Genius Party and Beyond
By Andrew Osmond.
If you follow Anime Limited’s releases, you’ll know short is beautiful in animation. Titles such as Garden of Words, HAL and Tokyo Marble Chocolate do more in 40 or 50 minutes than most anime series manage in hours. Shorts present genre stories without formula fat, leaving lean tales swinging unusual ways without undue elaboration. Or the short films can leave genre behind and strike off in really weird directions, trusting that enough viewers won’t say, “I don’t get this, so it sucks”, but rather “I don’t get this, but I’ll watch it again and see if it makes more sense.”
Genius Party & Beyond is a collection of twelve short films, mostly between ten and twenty minutes each, amounting to a three-hour package. In Japan, the films were released in two feature-length blocks, Genius Party in 2007 and Genius Party Beyond in 2008. Unlike many anthology films, animated or otherwise, there’s no linking theme or framework. The films are just opportunities for creators to express themselves however they want. Continue Reading
[UNBOXING] Sword of the Stranger. Check out our Ltd Collector's Ed. Blu-ray+DVD set available from 18th December!.
We've been pretty quiet on what we have planned for this classic film, but today we're delighted to bring an unboxing for our release of Sword of the Stranger which will be available as a Ltd Collector's Edition Blu-ray+DVD set from 18th December!
Read on below for all the details.
ABOUT SWORD OF THE STRANGER
With breathtaking animation that keeps you at the edge of your seat, this classic tale from Studio BONES is a hidden gem of its time.
Synopsis: "Set in feudal-era Japan, a young boy named Kotaro and his faithful dog Tobimaru are caught in the turmoil of a grim prophecy. At the request of the Ming Dynasty's aging emperor, the boy is pursued by a band of formidable Chinese assassins. After escaping the destruction of the temple that took him in, he runs into a mysterious stranger who gets pulled into the chase.
When Kotaro's dog is poisoned, the nameless stranger reluctantly accepts payment to escort them to a temple in Shirato. The unlikely companions form a bond over saving Tobimaru's life, but unrest is brewing all around them. The Chinese assassins clash with the local lord as they build a religious tower, and a blond-haired, bloodthirsty swordsman among them seeks a worthy opponent. Chaos erupts when the assassins find Kotaro, and the Stranger must face his past before a horrible fate is met again."
WHERE CAN I BUY IT?
You can pre-order this from the following retailers now -
Buy at Amazon UK
Buy at Zavvi
Buy at BASE
Buy at HMV
Order at Anime-On-Line
ALL THE ANIME.COM SPECIAL OFFER
As part of our 12 Days of Christmas 1-Day Only deals today (8th December) only we're giving you the opportunity to pre-order this for only £14.99! (Regular price: £24.49 | SRP: £34.99)
WHAT'S INSIDE? WHAT'S ON THE DISCS?
This release comes packed in a rigid case with a digipack to store the two discs (1 x Blu-ray and 1 x DVD). Also included is a 40-page materials booklet, showcasing character art and concept art.
On the discs themselves you get -
- The movie Sword of the Stranger in English and Japanese with English subtitles
- On-Disc Extras (all exclusive to the Blu-ray disc only) include: 'Making Of...' featurette that's nearly 55 minutes in duration, Japanese Cast Interviews, the Pilot short, and variety of trailers for the film used in Japanese cinemas and on television.
WHAT DOES THE FINISHED PRODUCT LOOK LIKE?
And now for photos of of the finished product! You can click on them on enlarge them too.
POTENTIAL SPOILER WARNING - Some of these photos may contain spoilers if you haven't seen the film. You have been warned!
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- The front of the rigid case, cellophane around it. NOTE: BBFC logo is a sticker on the cellophane, not on the box itself.
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- Reverse side of rigid case, cellophane around it. NOTE: This info sheet is removable. It’s attached to the back of the box with a couple of glue dots. Just gently peel it away to remove it
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- All four spines of the rigid case with the cellophane around it
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- Now with the cellophane removed, the front of the rigid case
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- With cellophane remove, the reverse side of the rigid case
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- All four spines of the rigid case, cellophane removed
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- Let’s get inside
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- The digipack. Outer side (top) and inner side with discs in place (bottom)
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- Inner side of the digipack. With discs in place (top) and removed (bottom)
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- Now onto the 40-page materials booklet. Here’s the front of it.
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- Here’s what you see when you open it.
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- First of all the character section. Here’s a glimpse for you.
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- Another glimpse at the Character section
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- and another
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- there’s also some cool cool props and other items included in this section too
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- More props and such.
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- Now onto the Concept Art section
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- Another glimpse at this section
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- Another glimpse at this section
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- and finally one more preview of the Concept Art section
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- And the back of the booklet
We hope you're looking forward to adding this to you collection!
Signing out~!
Jeremy
Big Fish and Begonia
By Jonathan Clements.
As a rite of passage in her own world, the teenage Chun spends a week on Earth in the form of a red dolphin. A human boy drowns while rescuing her from a net in a storm, leading the guilt-ridden Chun to swap half her lifespan with the Soul Keeper to bring him back in the form of a small fish, which she names Kun. She must rear him to adulthood in order to restore his life, although the presence of a human in her world soon causes catastrophic environmental change, and threatens the very existence of her people.
Big Fish and Begonia, written and directed by young animators Liang Xuan and Zhang Chun, took an impressive £64 million at the Chinese box office, and is certainly a landmark in the development of Chinese animation. Its creators operated largely outside the Chinese system, struggling for over a decade to put their film together, building it up from an outline based on a half-remembered dream, to a pilot film, to a full-length feature. Continue Reading
Persona 3 Movies 1-4 standard Blu-ray releases coming 2018. All four movies to receive standard edition Blu-ray releases in 2018.
Right at the beginning of the year we started releasing the Persona 3 Movies on DVD and as part of a Ltd Collector's Edition Blu-ray+DVD set. Throughout this year (2017, depending on if you're reading this in the future or not) they have been very popular releases! So much so that the Ltd Collector's Edition sets of Movie #1 Spring of Birth and Movie #2 Midsummer Knight's Dream are now out-of-print - meaning all remaining stock is with retailers - and Movie #3 Falling Down & Movie #4 Winter of Rebirth are getting close to that stage as well.
Since the first film has been sold out a recurring question we've had is whether or not a standard Blu-ray release of the films might be possible. The answer has always been we're only allowed to release them as DVD and Ltd Collector's Edition Blu-ray+DVD sets of each film, as part of our terms of licensing. But today we're delighted to announce that next year (2018) we'll be releasing each movie on standard edition Blu-ray!
Dates are to be confirmed, but our tentative plan is release each over the course of the first and second quarters of the year - more specific info as we can bring it - starting with Movie #1 Spring of Birth.
We can also tell you that first print (1000 units across all UK retailers) of Movie #1 will come with a cool art box to store each film! The box will have space to hold movies 2, 3 & 4 too (each sold separately.)
ALL THE ANIME.COM SPECIAL OFFER
12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS - DAY 6 (6TH DECEMBER)
Though the films won't be getting released until early next year, today (6th December 2017) we're giving you the opportunity to order all four of the films and have them shipped before the end of this calendar year! That's right, you could own all four films plus the really cool art box to store them in as well way before they hit general sale next year.
However, this offer has a maximum allocation of 250 units! So if/when we reach that allocation the offer will end. Otherwise the offer concludes at 8:59am tomorrow (Thursday 7th December 2017) morning.
F.A.Q. ABOUT OFFER
- All offers in the AllTheAnime 12 Days of Christmas are limited to UK & Ireland residents only due to logistical reasons.
- This will be the only chance to purchase all four films in this manner at AllTheAnime.com
- As we mention above, each film will be getting an individual release during 2018.
- As we mention above, the art box is limited to 1000 units across all UK retailers - this is not an AllTheAnime.com Exclusive product, it's simply your first chance to own it. The first 250 of those being available as part of this promotion only.
F.A.Q ABOUT STANDARD EDITION RELEASES OF
PERSONA 3 MOVIES
-- What are the differences between this and the Ltd Collector's Edition sets and these standard edition versions?
The Ltd Collector's Edition sets each came packed in a rigid case, digipack to hold the discs and also included a booklet inside. These standard edition sets will literally be the disc inside an amaray case. (And the first 1000 units of Movie 1 will come with an art box to store each film, as mentioned above.)
-- Is the on-disc content different at all?
No, it's identical.
-- Language options?
As was the case with the Ltd Collector's Edition sets, the films are only in Japanese with English subtitles. This because no English language dub (audio) has been created for the film.
-- Are the booklets included with the standard edition sets?
As we mentioned in the first question, it's the discs inside an amaray case. So the answer is no, they are exclusive to the Ltd Collector's Edition sets only.
-- What are the release dates of the standard edition Blu-rays?
As we mentioned above, dates are to be confirmed but our tentative plan is to release each film during the first and second quarter of 2018.
-- What are the SRP of each film?
Movie #1 with the art box will be £24.99, and Movies #2, #3 and #4 will be £19.99 each. (The SRP, Suggested Retail Price, does not reflect the price that may actually be charged for each film by retailers. It's very likely the price for each will be lower.)
If you missed out on the Ltd Collector's Edition sets we hope you're looking forward to adding these to your collection!
Signing out~!
Jeremy
Ronja the Robber’s Daughter
By Andrew Osmond.
Recently, I wrote a mildly provocative piece suggesting that Ghibli’s acclaimed, proudly old-fashioned filmmaking might be commercially outmoded by slicker crowd-pleasers like Your Name. In the piece, I touched on Ghibli’s roots in 1970s anime, and mentioned an institution called World Masterpiece Theatre (WMT for short).
A new home release, Ronja the Robber’s Daughter, is a good reason to look deeper into this history. For Ronja is both a Ghibli production – at least everyone says it is – and a heartfelt throwback to the WMT tradition. We’ll explain what WMT is below, but let’s start with Ronja. Continue Reading