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Spice and Wolf Among New U.K. Titles Reported on Anime-on-Line (Updated)
posted on by Andrew Osmond
The online store Anime-on-Line, which is part of the MVM group, has announced several new releases on its anime catalogue here and here. They include a U.K. release for the first series of Spice and Wolf from Manga UK.
ANN contacted Manga, which confirmed that it is due to release both series of Spice and Wolf, each as "complete series" collections. On February 8, Manga tweeted that that it had not signed the contract for Spice and Wolf yet. In a tweet the next day, it said, '(Spice and Wolf) contracts are ready to sign and then lawyers want to make last-minute changes."
According to the Anime-on-line site, Spice and Wolf Season 1 (U.S. cover pictured right) will be released on June 4. The anime adapts Isuna Hasekura and Jū Ayakura's acclaimed novel series which focuses on how business (and religion) gets done in a medieval world — with a wolf girl and a peddler. It is directed by Takeo Takahashi and written by Naruhisa Arakawa. The first season (13 parts) was broadcast in Japan in 2008, followed by a second season (Spice and Wolf II) in 2009. The second season consisted of 12 TV episodes, plus a 'part 0' episode released to DVD in Japan.
The Anime-on-line site also lists numerous other new releases, assigning dates to several debut titles previously confirmed by Manga UK - Angel Beats!, Clannad, Baka and Test - Summon the Beasts and the feature films Roujin Z and Hetalia Axis Powers: Paint it, White!.
According to the site, the schedule is as follows:
Naruto Shippuden the Movie 2 Bonds (DVD/Blu-ray) April 2
Naruto Shippūden movie Double (DVD/Blu-ray) April 2
Birdy the Mighty: Decode Complete Series Collection April 16
Angel Beats! Complete Series Collection (DVD/Blu-ray) April 30
K-ON! Complete Series Collection (12) April 30
Fairy Tail Part 2 May 7
Bleach Series 8 Part 2 May 7
The first three Bleach feature films - Memories of Nobody, The DiamondDust Rebellion and Fade to Black - will also be released as Blu-rays on May 7, along with a DVD edition of Fade to Black.
Solid State Society (DVD/Blu-ray combo pack) May 21
Clannad Series 1 Part 1 May 28
Baka and Test - Summon the Beasts Complete Series Collection May 28
Naruto Shippūden Box Set 9 June 4
Naruto Shippūden Complete Series 2 (12) June 4
Roujin Z (DVD/Blu-ray) June 11
Hetalia Axis Powers: Paint it, White! June 18
Bleach Series 9 Part 1 June 25
Update - Added Manga's confirmation that it will release Spice and Wolf.
Update 2 - Added Manga's tweet (Feb 8) that it has not signed Spice and Wolf contract.
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history