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Aniplex USA Adds Valvrave the Liberator, Gurren Lagann TV Anime Series
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Aniplex of America announced during its panel at Sakura-Con on Friday that it has licensed Sunrise's Valvrave the Liberator television anime series. Crunchyroll is streaming the series one day after it premieres in Japan. Aniplex also announced that it will re-release Gainax's Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann television anime series in a new DVD box set and will also sell the imported Blu-ray Disc Box set from Japan.
The story of Valvrave the Liberator is set the year Shinreki ("True Calendar") 71, when 70% of the human race lives in space due to the development of a space city called "Dyson Sphere." Between two major powers — the Dorrssia Military Pact Federation and the Atlantic Ring United States (ARUS) — there is a small neutral nation called JIOR that has prospered economically. The protagonist Haruto Tokishima (voiced by Ryota Ohsaka), a high school student who lives in JIOR, encounters the mysterious "forbidden" humanoid weapon Valvrave when the Dorrssian army invades.
Kou Matsuo (Kurenai, Natsuyuki Rendezvous, Rozen Maiden) is directing the series at Sunrise. Ichiro Okouchi (Code Geass, Negima!, Guilty Crown) is handling the series composition. Manga creator Katsura Hoshino (D. Gray-Man) is handling the original character designs for the series, and Tatsuya Suzuki (Mobile Suit Gundam Battlefield Record: Avant-Title) is adapting Hoshino's designs for animation. Makoto Ishiwata (Robotics;Notes, Blassreiter) of Nitroplus, Naohiro Washio (Bodacious Space Pirates, Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Fafner), and Kunio Okawara (Mobile Suit Gundam franchise, Armored Trooper Votoms, Yatterman) are handling mechanical design.
The anime will premiere on April 11 on MBS's "Animeism" late-night programming block. T.M. Revolution and Nana Mizuki are performing the opening theme song "Preserved Roses" together. Angela is performing the first ending theme song, and the singer elisa is performing the second ending theme song.
Aniplex of America will release Gurren Lagann in a complete DVD box set. The DVD set includes the complete television series with English and Jananese audio tracks, an unaired episode, two soundtrack CDs, a 36-page booklet, a double-sided poster, a 12-post card set, and two stickers of Kamina's famous remarks. Video extras will include Sanzigen's 3DCG test animation footage, staff interviews, the "Yoko Goes to Gainax" video, and others. The set itself will come in a box designed by mechanical designer You Yoshinari. The box will retail for US$174.98 and will ship on May 9.
The Blu-ray Disc box set will be an import of the "Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Complete Blu-ray Box" that will ship in Japan in June. The set will ship in the U.S. and Canada on June 24, and will retail for US$669.98. The set includes the television series in Japanese and English, the Gurren Lagann the Movie –Childhood's End- and Gurren Lagann the Movie – The Lights in the Sky Are Stars compilation films with Japanese audio and English subtitles, and bonus content in Japanese, which will not include English subtitles. The set includes 10 Blu-ray Discs and five CDs, and director Hiroyuki Imaishi is supervising the HD refilming of the footage (except for the live-action extras).
The set will include clean openings and endings for the television series and films, the "Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Kirameki Yoko Box ~Pieces of sweet stars~" music videos, footage from the "Zenyasai" film premiere event with the "Viral's Sweet Dreams" picture drama, and the "My Gurren is Shiny!!" episode 5.5 original video anime that had been bundled with the Nintendo DS game. Other bonus footage will include the "Yoko Goes to GAINAX –Study Animation at GAINAX-" clip, a document video with the on-stage greetings held on the film's opening day, a "Gurren Lagann Quiz," a staff interview collection, and more.
The five CDs will include four drama CDs — including a new drama CD from original creator and screenwriter Kazuki Nakashima — and a CD containing the soundtracks from the Gurren Lagann Parallel Works 2 and "Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Kirameki Yoko Box ~Pieces of sweet stars~" music videos.
The set will also come with a box with an exclusive illustration by Yoh Yoshinari, DigiPak cases with exclusive illustrations by Atsushi Nishigori, a hardcover mook containing an archive of previously unpublished early production designs and other materials, and an illustration book with an exclusive cover illustration by Imaishi.
Pre-orders for both the DVD and the Blu-ray Disc sets will begin on April 1 at the Right Stuf retailer.
Bandai Entertainment released the original 2007 television anime series on DVD in North America, and Aniplex of America released the two compilation films in North America in 2010.
Images © SUNRISE/VVV Committee, MBS
© GAINAX, KAZUKI NAKASHIMA / Aniplex, KDE-J, TV TOKYO, DENTSU
