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Madman's 12 Days of Christmas has New Announcements
posted on by Jon Hayward
This christmas Madman Entertainment are again doing their "12 Days of Christmas" promotion over Facebook, revealing something new each and every day in the lead up to Christmas. Days 1 and 2 were merchandise announcements, with Madman stocking Tamashii Buddies online and opening pre-ordering on a select range of Banpresto and Megahouse figuries. However from Day 3 we have been receiving Anime announcements.
On the third day of announcements, Madman announced that One Week Friends! will be coming to AnimeLab soon and home video in 2015.
On the fourth day, Free! Eternal Summer was announced with streaming on AnimeLab soon and home video in the future.
Day five brings In Search of the Lost Future and the title will be released at some undetermined point in the future.
And on Day six we have Wanna be the Strongest in the World, coming to AnimeLab in 2015 with home video to follow.
You can follow Madman Entertainment's announcements via their Facebook page and we will be updating with acquisitions here on ANNAU as they are announced.
One Week Friends
When high school student Yūki Hase notices that classmate Kaori Fujimiya is always alone, he decided to befriend her. However Kaori turns down his offer of friendship as she feels it wouldn't stick, due to Kaori forgetting any memories of friends she might make every Monday. Despite the difficulty of having to continually befriend Kaori, Yūki decides that he will endeavour to do so each and every week.
Based on Matcha Hazuki's original manga, the series was originally launched as a one shot in 2001 and was followed with serialisation in 2012 in Square Enix's Gangan Joker, the series has since been collected into six volumes with the final seventh volume due to be released in April 2015.
This 12 episode anime adaptation was directed by Tarou Iwasaki (Fullmetal Alchemist episode director) at Brains Base (D-Fragments, Natsume's Book of Friends, Baccano!). Shôtarô Suga (The Eccentric Family, Lagrange - The Flower of Rin-ne, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood) handled the series composition and Eri Yamazaki (My Little Monster animator) designed the characters. Irone Toda scored the soundtrack.
The series was aired in Japan from April to June 2014 and Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired. Sentai Filmworks has licensed the series for digital and home video release in North America.
On a side note, One Week Friends! inspired a stage play adaptation that ran in November 2014 at CBGK Shibugeki!! in Shibuya.
ANN's Carl Kimlinger has watched the series and you can read his thoughts on One Week Friends! here.
The series will be streaming soon on AnimeLab and will be released to home video in 2015. You can view Madman's announcement here.
© Kōji Ōji, Kyoto Animation
/ Iwatobi High School Swimming Club
Free! Eternal Summer
The boys of summer are back. Haru, Makoto, Nagisa, Rei, and Rin are reunited and the competition is about to get fierce. After the last swimming meet, the bonds of friendship have only gotten stronger, and with each passing day the boys continue to grow. This summer brings new rivals and new challenges.
Free! Eternal Summer is the second season adaptation of Kōji Ōji's High Speed! light novels that follow the adventures and challenges of the Iwatobi swimming club. The second season continued to be directed by Hiroko Utsumi (Free! was her series directing debut but Hiroko has worked on many Kyoto Animation series and projects including The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, K-On and Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions!) with Masahiro Yokotani (The Devil is a Part-Timer!, Beelzebub) returning to handle series composition and scripts. Chief animation director, Futoshi Nishiya (Nichijou - My Ordinary Life, Hyōka) also returned to handle character designs with art direction by Joji Unoguchi (Air, Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, Nichijou - My Ordinary Life).
The group OLDCODEX returned to perform the opening theme song "Dried Up Youthful Fame" after performing the first season's opening theme. Similarly, the five main leads — Nobunaga Shimazaki as Haruka Nanase, Tatsuhisa Suzuki as Makoto Tachibana, Mamoru Miyano as Rin Matsuoka, Tsubasa Yonaga as Nagisa Hazuki, and Daisuke Hirakawa as Rei Ryugazaki — performed the ending theme song "Future Fish."
Free! Eternal Summer premiered in Japan on the 2nd of July 2014 and was streamed to Crunchyroll. However Funimation has picked up the license for streaming and home video release in North America and has announced the English dub cast. The English cast includes Todd Haberkorn as Haruka Nanase, Johnny Yong Bosch as Makoto Tachibana, Vic Mignogna as Rin Matsuoka, Greg Ayres as Nagisa Hazuki and J. Michael Tatum as Rei Ryugazaki.
The first season, Free! Iwatobi Swim Club is licensed by Crunchyroll for streaming and home video rights. Funimation stated in October that it has approached Crunchyroll about a collaboration to make an English dub of the anime's first season and distribute it on home video. At the time, Funimation said that Crunchyroll had yet to reply to their inquiry.
Madman Entertainment has just licensed Free! Eternal Summer at this stage, mentioning on facebook that it's a little difficult to explain their situation with season 1.
Madman will begin to stream Free! Eternal Summer on AnimeLab soon with a home video release at some point in the future. You can view their announcement here.
ANN's Lauren Orsini has previously watched Free! Eternal Summer and you can view her thoughts on the series here.
In Search of the Lost Future
Uchihama Academy's student body is preparing to send off their old school building with a large festival, however despite their best efforts a spate of mysterious accidents soon put the dampener on those plans. However with Uchihama Academy's Astronomy Club on the case the mystery will soon be laid to rest. Enter club member Sou Akiyama, who after a sudden earthquake runs into a beautiful naked girl who claims to know Sou even though he doesn't have any recollection of her. And the next day the mystery deepens with the girl, Yui Furukawa, suddenly appearing in Sou's class as a transfer student and wanting to join the astronomy club.
In Search of the Lost Future (Ushinawareta Mirai o Motomete) is based on a visual novel created by Trumple on PC in Japan in 2010. In Search of the Lost Future is the only game Trumple ever released, with the company announcing in 2012 that they had ceased all production. The game spawned two manga adaptations, the first was illustrated by Sasayuki in Kadokawa Shoten's Comp Ace from 2011 and the second was illustrated by Takeshi Kagura in Media Factory's Monthly Comic Alive in 2014.
Naoto Hosoda directed this 12 episode anime adaptation at animation studio feel with scripts by Sadayuki Murai, Tatsuya Takahashi, and Satoko Shinozuka and series composition by Rie Kawamata. Ikuo Yamakado designed the characters based on original designs by Kurehito Misaki and Shinobu Kuroya. Fūga Hatori provided the music. Satoshi Motoyama served as the project's sound director.
The series begun broadcast on Japanese TV in October 2014 and will conclude it's run on the 20th of December 2014. Funimation licensed the series for North America and has streamed the series as it aired in Japan.
Madman has yet to confirm how they will be releasing In Search of the Lost Future, only stating that the series will be coming soon.
Wanna be the Strongest in the World
When pop idols Sakura Hagiwara (Ayana Taketatsu) and Miyazawa Elena (Kana Asumi) pose as wrestlers for a special show for their group, Sweet Diva, Elena is attacked by a wrestler known as Rio (Haruka Tomatsu) and left with a battered, bruised and embarrassed reputation. But Sakura decides to avenge Elena's honour by defeating Rio on the pro-wrestling circuit and so begins Sakura's journey into professional wrestling.
ESE and Kiyohito Natsuki launched the original Wanna Be the Strongest in the World manga in the inaugural issue of Comic Earth Star in 2011 and has been collected into five volumes to date. This is the first 30-minute television anime based on a manga from the magazine.
Rion Kujo (Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero, Ikki Tousen: Shūgaku Tōshi Keppu-roku, S-CRY-ed) directed the "most fainting-in-agony female professional wrestling anime ever" at the studio ARMS (MAOYU, Ikki Tousen). Rin-Sin (Queen's Blade, Ikki Tousen) designed the characters with art direction by Minoru Maeda (Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero) and animation direction by Masaaki Sakurai (Hayate the Combat Butler). Series composition was handled by Kazuho Hyodo (Himegoto, Robot Girls Z). The five main cast members performed the ending theme song "Fan Fanfare!!!."
Crunchyroll streamed the 12 episode series as it aired in Japan in 2013, Funimation has licensed the series in October this year, with streaming available and a English dub planned for release in 2015.
Madman's release will be streamed on AnimeLab in 2015 and be available on home video in 2015, you can view the announcement here.
Madman's 12 Days of Christmas
- Day 1 - Tamashii Buddies available on Madman.com.au.
- Day 2 - Banpresto and Megahouse Figurines pre-order on Madman.com.au.
- Day 3 - One Week Friends!
- Day 4 - Free! Eternal Summer!
- Day 5 - In Search of the Lost Future.
- Day 6 - Wanna be the Strongest in the World.
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history