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Funimation Adds Baka & Test, Dance in the Vampire Bund

The North American anime distributor Funimation has announced that it has licensed the Baka and Test — Summon the Beasts (Baka to Test to Shōkanjū) and Dance in the Vampire Bund television anime series from Media Factory. It will simulcast both series with English subtitles — within days of the Japanese broadcast — starting this month, and the first episodes of both series will begin streaming this Friday at 10:00 a.m. CST.

The Baka and Test — Summon the Beasts anime, which adapts Kenji Inoue's fantasy romantic comedy light novels, premiered in Japan on January 6. The story centers around Akihisa Yoshii, the "baka" of the title. His magical academy rigidly divides up the student body into classes based on the results of tests. The prodigies are in the A class with reclining seats complete with air conditioning, but Akihisa is in F class, the lowest rung of the school ladder which is furnished only with low, decrepit tables and worn-out straw tatami mats. Akihisa decides to rally F class to take on the higher-tiered classes and seize their perks. The F class uses its summoning powers in an all-out battle for school supremacy. Funimation's simulcast of the latest Baka and Test — Summon the Beasts episodes will begin on March 10.

The Dance in the Vampire Bund anime adapts Nozomu Tamaki's manga about a vampire princess who wants to create a special district for her kind off the coast of Japan, despite the terrorists and rival factions arrayed against her. Seven Seas Entertainment released the fifth volume of the manga in North America in November. The anime premiered in Japan on January 7, and Funimation's simulcast of the latest episodes will begin on March 12.

Images © 2007 Kenji Inoue・Yui Haga/ENTERBRAIN, INC./Baka to Test to Shōkanjū Production Committee
© Nozomu Tamaki, Media Factory/Vampire Bund Government

Update: More background information added.