taking the budget from the second, and then the second film taking the budget for the third film.
A Thousand and One Nights (Senya Ichiya Monogatari) is the first film in the Animerama trilogy and directed by Eiichi Yamamoto, released theatrically in Japan in 1969. Cleopatra was released a year later followed by Belladonna of Sadness in 1973. Belladonna of Sadness is the most well-known of the three, even receiving a special 4K restoration for its Blu-ray release that both distributors Anime Limited & Cinelicious Pics have released in the UK & US.
Beautifully constructed, 1001 Nights stays true to the lush and mysterious backdrop of the well known and age old story. Tezuka remolds the story into an escapist fantasy where a 60s-era working man is transported back to an era of entirely fictitious Arabian details. Seemingly at odds with itself, 1001 Nights consistently unfolds in a way that combines Playboy graphics, Arabian rug design and traditional Japanese scroll paintings.
Sound like a strange mix? You bet and along the way we experience some of the great cultural juxtapositions that makes Tezuka the unpredictable style it is.
(Source: MyAnimeList)
Screen Anarchy confirmed that the two Animerama films Third Window Films have acquired will be released on Blu-ray only in May 2018. Be advised that this film will no doubt receive an 18 from the BBFC due to its nature.
