Aniplex of America Acquires the Animated Series Silver Spoon

Fullmetal Alchemist Author and Sword Art Online Director Team up to bring an Award-Winning Coming-of-Age Manga to Life!

SANTA MONICA, CA (June 20, 2013) – Aniplex of America announced that they have acquired one of the most anticipated titles this season, Silver Spoon. Silver Spoon will be available for streaming this summer only a few hours following the original airtime in Japan. The series is an adaptation of the popular manga series originally written by author Hiromu Arakawa (Fullmetal Alchemist). The studio bringing this highly anticipated series to life is the equally acclaimed A-1 Pictures, which produced countless hits like Sword Art Online, Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, Oreimo 2, and Blue Exorcist. Tomohiko Ito will be the director of Silver Spoon who is highly notable for his recent work with the anime series Sword Art Online.

The Silver Spoon manga has been awarded both the 5th Manga Taisho Award and the 58th Shogakukan Manga Award and has already sold over 7.5 million copies. In addition to their streaming plans, Aniplex of America is also planning on a home release version of Silver Spoon on disc. Details about its physical release will be announced at a later date.

“I'm absolutely thrilled that we are able to bring Silver Spoon to the American anime fans,” says Hideki Gotō, the President of Animation Business of Aniplex of America. “With such a great story being produced by a wonderful studio and a director as notable as Mr. Ito, I'm sure many fans will find the series very entertaining.”

For more information on Silver Spoon, visit: www.AniplexUSA.com/silverspoon

About Silver Spoon
Silver Spoon is a coming-of-age story following Yugo Hachiken, a high school student who decides to attend Oezo Agricultural High School (a.k.a Ezono) only to run away from the academic pressures he could not handle at his preparatory School Back in Sapporo. But, Yugo quickly realizes that life is just not that simple, and is forced to face whole new hurdles at Ezono. For Yugo, the training and the club activities at Ezono were all too unfamiliar for him since he was raised in a home environment far from farm life.

Yugo also begins to feel a different kind of pressure compared to when he attended the preparatory school as he comes to deal with his classmates who, compared to him, all have a much clearer view of what they want for their futures. The story demonstrates how Yugo grows both physically and mentally as he faces all the challenges at Ezono and strengthens his bonds with his classmates.

About Aniplex of America Inc.
Aniplex of America Inc. (Santa Monica, California) is a subsidiary of Aniplex Inc. (headquartered in Tokyo, Japan), a group of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc. and a leading provider of anime content and music production and distribution in Japan. Aniplex of America has launched fan-favorite DVD and Blu-Ray releases such as Bakemonogatari, Durarara!!, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, The Garden of Sinners, Sword Art Online, Blue Exorcist, and Blast of Tempest. The company's ever-growing line-up of shows includes our most recent titles Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, Oreshura, Oreimo 2, Fate/Zero, Valvrave the Liberator, and Vividred Operation.
www.AniplexUSA.com
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©Hiromu Arakawa, Shogakukan/EZONO Festa Executive Committee