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Funimation to Stream Freezing Vibration, Unbreakable Machine-Doll, Tokyo Ravens, BlazBlue
posted on by Egan Loo
North American anime distributor Funimation announced on Monday that it will stream the Freezing Vibration, Unbreakable Machine-Doll, Tokyo Ravens, and BlazBlue Alter Memory television anime series as they air in Japan. Freezing Vibration will begin streaming on Monday at 3:30 EDT, but then run weekly on Fridays at the same time. Similarly, Unbreakable Machine-Doll's streams will begin on Monday at 3:00 p.m. ET, before moving to Fridays at the same time. Tokyo Ravens will stream on Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m. EDT starting October 8, and BlazBlue Alter Memory will stream on Tuesdays at 2:00 p.m. EDT starting October 8.
The second anime season of Freezing adapts Dall-Young Lim and Kwang-Hyun Kim's action manga about Kazuya, a boy who lost his sister in humankind's fight against beings from another dimension. He enrolls in a military academy for combat training against the dimensional beings. There, a group of girls known as "Pandora" prepare to fight the unknown enemy.
Funimation streamed the first 12-episode season as it aired in Winter 2011. The company then acquired the home entertainment, broadcast, theatrical, digital, and merchandising rights for the season.
In the anime of Reiji Kaitō's Unbreakable Machine-Doll (Machine-Doll wa Kizutsukanai) light novel series, Hiro Shimono plays Raishin Akabane, a boy puppeteer who travels from Japan to study at the highest institution for "Machinart" (the craft of making automatons). Hitomi Harada plays Yaya, Raishin's female automaton who accompanies him on his trip. Also reprising their roles from the earlier drama CD release are Megumi Takamoto as Charlotte Blue, Jouji Nakata as Sigmund, Kana Asumi as Frey, and Nobuhiko Okamoto as Loki.
Kinji Yoshimoto (Queen's Blade: The Exiled Virgin, Genshiken 2) is directing the "academy battle entertainment" anime at animation studio Lerche from scripts by Yuuko Kakihara (Persona 4: The Animation, Ebiten: Kōritsu Ebisugawa Kōkō Tenmon-Bu). Atsuko Watanabe (The Everyday Tales of a Cat God, Ebiten: Kōritsu Ebisugawa Kōkō Tenmon-Bu) is handling the character designs, and Genco is producing the anime.
The anime of Kōhei Azano's Tokyo Ravens school supernatural fantasy light novel series centers around Harutora, a boy from a branch of the Tsuchimikado family of onmyōdō occult practitioners. However, he lacks the ability to see spirit energy, so he is now just an ordinary high school student. Natsume, a girl who was Harutora's childhood friend and the next head of the Tsuchimikado family, reunites with Harutora and changes his future.
Takaomi Kanasaki (Is This a Zombie?, School Rumble: 2nd Semester) is directing the series at 8-Bit with series composition by Hideyuki Kurata (Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens, Oreimo, The World God Only Knows). Katsuko Watanabe (The Everyday Tales of a Cat God, Place to Place, Juden Chan) serves as character designer.
The television anime based on Arc System Works' BlazBlue fighting game franchise is set in December of 2199, when the streets are full of anticipation for the end of the year and the start of the new one. Amid the celebrations, word spreads that Ragna the Bloodedge (Tomokazu Sugita), an SS-class rebel with the highest ever bounty on his head, has appeared in the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi. The apparent aim of Ragna or the "Grim Reaper" is the destruction of the system controlling the world. To collect the bounty, a motley array of unrivaled fighters converge on Kagutsuchi.
The games' cast members reprise their roles in the anime. The games' Toshimichi Mori is supervising the project, and Hideki Tachibana (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kira) is directing the anime at teamKG and Hoods Entertainment. Seiji Mizushima (Fullmetal Alchemist, Mobile Suit Gundam 00) is collaborating on the direction. Deko Akao (Arakawa Under the Bridge, Mysterious Girlfriend X) is overseeing the series scripts being co-written by Tatsuya Takahashi (The IDOLM@STER, Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~). Tomoyuki Shitaya (Bakuman., Hatsukoi Limited, Kiss×sis) is serving as both character designer and chief animation director.