MCM London May 2018 Announcements: MVM Entertainment Round-up
It’s the second day of MCM London Comic Con for May 2018! With Anime Limited continuing their announcements on Sunday it’s MVM Entertainment’s turn to reveal what they have to offer.
Earlier in the week they revealed some new listings on their main official store including The Asterisk War. However it seems The Asterisk War was not part of the six titles that they had planned to announce!
So without further due here are the six new additions to the MVM catalogue and for the most part they’re quite familiar faces. We have updated the article to add some tweaks to Sagrada Reset and added The Asterisk War into the mix as a recap.
New License Announcements:
Higurashi: When They Cry franchise
(When They Cry, When They Cry Kai, When They Cry Rei)
The seasons have aired in April 2006, July 2007 & February 2009 and were animated by studio Deen.
Surprise! One of the most popular anime titles has finally reached the UK shores thanks to MVM. This is a series that has been under NBC Universal and it was actually in limbo for years (after Geneon’s release of the first series sold poorly) until Sentai Filmworks managed to rescue the franchise in the US. This will be the first UK release of the franchise and MVM have confirmed there will be two different versions planned. The first series will include English & Japanese audio with English subtitles while the rest of the franchise will be Japanese audio with English subtitles only.
The first is a complete collection collector’s edition that covers all three seasons (When They Cry, When They Cry Kai, When They Cry Rei) on Blu-ray. This is expected to be released on 3rd September 2018.
The second is individual season sets on Blu-ray & DVD:
- When They Cry
(26 episodes across 4 Blu-ray discs & 6 DVD discs)
SRP £49.99 & £39.99 respectively - When They Cry Kai
(24 episodes across 4 Blu-ray discs & 6 DVD discs)
SRP £49.99 & £39.99 respectively - When They Cry Rei
(5 episodes on 1 Blu-ray disc & 1 DVD disc)
SRP £24.99 & £19.99 respectively
The SRP for the collector’s edition has not yet been confirmed, but expect it to be at least £100+. The first season is set for 15th October 2018.
Moving to the picturesque town of Hinamizawa is going to be a big adjustment for Keiichi. For all its beauty, it’s also tiny… so small that there’s only one school, one where most of the students have known each other all their lives.
Fortunately, he soon meets four girls… Rena, Mion, Satoko, and Rika, who’re willing to let the new guy in town join their afterschool club. And for a while, things seem wonderful. Until Keiichi starts discovering strange things, like the project manager for a controversial dam project being found dismembered five years ago.
As he digs deeper, there are whispers and rumors of other murders and disappearances, stories of a town curse, and mysterious rituals. And then people he knows start to die. What secrets have the people of Hinamizawa kept hidden from the rest of the world? And could his new friends somehow be involved?
Recap Announcements:
The Asterisk War
The series aired in October 2015 and was animated by A-1 Pictures.
Not part of the six announcements but it may as well be, as we discovered the license thanks to their online store listing the series for this Summer! The Asterisk War is coming to the UK by MVM in four volumes due to Aniplex requirements. However the interesting part is that it’s coming to Blu-ray alongside its DVD releases. UPDATE: Thanks to one of our followers, we have received word that the Blu-ray version will be based on the Aniplex of America release (it was never released in that format for Madman in Australia) so we’re curious to see how this progresses.
The Blu-ray is slated to be SRP £34.99 per part while the DVD is at SRP £29.99 per part. Part 1 is due for 2nd July 2018 while Part 2 is due for 6th August 2018. Parts 3-4 that cover the second cour have yet to be scheduled.
Invertia–The astral catastrophe that annihilated many cities in the 20th century also gave birth to a new human race with special powers called the “Genestella.” At the same time, the special element found within the meteors of Invertia facilitated humanity’s technological advancement.
At the academic-city above water Rikka, also known as “Asterisk,” students from each of the six schools at Asterisk prepare for the ultimate battle tournament — known as “Festa.” Seidoukan Academy’s Ayato Amagiri takes up the challenge along with his partner Julis, a.k.a. Glühen Rose, the Witch of the Resplendent Flames. Ayato learns Julis has a big dream to achieve and decides to protect her to the end.
Sagrada Reset
The series aired in April 2017 and was animated by David Productions.
Sagrada Reset is still not yet released as Sentai have yet to include the series in their release slates but MVM have re-confirmed the license for the UK (this was announced back in May 2017). This two-cour series is coming to the UK on Blu-ray and DVD. Sentai are going to release the series as a complete series set so MVM is expected to follow suit. Audio options and release date details are unconfirmed at the time of this article.
Almost half the population of the town of Sakurada possess special abilities. Misora Haruki has the power to reset time for a maximum of three days into the past; Kei Asai has a photographic memory that allows him to remember everything he sees and hears, even after Misora resets time. Together, they use their powers to help others … except that two years ago, their actions caused the death of former classmate Sumire Sora, a girl who shouldn’t have died. As members of the school’s Service Club, Kei and Misora spend most of their time fulfilling clients’ requests, all the while working together to undo the pains of the past.
Titles from Universal Pictures carrying over to MVM:
Now here is where things get weird. At last year’s MCM convention (exactly a year in fact), Universal Pictures announced a whole bunch of titles that they had planned to distribute under their name after covering The Heroic Legend of Arslan, My Hero Academia Season 1 and Seraph of the End. However ever since then there had been radio silence altogether and the fate of these titles felt like they were pretty much cancelled or in complete limbo.
Fast-forward to now it has been revealed that Universal Pictures have sub-licensed most of their titles to MVM Entertainment, and as such MVM will be distributing them on their behalf. The fate of And You Thought There Is Never a Girl Online?, Berserk (2016) and Drifters are currently unknown at the time of this article in terms of Universal Pictures’ own distribution. But in any case the titles below are now with MVM:
Bakuon!!
The series aired in April 2016 and was animated by TMS Entertainment.
The comedy biking series will be available on Blu-ray and DVD in Japanese audio with English subtitles only. The Blu-ray is slated to be SRP £34.99 while the DVD is at SRP £29.99 with a release date set for 20th August 2018.
Riding a bicycle may be better than walking, but when another girl zips past her on the way to class, Sakura Hane realizes that there’s an even better option: motorcycles! Fortunately, Sakura’s all-girl school just happens to have a motorcycle club! It only has one member though: the mysterious Raimu Kawasaki, who’s never been seen without her face-obscuring helmet. But that changes immediately once Sakura and the girl who passed her, Onsa Amano, sign up and start recruiting!
It won’t all be easy riding… Sakura still has to earn her license, and there are problems like the club’s official status having slipped, and the need to recruit a faculty sponsor. But when the rubber hits the road, those are just little potholes as six student bikers take a ride on the wild side!
The Heroic Legend of Arslan: Dust Storm Dance
The series aired in July 2016 and was animated by LIDENFILMS.
The 8 episode second season of The Heroic Legend of Arslan will be available on Blu-ray and DVD in both English & Japanese audio with English subtitles. SRP and release date details are unconfirmed.
Arslan and his troops counter an invasion in Peshawar while Etoile guides refugees to Ecbatana. But when a royal relative makes a surprising appearance, Arslan is banished until he can build an army of fifty thousand soldiers. Only his closest companions join him on this impossible task that leads to the port city of Gilan, where a pesky pirate invasion turns out to be the least of their worries.
Seven Mortal Sins
The series aired in April 2017 and was animated by Artland & TNK.
The ecchi fantasy series is also known as Sin: Nanatsu no Taizai. We expect the series to be made available on Blu-ray and DVD in both English & Japanese audio with English subtitles. SRP and release date details are unconfirmed. As the show is rather lewd it’s going to be uncut and uncensored unless the BBFC take issues with it.
Before Lucifer’s fall, hell was ruled by seven demon lords, known as the Seven Mortal Sins. These beautiful and tempting devils seek complete corruption of the world, but everything is about to change when Lucifer is cast down to their realm of hell, and takes up arms with an Earth girl named Maria. Whose corruption will rule hell and the hearts of mankind?
Starmyu franchise
(Season 1, Season 2, OVAs)
The seasons have aired in October 2016 & April 2017 and were animated by studio C-Station.
The male idol series is coming to the UK with both seasons and interestingly the OVAs as well. Funimation have currently released the first season at the moment while the second has yet to do so. The seasons will be available on Blu-ray and DVD in Japanese audio with English subtitles only. SRP and release date details are unconfirmed.
First-year Yuta Hoshitani enters the esteemed Ayanagi Academy with dreams of following in his idol’s footsteps. But competition starts the moment he steps through the doors when some of the best young talent in the industry try out for a spot in the musical department.
Catching the eye of an eccentric member of the academy’s elite Kao Council, Hoshitani and five other misfits are given the chance they were hoping for. With egos as strong as their talent, it’s up to Hoshitani’s shining personality to bring Nayuki, Tengenji, Kuga, and Tsukigami together for the biggest performance of the semester. While the strict authorities of the Kao Council try to put an end to their inventive musicals, these five young stars practice day and night for a show that will shake the school!
That’s it for MVM’s announcements. They still have a fair amount of listings to place for the latter part of the Summer season so stay tuned for that.
Source: MVM, plus some of the added info from UK Anime Network
