News

Maiden Japan to Release Royal Space Force Film on DVD/BD in October

North American anime distributor Section23 Films revealed via an announcement for its October slate on Thursday that Maiden Japan will be releasing the Royal Space Force - The Wings of Honnêamise film on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on October 15. The film will ship with both English and Japanese audio and English subtitles. The DVD will retail for US$29.98, and the Blu-ray Disc will retail for US$39.98. Maiden Japan will also release the film digitally.

Bandai Visual USA had previously released the film on HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc with a bundled standard DVD version in 2007.

The 1987 film served as GAINAX's first anime production. The film follows Shirotsugh Lhadatt, an astronaut candidate for the world's first manned spaceflight program. Shirotsugh belongs to a small group who want to use technology to move mankind into the future and into space amidst two rivaling entities, the Kingdom of Honneamise and The Republic, who are on the verge of all-out war.

Hiroyuki Yamaga (Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Mahoromatic - Automatic Maiden) directed and wrote the screenplay the film and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Neon Genesis Evangelion) created the character designs. The film also launched the careers of other would-be directors such as Hideaki Anno, Hiroyuki Kitakubo, Mahiro Maeda, and Ichirō Itano.

Update: Background information and information about a digital release added.