Animatsu & MangaUK Industry Panel Announcements at London MCM Comic Con May 2015

It’s been a year since Jerome Mazandarani, the previous head of acquisitions at Manga Entertainment UK and now CEO of his new company Animatsu Entertainment, took to the stage at the London MCM Comic Con to make announcements surrounding new anime licenses but he, along with his side-kick Andrew Hewson, were back in top form this weekend with wave-after-wave of glorious anime news – all of which you can see for yourself in our video of the panel.

Before we get to the important stuff there is some clarification involved; as this particular panel saw both Manga Entertainment UK and Animatsu Entertainment titles being announced by the same people – namely Jerome and Andrew. The reason for this, and its something that we have mentioned before, is that Animatsu Entertainment are not only a distributor (and/or licensor) but they will also act as promoter (and licensor) for Manga Entertainment UK. In other words this formula of seeing two different brand-names but one set of people announcing titles will most likely be here to stay from now on.

Anyway; both Jerome and Andrew, along with newcomer Fraiser, were on top form with some banter, games and long-over-due announcements. For starters Animatsu Entertainment confirmed that they would be releasing Knights of Sidonia, which is a Netflix exclusive anime series, on both DVD and Blu-ray in July with the release being identical to the US Release. Shortly after Jerome, Andrew and Fraiser played a game which saw the (long-overdue) announcement that both A Certain Scientific Railgun and A Certain Magical Index would be coming to the UK on DVD and Blu-ray during the summer as complete season sets; with these releases matching that of the previous FUNimation sets.

Continuing on with Animatsu Entertainment announcements it was confirmed that they would be working with Sentai Filmworks to release Parasyte on DVD and Blu-ray within the UK; with is something we suggested when Sentai acquired the rights for the UK region. Finally the Animatsu Entertainment confirmed that they would be releasing Triagex, Black Bullet and Golden Time within the UK on both DVD and Blu-ray; with further release details to be unveiled in due course.

Interestingly enough it was the Manga Entertainment UK titles which got the crowd excited; with the biggest announcement being that Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F would be coming to the UK later this year, while the confirmation of all three Madoka Magica movies being released on DVD and Blu-ray also getting people excited for the middle of this year.

Release details for the new Dragon Ball Z Movie are being kept tight lipped, just like it is in Australia and America, however in regards to the Madoka Magica movies then each movie will be released individual on DVD throughout the year while Madoka Magica Movie 1: Beginnings and Madoka Magica Movie 2: Eternal will be bundled together as a collectors edition bundle, similar to how it was released within America and Australia. Madoka Magica Movie 3: Rebellion on the other hand will be released as a stand-a-lone Blu-ray by the end of this year.

So to sum up:

Animatsu Entertainment:

• A Certain Magical Index – Season 1 (DVD and Blu-ray in Q3/Q4)
• A Certain Scientific Railgun – Season 1 (DVD and Blu-ray in Q3/Q4)
• Black Bullet (DVD and Blu-ray in TBC)
• Golden Time (DVD and Blu-ray in TBC)
• Knights of Sidonia – Season 1 (DVD and Blu-ray in July 2015)
• Parasyte (DVD and Blu-ray by end of 2015)
• Triage X (DVD and Blu-ray TBC)

Manga Entertainment UK:

• Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F (Details TBC)
• Madoka Magica Movie 1: Beginnings (DVD in July 2015)
• Madoka Magica Movie 2: Eternal (DVD in july 2015)
• Madoka Magica Movie 1 & 2 Deluxe Collectors (2-Disc Blu-ray in artbox in July 2015)
• Madoka Magica Movie 3: Rebellion (September 2015)

Animatsu and Manga UK may not have the quantity of titles you would be hoping for but they do have a strong-line-up of titles – majority of which will be released by the end of this year.