FUNimation Gets "Chobits and "Eden of the East"

FUNimation announced two acquisitions over the weekend, both of which are planned for DVD and Blu-ray release in 2011: Chobits and the three Eden of the East features. The 26-episode Chobits anime series, based on the hit manga series from Tokyopop (in the U.S.), was previously released by Geneon.


The three Eden of the East (Higashi no Eden) films from Fuji Creative Corporation are all written and directed by Kenji Kamiyama (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) and produced by Production I.G. The story line follows the event in the Eden of the East tv series.

Worldwide "Sailor Moon' Revival Spreads Worldwide

A resurgence of interest in the Sailor Moon property has led to a return of the classic magical girl anime series on the Japanese airwaves last fall. Now Toei Animation is hoping to revive the property on a global scale starting in Italy. Toei is partnering with Backstage, which will handle the property’s rights in publishing, TV, and merchandising. Mediaset has acquired the TV rights to the 200-episode anime series and plans to begin broadcasting it in Italy in the fall of 2010.

Toei Animation’s Kanji Kazahaya told Global License: “We are certain that strategically Italy is the ideal country to initiate a global re-launch of the classic Japanese animated series such as Sailor Moon. The Italian public has traditionally been passionate about anime.”

No word yet on a possible North American revival of the property. DIC introduced the series (in a bowdlerized form) to American TV, while Pioneer and ADV released uncut versions of various elements of the extensive library of Sailor Moon anime. Tokyopop released the Sailor Moon manga here, but the licensed lapsed before it could issue the new revised editions that were issued in Japan starting in 2003.

Tokyopop Meets CSI

Tokyopop has announced that it will release CSI: Interns, a full length OEL manga tied to the hit TV property, next September. The new work will not be a straight adaptation. Written by Sekou Hamilton, who has a TV background, with art by Steven Cummings (Pantheon High), CSI: Interns will tell the story of one of a group of teenagers taking part in an internship program at the Las Vegas Criminal Investigations Unit under the eyes of Gil Grissom and Catherine Meadows. When one of the bodies in the morgue turns out to be a classmate, things get too close for comfort.

The CSI manga will be one of a number of such OEL titles that Tokyopop is publishing, including its Blizzard titles, as well as Star Trek, Labyrinth, Ghostbusters, and Battlestar Galactica. As is the case with Star Trek, Ghostbusters, and BSG, there’s also a licensee producing American-style comics based on the property; IDW has the CSI comic license