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Funimation Reveals Home Video Release Details for Free! Anime Films, ReLIFE OVA
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
Anime News Network's coverage of Anime Expo 2018 is sponsored by Yen Press.
Funimation announced details of its upcoming home video releases for High Speed! -Free! Starting Days-, Free! -Take Your Marks- (seen right), Free! -Timeless Medley- Kizuna, Free! -Timeless Medley- Yakusoku, the ReLIFE original video anime (OVA), Witch Hunter Robin, and Mamoru Hosoda's films at Anime Expo on Friday. In addition, it announced that its home video releases of Pop Team Epic and Dragon Ball Super part 5 are slated for October.
The High Speed! -Free! Starting Days- prequel film, Free! -Take Your Marks- film, and Free! -Timeless Medley- Kizuna and Free! -Timeless Medley- Yakusoku compilation films are slated for release on home video in October. A special box collection will also bundle all four films in an exclusive box.
High Speed! -Free! Starting Days- (seen left) was directly inspired by the High Speed! novel that had been loosely adapted into the original Free! television anime. Whereas the Free! anime centers on Haruka and the other swimmers during high school, High Speed! followed the characters during middle school. The film opened in Japan in December 2015.
Both compilation films cover the events of the second television anime series with new segments. The Free! -Timeless Medley- Kizuna compilation film, which follows the Iwatobi swim club, opened in April 2017. The second compilation film, Free! -Timeless Medley- Yakusoku, which follows Rin and Sousuke, opened in July 2017.
Funimation screened Free! -Take Your Marks- at theaters in the United States on March 14. The sequel to the second anime series opened in Japan in October 2017. The film depicts four stories set in the days of early spring, before the characters advance to the next starting blocks of their futures, and what lies ahead.
Funimation will release the four-episode finale arc for the ReLIFE anime on home video, as well as streaming on FunimationNow. The episodes shipped on Blu-ray Disc and DVD in Japan on March 21.
Funimation will re-release Witch Hunter Robin on home video on October 23. Bandai Entertainment previously released the series on home video in North America. The television anime series debuted in 2002.
The company will release Mamoru Hosoda's The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, Wolf Children, and The Boy and The Beast anime films in a box set. Funimation previously released the films on home video individually.
Source: Funimation Announcement Panel at Anime Expo (Bamboo Dong)
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