Welcome back to the UK Anime News Roundup! March 2016 brings us cinema screenings in Glasgow and the Republic of Ireland, the passing of some of the services that have been operating in the UK, as well as a bunch f release updates, and a new version of the UK streaming guide. Let's get started!

News

• Everything you need to know about the March Funimation launch. Joking aside, the launch of Funimation UK is now set for 7th April, and will be free for all users for the first 30 days after launch. In addition, there will be a live stream of the first episode of My Hero Academia at 6am tomorrow, Sunday 3rd April. Subscriptions are priced at £3.99 sub-only and £6.99 All-Access.

• This month, we bid farewell to Omakase, Viewsters' lootcrate/tatbox (delete as appropriate) service. I suspect this marks the beginning of the end of Viewster as a major player in anime, at least in English speaking markets. Viewster made a brief play towards anime as a major focus of their service, joining the lower rank of UK simulcast providers that shadowed the Crunchyroll behemoth. Their brief partnership with Anime Limited last year provided them with a fairly strong simulcast catalogue based on Funimation licences, followed by an attempt to expand into the US by launching Omakase. Alas, this brave experiment in expanding to physical products has failed them, and with Funimation launching in the UK, they have little options for shows to simulcast. Last season Viewster had only one simulcast, Shirayuki, itself a holdover from the fact that they had carried the first season. Looking forward, Viewsters presence in the market is likely to shrink from the lack of current season shows to drive viewership. For those viewers looking for older shows however, it is worth bearing in mind that Viewster still has a large back catalogue of older shows, many of which are unavailable on other sites.

• Scotland Loves Anime returns for its 7th year running in both Glasgow and Edinburgh in October this year. Glasgow screenings will take place in the Glasgow Film Theatre from the 14th to 16th October, with a special screening for Season Pass holders on the 10th. The Edinburgh Filmhouse will host screenings from the 17th to 23rd of October. Films to be shown will be confirmed closer to the time, but if you're interested, note the dates now!! SLA provides an excellent opportunity to see films in the cinema that may never be shown again in UK cinemas, or much earlier that the international release. Last years festival included a screening of The Empire of Corpses just 3 days after it's Japanese cinema release, the only UK screening of date to PMMM: Rebellion, and the Psycho-Pass movie, which has only just been released in the US. In total, last year about 16 different films were shown, and based on the announced dates I'm expecting a similar number this year. If you can make it, it's well worth the trip.

• Anime Limited have acquired the licence for Psycho-Pass: The Movie, and are planning on releasing it on both DVD and Blu-ray in Q3 of this year. The release will include the English dub as well as the original Japanese audio.

• MVM Entertainment have acquired the licence for Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun, and are planning on releasing it on the 27th June. This will be a Collectors Edition DVD/Blu-ray combi set.

• The 1st and 2nd Live Action Attack on Titan movies will be released by Manga/Animatsu on the 27th June and 25th July respectively. These releases will be available as DVDs, Blu-rays, or limited edition Steelbooks (presumably blu-rays).

• Universal Pictures have announced the details of their Collectors Edition of Seraph of the End S1. This will release on May 25rd. For full details of what will be in the Collectors Edition, check out this article on uk-anime.net.

• Anime Limited will launch a Standard Edition Blu-ray of Baccano on 2nd May. The entire series will be spread among 3 discs.

• Also, a few release delays to share as well. Part 1 and 2 of Code Geass: Akito the Exiled have been delayed from an initial date of March 26th by Kaze. New dates to be announced in the future. Anime Limited have announced that Sword Art Online II Part 3 has been delayed from 28th March to 11th April, A Letter to Momo from the 11th to the 18th April, and Miss Hokusai now release on April 25th. Selector Infected WIXOSS has been delayed due to a need to wait for extra assets to be delivered from Japan, and has been delayed from April 11th for an unknown period. Lord Marksman and Vanadis' has been delayed by the BBFC certification process from the 18th April to the 9th May. MVM have announced that both seasons of Love Live! have been delayed. Season 1 moves from April 18th to May 16th, and Season 2 moves from 9th May to 20th June.

• This isn't strictly anime related, but I figure anime and manga fans are probably a big enough crossover group that you guys might be interested. This month we say goodbye to the Nook Ebook store, which was operated by the US chain Barnes and Noble. Nook had been selling manga for quite a while and the closure of their service means that their users are being transferred to Sainburys Entertainment on Demand. As SED has no manga licences, this means that for manga purchasers their Nook purchases will be valued and they will receive a SED voucher for the equivalent value. It's a pretty shitty situation to be in if you bought from Nook, as your library of manga will vanish and you can't use the credit you get to buy it back. For those looking to buy digital manga from a new service, or just starting to get into it, UK-Anime.net has an excellent overview of all the different sites which sell digital manga in the UK.

Cinema Screenings in April

• This month, The Murder Case of Hana and Alice will screen at the Glasgow Film Theatre on Thursday 28th April at 6pm. The director, Shunji Iwai, will be in attendance as well, and will be participating in a Q&A session after the screening, hosted by Jonathan Clements. If you're nearby, be sure to go along!

• For any readers in the Republic of Ireland, or in Northern Ireland and willing to travel, the Japanese Film Festival will be touring the ROI throughout April, visiting Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford, Sligo and Dundalk. Films include both live action and anime, with titles of interest to us including The Boy and the Beast, When Marnie Was There, The Empire of Corpses, The Murder Case of Hana and Alice, Miss Hokusai and the live action Assassination Classroom. Please go along if any of those films interest you, it's important to show your support for anime screening if we can.

• If you know of any other screenings that will be taking place, please let me know in the comments or by PM so I can add them. There may well be screenings organised by local independent cinemas that I miss. I can't keep track of every arts cinema that may screen anime by myself. If you have a local cinema, check their website and let me know!!

Physical Releases in March

If you want to see what's inside a collectors edition before you buy it, you can check the uk-anime.net Youtube, for unboxing videos of most major collectors edition releases, usually around the release date. If they don't have a video for the set you're looking for you may find it useful to check the news section of uk-anime.net or check the distributors website and look through their posts. The relevant sites are blog.alltheanime.com, the Manga UK blog and the MVM facebook page.

Upcoming April Releases

• Beck: The Complete Collection
• Hanamonogatari
• Humanity Has Declined - Complete Series Collection
• Maid-sama! Complete Series Collection
• Naruto Shippuden Box Set 24
• Naruto Shippuden: Complete Series 6
• Yu-Gi-Oh! Season 4
• Brynhildr in the Darkness - Complete Series Collection
• Sword Art Online II - Part 3
• A Letter to Momo
• Selector Infected WIXOSS - Complete Season 1 Collection (maybe?)
• Durarara!! x2 Shou Complete Series Collection
• Fate/stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works - Part 1
• Kill la Kill - Part 2 (Standard Edition)
• Miss Hokusai
• Terror in Resonance

Season Simulcasts

This is the first time the UK News Roundup has moved into a new season, so managing the transition is a bit of a work in progress. The following tables include every TV Show and Short listed for Spring 2016 on Anichart. Entries are alphabetical, with preference given to the approved English market title approved by the distributors and streaming services, or otherwise to the Japanese romaji title provided by Anichart.

Not all of these shows will receive a simulcast. As simulcasts are announced I will update the table to reflect services carrying each show, and if possible to link directly to the shows legal stream. Any shows with no streaming service announced by the launch of the April News Roundup will be considered non-simulcast and removed from the tables. I'll be actively keeping this updated throughout the month, so you can save this post and refer back to it later on as more stuff is announced. If you know of a show announcement I've missed, feel free to comment or PM me to let me know and I'll add it in.

That wraps up all the news for this month! Funimations streaming line-up is actually significantly lighter than I thought it would be, with the exception of My Hero Academia. I guess we'll see how well this will work out for them. What are your thoughts on the Spring Season lineups for Funimation and Crunchyroll so far? Do they influence your decision to buy a Funimation sub or not?

Edit: Lineups are pretty much all announced now. Crunchyroll carries 27 full length series and 7 shorts this season. Funimation carries 8, Daisuki 4, Amazon 1, Netflix 1, The Anime Network 1 short, and Animax haven't announced any shows they have yet, but probably only a few. Most shows excluding kids targeted stuff is now accounted for with only a few exceptions.

Next months post may be delayed by a few days due to real life considerations, but will hopefully be up by the 7th at the latest.