Pony Canyon is handling the home video side of the release of Rin-Ne in Japan with it getting a DVD only release, something that continues to be a bit of a surprise. While we’ve had some focus on the design of the series and the Rumiko Takahashi box artwork recently, including the box set design, we’ve now got the cover artwork for the second installment that’s due out this week.
The series is getting an eight volume release beginning on July 15th, 2015 with each volume priced at 5,000 yen each. Check out the release schedule and known details below, which will be updated when new information surfaces.
Sentai Filmworks has picked up the North American license for this series.
The show is set to be directed by Seiki Sugawara at Brains Base with the eternally busy Michiko Yokote handling the scripts for the series. The series stars Kaito Ishikawa as Rinne Rokudo, Marina Inoue as Sakura Mamiya, Hitomi Nabatame as Rokumon, Satsuki Yukino as Tamako, Kappei Yamaguchi as Sabato Rokudo, Ryohei Kimura as Tsubasa Jūmonji, Tetsuya Kakihara as Masato, Sora Tokui as Miho, Aya Suzaki as Rika and Tesshô Genda as Narrator.
Rumiko Takahashi’s works have spawned some long running shows over the years, from Urusei Yatsura to Ranma 1/2 as well as Maison Ikkoku and Inu Yasha. Add in a number of OVAs over the years, most of which are long out of print in North America, and it’s easy to see why they’ll animate what she produces once there’s more than enough content to work with. The manga series, which is released in North America by Viz as Rin-ne, began in 2009 and has twenty-two volumes released there to date. Viz Media has released the 17th volume of the series last month in North America.
| Volume | Date | Extras |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 07/15/15 | Clean Opening, Clean Closing |
| 2 | 08/19/15 | Clean Closing |
| 3 | 09/16/15 | |
| 4 | 10/21/15 | |
| 5 | 11/18/15 | |
| 6 | 12/16/15 | |
| 7 | 01/20/16 | |
| 8 | 02/17/16 |
Plot Concept: As a child Sakura Mamiya mysteriously disappeared in the woods behind her grandma’s home. She returned whole and healthy, but since then she has had the power to see ghosts. Now a teenager, she just wishes the ghosts would leave her alone! At school, the desk next to Sakura’s has been empty since the start of the school year, then one day her always-absent classmate shows up, and he’s far more than what he seems!
[Source: Kyoukai no Rinne]
I’ve been very disappointed by this show. I went back and watched some Ranma and some Maison Ikkoku, just to check, and the unavoidable conclusion is that Takahashi-sensei is slipping, badly, with this series. I got behind it by one episode, and just wasn’t motivated to catch up. The artwork on the packaging, however, looks great.
Wow DVD only release in 2015? I’m going to guess that they’ll eventually do a BD release somewhere down the line else it’d just be baffling. While I never got into the show myself (dropped it after 1 episode) the box set art looks really nice.