(UPDATED with corrected information!)
Manga UK just twittered that they'll be releasing Mamoru Hosoda's "Summer Wars" in the United Kingdom next September, and our good friends from Affenheimtheater are confident that this will indeed include a BluRay release.
(According to Manga UK you lucky people in the United Kingdom will actually be getting a theatrical release in September, with DVD and BluRay following later that year. See the comments...)
Manga UK may not be my most-trusted distributor (cough-understatement-cough) but on occasion they do get everything right, so let's keep our fingers crossed for this one!
More from Summer Wars
- Reviews: Promises to keep: another SUMMER WARS BluRay review
- Reviews: Blu-ray Review: SUMMER WARS
- Reviews: UPDATED: A review for the English-friendly Taiwanese BluRay of SUMMER WARS
- Reviews: SUMMER WARS Reviews
- Mastheads: Summer Wars
- News: Anime on Blu-ray News: NAUSICAA and SUMMER WARS
- News: English-friendly SUMMER WARS in October 2010?
- News: Anime in NYC! US Premeire For SUMMER WARS And More!
- Reviews: LIFF '09: SUMMER WARS review
- Reviews: [J-FILM REVIEWS] サマーウォーズ (Summer Wars)
- Reviews: Sitges 09: SUMMER WARS Review
- Reviews: Sitges 09: SUMMER WARS Review
Excellent news! Saw this at the Leeds International Film Festival last November and really enjoyed it! Definitely going to be getting a screening at the NanimeW Japanese film and music night.
I've heard a definite yes to the BluRay.
Hope it is a region free blu ray
Folks, hold your horses! Manga still needs to confirm release dates, but there will be a limited theatrical we hope in September followed by a DVD and Blu-ray release before the end of the year. We have no idea who is picking up Summer Wars for North America yet.
I'd also like to say to the writer of this piece, Ard Vijn, that I don't appreciate their closing comments at all. They are unnecessary and snide. The same old bitching from the same old aging Otaku. Get over yourself.
Manga released over 70 individual titles in the UK last year. In the past Manga has made a few mistakes with some subtitling and dub synching issues on Stand Alone Complex and Naruto Unleashed, but overall, for a company with so many releases every year, we have a very good track record. I take Ard's comments personally and they are an insult to our small but highly dedicated team here at Manga who work tirelessly to bring UK anime fans the best new movies and programs available. It's this type of snobbery that really depresses me about the anime and manga fan community. Please give us a break and try to focus on the positive a bit more. As hard as it may be for some of you to believe, myself and the team take a great deal of pride and enjoyment in our work and we aren't just doing it for the mega-bucks Manga pays us. That was a sarcastic remark by the way. We do it because we love it. Happy New Year everybody.
Jerome Mazandarani
Acquisitions & Marketing Manager
Manga Entertainment LTD (UK and Ireland)
Well, happy New Year to you too Jerome, and thanks for clarifying the announcement. I was afraid some people were jumping the gun a bit...
As for the "unnecessary and snide remark" at the end, there is a proverb: trust comes on foot but leaves on horseback. My mistrust is not based on a general consensus or a hype, but on personal experiences in the past.
Allow me to explain.
I can understand it seems unfair to you that people still hold Manga UK accountable for things that happened a decade ago, but that is what you get as a well-known brand. If you release a DVD with a soundtrack that's a quarter of a second out-of-sync and no subtitles on the extras, that sticks to your brand. Re-releasing the same film later as a "Special Edition" when the only things changed are fixed sound and subtitles, but accidentally dropping the subwoofer track, ALSO sticks to your brand. And that's only a little-known title called "Ghost in the Shell" we're talking about.
The issues years later with "Stand Alone Complex" (sound, subtitles, non-functioning menu items) only reinforced the reputation you deservedly got for having poor quality control at the time.
As a collector of anime I was very disappointed. And you'll just have to forgive me for still feeling a pang of distrust when I see the Manga UK brand, even after years. I don't think I am overreacting and you don't need to take it personal unless you yourself were responsible for those specific releases.
Note that I'm not shooting your company out of the air either, and that I end that particular paragraph you mention with a positive remark.
I'm glad to hear you have a good track record recently, and frankly I was very much impressed with your BluRay release of "Ghost i/t Shell 2: Innocence". That disc is easily one of my favorite releases of 2009 and I've said as much in our forum. If you continue releasing titles on that level of quality you will undoubtably become a favorite distributor of mine. In fact I'm very curious to see what you will do with the BluRay releases of the new Evangelion movies (care to give a few details?).
And I think it is very cool of you to release "Summer Wars" theatrically. I definitely will look out for the BluRay.
Cheers, Ard Vijn.
SEE THIS MOVIE ON THE BIG SCREEN.
Lucky UK folk ...
Yes. This needs to be seen on the big screen to really appreciate all that is going on in the film. I'm just sorry my first viewing was on my television. Sucks to be me.