News

Neptunia Event Cancelled Due to Arrest at Earlier Event

The official website for the Chō Jigen Game Neptune The Animation (Hyperdimension Neptunia the Animation) anime announced on Friday that the anime's January 12 event has been cancelled. The website explained that the safety of the fans and performers is of the highest priority, in light of the "unforeseen circumstances at an advance screening event." The Tokyo police arrested a man after he disrupted a Neptunia screening event on June 22.

The initial run of the anime's first Blu-ray Disc/DVD volume would have bundled a random drawing form for advance tickets to the January event. Instead, the September 25 volume will now include a mail-away form for a hugging pillow (dakimakura) cover with an exclusive illustration of Neptune/Purple Heart by the Neptunia games' original illustrator Tsunako.

The seventh Blu-ray Disc/DVD volume would have shipped on March 26 with an unaired 13th episode and a digest video of the January event. Now, the volume will just have the unaired 13th episode. However, the initial run of the volume will bundle a Nendoroid Neptune figure from Good Smile Company.

Background

Tokyo's Cinema Sunshine Ikebukuro theater hosted the disrupted "TV Anime Hyperdimension Neptunia's Earliest! Advance Screening Event" on June 22. The event screened the first two episodes of the anime and held a talk show with several guests, including voice actresses Rie Tanaka (Neptune/Purple Heart), Asami Imai (Noire/Black Heart), and Rina Satō (Vert/Green Heart).

According to the police at Tokyo's Ikebukuro station, they received an emergency phone call from the event's staff at around 1:40 p.m., about halfway through the event. The caller said, "There's a man acting violently on stage."

The suspect was allegedly carrying a knife with a blade 10 to 20 centimeters (about 4 to 8 inches) long in the theater at around 2:00 p.m. Under the current Japanese law that was revised in 2009, it is illegal to carry daggers or double-edged knives with blades 5.5 centimeters (2.2 inches) or longer.

The staff of voice actress Rie Tanaka's management agency reported on her official blog a day later that she suffered a bruised knee and other minor injuries during the incident. Although Tanaka's physical injuries were not severe, the staff said that she is suffering from emotional distress. Tanaka stopped posting on her blog after June 23, but she resumed on August 1.

The Hyperdimension Neptunia anime adapts Compile Heart's popular role-playing game franchise of the same name. The anime premiered on July 12.

Image © 2013 Idea Factory, Compile Heart/Neptune Production Committee