Last month saw the debut of the Drifters first anime season as a DVD/BD combo priced at $64.98 from Funimation and that means promotion is ongoing to remind folks that it’s out. The latest comes in the form of a fun action clip that showcases the dub but also lets the animation style shine through with a lot of good stuff with the two samurai really going at it! Extras include twelve Inside the Episode featurettes, two audio commentaries, promotional videos, and the clean opening and closing sequences.
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 ADR director for it is Christopher Bevins as he’s working with ADR engineer Matt Grounds and mix engineer Nathanael Harrison. The script adaptation was done by Patrick Seitz.
The English cast is set with Josh Grelle as Shimazu Toyohisa, Robert McCollum as Oda Nobunaga, Justin Briner as Nasu no Yoichi, Mark Stoddard as Scipio Africanus, R Bruce Elliott as Hannibal Barca, J. Michael Tatum as Butch Cassidy, Kent Williams as Sundance Kid, Justin Cook as Naoshi Kanno, Sonny Strait as Tamon Yamaguchi, Colleen Clinkenbeard as Jeanne D’Arc, Christopher R. Sabat as Gilles de Rais, Rachel Robinson as Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, Christopher Bevins as Grigori Rasputin, Ian Sinclair as Hijikata Toshizo, Jeremy Schwartz as Black King, David Wald as Murasaki, Chris Patton as Abe no Seimei (Harukira), Gwendolyn Lau as Olminu, Aaron Roberts as Kafet, Monica Rial as EASY, Greg Ayres as Minamoto no Yoshitsune, Mikaela Krantz as Masha and Apphia Yu as Mark.
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.”
