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U.K. Blu-rays of Blue Lock and Second Free! The Final Stroke Released on Monday
posted on by Andrew Osmond
On Monday January 15, Crunchyroll will release Blue Lock Season 1 Part 1 on Blu-ray and DVD, including the first 12 episodes of the series.
Tetsuaki Watanabe (Powerful Pro Yakyū Powerful Kōkō-hen) directed the anime at 8-Bit with Shunsuke Ishikawa as assistant director. Taku Kishimoto (Haikyu!!, Silver Spoon, 2019 Fruits Basket) supervised and wrote the series scripts, and the manga's Kaneshiro supervised the story. Yutaka Uemura (Saga of Tanya the Evil director) was the concept adviser. Masaru Shindō (Fruits Basket, Macross Delta, My Teen Romantic Comedy – SNAFU) was the main character designer and chief animation director, and Kenji Tanabe and Kento Toya were also character designers and chief animation directors. Jun Murayama composed the music.
Kodansha Comics is publishing the manga in English digitally and in print, and it describes the story:
After a disastrous defeat at the 2018 World Cup, Japan's team struggles to regroup. But what's missing? An absolute Ace Striker, who can guide them to the win. The Japan Football Union is hell-bent on creating a striker who hungers for goals and thirsts for victory, and who can be the decisive instrument in turning around a losing match...and to do so, they've gathered 300 of Japan's best and brightest youth players. Who will emerge to lead the team...and will they be able to out-muscle and out-ego everyone who stands in their way?
Kaneshiro and Nomura launched the ongoing manga in Weekly Shōnen Magazine in August 2018. The manga won the Best Shōnen Manga award in Kodansha's 45th annual Manga Awards last year.
Crunchyroll will release I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss on Blu-ray.
In the story, when the protagonist Aileen's engagement to her fiancé Prince Cedric ends unceremoniously, details of this young noblewoman's past life come rushing back. Aileen realizes she's now living inside the world of one of her favorite otome games—as the villainess. Determined not to be killed or tormented, Aileen decides the best plan is to become lovers with the final boss Claude.
Kumiko Habara (I'm Standing on 1,000,000 Lives. both seasons) directed the anime at Maho Film. Kenta Ihara (Tomodachi Game, Vinland Saga, Saga of Tanya the Evil) wrote and oversaw the series scripts. Momoko Makiuchi, Eri Kojima, and Yūko Ōba were the character designers. Natsumi Tabuchi, Hanae Nakamura, Miki Sakurai, Sayaka Aoki, and Kanade Sakuma composed the music.
MVM will release a Collector's Blu-ray edition of NieA_7, including five art cards.
In this 2000 series, aliens have arrived on Earth and live among humans. In sleepy Enohana, the dirt-poor student Chigasaki MAYUKO finds herself living together with NieA, a low-caste ("Under Seven") alien. While MAYUKO struggles diligently to make ends meet, NieA seems to be totally unconcerned with the consequences of her actions. As the odd couple throws off the expected sparks, the wrecked alien mothership looms in the background...
Animated by Triangle Staff, the 13-part series was based on Yoshitoshi ABe's science-fiction comedy manga of the same name.
Crunchyroll will release My Hero Academia Season 6 Part 1 on both Blu-ray and DVD, carrying episodes 114 to 126 of the series, as well as two OAV episodes.
Anime Limited will release a standard Blu-ray edition of Free! The Final Stroke Part 2.
In Japan, the first Free! The Final Stroke film was released in September 2021, followed by the second in April 2022. In the two films, Haruka finally arrives in Sydney, the dream destination for his world-class competitive swimming aspirations. As he steps into this new frontier, he is faced with his friends and rivals from the All Japan Invitational, including the current world champion Albert Volandel. In order to stand at the very top of the world, Haru may need to make sacrifices, including his dream of swimming with his friends. The project's tagline was, "Let's go, to the stage of glory."
