NBC Universal Japan is handling the home video release of the Drifters anime series and has certainly set an interesting release pattern for it. The distributor will be bringing the twelve-episode series out across six volumes that began on January 25th, 2017, where they’re priced at 5,800 yen each. We’ve now got the finalized cover artwork for the sixth and final volume in larger side that came out on June 21st, 2017. They’ve also brought out a Blu-ray box set with the whole series a month before the singles began, which landed on December 30th, 2016, priced at 35,000 yen.
There are no DVD releases for this project.
The show was directed by Kenichi Suzuki based on the script and composition by Hideyuki Kurata and Yousuke Kuroda. Ryouji Nakamori served as the character designer and chief animation director. Music is handled by Yasushi Ishii and Hayato Matsuo.
The Japanese cast includes Yuichi Nakamura as Shimazu Toyohisa, Naoya Uchida as Oda Nobunaga, Mitsuki Saiga as Nasu no Yoichi, Takahiro Sakurai as Abe no Haruakira, Shiho Kokido as Olmine, Masakazu Nishida as Kafeto, Junko Minagawa as Jeanne d’Arc, Kenji Nomura as Gilles de Rais, Junko Kitanishi as Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, Masahiko Tanaka as Grigori Rasputin, Hiroki Yasumoto as Toshizou Hijikata, Mitsuru Miyamoto as Murasaki, Taiten Kusunoki as The Black King, Yutaka Aoyama as Hannibal Barca, Hiroshi Yanaka as Scipio Africanus, Kanae Itou as Easy, Junji Majima as Shara, Tomoko Tsuzuki as Mark and Sayori Ishizuka as Marsha.
Fans of Hellsing creator Kouta Hirano are used to the slow pace of his works in terms of getting released, and that means there’s not a lot of material to be made into anime form. Drifters began in 2011 and has five volumes out so far, three of which have seen release in North America through Dark Horse Comics.
Plot concept: Shimazu Toyohisa, whilst involved at the Battle of Sekigahara, manages to mortally wound Ii Naomasa, but is critically wounded in the process. As he walks from the field broken and bleeding, Toyohisa finds himself transported to a corridor of doors, where a bespectacled man at a desk waits for him. This man, Murasaki, sends Toyohisa into the nearest door where he wakes up in another world. There, Toyohisa meets other great warriors like him who have been transported as well, to be part of a group known as “Drifters.”
| Volume | Date | Extras |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 01/25/17 | |
| 2 | 02/22/17 | |
| 3 | 03/24/17 | |
| 4 | 04/21/17 | |
| 5 | 05/24/17 | |
| 6 | 06/21/17 | |
| Blu-ray Box Set | 12/30/16 | 200p Nakamori Work Collection, 52p Booklet, 2 Soundtracks, Bonus Disc with short & promos |
[Source: DRIFTERS]
