The European anime releases continue to pick up at an interesting rate and especially with an interesting selection when it comes to Blu-ray. The latest news comes from Kaze France and Kaze UK as the company will be bringing out the release of Roujin-Z on Blu-ray on February 22nd, 2012. It’s also showing up at some other Kaze releasing countries as well as the show will have Japanese, English, French, Italian and German language tracks with English, French, Italian, Polish and Dutch subtitles.
The feature, released in the US by Central Park Media in the 90’s, was noteworthy with who was involved in the production, with Katsuhiro Otomo being the writer whose name was gold after Akira was released when it came to North American fans. The company released it on VHS and then on DVD through Image Entertainment in 1998 during their first wave of anime DVD releases and then again themselves in 2002 under a remastered label.
Plot Concept: Japan faces the expensive problems of caring for an aging population. As a solution, Mr. Terada, an official in a mysterious government ministry, unveils the Z-001, a high-tech bed that cares for an invalid’s every need. His chosen guinea pig of a patient is Mr. Takazawa, an aged man in the care of Haruko, a pretty young nurse. Haruko realizes that the machine can’t attend to Mr. Takazawa’s emotional needs and tries to rescue him. When Terada foils her efforts, she turns to a group of elderly patients–who turn out to be ace hackers. The complications pile up when an unscrupulous member of Terada’s staff reveals that the Z-001 is actually a prototype battle robot. But once Haruko’s aged hackers gain control of it, the Z-001 takes on the personality of Mr. Takazawa’s late wife. It sets out to realize his dream of spending a day at the beach at Kamakura, wreaking havoc wherever it goes.
This is definately one I’ll be importing. I still have my copy of the old Image disc.