New Anime Licences From MCM London Comic Con.

This past weekend the regular MCM London Comic Con took place at the city's Excel Centre. As always, among the various film, publishing and games companies, the UK's anime distributors were in attendance. This generally means some new license announcements, either at the show itself of over the course of the weekend. This October's show was no different.

The biggest of the distributors- Manga Entertainment- were a big presence, but relatively light on the announcements this time around. Shortly before the show they announced they would be releasing the kids card-game based show Yu-Gi-Oh! in boxset form from November 17th. They also announced that the slightly saucy Samurai Bride (the second season of Samurai Girls) is coming to Blu-ray and DVD in January.

The young whipper-snappers of the UK anime scene- Anime Limited- had much more to announce.  Shortly before the show, they announced they had acquired Gankutsuou. The highly stylish sci-fi retelling of The Count Of Monte Cristo has actually been released in the UK on DVD before, but Anime Limited will release it on Blu-ray and Video On Demand for the very first time. Short Peace (pictured above) is an anthology film that has attracted a lot of attention, thanks to the fact that one segment is directed by none other than Akira creator/director Katsuhiro Otomo. Adding to the film's pedigree even further, one segment "Possessions" scored an Oscar nomination in 2013. The film will be released on Blu-ray, VOD and DVD, as well as receiving a short theatrical run. AL will also be releasing Baccano! the critically-acclaimed action series set in Prohibition-era America. Previously released on DVD by Manga, the reissue will be Blu-ray only, and (dependent on materials) should be available as an Ultimate Edition.

Last but by means least, MVM Entertainment announced a slew of new titles for early 2015 during the weekend. A number of these are continuations of series that the label has already released earlier, including mouthfuls Otorimonogatari and Koimonogatari, which are continuations of the Bakemonogatari franchise. They will also be releasing Infinite Stratos series 2 and Battle Girls: Time Paradox. On to the new shows, Kamisama Dolls is a supernatural action show from 2011, while tsuritama is  (I kid you not) a sci-fi comedy about fishing. Rounding out the new titles, is Michiko & Hatchin- a girls on the lamb series from the director of The Woman Called Fujiko Mine- and popular virtual-world based fantasy No Game No Life.


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