AnimeVision

The love-them-or-hate-them anime streaming site has received a US$2million cash injection from GONZO parent company GDH. The payment gives GDH a stake in Crunchyroll, although without giving them a say in the running of the site, and was revealed by the Japanese company yesterday. GDH has itself received a takeover bid and cash injection from investment group Iwakaze Capital, which should go some way to alleviating the company's recent financial woes.

Now, if GDH could use some of the influence that investment should bring them to bring Crunchyroll's ongoing streaming of unlicensed content to heel, everyone would be happy...

...or a wind, depending on your translation. Specifically, Kaze no Stigma (Wind of Stimga would be a direct translation), which was announced yesterday as the company's latest new license. Produced by GONZO, the series is apparently and "action-packed comedy romance that is reminiscent in tone to the original Full Metal Panic." As long as they don't have a Gauron equivalent, that should be fine. The series is directed by Jun’ichi Sato, who holds Cardcaptor Sakura amongst his previous works.

Sony Pictures have apparently picked up the US, Canada, Latin America, Australia, and New Zealand rights (note the UK missing from that list) to Mamoru Oshii's latest theatrical piece, The Sky Crawlers, which we featured a while back. The movie is now on release in Japan, and won the Future Film Festival Digital Award at the Venice Film Festival earlier in the month, and so seems to be one to keep an eye out for.

Just arriving in my mailbox this morning is confirmation from Revelation that their FUNimation titles have been put on hold for the time being - although it sounds as though their distribution arrangement with FUNi, at least for these shows, is still in place. Here's the official word:

“We have decided to postpone all of our remaining releases for 2008 and concentrate on pushing our existing titles.

A full release schedule for 2009, including the postponed titles, will be announced later in the year.”

Manga's latest newsletter has details of a number of upcoming screenings they're putting on. First up is Swansea Animation Days, where they'll be putting on Origin: Spirits of the Past, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Naruto the Movie 2 and Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society. The festival runs from 24-28 November, and you can get more details on SAND's website.

Next up is the Anime All-Nighter at Sci Fi London Oktoberfest, which will feature Hellsing Ultimate, Strait Jacket and Dead Space: Downfall (which is an anime-inspired title created by Electronic Arts to promote the upcoming game of the same name, but we'll let that pass). More details at the Oktoberfest website - the All-Nighter is set for 3 October.

Finally, the ICA Cinema in London will be holding screenings of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time from 19-30 September - more details here.

Manga UK seem to be on a roll at the moment, with news of the 6th new license of the week having sneaked out courtesy of a listing on Anime On Line - the latest title is hacking adventure BALDR FORCE EXE, a 4-episode OVA series that's scheduled for release on December 1st. It's described thusly:

An entire world exists unseen, a world that can be accessed only by the mind: the Wired World. A place of freedom - and, occasionally, a place of death. Souma Toru knows the land of the logged-in well, for he and his fearless gang of hackers once had the run of the place. But as tragedy came to call and the group disbanded, he was forced to join the ranks of FLAK: a military organization charged with protecting the hidden data paradise deep within the vast network of servers.

In something of a surprise move, Manga UK have confirmed that they'll be releasing five FUNimation titles in the UK before the end of the year:
Black Blood Brothers (Series 1 Part 1 to be released on November 10th)
xxxHOLiC (Series 1 Part 1 to be released October 27th)
Ghost Hunt (Series 1 Part 1 to be released December 29th)
Always My Santa! (December 1st)
Jy-Oh-Sei: Planet of the Beast King (Series 1 Part 1 to be released December 29th)

The announcement coincides with the removal of most of Revelation Films FUNimation releases from UK online stores, which prompts the obvious conclusion that FUNi have again changed their UK distributor. Manga have said only that they'll have more to say at London Expo in October; Revelation have, as yet, made no comment. The Revelation titles that now appear to be on hiatus are:
BECK (Mongolian Chop Squad) #5 onwards
Hell Girl #4 onwards
Mushi-shi #6
Peach Girl #6
School Rumble #4 onwards
Suzuka #5 onwards
Tsubasa (Reservoir Chronicle) #6
There's no word yet on the eventual fate of these shows, but I'll post more once I have it. Whatever's going on, it seems as though the UK market is heading for yet another shake-up, with Manga UK clearly intent on restoring their old dominance...

The other convention of the weekend was the UK's Amecon, where a few new titles were confirmed for UK release. Beez have Gurren Lagann and Sword of the Stranger, and also confirmed that the online Bandai Channel video download service is almost ready for launch. I hope they remember Mac users. MVM confirmed Daphne in the Brilliant Blue whil also announcing Desert Punk, Solty Rei and Romeo x Juliet. They're also in early discussions over the Slayers TV shows, including the new Revolution series, and have asked for fan input on this - take a look at this post over at the AoD forums for more details.

Nothing to announce from Manga or ADV.

Not much from this weekend's Otakon in the way of completely new titles, but a few surprises nonetheless. Frist up, ADV announced Indian Summer (aka Koharu Biyori), a 3-part OVA series that's still being released in Japan. Of the news about new partners that was promised at AX there was no sign, other than to say that things were in the works. They also announced their new Switchblade Films live-action line and the first wave of titles to be released under the label - clearly taking a leaf from Media Blasters' successful model.

The other anime announcement was from Bandain Entertainment, who have the .hack//GU Trilogy feature film.

In other news, Crunchyroll announced a series of digital distribution deals: partnerships with ADV, Media Blasters and GONZO will bring a whole slew of new titles to their service, including:
Angelic Layer
BastOF Syndrome
Best Student Council
Chance Pop Session
Lady Death
Magical Play
Martian Successor Nadesico: Prince of Darkness
Nurse Witch Komugi
Parasite Dolls
Saiyuki
Sin: The Movie
Girl's High
Ramen Fighter Miki
Kite: Liberator
Kaleido Star
Peacemaker Kurogane
...with more apparently on the way. All shows will be available as DRM-free (but fingerprinted) downloads.