Funimation announced that Shinichiro Watanabe's classic Cowboy Bebop television anime will be released on Blu-ray and DVD in North America in December.
The 26-episode series will be released on DVD, standard Blu-ray, and in Amazon and Funimation.com premium Blu-ray/DVD editions. The two Premium Editions will each feature different packaging and premium items, but their precise details will be announced later.
Funimation describes the story:
Explore the far reaches of the galaxy in this undeniably hip series that inspired a generation – and redefined anime as an indisputable art form.
The Bebop crew is just trying to make a buck. This motely lot of intergalactic loners teams up to track down fugitives and turn them in for cold hard cash. Spike is a hero whose cool façade hides a dark and deadly past. The pilot Jet is a bruiser of a brute who can't wait to collect the next bounty. Faye Valentine is a femme fatale prone to breaking hearts and separating fools from their money. Along for the ride are the brilliant, but weird, hacker Ed and a super-genius Welsh Corgi named Ein. On their own, any one of them is likely to get lost in the sprawl of space, but together, they're they most entertaining gang of bounty hunters in the year 2071.
The anime streaming service Daisuki announced last year that it intends to stream the series before it is released on home video.
Bandai Entertainment previously held the license to the series. The series originally aired in Japan in 1998-1999.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FUNimation Entertainment announced at its industry panel at Otakon on Saturday that it has licensed The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2006 and 2009 series, The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya, Nyorōn Churuya-san, Lucky Star and its OVA, the Strike Witches film, and Steins;Gate Fuka Ryōiki no Déjà vu. The company has also acquired the home video rights for D-Frag!, BlazBlue Alter Memory, Riddle Story of Devil, Freezing Vibration, and Unbreakable Machine-Doll.
The first season of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya premiered in 2006 and was rebroadcast in 2009 with new episodes. The story adapts Nagaru Tanigawa and Noizi Ito's The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya light novels. Bandai Entertainment previously held the license both series.
The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya anime series adapts Puyo's "official gag manga" of the original light novels. Similarly, Nyorōn Churuya-san adapts Eretto's manga about a super-deformed version of the Haruhi character Tsuruya in 2008.
The Kadokawa Anime Channel on the YouTube video-sharing website premiered the two net anime series with English subtitles in 2009. Bandai Entertainment previously licensed both and released them together on two DVDs.
Crunchyroll streams both the first and second season of the show, as well as both spin-offs.
The moe comedy series Lucky Star premiered in 2007. Bandai Entertainment previously held the license and Crunchyroll streams the series. The OVA sequel from 2008 is a series of short vignettes with the same characters.
The Strike Witches film opened in Japan in 2012. Like the television series, the film adapts the mixed-media project with art by Humikane Shimada.
The Steins;Gate Fuka Ryōiki no Déjà vu film opened last year in Japan as a sequel to the 2011 television anime series. The film reunites the television series' cast and staff with a completely new story set after the "true end" of the television series.
Funimation streams Steins;Gate and the first and second seasons of Strike Witches. The company also released both on home video.
Funimation streamed BlazBlue Alter Memory, Freezing Vibration, and Unbreakable Machine Doll last fall, D-Frag! this past winter, and Riddle Story of Devil this past spring.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Funimation announced the English dub cast for Ghost in the Shell Arise episodes one and two at its Otakon panel on Saturday.
The dub is being directed by Zach Bolton. The cast includes:
Elizabeth Maxwell as Motoko Kusanagi
John Swasey as Aramaki
Mary Elizabeth McGlynn as Kurutsu
Christopher R. Sabat as Batou
Eric Vale as Tsumugi
Alex Organ as Togusa
Jason Douglas as Paz
Bill Jenkins as Sadamoto
David Wald as Raizo
Jad Saxton as Logicoma
Brian Mathis as Mamuro
Chris Rager and Ibachi
Funimation describes the story:
Border 1: Ghost Pain
Set against a backdrop of international arms dealers, exploding cyborgs, and murdered prostitutes, this origins story plays out with a futuristic flair for the destructive. When cyborg hacker Motoko Kusanagi is hired to investigate a devastating bombing, she must fight her way through a maze of phantom memories to unlock her mysterious past – and track down the evil mastermind behind the attacks.
Border 2: Ghost Whispers
Witness the formation of the legendary Public Security Section 9. When a clandestine organization hacks every car in the city, Kusanagi recruits a lethal team of cyber operatives that includes a badass brawler with Special Forces training, an explosives expert, a technology specialist, and a chain-smoking jack-of-all-trades with a sordid past. Together this ruthless gang of enforcers sets out to clamp down on the chaos and make the city safe again.
Funimation licensed the four-part anime and released the first episode in a special imported edition last August. The company plans to screen the first two episodes in a limited theatrical run later this year. The fourth episode will run in select theaters in Japan for two weeks beginning on September 6.
The first two episodes will be available on home video in North America on October 21.
1, 2, 3
Now...wheres my rerelease of Witch Hunter Robin and Escaflowne?
