Bandai Entertainment’s love affair with all things .hack has come to an end as FUNimation announced at Anime Weekend Atlanta today that they’ve picked up the rights to the three episode OVA series .hack//Quantum for release. The series will land in the US in 2012 on both DVD and Blu-ray, marking the first time the franchise has been available in high definition in the US. You can read discussion about this acquisition here.
FUNimation® Entertainment today announced that it has acquired the home entertainment, theatrical, broadcast, digital, mobile and merchandise rights to the latest installment in the .hack franchise from Showgate.
The action fantasy “.hack//Quantum” is an anime adaptation of the .hack role-playing games created by Bandai Namco Games. This three episode OVA is animated by Kinema Citrus Studio and directed by Masaki Tachibana (Tokyo Magnitude 8.0).
Tobias, Mary, and Sakura are way into the world’s largest online fantasy role-playing game known as The World R:X. Together, they form an inseparable group, grinding toward the break of day and running dungeons in search of the artifacts of adventure. But when the trio becomes lost in this virtual labyrinth, a chance encounter with the mysterious entity known only as Hermit will change their lives forever. There’s an eerie darkness spreading across The World, and once you stumble in, you may never make it out.
In addition to this, FUNimation announced the fall simulcast of Guilty Crown will being in October and that the series will also be getting a bilingual DVD/BD release come 2012. You can read additional acquisition discussion here on this title.
FUNimation® Entertainment today announced that it has acquired the simulcast, home entertainment, broadcast, digital, mobile, and merchandise rights to the sci-fi series “Guilty Crown” debuting on Fuji TV’s late night noitaminA block in October.
The Production I.G. produced series is directed by Tetsuro Araki (“Death Note,” “High School of the Dead”). The series script supervisor is Hiroyuki Yoshino (“Macross Frontier”), while original character designs are created by redjuice, the artist best known as the illustrator for the music group, Supercell. Supercell’s musician, Ryo, is composing the music.
The anime is set in Japan in 2039, 10 years after the “Apocalypse Virus” devastated the land. A multinational orgnization known as GHQ brings the lawless country under control, but at the price of Japan’s sovereignty. One day, an unsociable 17-year-old high school student named Shū encounters Inori Yuzuriha, a female singer who is part of the resistance to liberate Japan. Together with Gai Tsutsugami (Shū’s 17-year-old rival who is a young “Jiikundō” pilot in the resistance), Shū and Inori fight with mysterious innate abilities known as “imperial powers.”
New York Anime Fest will screen the first two episodes of “Guilty Crown” on Saturday, October 15. The screening marks the world premiere of the series’ second episode, which won’t air in Japan until October 20. The convention will host an additional screening of the first two episodes of “Guilty Crown” along with a Q&A/focus panel on Sunday, October 16.
FUNimation will also simulcast the series starting the same date as its Japanese broadcast debut.