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Funimation Adds Rosario + Vampire, Chaos;HEAd, Regios

The North America anime distributor Funimation has announced at its Anime Central panel on Saturday that it has licensed the Rosario + Vampire, Rosario + Vampire Capu2, Chaos;HEAd, Chrome Shelled Regios, Rideback, Heaven's Lost Property (Sora no Otoshimono), and Gun x Sword anime series. All of the new titles will ship in 2011 — except for Gun x Sword and Regios, which will ship in late 2010.

Funimation has also announced the English dubbing casts for Eden of the East, Casshern Sins, and Shikabane Hime. The company is offering a "free ride" to Comic-Con International in San Diego this July to the most ardent Fullmetal Alchemist fan; fans can enter by posting their video pleas on YouTube and http://www.fullmetalalchemist.com/comiccon/.

Takayuki Inagaki (Desert Punk, Indian Summer) and Gonzo's 2008 Rosario + Vampire television series and its Rosario + Vampire Capu2 sequel adapt Akihisa Ikeda's supernatural school comedy manga of the same name. The story follows an ordinary high school boy who fails to get into any private academy except one — which happens to be populated by supernatural creatures (yōkai) disguised as humans. To survive, Tsukune Aono has to pretend that he is also a yōkai and blend in. Viz Media publishes the manga in North America.

Director Takaaki Ishiyama (Viewtiful Joe, Karura Mau) and the Madhouse anime studio adapted Nitroplus and 5pb.'s Chaos;HEAd computer visual novel for television in 2008. In this 12-episode psychological suspense series, a shut-in teenager named Takumi becomes embroiled in a series of mysterious deaths around the Tokyo neighborhood of Shibuya, all of which could lead to a larger calamity.

Chrome Shelled Regios began as a series of fantasy academy light novels from Shūsuke Amagi, before Itsurō Kawasaki (Sengoku Basara, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE The Movie) and ZEXCS brought it to television last year. The 24-episode series takes place in the future when humanity lives in isolated mobile cities called Regios to escape the pollution on the planet. Layfon Alseif enrolls into the Academy city of Zuellni and joins the 17th Military Arts Unit of Nina Antalk.

Atsushi Takahashi (Detroit Metal City anime) and Madhouse adapted the 12-episode Rideback television anime series from Tetsuro Kasahara's manga last year. Rideback tells the story of a student named Rin Ogata and her "iron horse" robot motorcycle in 2020, a tumultuous time of anti-government student protests. With her transforming motorcycle and her agility from years of ballet training, Rin joins the fight against the GGP regime that rules the world.

Suu Minazuki created the Heaven's Lost Property (Sora no Otoshimono) modern fantasy manga before director Hisashi Saito (Bamboo Blade) and AIC A.S.T.A. animated it for television last year. The 14-episode series centers around Tomoki Sakurai (Souichiro Hoshi), an ordinary middle school boy and avowed pacifist. A strange girl often appears in his dream to ask for his help — only he cannot remember her face when he wakes up. Then, his life gets more complicated when an unidentified mysterious animal (UMA) falls out of the skies. The "animal" turns out to be Ikaros (Saori Hayami), an angel. Crunchyroll simulcasted this anime in multiple countries worldwide as it aired in Japan.

Code Geass director Gorō Taniguchi and AIC A.S.T.A. created the 26-episode Gun x Sword television anime series in 2005. The anime follows a lone man, armed with a a shape-shifting sword and a powerful Mechanized Armor, who hunts the mysterious clawed man who had murdered his bride. Van is accompanied by Wendy, a girl who offers to be Van's new bride if he can help her find her brother. Geneon Entertainment had licensed Gun x Sword before it ceased its distribution operations in North America.

The English dubbing cast for Eden of the East (with ADR Director Mike McFarland) is as follows:

Akira Takizawa: Jason Liebrecht
Saki Morimi: Leah Clark
Juiz: Stephanie Young
Kuroha Diana Shiratori: Christine Auten
Daiju Mononobe: John Gremillion
Micchon: Stephanie Sheh
Haruo Kasuga: John Burgmeier
Sis: Lydia Mackay
Kazuomi Hirasawa: J. Michael Tatum
Satoshi Osugi: Michael Sinterniklaas
Panties: Newton Pittman

The English dubbing cast for Casshern Sins (with ADR Director Jason Grundy) is as follows:

Braiking Boss: Paul Slavens
Casshern: Eric Vale
Luna: Trina Nishimura
Lyuze: Brina Palencia
Leda: Shelly Calene-Black
Ohji: Jerry Russell
Ringo: Monica Rial
Dio: Jerry Jewell
Dune: Jason Douglas

The English dubbing cast for Shikabane Hime (with ADR directors R. Bruce Elliot, Terri Doty and J. Michael Tatum) is as follows:

Keisei Tagami: J. Michael Tatum
Makina Hoshimura: Luci Christian
Ouri Kagami: Aaron Dismuke
Rika Aragami: Cynthia Cranz
Saki Amase: Monica Rial
Takamasa Sōgi: Joel McDonald
Itsuki Yamagami: Cherami Leigh

Images © Akihisa Ikeda/Shueisha, Rosario + Vampire Project

© 5pb./Nitroplus/RED FLAGSHIP

© 2008 Chaos;Head Production Committee

© 2009 Shūsuke Amagi, Miyū/Fujimi Shobo/Zuellni 17th Unit

© 2005 AIC • Team DannChester/GUN SWORD Partners

© Tetsuro Kasahara, Shogakukan/Rideback Production Committee

© 2005 AIC • Team DannChester/GUN SWORD Partners

Update: More background information and direct link to Funimation's contest added.