For those who are not aware, the SMASH!: Sydney Manga and Anime Show is being held today, and Madman Entertainment has been actively taking part in it, not only with anime acquisition announcements and sales, but also had the famous director Nabeshin (Aka. The afro guy from many an anime series) who has been responsible for very random but none the less enjoyable series such as Excel Saga and Puni Puni Poemy. However, there has been three new anime acquisition notices which are as follows:
Announcement #1
Baka and Test
Description
When a fight breaks out at Fumizuki Academy, nobody throws a single punch. Instead, the students utilize the school’s technology to summon Avatars, pint-sized stand-ins with battle powers based on academic ability. That “academic ability” part is bad news for Yoshii: he’s an idiot, stuck in lowly Class F with the slackers. If these misfits want to escape their dump of a classroom and earn some respect, they’ll have to fight their way up the ranks and take on Class A, the Academy’s brightest students. It’s going to be tough, that’s for sure, but once the underachievers of Class F get motivated, they don’t give up – and Yoshii can’t even spell surrender! [Source: Madman Entertainment]
Release Date
November 2011
Thoughts
This is honestly no surprise to me, as it was evident either Madman Entertainment or Siren Visual would be picking up this series. Overall, I am very excited to see this series being released, having watched the first two episodes on Funimation (The US Distributors) youtube page with the great English dub.
Announcement #2
Trigun: Badlands Rumble
Description
20 years after meddling into the bank heist of a notorious robber named Gasback, Vash the Stampede is heading towards Macca City. Rumors say that the legendary thief might appear there causing an enormous influx of bounty hunters in the area who want to collect the $300,000,000 prize for his head. [Source: Madman Entertainment]
Release Date
November 2011
Thoughts
I have never been a follower of the Trigun series, so I am not really able to comment much about this part of the series. Most probably won’t be reviewing or watching it anytime soon, but hey, if you are a fan of the series, GO FOR IT!
Announcement #3
Night Warriors: Darkstalkers Revenge
Description
Based on the hit CAPCOM video game series. Night Warriors follows the sometimes scary, sometimes comedic adventures of a cast of weird characters including vampire prince Demitri; catwoman Felicia, a six-foot-tall fur-covered humanoid; ghoulish Lord Raptor; and vampire hunter Donovan. [Source: Madman Entertainment]
Release Date
December 2010
Thoughts
What can I say…. aren’t Madman really going back in time for their final acquisition announcement? Night Warriors: Darkstalkers Revenge was a series initially released in 1995 and I assume was originally released on a VCR Tape. Funnily enough, the only reason I know some of the characters in that series was from playing Cross Edge, but I am actually interested in seeing what this series is like…. Afterthought: Shame it wasn’t an announcement of another series from that time period such as a long overdue DVD release of Sailor Moon or Cardcaptors….
wow Madman sure does have bad taste…well mediocre. The only title worth getting there is Trigun and thats just a movie. Oh well hope Siren announce good shows
From a look at the SMASH! Timetable, I do not believe Siren Visual will be announcing any titles at this expo, I will have an article up as soon as possible if they do.
Baka and Test & Trigun is no big surprise, considering those are licensed in the US as well(By Funimation). What surprises me is the licensing of Darkstalkers…Which is OLD. Nothing wrong with that.