British Blu-ray Bonanza: releases for Makoto Shinkai, Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata anime films

British Blu-ray Bonanza: releases for Makoto Shinkai, Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata anime films

British Blu-ray Bonanza: releases for Makoto Shinkai, Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata anime films

1 comment 📅02 March 2013, 19:02

HD releases for Shinkai’s The Place Promised In Our Early Days/A Distant Star, Miyazaki’s Kiki’s Delivery Service and Takahata’s Grave Of The Fireflies…

Announcements on a social media website and new additions to the Amazon UK website have revealed a number of titles heading to hi-def in the coming months. Anime Limited confirmed on its Facebook page that it will release Makoto Shinkai’s feature The Place Promised In Our Early Days and the director’s 25-minute film Voices Of A Distant Star on a single disc.

The Place Promised In Our Early Days Makoto Shinkai

According to the announcement, “Blu-ray [is] confirmed and we’ll have more details soon.” A separate DVD edition will also be released, with dates for both still to be confirmed. The two films were previously released on DVD in the UK by ADV Films, but have since been deleted.

Voices Of A Distant Star Makoto Shinkai

Anime Limited continued: “Also added into the mix is a sweet little piece called Travelling Daru – a short prepared by a lot of the team involved in The Children Who Chase Lost Voices. We’ll be including this with our release too.” The 10-minute short was created by a team at CoMix Wave Films headed up by Ushio Tazawa. It tells the story of Daru, a handmade stuffed toy who has to search for his owner after they get separated at the airport.

Kiki’s Delivery Service Hayao Miyazaki

The Amazon UK website is also listing a combined Blu-ray and DVD edition of the 1989 film Kiki’s Delivery Service. StudioCanal will release the Hayao Miyazaki title on 27 May, which is quite a way behind the Japanese Blu-ray version sold in December 2012. The film follows 13-year-old witch Kiki (voiced by Kirsten Dunst), who sets out on a year-long apprenticeship with her black cat in tow.

Grave Of The Fireflies Isao Takahata Studio Ghibli

Isao Takahata’s 1988 war story Grave Of The Fireflies will also be released on 27 May, according to a separate listing on Amazon UK. Another combined Blu-ray and DVD bundle, this haunting Japanese anime tells the story of two children – 14-year-old Seita (Tsutomu Tatsumi) and his four-year-old sister Setsuko (Ayano Shiraishi) – who are struggling to survive in 1940s war-torn Japan.

British production company Dresden Pictures recently bought the rights to make a live-action adaptation of Akiyuki Nosaka’s semi-autobiographic novel Grave Of Fireflies, with shooting expected to start in 2014. Studio Ghibli produced the animated adaptation in 1988, while Toya Sato also created a live-action version in 2005 to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.

 


1 Comment

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.