News

CG Lupin III THE FIRST Released Monday

On Monday September 20, Anime Limited will release the CG film Lupin III THE FIRST as a Blu-ray, DVD and a Collectors Blu-ray/DVD. The Collectors edition will contain a 64-page booklet with designs and storyboards.

This is the first 3D CG feature-length anime film in Monkey Punch's Lupin III franchise. Takashi Yamazaki (Stand By Me Doraemon, Dragon Quest Your Story) directed and wrote the film. GKIDS described the story:

The iconic "gentleman thief" Lupin III returns in an action-packed, continent-spanning adventure, as Lupin III and his colorful underworld companions race to uncover the secrets of the mysterious Bresson Diary, before it falls into the hands of a dark cabal that will stop at nothing to resurrect the Third Reich. The gang undertakes trap-filled tombs, aerial escapades and daring prison escapes with the trademark wit and visual finesse that have made LUPIN THE 3RD one of the most storied animation franchises in the world, in a thrilling new caper that is sure to delight fans old and new.

Funimation will release Plunderer Season 1 Part 1 on Blu-ray and DVD. Yen Press, which licensed the "heroic action fantasy" manga, describes the story:

It's the year 305 of the Alcian calendar, and the world is controlled by numbers. Every human born is branded with a "Count,” which could mean anything from the number of kilometers walked to the amount of people who have said your food is tasty. And if your Count drops to 0… you'll be sent into the Abyss! After Hina's mother's Count dropped to 0, her last request is for Hina to look for the Legendary Red Baron.

Hiroyuki Kanbe (Oreimo both seasons, Gonna be the Twin-Tail!!) directed the series at studio Geek Toys (RErideD). Masashi Suzuki (Isuca, Lord of Vermilion: The Crimson King, Minami-ke: Okawari) oversaw the series scripts, and Yuka Takashina (Dance with Devils), Yūki Fukuchi (chief animation director for Bakuon!!), and Hiroki Fukuda (key animator for I want to eat your pancreas) designed the characters.

MVM will release the series My Girlfriend is Shobitch. Sentai Filmworks, which released the series in America, described its story:

"When high school student Haruka Shinozaki confesses his feelings to the beautiful and aloof class representative, Akiho Kosaka, the last thing he expected was for her to say “yes.” Like everything else in her diligent life, Kosaka takes dating quite seriously. In an effort to be a good girlfriend, Kosaka decides to meticulously study (and bluntly suggest) all manner of ways to keep Shinozaki sexually satisfied… in the theoretical sense, that is. This innocently lewd relationship is only just beginning."

The series was broadcast in 2017, based on the manga by Namiru Matsumoto. Nobuyoshi Nagayama (episode director for Hinako Note, Utano☆Princesama Legend Star) directed the series at diomedéa and Studio Blanc. Hideki Shirane (Date A Live, Queen's Blade: Rebellion, Kill Me Baby) oversaw the scripts, and Shōko Yasuda (Unlimited Fafnir) designed the characters for animation.

Funimation will release Season 3 Part 3 of Black Clover as a Collectors and standard Blu-ray/DVD. It will carry episodes 121 to 129 of the series.

Arrow Films will release the 1968 live-action Japanese film The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch (Hebimusume to Hakuhatsuma) on Blu-ray. Directed by Noriaki Yuasa, the film is an adaption of the 1965 manga Reptilia by Kazuo Umezu, who would go on to write The Drifting Classroom. Umezu has a cameo role in the film.

Arrow Films describes the title:

"What do you get when Noriaki Yuasa, director of Daiei Studios' much-beloved Gamera series, makes a monochrome film adaptation of the works of horror manga pioneer Kazuo Umezu (The Drifting Classroom)? The answer is 1968's The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch, a fantastically phantasmagorical slice of twisted tokusatsu terror ostensibly made for children that will irreparably traumatise any child that sees it.

"A young girl named Sayuri is reunited with her estranged family after years in an orphanage – but trouble lurks within the walls of the large family home. Her mother is an amnesiac after a car accident six months earlier, her sullen sister is confined to the attic and a young housemaid dies inexplicably of a heart attack just before Sayuri arrives… is it all connected to her father's work studying venomous snakes? And is the fanged, serpentine figure that haunts Sayuri's dreams the same one spying on her through holes in the wall?

The Blu-ray edition will contain a commentary by film historian David Kalat, and an interview with manga and folklore scholar Zack Davisson. The first pressing of the Blu-ray will also include an illustrated collectors booklet featuring writing by Raffael Coronelli.