Hello again peeps. Here is our part two, where we got an exclusive interview with the Community Liaison for Manga Entertainment UK, Jeremy Graves.
We first saw Jeremy along with Andrew Hewson when he was announcing the exciting new releases from Manga UK which we cover in the questions we asked him in our interview.
The great news he announced was the releases of:
- One Piece movie “Strong World” which will be released on DVD and Blu-ray from 30th June 2014. You can watch the trailer for it here
- Manga Entertainment will also be releasing the One Piece movies 1-9 in the UK! (NOTE: Out of all of these only one, Movie 8: Episode of Alabasta, has been dubbed into English. Therefore movies 1-7 & 9 will be in Japanese language audio with English subtitles only.) More information about the release of these movies soon.
- Ghost In The Shell: ARISE will be coming to the UK. (We’re unable to confirm any other details than that at this time.)
- Later this year the original movie of Ghost in The Shell will be released as a Limited Edition Blu-ray Steelbook. (To clarify, this is the original version of the film, not the “2.0” version.) More details will be made available on this soon.
- Attack on Titan Part 1 will be coming to DVD, Blu-ray and as a Blu-ray Deluxe Collector’s Edition package on 15th September. Part 1 will include episodes 1-12 of the series.The Blu-ray Deluxe Collector’s Edition version will have Episodes 1-13 over 2 Blu-ray discs, a bonus DVD disc containing over 100 minutes of bonus material, a 24-page booklet and a box cover that will be able to house both Part 1 and Part 2 when released. (NOTE: The plan is to release Part 2 before the end of the year. Release date for Part 2 is TBC at this time.)
When we got to have a word with the very busy Jeremy we asked him a couple of questions based on the release schedule.
1: Do you think the future is bright for Manga in the UK?
Yes! The UK anime scene is full of life and energy and in my opinion is continuing an upward trend set over the last few years. When you look at the amount of the titles being released by Manga UK as well the other distributors, you can safely say it’s a great time to be an anime fan in Britain.
This past weekend alone at Birmingham MCM Comic Con we made some very exciting announcements including details on the UK release of Attack on Titan in September, the first ten One Piece movies are coming to the UK and the fact there will a Limited Edition Blu-ray Steelbook of the classic Ghost In The Shell later this year!
2: Are there going to be more dedicated tie-ins with computer games?
Anime adaptations of popular game franchises are fantastic. We’re big fans here. Recently anime such as Persona 4 and Steins;Gate have performed really well for us. Not only because they are great shows in their own right, but also because I believe there is already an established fan base in the UK for the games and that helps us sell more copies of the DVD or Blu-ray. Generally, the larger the game the more successful the anime. So! I’d love to be able to say we have acquired UK distribution rights for Bayonetta the anime, which is a spin-off of Bayonetta 2 for Wii U, which is yet to have its UK release date announced. I really hope we do get it. Also, I think JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure would be a canny acquisition for us. Last year, we did particularly well with the Machinima web-series, Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, which is a live-action, $8 million budget series based on the popular Halo 4 game for Xbox360. We released it under our sister label, Anchor Bay and have so far sold over 75,000 copies. In this business, pre-awareness is very important, so we are looking forward to releasing more successful game to anime tie-ins and other related products in the future.
3: What is on your Top 3 wish list for Manga UK releases?
Jerome has just returned from meetings in Tokyo during Anime Japan and I know he was really excited by some of the new Spring/Summer 2014 anime that was presented at the show including Tokyo Ghoul from Studio Pierrot and Terraformers from Warner Bros Japan. He’s also turned me onto Knights of Sidonia from Kodansha and Polygon Pictures, Season 2 of Sword Art Online and obviously Ghost In The Shell: ARISE.
4: What would you really like to see made, i.e. sequels or updated?
I’d like to see more Deadman Wonderland and Highschool Of The Dead made. Now I’m not just saying that because they’re both popular titles in the Manga UK catalogue, but actually because they’re both left open ended. I really want to see what’s going to happen next (as do lots of fans I’ve spoken to both at conventions and through our social media channels.)
Otherwise I’d love to see another season of Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex made. That show is great, and while I’m looking forward to the release of Ghost In The Shell: ARISE, I am still craving for more Stand Alone Complex.
5: When you get home and go aah, What do you put on? us Black Lagoon.
My tastes vary quite a bit, so it changes a lot depending on the mood and is also slightly dependent on if I’m watching a forthcoming Manga UK title or something simply because I want to watch it. Focusing on the latter first, recently my go-to programmes have been Golden Time, Kill la Kill, Space Dandy, Log Horizon, Gintama and Hunter X Hunter. All of those are great shows.
On the forthcoming Manga UK release front, recently I’ve been gearing up for the original Dragon Ball series (with Season 1 being released on 5th May) and Naruto Shippuden (with Box set 17 out on 7th April.) As you can imagine there’s a lot more I’m delving into as well, but at the time of writing they’re the ones I’m focusing on.
