Big Gundam UC news, Manga UK DVD news, 'OreImo' leaked episode update

Hello everyone, and welcome to the latest mini blog post! Before we go into the news, apologies for the lack of updates over the last week. The Anime Chronicle team has been battling illness recently, and we've now recovered!

Beez reveal big 'Gundam UC' News!
The wonderful people over at Beez Entertainment have just revealed some big news regarding the second episode of the 'Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn'!

In a press release (which can be read in full here) they announce that complete second episode of the OVA will be available UK residents the first time via the Playstation Network (PSN) prior to it's release on Blu-Ray in Japan and the USA on November 12th! This viewing period will begin on October 30th, but if you want to sample a piece of the OVA now, you can do by heading over the to the Bandai channel website, where you can watch the first 14 minutes for free, with English subtitles to compliment the original Japanese audio!

You can view the 14 minute preview here.

No doubt, there will be more news regarding to this come shortly. Perhaps as soon as the London Expo next weekend! There is currently no set release date for Gundam UC episode 2 in the UK. Could this be the first step toward that information being revealed? Only time will tell!

Source: Beez Press Release


Manga UK DVD News!
Our friends over at Manga UK have revealed some information regarding a forthcoming release and a fairly popular title currently available in shops!

First of all, via their Twitter account on October 16th we were informed that the OVA 'TO' also known as '2001 Nights'. This work was directed by Fumihiko Sori (who also directed 'Vexille' in 2008, and was the producer for 'Appleseed' in 2004.)

The story begins in 2068 and follows colonies of humans in space trying to survive, and then moving to other star systems to house new colonies. For more information on the, click here.

In other Manga UK DVD News, they also revealed on their twitter that they (as it stands) will not be releasing the remainder of the 'D.Gray-Man'! This is apparently due to neither them or Funimation (in the USA) acquiring the rights to the unreleased episodes. While possibility of an English dub is low, could this perhaps be a way for Manga UK to release the episodes subtitle only like Beez will be for 'Durarara!!' next month? Only time will tell! (For more information on this story, visit our friends at UK-Anime.)

Sources: Manga UK Twitter / ANN / UK-Anime


'OreImo' leaked episode update
Following up on the story of the leaked epispde of 'OreImo' we reported in our last blog entry.
The CEO of Anime News Network (ANN for short,) issued a statement last Wednesday (October 13th) regarding the situation. In short, ANN assumes full responsibility for the episode being obtained from it's servers. He said "...security measures believed to be in place on our video server failed and were unlawfully circumvented."

In light of this, full refunds to anyone who subscribed to their premium service within a few days of the statement being published. They also apologized for potential negative effect this could have on the development of simulcasts.

To read the complete statement, click here.

Source: ANN / ANN Statement

Manga UK reveal 2 new licenses, leaked episode of series by ANN, new releases!

Manga UK reveals new licenses!
On this edition of the mini news blog, we kick off with Manga Entertainment UK revealing (as promised) some new acquisitions of theirs for the forthcoming year! First, via their twitter account on Sunday they confirmed that hopefully by June or July of next year, they'll be releasing 'High School Of The Dead'! A series that was adapted to Anime form by Madhouse and only finished it's first season on Japanese TV in late September, follows a group of high schoolers who are stuck in the middle of a Zombie Apocalypse!

As mentioned, Manga UK are aiming for a June/July 2011 release on both DVD and Blu-Ray.

The other title announced through the Manga UK twitter is 'Casshern Sins'! The reboot of the Casshern franchise (yet also acts as a stand alone story with it seemingly having no relation whatsoever to the original 'Neo Human Casshern') that first debuted in Japan in late 2008.

We should note, this is also a Madhouse series! (Perhaps an indication as to the direction of future Manga UK licenses?) In terms of a release date, we're looking at seeing it in shops around May or June of 2011. DVD is confirmed, but with regard to Blu-Ray, Manga UK have said "Not sure we will yet".

The next round of announcements from Manga by the look of things will be at the MCM London Expo at the end of the month!

Source: Manga UK Twitter


Leaked episode of Aniplex series questions simulcast security?
In quite the shocking story of the weekend, Anime News Network (ANN for short) were the subject of controversy following their newly debuted simulcast service (running through their website) having quite a blow in it's first week!
The story in short is one of the series they acquired the rights to simulcast through the site is the Aniplex series 'Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai' (which is nicknamed 'OreImo'). Episode 2 was due to air on Sunday in Japan and the following Saturday through the ANN site, but the complete episode was found on the ANN servers this past weekend under a 'predictable filename' according to our friends at UK Anime. The key note here is not only was it obtained seemingly with no issue on the ANN server, but it was distributed over the internet following it being discovered, allowing it to be viewed a full 24 hours before it's premiere on Japanese television stations!

While this may not be a big deal to some people, the key point in question is how much will this effect the growth of legally streaming Anime worldwide? There was a similar incident back in May of 2009 with Funimation (in the USA) planning to stream 'One Piece' on it's dedicated website, but a day before the premiere, the complete episode was obtained with English subtitles and distributed over the internet. Funimation responded by ceasing the stream, however relaunching it a few months later.

At the time of writing this, ANN have removed 'episode 2' and the archived episode 1 of 'OreImo' from it's servers. It remains to be seen if this is a temporary or permanent measure!

Source: ANN / UK-Anime


New releases this week!
And to conclude, this weeks new releases come to us in the form of 'Baccano' from Manga UK. The complete series of 16 episodes by the same writer of 'Durarara!!' (although this is an earlier work of Ryohgo Narita) but on this occasion is set in 1930's America!

If you'd like to know more about the series, we suggest reading the non-spoiler review of Andy Hanley (who was our guest co-host on episode 10 of our podcast) here.

Also released (or re-released in this case) this week, are 2 box sets by MVM with 'Gun Sword' and 'Berserk'.