Anime Limited to release Future Boy Conan in the UK
September 28, 2021 · 11 comments
Greetings everyone! It’s been a little while since we’ve gathered you for a major new license acquisition announcement, but we simply can’t keep this to ourselves any longer and so we had to share it.
Let’s get straight to the headline – we’re thrilled and excited to announce that we’re bringing the legendary directorial debut of Hayao Miyazaki, Future Boy Conan, to the UK, starting in early 2022. What’s more, we’ll be releasing the entire series not only on Blu-ray, but also on 4K UHD Blu-ray for the first time anywhere in the world!
Want to know more? Oh, we bet you do, so read on for details!
About Future Boy Conan
If you’re not familiar with the series (which is understandable, and it’s never been made readily available in the UK), this post-apocalyptic sci-fi series arrived on Japanese television in 1978.
Adapted from American writer Alexander Key’s 1970 novel, The Incredible Tide, the series marked the directorial debut of one Hayao Miyazaki, who of course went on to become the renowned creative powerhouse at the heart of Studio Ghibli. This marks Future Boy Conan as a pivotal moment in the history of Japanese animation, and a series that inspired a whole generation of creators who would go on to work in the anime industry as a result of watching the series (see the first episode of the popular Keep Your Hands Off, Eizouken for a particularly loving homage to the series).
Synopsis: Twenty years ago, a terrible war fought with magnetic weapons caused the earth’s axis to tilt, and earthquakes and tidal waves destroyed civilization. Conan is born into this new world, raised by his adopted grandfather on an isolated island. But his life is forever changed when a mysterious girl named Lana washes ashore, pursued by shadowy operatives who seek to use her in a new scheme to control what’s left of the world.
Our release plans
This classic series has recently received a full 4K restoration in Japan, and as always at Anime Limited we strive to bring you content in the best way possible – thus, our plan is to release the series as a Blu-ray and 4K UHD Blu-ray combo Collector’s Edition, making our release the first 4K release of the series anywhere in the world!
Our intention is to release the series over two Collector’s Edition instalments, each containing 13 episodes across two 4K UHD Blu-rays, and two regular Blu-rays.
Of course, this release will also include a beautiful rigid slipcase, which will house both part one and two of the series – once released, part two and its contents will simply slip inside.
But that’s not all – our Part 2 Collector’s Edition of the series will include a whopping 132-page book! Written by Jonathan Clements and Andrew Osmond, this full-blown book chronicles the history and production of the Miyazaki’s directorial debut, and is absolutely packed with insight as well as delving deep into the production of every episode of the series as it recounts tales from staff members who were there and taking part in its creation. This is a must-own book for fans and anyone interested in this seminal part of anime history, and is worth the price of entry alone as the most exhausting examination of the series available in English.
As things currently stand, our aim is to release our Future Boy Conan Part 1 Collector’s Edition in the first quarter of 2022 – we will of course have full details, pre-order dates and imagery of what our release will look like closer to the time.
After all that, you’d be forgiven for needing a moment to recover…
With those initial details now out in the open, we hope you’re as thrilled to see this classic series arrive on UHD Blu-ray as we are, and we can’t wait for you to get your hands on not only the series itself, but the included book too!
CORRECTION 29/09/2021: Updated to reflect that the bonus book will be included in part two of the release.
Art
September 29, 2021 9:48 pm
Where can I buy this?
AP
October 4, 2021 7:34 pm
Exciting news for another pre-ghibli after all this time! Will this also be seeing a dvd release?
Andy Hanley
October 5, 2021 9:13 am
We have no plans for a DVD release at this time, only Blu-ray and UHD Blu-ray editions.
sr
October 11, 2021 3:37 pm
Any plans to release the book on it's own?
Jim Pyke
November 30, 2021 7:15 pm
I would really like to be able to purchase the book separately. This series is now available on standard Blu-ray in the US (where I live), and I'd really appreciate the opportunity to buy the book to complement my copy of the US release, rather than needing to buy a second copy of the discs to access the book.
Will M
October 29, 2021 11:40 am
Hook this shit DIRECTLY to my veins!
David Tallerman
November 10, 2021 5:56 pm
On the one hand, I'm thrilled that this is getting a UK release at all. On the other, I can't believe you're splitting a 26 episode show into two parts. So this is going to cost, what, two, three times as much as the recent US release? It's really disappointing.
Andrew Giles
November 24, 2021 11:31 pm
The recent release in the US is bluray only NOT 4K albeit remastered in 4k !
Andy Hanley
November 25, 2021 10:35 am
That's correct - our UK release coming next year will feature a full 4K UHD Blu-ray release however.
Balen Mars
December 4, 2021 9:36 pm
Will the full UHD be available for the EU? I watched this animation series in the 1980s and will be amazing to have them in 4k, English dubbed here in the EU!
Chris W.
December 29, 2021 5:53 pm
Will the blu-rays in this set be Region B locked?