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Discotek Media Licenses Lupin III Vs. Detective Conan, Library Wars, Sonic X, Giant Gorg Anime
posted on by Karen Ressler
Discotek Media announced on Tuesday that it has licensed the Library Wars, Sonic X, and Giant Gorg television anime, the Lupin III vs. Detective Conan television special, Lupin III vs. Detective Conan The Movie, and the 5 Centimeters Per Second film. 5 Centimeters Per Second is slated for June 2, and the release dates on the other titles will be announced at a later time.
Library Wars adapts the Library War novel series by Hiro Arikawa. The novels have also inspired a live-action film and several manga series, including Library Wars: Love & War, which Viz Media publishes in North America. The 12-episode anime series premiered in 2008.
The story is set in a future version of Japan. A law threatens to clamp down on freedom of expression in 2019, and Iku joins the Library Defense Force, a military unit dedicated to protecting books from being confiscated. However, she finds that the job of her childhood dreams is harder than she bargained for, especially with her hard-nosed instructor Atsushi.
Crunchyroll previously released 5 Centimeters Per Second (Byōsoku 5 Centimeter - a chain of short stories about their distance.) on DVD in 2011 with the help of Bandai Entertainment. Discotek's release will be a reissue of that version with new cover art. The DVD will include both Japanese and English voice tracks.
5 Centimeters Per Second is the second full-length film from the auteur director and writer Makoto Shinkai (Voices of a Distant Star, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, She and Her Cat). The film is split into three individual segments, and it premiered in Japan in 2007.
Discotek will release Giant Gorg in Japanese with English subtitles. Yoshikazu Yasuhiko (Crusher Joe: The Movie, Mobile Suit Gundam character designs) directed the 26-episode series, which premiered in 1984.
Set on “Austral,” a mysterious island which appears from the deep sea of the South Pacific, the story depicts battles involving a thirteen-year old boy named Yu Tagami, who lands on the island, and his friendship with a mysterious robot called “Giant Gorg” as they embark on adventure. Together, they search for treasure hidden on the island. However, GAIL, a large international corporation, hinders Yu and Gorg in their search of Austral.
The film crossover between Monkey Punch's Lupin III and Gōshō Aoyama's Detective Conan (Case Closed) opened in Japanese theaters in December 2013, and the television special aired in 2009.
In the film, the "Cherry Sapphire," an illusive secret treasure that holds the key to the entire world, will bring the two titular characters in a "head-to-head confrontation." Lupin is suspected of stealing the gem, and "when the truth is revealed, the curtain will open on the greatest battle in the world."
Discotek will release Sonic X with the English dub but is "not sure on the Japanese version yet." 4Kids Entertainment licensed the series in 2003 and aired it on the Saturday morning cartoon block FoxBox.
On a mission to save his friend, Sonic accidentaly sets off a machine that performs Chaos Control, warping him, his friends, and Eggman, to a world of humans. Sonic and Co. find a boy named Chris Thorndyke, who they befriend as they take on Dr. Eggman to collect the 7 Chaos Emeralds, stop the water-creature Chaos, and save the world from the Ultimate Lifeform.
