Animatsu Entertainment Ltd is a new UK based company that will specialise in the distribution and production of anime. Mainly anime, that is, as the new company will also look at Japanese TV titles and live action productions.
Animatsu was formed late last year after COO Jerome Mazandarani left Manga UK along with Andrew Hewson. Hewson will act as marketing manager for Animatsu and looks like the likely point of contact for fans going forward. The pair have a decade of experience in the bag thanks to their time at Manga Entertainment.
Titles from the new company will start to appear from March 2015 and will be released on digital, DVD and Blu-ray. It’s interesting that the company is including DVD releases in its brand new range as Manga UK is experimenting with moving towards exclusively digital and Blu-ray.
The first title out of the gates is expected to be Halo: Nightfall. This is the sequel to Halo: Forward Unto Dawn which was pretty good. Nightfall will be released through a partnership between Animatsu and Anchor Bay Entertainment on March 16. The partnership suggests that Mazandarani is still on fairly good terms with Anchor Bay; who own Manga UK.
A deal with Sentai Filmworks will bring another 8 brand new anime titles into Animatsu’s catalogue. Blade and Soul, Comic Artist and His Assistants as well as Coffin Princess will be included in the range. Geek Native has been following Blade and Soul in the Irregular Reconnaissance column as it streams in the UK via Crunchyroll already. It’ll be interesting to see how the arrival of Animatsu affects current deals.
The last two titles are described as “key” but not yet announced. It is likely that the next issues of Neo and MyM magazines will have the news – likely; one title each.
Jerome Mazandarani told press;
“Animatsu is the realisation of all of the exciting things I’ve wanted to do with anime and special interest licensing over the years including developing a successful digital sales model for anime brands. I am delighted that in addition to launching our own label we will also be able to continue working with our friends at Manga and help them to consolidate their position as the largest anime distributor in the United Kingdom”,
He went on say;
“If you like what we did while we were at Manga Entertainment you will love what we are going to do with Animatsu. That includes a huge presence at UK comic cons, an evolution of our social media activity and much more.”
“On that point we strongly recommend people start to follow the @AnimatsuEnt Twitter and /AnimatsuEnt Facebook accounts, which in time are going to start coming to life with all sorts of exciting news.”
