News

Hanabee Launches VOD Site with Five New Acquisitions

Hanabee broke the news via press-release and at their booth at Supanova Pop Culture Expo in Sydney today. The new beta website at hanabee.com.au incorporates the ability to watch anime, shop for anime and interact with Hanabee.

In regards to the launch, President and CEO Eric Cherry stated;

“The talent here is immense and it's allowed this young company to step into an area typically reserved for those with a lot more resources or simply acting illegally, and that's a really rewarding accomplishment. We're both excited to enter this space and humbled by the challenges it brings, which is why we're chosen to launch in BETA form and on Friday the 13th; ensuring ample amount of excuses are place in the event the launch doesn't go as planned.”

The website does require a login to watch the shows, it appears that previously created logins might not work on the new site, if so you will need to create a new one.

The first lineup of shows include the following

• Beyond the Boundary - All episodes [ watch here ].
• Black Bullet - Episodes 1 to 5 [ watch here ].
• Captain Earth - Episodes 1 to 6 [ watch here ].
• Chaika the Coffin Princess - Episodes 1 to 10 [ watch here ].
• The Irregular at Magic High School - All episodes [ watch here ].
• No Game No Life - Episodes 1 to 5 [ watch here ].

A simulcast schedule has not yet been published but we will update this article as soon as we have updated information. All the titles have home video release planned for some time in 2014.

Black Bullet

The story of Black Bullet revolves around the high-schooler Rentarō, a young man who has a superior, mysterious ability in an age of humans that fight against the Gastrea, a race of viral parasites. The story describes Rentarō's actions in a not too distant future.

The series stars Aoi Yūki as Kohina Hiruko, Yui Horie as Kisara Tendō, Yuko Kaida as Sumire Muroto, Tomoyo Kurosawa as Tina Sprout, and Aki Toyosaki as Seitenshi. The cast members join lead voice actors Yuuki Kaji as Rentarō Satomi, Rina Hidaka as Enju Aihara, and Rikiya Koyama as Kagetane Hiruko.

Masayuki Kojima (Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, The Piano Forest) is directing the anime at Kinema Citrus from scripts by Tatsuhiko Urahata (Saki Episode of Side A, Cardfight!! Vanguard). Chiho Umishima is designing the characters, while Shiro Sagisu (Bleach, Neon Genesis Evangelion) is composing the music. Yō Yamada (The Garden of Words, Penguindrum) is serving as sound director. If you would like to view some of the promotional artwork please click here.

Kanzaki began publishing the story under the Dengeki Bunko label with illustrations by Saki Ukai in July 2011, and ASCII Media Works shipped the sixth volume of the light novel series in October 2013.

The series has been simulcast on Crunchyroll and licensed by Sentai Filmworks in North America.

You can view Hanabee's press release here

Captain Earth

The story of Captain Earth begin when second-year high school student Daichi Manatsu suddenly spies a mysterious circular rainbow floating in the skies over Tanegashima island on television, on the evening before summer vacation begins.

"I've seen that rainbow before…"

Moved by intense foreboding, he heads to Tanegashima, the home of Japan's Tanegashima Space Center, by himself. A 17-year-old boy named Teppei Arashi then asks why Daichi has returned to this island. Daichi replies that he came back to fulfill a promise.

The mystery of his father's accidental death. Memories of the mysterious boys and girls he met during childhood. Daichi arrives at the island full of complex emotions, and as alarms sound at the center, he encounters the robot "Earth Engine."

Daichi is asked, "Are you the Captain?" The target is the mysterious all-mechanical lifeform Kill-T-Gang that is invading from the orbit of Uranus. Now, when the stars in the skies are ablaze, the curtains open on their battle….

BONES reunited Star Driver's director Takuya Igarashi and series script supervisor Yoji Enokido for this project. The two also collaborated in Ouran High School Host Club and Sailor Moon Super S. Enokido said that, whereas Star Driver was a "school robot" story, they are now doing a conventional robot anime.

Chief animation director Satoshi Ishino is adapting Fumi Minato's original character designs for animation. A Star Driver veteran, Shigeto Koyama, designed the Earth Engine and other Engine Series mecha while Takayuki Yanase handled the Machine Goodfellow designs and other mecha. Shinji Aramaki and Takeshi Takakura are the other mechanical designers. Masaki Asai and Takeshi Yoshioka designed the enemy Kirutogangu and the artist okama is contributing concept designs. Tsuyoshi Kusano is the graphic designer and Masatsugu Saitō is credited for design works. Satoru Kousaki of monaca is scoring the soundtrack. If you would like to view the character designs you can do so here.

Additionally Crunchyroll has been streaming the series and Sentai Filmworks has licensed the title in North America.

Original character designer Fumi Minato is also drawing a short manga in Newtype magazine that debuted on March 10, and Hiroshi Nakanishi is also drawing a manga adaptation in Shonen Sunday that started on April 9.

You can view Hanabee's press release here.

©BONES/CAPTAIN EARTH COMMITTEE, MBS

Chaika - The Coffin Princess

Toru Acura is a 20-year-old retired soldier meandering through life now that the war has ended. He encounters Chaika Trabant, a 14-year-old sorceress carrying a coffin, and follows her in hopes of finding meaning to his life again. The two travel with Toru's adopted sister, Akari, the employed member of the group and thus Toru's source of income.

The series adapts Ichiro Sakaki's Hitsugi no Chaika fantasy light novels. Sakaki launched the light novel series with illustrations by Namaniku ATK (Nitroplus) in 2010 and Fujimi Shobo published the eighth volume in January 2014. Shinta Sakayama began drawing a manga adaptation in Kadokawa Shoten's Monthly Shōnen Ace magazine in 2011 and Kanikama started a four-panel comic adaptation in Kadokawa Shoten's 4-Koma Nano Ace in 2011.

Soichi Masui (Anyamaru Tantei Kiruminzuu, Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi o Yobu Ōgon no Spy Daisakusen, Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi o Yobu! Ora to Uchū no Princess) is directing the television series at the anime studio BONES (Eureka Seven, Star Driver). Masui and BONES also collaborated on 2003's Scrapped Princess, another anime based on Sakaki's writings. Touko Machida (Karneval, Lucky Star, The IDOLM@STER, Tears to Tiara) is in charge of the series scripts, and Nobuhiro Arai(animation director on Blast of Tempest, Shakugan no Shana film) is designing the characters. Seikou Nagaoka (Strike Witches, Tenchi Muyo!) is composing the soundtrack.

Sakaki's other works include Scrapped Princess, Strait Jacket, Magician's Academy, Polyphonica, CODE-E, and Outbreak Company - Moeru Shinryakusha — all of which inspired anime.

Crunchyroll has been streaming the series since it's premiere in April. A second season for the series has already been confirmed for October 2014 and a additional un-aired anime episode will be bundled with the 12th's volume of the light novel series in March 2015.

You can view Hanabee's press release here

The irregular at magic high school

The anime's story takes place in a world in which magic is not a fairy tale, but has existed for nearly one hundred years. In the spring, the Private Magic University Affiliated High School (Magic High School for short) is welcoming its new students, and names the top incoming student with the best grades the Bloom (read as "garland" in Japanese). The student called the Weed is the Bloom's replacement.

Siblings Tatsuya (Yūichi Nakamura) and Miyuki Shiba (Saori Hayami) are designated as the Weed and Bloom, respectively. Tatsuya is a young man who always has a farsighted expression, and Miyuki is a young woman who feels far more for her brother than sibling love. Since the day the two entered the gates of the elite school, the establishment's peaceful days have become chaotic.

The show stars Yūichi Nakamura as Tatsuya, Saori Hayami as Miyuki Shiba, Takuma Terashimaas Leonhart Saijō (Leo), Yumi Uchiyama as Erika Chiba, Satomi Satou as Mizuki Shibata, Sora Amamiya as Honoka Mitsui, Yuiko Tatsumi as Shizuku Kitayama, Marina Inoue as Mari Watanabe, Ryohei Kimura as Hattori Gyōbu, Junichi Suwabe as Katsuto Jūmonji, Kana Hanazawa as Mayumi Saegusa, Mai Nakahara as Suzune Ichihara, Saki Ogasawara as Azusa Nakajō, Haruka Tomatsu as Sayaka Mibu, Tomokazu Sugita as Takeaki Kirihara, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Masaki Ichijō, and Ayumu Murase as Shinkurō Kichōji.

Manabu Ono (Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere, Saki Episode of Side A) directed the anime with assistant director Yuuji Kumazawa at the Studio MADHOUSE. Original novel illustrator Kana Ishidais also handled the anime character designs with sub-character designer Maho Yoshikawa. The chief animation directors are Ishida, Maho Yoshikawa, and Shinichi Miyamae, while the action animation directors are Takashi Tomioka and Satoshi Iwataki.

Originally based on Japanese light novel series by Tsutomu Satou, he began writing the novel with character designs and illustrations by Kana Ishida (Aquarion Evol character design) in 2008 under the Dengeki Bunko label and ASCII Media Works is publishing the thirteenth volume of the light novel series in April 2014. To date The light novels have 3.15 million copies in print, and ranked as the third top-selling light novel series in Japan last year.

Aniplex of America licensed the series for streaming on four over seas websites Hulu, Aniplex Channel, Crunchyroll, and Daisuki.

Additionally Miyuki Shiba has been added to Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax alongside her support Tatsuya Shiba.

You can view Hanabee's press release here.

No Game No Life

The story of No Game, No Life centers around Sora and Shiro, a brother and sister whose reputations as brilliant NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) hikikomori (shut-in) gamers have spawned urban legends all over the Internet. These two gamers even consider the real world as just another "crappy game." One day, they are summoned by a boy named "God" to an alternate world. There, God has prohibited war and declared this to be a world where "everything is decided by games" — even national borders. Humanity has been driven back into one remaining city by the other races. Will Sora and Shiro, the good-for-nothing brother and sister, become the "Saviors of Humanity" on this alternate world? "Well, let's start playing."

Atsuko Ishizuka is directing the anime at MADHOUSE with series scripts supervised by Jukki Hanada. Kōji Ōdate is designing the characters and serving as animation director. Kayano (as her character Shiro) sings the ending theme song "Orashion."

Kamiya launched the light novel series in 2012 with his own art after illustrating another light novel series that spawned an anime, A Dark Rabbit Has Seven Lives (Itsuka Tenma no Kuro-Usagi). Media Factory published the fifth volume in November.

Crunchyroll has been streaming the series as it airs in Japan and Sentai Filmworks licensed No Game No Life in North America.

You can view Hanabee's press release here.