Honey & Clover licensed and further news from London Expo
Paul •
With the dust settling after this weekend’s London Expo, news of the UK anime industry’s exploits has gradually appeared online. In terms of new licenses, there was, unfortunately, slim pickings.
- ADV will be releasing the satirical dark comedy Welcome to the NHK in August. Noir, Madlax, Guyver box-sets are also in the works
- Beez have licensed .hack//G.U. Trilogy (an original animated movie based on the events of the .hack//G.U. games). They are also looking at setting up a “digital distribution channel”. Plans are afoot for Gundam Wing and Wolf’s Rain box-sets (which will include artbooks), while Blu Ray releases start in Autumn
- MVM have the picked up the Adolescence of Utena (a romantic movie with yuri (lesbian) subtext that retells the original Revolutionary Girl Utena TV series)
- Manga Ent., via their partnership with Viz Media, intend to release both Honey & Clover (a highly-rated nostalgic drama about young adults finding purpose in their lives) and Ichigo 100% (fan service) at some point in 2009. They are also planning to release Megaman Starforce in November and looking to acquire up to episode 220 of Naruto (at the moment, their license only includes up to episode 104), while the second Naruto movie will be out by the end of 2008/beginning of 2009 and the first Bleach film will be released late Autumn
- For those interested in the more fan-friendly side of the London Expo, as promised, our reporter Nargis Ahmad has posted her thoughts on our blog along with images of some cosplayers.
