Anime Limited MCM Comic Con London 2023 Announcements: Evangelion 3.0+1.0, Great Pretender, 4K Ultra HD releases for Gundam Movie Trilogy & One Piece Film: Red & More
Anime Limited recently held their latest panel over at MCM London Comic Con with a bunch of new updates and announcements for the United Kingdom and Ireland, as well as a few other regions.
New Theatrical Updates
Let’s start off with a few new updates on two upcoming theatrical releases.
On 14th July, we’ll see the theatrical release for The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes (Natsu e no Tonneru, Sayonara no Deguchi) from studio CLAP (Pompo: The Cinephile) and director Tomohisa Taguchi (Akudama Drive). This film is an adaptation of the light novel written by Mei Hachimoku.
And on 30th August, is the theatrical release for The First Slam Dunk from studio Toei Animation (One Piece) and director Takehiko Inoue (the author of Slam Dunk). Both of these films were revealed early thanks to BBFC listings and then later announced with trailers earlier in the year.
Macross Plus Movie Edition, which was announced last year by Anime Limited during the Anime Expo 2022 event (which was also timed alongside the US announcements for Nozomi’s Macross Delta, Macross Frontier & Macross 7 as well as AnimEigo’s Macross II), have re-revealed plans to release the film theatrically for the United Kingdom. Expect more news to follow soon.
And last but not least a brand new theatrical announcement (and technically a license announcement as well), is that Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time (Shin Evangerion Gekijōban 𝄇) will be receiving a theatrical release from Anime Limited. This is similar to how GKIDS is doing the same for North America. Both the UK & US distributors handled the license for the Neon Genesis Evangelion series, whilst Amazon Prime streamed the Rebuild of Evangelion films on their service. Expect more news to follow soon for the upcoming theatrical release.
New License Announcements
Next we have brand new license announcements, which consists of one film trilogy, and two shows.
Starting off with the original anime series Great Pretender, heading to home video by Anime Limited for the United Kingdom, Ireland, United States and Canada. It’ll be released as a collector’s edition Blu-ray.
The series streamed exclusively on Netflix as part of a +ULTRA programming block deal (which titles like BEASTARS and Carole & Tuesday were part of) in two parts throughout 2020, and was produced by WIT Studio (Attack on Titan). Staff credits include director Hiro Kaburagi (91 Days), writer Ryōta Kosawa (Parasyte live-action), character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Evangelion) and music composer Yutaka Yamada (Vinland Saga).
Given that recent releases of +ULTRA titles over in North America have included their Netflix English dubs, Anime Limited has confirmed over on our forum that this release will include both the Netflix English dub and the Freddie Mercury song Great Pretender that was featured as the show’s closing theme.
Next the remaining two are exclusively focused on the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise!
First we have Gundam Build Fighters, finally making its home video debut for the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and Belgium. It’ll be released as a collector’s edition Blu-ray.
The 2013 series is directed by Kenji Nagasaki (My Hero Academia) with writer Yosuke Kuroda (Birdie Wing -Golf Girls’ Story-), character designer Kenichi Ōnuki (Golden Kamuy) and music composer Yuki Hayashi (My Hero Academia).
This announcement is notable as this was the 7th Gundam that Nozomi brought over in North America in 2016, and is a good indicator that we could see more of the Build Fighters/Divers universe be released in the UK (which consists of its sequel Build Fighters Try, the Special Disc collection, Build Divers, Build Divers Re:Rise and more).
Now the next news is probably the biggest surprise for the Gundam fandom, because Anime Limited will be releasing Mobile Suit Gundam: The Movie Trilogy once again, but this time for the 4K Ultra HD format for the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and Belgium.
Sunrise have already released the films in Japan on the 4K Ultra HD format, which includes High Dynamic Range and a 7.1 remix, but English subtitles was not included (whereas many of the other Gundam Japan releases did), so it’s good to see that those will be made more accessible for the English audience.
Much like the previous Blu-ray release, we expect this to be released in Japanese audio with English subtitles only as there is no available English dub for those films (there was one produced back in the VHS era, but it wasn’t allowed to be re-used).
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Movie Trilogy (Gekijouban Kidō Senshi Gandamu) was theatrically released in 1981 & 1982 across three films directed and written by Yoshiyuki Tomino. The films are Mobile Suit Gundam I (Kidō Senshi Gandamu I), Mobile Suit Gundam II: Soldiers of Sorrow (Kidō Senshi Gandamu II: Ai Senshi-hen), and Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space (Kidō Senshi Gandamu III: Meguriai Sora-hen).
New Home Video Updates
Last but not least we have a few updates on the home video front. These were all licensed many months ago, but have new updates.
Starting with One Piece Film: Red, the 2022 Toei Animation film directed by Goro Taniguchi (Code Geass). While Crunchyroll have scheduled a Blu-ray release for North America & Australia, Anime Limited will be releasing the film with a collector’s edition 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray combo pack for the United Kingdom & Ireland.
Officially this film will be their 9th (or 10th if Gundam comes out first) 4K Ultra HD release (prev. ones were Weathering With You, Millennium Actress, Your Name, Belladonna of Sadness, Future Boy Conan, BELLE, Violet Evergarden the Movie, and Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water) and for context many of these titles have been worked on by either MediaOCD or VDMS.
The collector’s edition will include one 4K Ultra HD disc and two Blu-ray discs, as well as a bunch of physical items. Packaged in a rigid box with two cases (one UHD, one BD), the set includes a 40-page Booklet, a Numbered Concert Ticket, A3 Poster, Vinyl Sticker and 3 Art Cards.
That said, it is currently not 100% confirmed whether the UK release will include the TV episodes related to the film, given Crunchyroll UK has the license to the main series, but never say never so expect more info on the on-disc content pretty soon.
Next we have Gunbuster, which was announced for release thanks to ITVX spoiling the surprise earlier in the year. The six-episode OVA series from studio GAINAX and director Hideaki Anno will be released as a collector’s edition Blu-ray.
The collector’s edition will include one Blu-ray disc. Packaged in a rigid box with a case (likely to be Scanavo), the set includes a 48-page Booklet, and a double-sided A3 Poster.
Whilst no release date was mentioned, an Amazon listing for Anime Limited’s French release implies a July or August release window.
And that is it for the home video news. They did talk about Lupin the Third Part 6 and A Place Further Than the Universe, but no new information was shown as we had already known that both of these would be receiving a home video release last year.
Source: Anime Limited Panel at MCM London Comic Con May 2023.
