Hello there, and I welcome you all once again to my little side project, which appears to have grown terrifyingly large this month! We have a lot to cover this month, including plenty of new show announcements from MCM London, additional cinema screenings for Your Name and my transcript of the Naoyoshi Shiotani Q&A at SLA regarding Psycho-Pass and Tokyo Marble Chocolate. I hope you like this months post, and as usual feel free to contact me via the comments or my twitter (@ravenwood7040) with corrections or updates!

News

• Anime Limited

  • The Anime Limited release of the twin pack of Makoto Shinkais films The Place Promised in our Early Days and Voices of a Distant Star, in production since approximately the Big Bang, now finally approaches. The pack will be released on November 21st, thus ending this interminable wait.
  • Miss Hokusai has been upgraded to an Ultimate Edition. This release now includes the film on DVD and Blu-ray, a DVD with extras including a interview with the director and a 2 hour long making of documentary, 5 art cards, an 80 page art book produced in collaboration with Production IG and a wooden box.
  • The Fullmetal Alchemist Collectors Edition for the first half of the series launches this month. RRP is £49.99, but it can be ordered for £34.99 from the Anime Limited web shop.
  • Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam has been delayed due to disc authoring problems until November 28th.
  • The following shows have been licenced by Anime Limited. Free! Iwatobi Swim Club (Q2 2017), Mob Psycho 100 (DVD/Blu-ray 2017), Assassination Classroom 2 (DVD/Blu-ray, Q2 2017, 2 Parts), Kiss Him, Not Me! (DVD/Blu-ray) and March Comes in Like a Lion.
  • Anime Limited have licenced A Silent Voice for theatrical and home video release. Following on from very positive feedback at SLA, A Silent Voice will now recieve a cinema release in either late December or January, probably January.
  • Princess Arete (DVD/Blu-ray 2017), Joker Game (DVD/Blu-ray, Q3 2017) and Ace Attorney (DVD/Blu-ray) have all been licenced for UK release.
  • AL will release an Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone Collectors Edition on 16th January, which will include art cards and a booklet as well as the film on DVD and Blu-ray. RRP is £34.99, but if you preorder from the AL webshop by the end of day Monday 7th November, then the set only costs £19.99.
  • Sword Art Online: The Movie - Ordinal Scale has been licenced for theatrical and home video release. There will be subtitled screenings of this movie in March 2017.
  • Tenchi GXP (DVD), Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū (Blu-ray), Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers (DVD/Blu-ray), Dagashi Kashi (DVD/Blu-ray) and both seasons of Silver Spoon (Blu-ray) have been licenced for the UK.
  • The release date for the Collectors Edition Blu-ray of Outlaw Star has been brought forward to the 14th November due to a retailer shipping stock early.

• Manga Entertainment/Animatsu

  • Manga will release Boruto on DVD and Blu-ray on the 3rd April.
  • The Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex OVAs will be rereleased as Limited Edition DVDs and Blu-rays.
  • The Beserk theatrical movies will be rereleased as a movie triple pack.
  • Kiniro Mosaic seasons 1 & 2 have been licenced for the UK and will be coming out next year on the Animatsu label.
  • The Beyond the Boundary movies will be released in March as a DVD/Blu-ray set.
  • Flying Witch has been licenced for release by Animatsu next year, as are Gatchaman Crowds Insight, A Certain Magical Index II and A Certain Scientific Railgun S.
  • The Death Note Blu-ray box set has been delayed until the 19th December. Digimon Adventure Tri Movie 1 has been delayed until March 2017 in order to add an English dub to the release.

• MVM Entertainment

  • MVM Blu-rays are currently up to 50% off on anime-on-line, until the end of this weekend, so a good time to get a bargain if theres anything you've been looking to pick up from them.
  • MVM Entertainment have licenced Girls und Panzer der Film and the Girls und Panzer Anzio OVA for release in the UK on both DVD and Blu-ray. They have also licenced Invaders of the Rokujyoma!? for DVD and Blu-ray.
  • The Beserk Collectors Edition Blu-ray has been delayed until January 9th. If stock comes in on schedule soem units may be available toward the end of December, but that is not guaranteed.

• DAISUKI

  • DAISUKI is now streaming Dragon Ball Super in the UK.

• STUDIOCANAL

  • There are currently significant problems with Blu-ray copies of When Marnie Was There which can compromise and even break some models of Blu-ray player. A Blu-ray replacement scheme is currently running to provide buyers with a working copy. Detils of the replacement program are currently available on UK-anime.net here.

• Netflix

  • Cowboy Bebop has been added to Netflix in the UK.

Upcoming Cinema Screenings

• Your Name has had it's screening run extended. Most cinemas will show the film on Nov 24th, however, Showcase Cinemas will have the film for a week beginning on 18th November. A minority of cinemas may be showing on other dates instead of or in addition to the 24th in a date range from 18th Nov to 4th December. MAKE SURE YOU CHECK SCREENING DETAILS FOR THE CINEMA YOU WANT TO GO TO ON THEIR WEBSITE!!! A list of locations and screenings are shown below. If I've missed any let me know here or on twitter. You can check the Your Name website to search for cinemas near you in case I missed them and see times.

• Anime Limited will be revealing the cast for the Your Name dub at some point next week and announcing an updated list of screenings. I'll edit this post to include those details when they become available.

• Your Name Screening Locations - Plain text locations have Japanese subs only, locations with bold text have both types of screenings.

• Manga UK will be rereleasing Ghost in the Shell into UK cinemas next January 25th. You can find a full list of cinemas and showtimes at this website.

• Manga UK will be releasing Yu-gi-oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions into UK cinemas on February 1st next year. For a full list of locations, see the Manga website.

• A Silent Voice will be released into UK cinemas in either December or January. Current information favours a January release, more info here as I get it.

• Sword Art Online: The Movie - Ordinal Scale will be released into cinemas in March of next year. Updates will go here as I get them.

• I need your help!! I can't keep track of every cinema that may screen anime by myself. If you know of any other screenings that will be taking place, or if you have a local cinema you can check upcoming listings for, please let me know via PM or the comments. There may well be screenings organised by local independent cinemas that I miss by myself.

Q&A Session with Naoyoshi Shiotani

On November 1st, I attended an evening organised by SLA at the Edinburgh Filmhouse, featuring screenings of Psycho-Pass: The Movie and Tokyo Marble Chocolate, and a Q&A after each screening with the director. Shiotani has worked on all instalments of the Psycho-Pass franchise as director, as well as directing Tokyo Marble Chocolate and the Blood-C movie. The host for the Q&As was Andrew Partridge from Anime Limited, and the session were split approx 50/50 between questions from Andrew and questions from the audience. I actually took notes this time, so assuming I can decipher my crappy handwriting (sample here), this should be a bit more accurate than my Iwai Q&A report was.

While the Psycho-Pass Q&A took place first, the Tokyo Marble Chocolate one was more focused on his early career, so I feel it makes more sense to put that one first.

Tokyo Marble Chocolate Q&A

• Q1: How did you get into anime? - I always liked drawing, and there are a few ways to make money drawing, for example to work as a manga artist, or as a designer etc. I liked the idea of seeing pictures in motion, so I went into animation.

• Q2: How did you start out at Production IG? - I liked IGs style, which seemed close to live action. I appreciated many of the animators there. When I started I apprenticed with Kise-san (Director: Ghost in the Shell 2015, Animation Director Blood-C, Evangelion 1.0), who was very strict and had high standards for me. Kise-san loved drinking though, it made me sick, but he would love Scotland!

• Q3: Your first directing gig was the OP for Blood . How does directing for OP's differ? - OP's are much shorter and there is no script to help convey mood to the audience. Watching a show is a cerebral process, an OP must appeal to the audiences gut feelings.

• Q4: Does the shows overall director get involved in the OPs very much? - It varies depending on the show. On my OPs I usually had free reign.

• Q5: Did Blood open up the route to directing Tokyo Marble Chocolate for you? - Yes, it was my first time going from animator to director. Fortunate that people liked my work on that, it was quite a talked about OP. Character design was significantly different from the show with respect to character designs, so some not so good things about it as well.

• Q6: Where did the name Tokyo Marble Chocolate come from? - 10 years ago so hard to remember, there was a kind of chocolate called marble chocolate being sold in Tokyo. They came in different designs and represented different feelings. Chocolate can be bitter or sweet, like love.

• Q7: How did you end up directing an original work? - They were offered total control over everything else as long as they used the two songs provided by the sponsor. So important whatever they chose would fit the songs provided. They had to treat the songs equally, so it seemed like a good idea to have a boys song and a girls song, leading to the romance angle.

• Q8: Was it always intended to be a love story? - I didn't go into it wanting to blow people up! I wanted to make something cheerful and uplifting. It's nice to make both kinds of shows, there's a light me and a dark me!

• Q9: Did everyone support the concept from day one? - At the time IG hadn't really done any romance stuff. Everyone was excited to try something a bit different. They didn;t really know how it would go so they were a bit nervous.

• Q10: There were some people on the project who would go on to become big names, right? - Yes. Tanikawa who was involved went on to publish a lot of successful manga, as well as the Chiba Brothers, who went on to other shows including Haikyuu and Attack on Titan.

• Q11: How was having a manga artist involved in the character design? - It was good, not unusual for a lot of anime. It's interesting to mix styles and see what happens.

• Q12: You were the one who designed the mini-donkey in TMC, yes? What was the idea behind it? - We wanted a cupid like character to help connect the protagonists. Like an angel, but also slightly demonic. I was flipping through a womens fashion magazine and saw a picture of a model walking with a donkey. Thought it was fantastical and mysterious. Thought a smaller version could be a good addition, and since the anime has a fantasy version of Tokyo, a fantasy animal would be appropriate.

• Q13: Were there any characters that rang particularly true? - I hadn't seen it for a while, but looking back on it I can see bits of myself in both characters. I was shy when I was younger like Yuudai and also had poor relationship experiences like Chizuru. I is also reflected a bit in the donkey, I like clenliness, so it is a good thing he was wearing the diaper!

• Q14: Was the Tokyo Skytree completed when you were working on the project? (Skytree features in TMC) - No, it had just been announced when we started. Thinking about the contast of the red and blue colours of the towers made me think of them as the boy and girl in a love story.

• Q15: Is there a story behind the design of the cafe manager? - Yes, he and the pet store emplyee with an afro are based on some of the featured musicians.

• Q16: The art and character design seemed quite different to a lot of IG's previous works. What inspired the change? - A lot of the people working on this were relatively new an inexperienced. Looking back on it I feel the different art style reflects our youth and exuberance. For the backgrouds, we kept them low focus and avoided extraneous details because we wanted the audience focused on the characters.

• Q17: Would you like to make something like this again? - Yes, I like the balance between light and dark stuff. If I get the chance, it would be nice to work on something more comedic!

• Q18: Was it always clear that the two parts of TMC would show in that order, and do you consider the order important? - At the time we made it, I felt the order should be reversed. However, the other members of the shows staff disagreed and felt the current order works better. Now I feel it works either way though!

Psycho-Pass Q&A

• Q1: How did Psycho-Pass happen? - I work for IG Production, we have made a lot of police dramas and similar styled shows. We wanted to make something new in that vein.

• Q2: Psycho-Pass was a new property, tell us more about how you built the world? - It was difficult knowing where to start. One of the questions the staff asked was what ties us down socially. The answer we came up with was numbers, for example, when we eat we count the calories as a form of restraint. We wanted to create a society built around a single number.

• Q3: What inspirations did you take from literature? - We all talked about a lot of different books and films, but it was a long time ago, so hard to remember specifics. I remember we were inspired by Blade Runner. What version? The Directors Cut!

• Q4: You had 33 episodes on TV and the film, so how did you move between them? - We decided to have each season and the movie have a different theme. In the first series, the theme is whether it is right to be bound by numbers. In the second, about whether or not the system is fair and how it creates a god-like presence. In the movie, what happens when a perfect system is introduced to a conflict zone, and paying respect to history. We forget as animators to study the history and background to places, which makes it difficult to define a future. Also, with respect to Akane and Kogami, women like to talk it out and men like to punch things!

• Q5: What locations inspired you? - We were looking mostly at South East Asia, Cambodia specifically. For exaple there are places based on Angkor Wat, and the place akane and Kogami meets is based on the capital city.

• Q6: Do you have plans to show the outside world more in the future? - Yes!

• Q7: Doesn't Sybil follow the law of the jungle outside Japan? - Difficult question, relates to future parts of the story. It's sectret, I'm in the process of thinking about outside sEAUN/Japan now, so I don't want to talk about it. All I'll say is that Sybil was not following the law of the jungle in sEAUN. If Sibyl came to Scotland, I have a way planned it would work.

• Q8: If you went around Production IG with a Dominator, would you catch anyone? - Absolutely! Everyone from the boss down must have a high crime-coefficient, otherwise we would never have got to make the show!

• Q9: Did you see anything of interest on your trip to Edinburgh? - It's a beautiful city, I would love to work here at some point, I could have a room in Holyrood Palace! If Psycho-Pass came to Scotland, it has has a long way to go. I've met a lot of nice people, it might be nice to introduce a Scottish charater. A girl who likes whisky maybe?

• Q10: Why classical music in action scenes? - Since sci-fi is futuristic, I wanted to use the classical music to link back to the past. It also provides a reference point for the audience and conveys the idea that history repeats itself.

• Q11: Kogami's eyes seem to be getting bluer. Does that represent anything? - Yes, character have colours in my mind. Kogami was blue. In the series he was chained, so the colour is muted, but in the movie he is free, so the colour shows through stronger. When we were first making the show he had a blue jacket, but other members of staff were opposed so we switched him to the suit instead. I think they were right in the end.

• Q12: Why did Egoist get picked for the show? - They hide themselves, for example, the lead singer appears as CG on TV. We thought it matched up well with the themes of the show.

• Q13: I was wondering if the disillusionment of the populace is inspired by 1984 or Brave New World? - Yes, strong influences. I wanted to go back to sci-fi from when I was growing up, throw back to those themes and settings. I include quotes because young people today don't read those kind of things and I wanted to encourage them to look at older works.

• Q14: Do you have any comment on how the show transitions from being procedural to being about Makishima to being about Sibyl? - The story starts with the protagonists not questioning their world. Makishima questions the world and pushes the story in the direction of is Sibyl right?

• Q15: Do societies need laws to function? Could a lawless society ever work? - I believe laws are necessary, but it is difficult to grapple with. We wated to encourage other people to think about it. Psycho-Pass shows a society without laws, sometimes it is difficult for people in lawful societies to imagine ones without, so we wanted to show one. We make mistakes and learn from them, which is how we move in the right direction.

• Q16: What's the inspiration behind the Dominators, why the gore? - It's a bit over the top. We needed something in the story to differentiate between the happy fron end of the system and the scary results. When I was younger I watched Akira and it terrified me, I wanted to make something which could have a similar impact.

That wraps it up, my thanks to Scotland Loves Anime for arranging the Q&A and to the Edinburgh Filmhouse for hosting!

Physical Releases in October

This list is not comprehensive!! Dates move around a lot in the anime market. The most reliable source for info is always the distibutor, then the retailer. 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 November Releases

Gundam: Reconguista in G - Complete Series Collection
Ouran High School Host Club - Complete Series Collection
Persona 3 - Movie 1
Photo Kano - Complete Series Collection
Digimon: Digital Monsters Season 2
Brothers Conflict - Complete Series Collection
Chobits - Complete Series Collection
Escaflowne Ultimate Edition
From the New World - Complete Series Collection
Full Metal Alchemist - Ultimate Edition

Miss Hokusai
Naruto: Rock Lee and His Ninja Pals - Collection 2
Pokemon Movie 1-3 Collection
The Murder Case of Hana & Alice
The Perfect Insider - Complete Series Collection
Your Lie in April - Part 1
Makoto Shinkai Collection: Voices of a Distant Star / Place Promised in Our Early Days
Fullmetal Alchemist - Part 1
Log Horizon - Season 2 Part 2
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX - Season 1

AKIRA - 30th Anniversary Edition
Belladonna of Sadness - Collector's Edition
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam - Part 1
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam - Part 2
Nobunaga the Fool - Part 2
One Piece Collection 14
The Tatami Galaxy - Collector's Edition
Tokyo Marble Chocolate Collector's Edition

Season Simulcasts

The following tables include every TV Show and Short listed for Fall on Anichart. Entries are alphabetical, with preference given to the Japanese romaji title provided by Anichart.

That wraps us up for this month!! Thanks for reading, and as per usual feel free to leave corrections/comments etc.