Industry News: Anime Expo 2017 Announcements Round-up
Wednesday, July 5, 2017
Anime Expo 2017 has been packed with tons of industry panels and announcements through July 1st to the 4th. So rather than splitting up the panels into multiple posts I decided to place all of them in one huge blog post. There are some surprises with a few of these distributors.
The following panels covered in this round-up are as follows:
Anime - Aniplex of America, Crunchyroll, FLCL, Full Metal Panic!, Funimation, Kadokawa Pictures, Nozomi/Rightstuf, Ponycan US, Sentai Filmworks, Studio Trigger, Viz Media, Warner Bros Japan
Books - Kodansha Comics, Seven Seas, Vertical, Yen Press, Viz Media
Games/Visual Novels - Aksys Games, Bandai Namco, JAST USA, MangaGamer, NIS America, Sekai Project
Going to begin this very long news post with the anime announcements/news for starters.
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A N I M E
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Aniplex of America
During the rather delayed panel Aniplex have announced some new license acquisitions and also more new home video releases planned for the end of the year.
Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga will be released on Blu-ray and DVD in two volumes at SRP $74.98 each ($39.98 on DVD each). Each volume will have 6 episodes each, deluxe booklet, illustration cards as well as English & Japanese audio with English subtitles. Volume 1 is due November 14th 2017 and Volume 2 is due February 13th 2018.
Fate/Grand Order -First Order- will be released on Blu-ray at SRP $89.98. The set includes the main special in English & Japanese audio with English & Spanish subtitles as well as the original soundtrack and deluxe booklet. The set will be available on October 24th 2017.
For new license acquisitions we have two titles from the current Summer 2017 season; Hell Girl Season 4 and Owarimonogatari Season 2. Hell Girl Season 4 will be streaming on Amazon Prime's AnimeStrike service and Crunchyroll while Owarimonogatari Season 2 is coming to Crunchyroll in August 12th & 13th as two specials (the show's length is 7 episodes).
Later down the line Aniplex also have Blend S simulcasting this Autumn 2017 season as well as Record of Grancrest War in Summer 2018. Fate/Apocrypha was also referenced once again however it's still unknown on whether they actually have the license to the show as it will be streamed exclusively on Netflix on November 7th 2017.
Crunchyroll
Crunchyroll had a few more streaming licenses to unveil for their catalogue. For the upcoming Autumn 2017 season they have the rights to stream both Kino's Journey: The Beautiful World and Urahara for simulcast. In addition they plan to simulpub the Final Fantasy Lost Stranger manga as well as Knight's & Magic and Restaurant to Another World mangas.
Over the course of the weekend they eventually announced more licenses for the current season as well as two more titles coming soon - A Place Further Than the Universe and The Rising of the Shield Hero.
Over the course of the weekend they eventually announced more licenses for the current season as well as two more titles coming soon - A Place Further Than the Universe and The Rising of the Shield Hero.
In addition publisher Seven Seas will have their catalogue made available on the ebook app, including The Ancient Magus' Bride and A Centaur's Life.
FLCL
Toonami, Adult Swim and Production I.G have announced some new details for the upcoming 12 episodes of FLCL, split into two seasons FLCL 2 and FLCL 3 due sometime in 2018. Over in Japan the 6 episodes per season will instead be two full theatrical runs.
The staff for both seasons have also been revealed with some changes between each. The Pillows will return to compose the music for the show.
FLCL 2 Staff:
Chief Director: Katsuyuki Motohiro
Supervisor: Kazuya Tsurumaki
Directors: Kazuto Arai, Toshihisa Kaiya, Yuki Ogawa, Yoshihide Ibata, Kei Suezawa, Hiroshi Ikehata
Script: Hideto Iwai
Original Character Design: Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
Character Design: Chikashi Kubota
Mechanical Design: Kiyotaka Oshiyama
Theme Song: the pillows
Animation Production: Production I.G
FLCL 3 Staff:
Chief Director: Katsuyuki Motohiro
Supervisor: Kazuya Tsurumaki
Directors: Yutaka Uemura, Kiyotaka Suzuki
Script: Hideto Iwai
Original Character Design: Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
Character Design: Yūichi Takahashi
Mechanical Design: Kiyotaka Oshiyama
Theme Song: the pillows
Animation Production: Production I.G, NUT, REVOROOT
Full Metal Panic!
Like FLCL, new details on the upcoming fourth season of Full Metal Panic! was also announced at the convention. Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory will be airing during the Spring 2018 season.
Staff details are as follows:
Director: Katsuichi Nakayama
Series Composition: Shoji Gatoh
Character Designer & Chief Animation Director: Osamu Horiuchi
Sub-Character Designer: Aya Yamamoto
Small Arms Designer & Animation Director: Takeshi Yoshioka
Mechanical Designers: Kanetake Ebikawa, Toshiaki Ihara
Set Designer: Takayuki Yanase
Mechanical Director: Masanori Nishii
Prop Designer and Mechanical Animation Director: Takuya Matsumura
Mechanical Animation Director: Yu Kato
CG Director: Shōsuke Uechi
Color Key: Chiaki Kitabayashi (XEBEC)
Special Effects: Shin Inoie
Animation Studio: XEBEC
Funimation
Funimation had two batches of announcements prepared for their 'Announcements' panel. The first batch are the simuldubs that they now solely focus on over on their website. Alongside the Summer 2017 titles that they have announced for the time being they will also be streaming the English dub for Lupin the Third Part IV after its Toonami broadcast of the current episodes.
For the rest of the simuldubs they have the following announced:
18if
A Centaur's Life
Classroom of the Elite
Hina Logic - from Luck and Logic
Knight's and Magic
Lupin the Third Part IV
Restaurant to Another World
Saiyuki Reload Blast
My Hero Academia Season 2 will continue to stream the simuldub at the same day the simulcast launches each week.
Funimation also claims that Attack on Titan Season 3 is due to broadcast during the Spring 2018 season.
This is recap news but they are also planning theatrical screens for Eureka Seven: Hi-Evolution Part 1, Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry, and Project Itoh: Genocidal Organ during 2017.
For home video releases a number of titles were revealed including some from the Crunchyroll partnership. Orange and The Testament of Sister New Devil will both be released as a Blu-ray & DVD combo pack with a standard and limited edition sets. Orange will include artcards and artbook with letters from English VAs & Writers, while the first season of The Testament of Sister New Devil will have some Not Safe For Work artwork so the limited edition won't be available in retail stores (so online stores only). Orange is due this fall while there's no release date set for The Testament of Sister New Devil Season 1.
To the surprise of many Funimation will also be releasing Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans thanks to Sunrise and Anime Consortium Japan. The two seasons will be released in 1-cour combo pack sets each with the first season's limited edition including an exclusive (not available in Japan) Gunpla model, artbook and space to fit the first season's second half and the second season sets. The first season sets are due for late 2017 while the second season is sometime in 2018.
As mentioned before the Speed Racer Collector's Edition will be available this fall using Speed Racer's head that has a sound clip. The collector's edition set will be a combo pack with both the Japanese version (Mach Go Go Go) and the English version (Speed Racer).
D.Gray-man returns with Part 1 of the original show's third season (i.e. episodes 52+) coming to DVD, as well as Dragon Ball Super Part 2 (covering episodes 14-26) on Blu-ray and DVD, and also a complete series set of Space Dandy as a combo pack. All three are also due this fall.
Funimation also have another catalogue title getting the Blu-ray treatment with both seasons of Rosario+Vampire as a combo pack due late 2017.
Finally we have news that Your Name is coming to DVD as well as a Blu-ray & DVD combo pack in 2017 in both standard and special edition. Funimation claims they will be using material from the Japanese release.
Kadokawa Pictures
Kadokawa announced a few new projects that will be coming in 2018.
As announced prior, The Rising of the Shield Hero (Tate no Yūsha no Nariagari) light novel will be getting an anime adaptation.
Director Takao Abo (Norn9)
Series Composition: Keigo Koyonagi (Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars)
Character Design: Masahiro Suwa (Chaika the Coffin Princess animation director)
Animation Production: Kinema Citrus
Based on the manga by Nanahiko Takagi, Angolmois (Angolmois: Genkō Kassen-ki) will also be getting an anime adaptation.
Director: Takayuki Kuriyama (episode director on Re:CREATORS)
Series Composition: Shogo Yasukawa (Chivalry of a Failed Knight, Food Wars! Shoukugeki No Soma)
Character Design: Masayori Komine (animation director on Macross Frontier: Sayonara no Tsubasa, DRAMAtical Murder)
Animation Production: NAZ
Another manga adaptation comes Chio's School Road (Chio-Chan no Tsugakuro) from Kawasaki Tadataka. Story follows a girl whose road to school everyday is interrupted by everything from construction to biker gangs to needing to go to the bathroom. The manga serializes in Kadokawa's Comic Flapper magazine.
Character Design: Mayuko Matsumoto (Kan Colle, Gingitsune)
Animation Production: diomedea
An original anime project was also unveiled called Project D. Director Takuya Satō and character designer Yoshitoshi ABe are currently the only two revealed for this anime series.
In addition news regarding Steins;Gate will be available on July 28th. Kadokawa announced at the expo of a 'World Line Project' due sometime in 2018-2019. The promo for this announcement includes the Steins;Gate 0 designs for Okabe and Mayuri, so this is most likely more new information regarding the anime adaptation of the visual novel sequel.
Nozomi/Rightstuf + Gundam
Nozomi had some surprise announcements to share at their panel.
Blu-ray versions for The Irresponsible Captain Tylor and Junjo Romantica 3 are coming in 2018. Junjo Romantica 3 is a surprising one considering Funimation acquired streaming rights for the series.
More news for both Mobile Suit Gundam Wing and Revolutionary Girl Utena were revealed, both are due for the end of the year. Starting with Gundam Wing, the show will be coming to Blu-ray and DVD in two parts plus another set for Endless Waltz. Operation Meteor recaps will also be included with the sets. A collector's edition is also planned though there's no information on that just yet.
Revolutionary Girl Utena Blu-ray details were revealed, due for December 5th 2017 across three sets and a complete very limited collector's edition set to celebrate it's 20th anniversary for SRP $224.98. The collector's edition includes a replica Rose Crest Ring, a replica Black Rose Crest ring, and a 250+ page art book - featuring episode commentaries by Director Ikuhara, interviews with staff, behind the scenes stories, liner notes, art galleries and more.
In addition Sunrise have confirmed an English dub is in production for Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt Season 2 and Toonami will be broadcasting Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2 this October.
Ponycan US
Pony Canyon only had a few bits and pieces to announce.
Yuki Yuna is a Hero Season 1 will be re-released as a complete series package on Blu-ray. It will be a standard case for SRP $90 and will be available to order very soon.
Yuki Yuna is a Hero Season 2 will also be simulcasted this Autumn 2017 season with a potential release of the films for theatrical.
Sanrio Boys hasn't been acquired but is currently in negotiations from the distributor when it airs in the Winter 2018 season.
Sentai Filmworks
Sentai went ahead with another round of The Dubs are Coming where they reveal which shows will be given an English dub for the home releases. The following will be dubbed:
Flip Flappers
Haikyu!!
Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto
Squid Girl [Season 2]
Tanaka-kun is Always Listless
Haikyu!! in particular will also be given a limited edition release of Season 1 due for November 14th 2017.
Studio Trigger
Studio Trigger had announced three anime projects at their own panel.
DARLING in the FRANKXX
A science fiction anime in collaboration with A-1 Pictures. A-1 Pictures' Hiroyuki Shimizu is involved with the project and Trigger themselves told fans they'll be shocked by the staff members list.
Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad Gridman
An anime take on the tokusatsu series in collaboration with Tsuburaya Productions who are known for the Ultraman franchise. Akira Amemiya, who worked on Inferno Cop and Ninja Slayer, will be directing the series. The anime will be an original story unrelated to Denkō Chōjin Gridman.
Promare
Described as being like Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill, Promare is another original series in collaboration with XFlag and directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi and scripted by Kazuki Nakashima. Promare has apparently been worked on for four years.
Viz Media + Sailor Moon
Viz didn't have much to share for anime news but some info cropped up for some titles.
Terraformars is currently being dubbed into English with no release date in sight. You can read more about the full English dub cast list here.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders will be coming to Toonami at the end of July.
Sailor Moon Crystal Season III is now available for pre-order. The set will cover Season III's Death Busters arc. Due for December 5th 2017, the contents are similar to the previous Crystal sets, with an SRP of $79.98 and offering both English & Japanese audio with English subtitles as a Blu-ray & DVD combo.
Warner Bros Japan themselves showed up for the convention to the surprise of many. They showed off the contents for the live-action Fullmetal Alchemist and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable Chapter 1 movies as well as announcing plans for a US theatrical release of the Haikara-san ga Tōru anime films starting with the first film due November in Japan.
Warner Bros Japan
Warner Bros Japan themselves showed up for the convention to the surprise of many. They showed off the contents for the live-action Fullmetal Alchemist and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable Chapter 1 movies as well as announcing plans for a US theatrical release of the Haikara-san ga Tōru anime films starting with the first film due November in Japan.
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B O O K S
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Kodansha Comics
During the panel Kodansha announced some new licenses for their catalogue. Some of these aren't completely new but it's a nice surprise overall.
Yukito Kishiro's Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle (Gunnm: Kasei Senki), a prequel to the Battle Angel Alita manga will be released starting November 2017 as a hardcover 2-in-1 omnibus.
CLAMP's Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, which was previously available as a digital manga title, will now be given a printed version with volume one available starting November 14th.
Hiro Mashima's Fairy Tail S, a collection of stories from the Fairy Tail series, will be available starting October 2017 with volume one.
Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor Moon will be getting a new re-release starting in January 2018 with the "Eternal Edition". The new edition will offer around 350 pages for its first volume and a larger size compared to its previous releases. Online listings also state it's also going to be an updated translation as well.
For digital manga announcements, Kodansha will be launching these three on July 18th 2017; Yū Suzunoki's Kōnodori: Dr. Stork, Satoru Hiura's Hotaru's Way, and Rin Mikimoto's Love's Reach.
Seven Seas + J-Novel Club
Since last year, Seven Seas have partnered up with digital site J-Novel Club to offer light novels in print form. During the panel Seven Seas have confirmed three more additions to their new novel catalogue:
Ryou Hakumai's Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest (Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou) - March 2018
Yuu Kamiya & Tsubaki Himana's Clockwork Planet - February 2018
Yuyuko Takemiya's Toradora! - 2018
In addition to novels they have a number of manga titles as well:
Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi's Getter Robo Devolution (Getter Robo Devolution: Uchū Saigo no 3-bun Kan) - May 2018
Akihito Tsukushi's Made in Abyss - January 2018
Mitsuhiro Kimura's Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: Kanna's Daily Life (Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon: Kanna no Nichijō) - January 2018
Kina Kobayashi's Nameless Asterism (Nanashi no Asterism) - January 2018
Shōtarō Tokunō's New Game! - March 2018
Ichigo Takano's Orange: Future - February 2018
Nozomu Tamaki's Soul Liquid Chambers - March 2018
Vertical
Vertical have a few titles to unveil, apparently these were announced at the Kodansha Comics panel.
Keiichi Arawi's CITY - March 2018
Mitsurou Kubo's Moteki - April 2018
Hitomi Takano's My Boy (Watashi no Shōnen) - April 2018
NisiOisin's Strangulation (The Kubishime Romantacist) - Novel 2 of NisiOisin's Zaregoto novel series, February 2018
Strangulation marks the second of two novels of the Zaregoto series that were previously released by Del Ray prior to the distributor going defunct.
Yen Press
Yen Press had quite a fair amount to announce. Let's start with the manga.
These few are titles that were already available through BookWalker and will be available digitally first. All three are well known titles in terms of their anime adaptations:
Mo-suke Mattaku and Yumeuta's manga adaptation of Baka & Test: Summon the Beasts
Mamare Touno's MAOYU (Maoyū Maō Yūsha "Kono Waga no mono to Nare, Yūsha yo" "Kotowaru!")
Atsushi Suzumi's manga adaptation of Tokyo Ravens
These next few will also be available digitally first, for the first time translated in English:
Mosuko's Kuzumi-kun Can't You Read the Room (Koizumi-kun, Kūki Yomemasu ka?)
Hifumi's Now Playing
Tarō Yokō and Daisuke Moriyama's Thou Shalt Not Die (Kimi Shinitamō Koto Nakare)
Iro Aida's Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun (Jibaku Shōnen Hanako-kun)
These next few are digital first but will also be given the Simulpub treatment:
Hazuki Minase's Final Fantasy: Lost Stranger - Starting July 12th with the first chapter being 70 pages long
Kumo Kagyuu's manga adaptation of Goblin Slayer: Year One - Starting sometime in September
And then these lot are going to be available in print form, some have already been made available digitally:
Shinta Fujimoto's manga adaptation of Baccano!
Pochi Iida's The Demon Who Became My Sister (Ane Naru Mono)
Shizuki Fujisawa's Hatsu*Haru
Masaya Takamura's Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Days of Goddess (Kamisama no Nichijō) - a 4-koma Manga spin-off to the DanMachi series
Furai's Kemono Friends: Welcome to Japari Park (Kemono Friends: Yōkoso Japari Park e!) - all in one manga release
Yomi Sarachi's Mermaid Boys
Kōji Miyata's Oh, My Sweet Alien (Yome ga Kore na Monde.) - Single volume release
Yu Tomofuji's Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts (Niehime to Kemono no Ō)
Hiromu Arakawa's Silver Spoon
Shushushu Sakurai's Stupid Love Comedy (Lovecome no Baka)
Maybe's Tales of Wedding Rings (Kekkon Yubiwa Monogatari) - available on Crunchyroll manga
Yasunari Nagatoshi's Zo-Zo-Zombie-kun
In addition Pandora Hearts will be getting a special complete collection boxset called PandoraBox due for November 2017 at SRP $230. The box contains metal handles, larger pages, and reproduced color pages to make up for its large price tag.
Now for the light novels for its Yen On imprint. Three of these are you generic Isekai stories but all of them have rather intriguing concepts.
Kaya Kizaki's The Hero and His Elf Bride Open a Pizza Parlor (Yūsha desu ga Isekai de Elf Yome to Pizza-ten Hajimemasu)
Kisetsu Morita's I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years (Slime Taoshite 300 Nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Level MAX ni Nattemashita)
Hirukuma's Reborn as a Vending Machine, Now I Wander the Dungeon (Jidōhanbaiki ni Umarekawatta Ore wa Meikyū ni Samayō)
And there's also these two light novels getting released:
Yomi Hirasaka's A Sister's All You Need (Imōto Sae Ireba Ii.)
Kumo Kagyuu's Goblin Slayer Year One (Goblin Slayer Gaiden: Year One) - A backstory to the main Goblin Slayer novel
Viz Media
Viz Media's panel was a mix between existing stuff and new titles. Here's the list that were new to their catalogue:
Tatsuki Fujimoto's Fire Punch - Shonen Jump Plus manga, first volume expected for January 2018
Chie Shimada's Kenka Bancho Otome: Girl Beats Boys (Kenka Banchō Otome: Koi no Battle Royale) - for the Shojo Beat manga label, first volume due 2018
Dempow Torishina's Sisyphean (Kaikin no To) - for the Haikasoru novel label, expected for January 2018
Also announced were two books from Neko Atsume Kitty Collector. The first; Neko Atsume Kitty Collector: Where am I Meow, is an all-ages full-color activities book. The second; Neko Atsume Kitty Collector Haiku: Seasons of the Kitty covers stories told in Haiku with characters from the mobile game of the same name. Both books are due for release in February 2018.
In addition Fullmetal Alchemist will be given a new re-release in a similar fashion to JoJoniums, called the 'Fullmetal Edition'. This edition offers tons of changes such as an updated translation with new lettering, original colour pages, new character sketches and new colour art from the author. In addition it will also be released in Hardcover format with the first volume scheduled for May 2018.
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G A M E S + V I S U A L N O V E L S
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Aksys Games continued their appearance for the convention with a lot of announcements, most are on Vita!
Otome visual novels will be pleased to hear that more titles have been announced for localisation on the PlayStation Vita, some of which are from Idea Factory. The titles are 7’scarlet, Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly and Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk. All three are set for a 2018 release window. Bad Apple Wars, which was announced previously, has a set release date of September 29th.
In addition Code: Realize ~Bouquet of Rainbows~ was announced for the PlayStation 4 due for 2018. This release consists of the previous Code: Realise titles from the Vita; Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ and Code: Realize ~Future Blessings~.
Despite already released in Europe, the North American release for Drive Girls is not far off with an August 11th release date for the PlayStation Vita.
For the Nintendo 3DS two titles were announced for the platform. Creeping Terror, a digital download Horror title (which will also be available on PC) due this fall, and the mystery adventure title Jake Hunter Detective Story: Ghost of the Dusk coming sometime in 2018.
SG/ZH School Girl/Zombie Hunter, one of those D3 Publisher weird titles, was rumoured for localisation in Europe many months back, but it's now confirmed for North America on the PlayStation 4 late 2017. SG/ZH is similar to OneeChanbara if I recall.
Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st], the latest & updated version of the Under Night In-Birth Exe fighting game, is heading west for late 2017 across both PlayStation 4 and Vita with cross-play support planned.
Last but not least, the third Zero Escape title Zero Time Dilemma is heading to the PlayStation 4 on August 18th in North America.
Bandai Namco America & Europe had some news to share for the fans at the convention.
.hack//G.U. Last Recode was already confirmed for North America & Europe, however at the panel it was confirmed that North Americans will only be getting the game in digital format on PlayStation 4 compared to Europe getting both retail and digital. Bandai Namco America have done this to a number of other titles as well including Accel World vs Sword Art Online and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven. .hack//G.U. Last Recode is a remaster of the G.U. Trilogy released in North America back in the PlayStation 2 era (the games were never released in Europe) that includes 1080p resolution, 60 frames per second, and tons of improvements to the gameplay with some new bonus extras as well. The remaster is planned for later this year on PS4 and Steam.
Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time is heading west for Early 2018. No details on whether the game will be available in retail format but for now it's confirmed for both PlayStation 4 and Steam. The game is a 2.5D style RPG.
Gundam Versus has a confirmed release date of September 29th for North America. Game is currently exclusive to PlayStation 4 for both retail and digital formats.
Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker will be heading west in Early 2018 across PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. In addition the already announced Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Legacy has new information regarding its release plans. The collection consists of Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst, and Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 Road to Boruto. The retail release will offer a steelbook, special artbook and Boruto anime special on Blu-ray. The games will be split across two Blu-ray discs; one for the Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy, and another for Road to Boruto. The Legacy collection is due for August 25th 2017 for North America & Europe on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
The Seven Deadly Sins: Knights of Britannia will also be heading to North America & Europe. Currently due for 2018 and on PlayStation 4, the game will be available digitally and also in retail form for both regions.
UPDATE: In addition Tales of the Rays will also be localised for the west on smartphones.
The publisher have announced two visual novels getting localised for the west, which kinda makes sense because their backlog of titles being translated is quite large. The titles are MinatoSoft's Majikoi! Love Me, Seriously! (Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai!!) and Oyari Ashito's Machine Child. As expected, no dates were mentioned for the both of them so chances are it will be quite a while.
Umineko: When They Cry will be given a hardcopy release on August 18th containing the first four chapters of the story plus a reversible cover art and Steam Key. This game is All-Ages though technically aimed for DES. DESDESDES. DESDESDESDESDESDES. The next set of chapters are still being worked on.
Princess Evangile W Happiness is now available for pre-order with its release date due for July 18th. This fandisc sequel provides new content like extra epilogues for original cast members and new routes for 5 characters. The game will also be heading to Steam.
From Yamakaze Ran and Moonstone (the same folks behind Princess Evangile); Magical Marriage Lunatics has been licensed and will be coming to both MangaGamer's site and Steam.
Alicesoft's Evenicle was also announced for localisation. The Eroge 3D RPG also has artwork done by Yaegashi Nan of Senran Kagura fame. The game will be available on MangaGamer's site.
From Hermit and the creator of White Album 2 and Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend comes The Most Forbidden Love in the World which will officially be translated into English. So far it's been confirmed for MangaGamer's site.
From the developers behind Da Capo and Dal Segno series is another new license announcement for MangaGamer with Space Live. This title was not announced in Japan at the time of the panel but it has been confirmed for MangaGamer's site.
And the final announcement is an interesting one. MangaGamer will be producing visual novels themselves and have teamed up with Itaru Hinoue, the lead artist for a number of Key titles, for Koropokkur. This game will be available across MangaGamer's site, Steam and Japanese retailers however the whole project will be funded through Kickstarter. More news to follow on that.
NIS America were one of the last publishers to host a panel at the convention. They showed off some new titles as well as updates on existing releases.
For the new additions Penny Punching Princess (Princess wa Kane no Bōja) will be coming to PlayStation Vita and Nintendo Switch in Spring 2018. The Vita version will be digital download only while Switch will offer retail, limited edition version and a digital download.
Demon Gaze II was also announced, however it's now also coming to PlayStation 4 which was originally released as a Vita exclusive in Japan. The Vita version will also be released and both will have a retail, limited edition version & digital download on November 14th 2017.
In terms of existing titles, The Longest Five Minutes (Sekai Ichi Nagai Go-funkan) has been pushed back to 2018 but will also offer a Nintendo Switch limited edition retail version & digital release while the Vita version will be digital only alongside the Steam release.
Yowamari: Midnight Shadows now has a set release date of October 24th 2017 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita and Steam. The PS4 version will also have a limited edition version.
Sekai Project have a fair amount of new & existing updates for the fans. The titles listed under the Sekai Project panel are pretty much all-ages versions planned at the very least (as anything NSFW would have been said under Denpasoft).
The surprising one of the lot is Visual Art's' Rewrite+ which was originally going to be translated under Visual Arts's English team but apparently it's now being re-translated under Sekai Project.
Other titles announced include:
Novectacle's NarKarma EngineA
Yuzusoft's Dracu-Riot!
Yuzusoft's Senren * Banka
code;jp's Ninja Girl and the Mysterious Army of Urban Legend Monsters ~Hunt of the Headless Horseman~
Mawari Works' Eternal
Silky's Plus Alpha's Nanairo Reincarnation
Watakubi's Island Diary
More updates to existing titles:
Wagamama High Spec is slated for July 25.
SakuSaku is slated for this fall.
Baldr Sky Dive1 “Lost Memory” and Baldr Sky Dive2 “Recodare” will get a combined release slated for mid-2018.
Rabi-Ribi will get a physical release on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in late summer 2017.
Fault Silence the Pedant is now slated for the fourth quarter of 2017, and the demo is out on Sunday.
Original English visual novel Highway Blossoms will get a remastered physical release with English voice-overs, Chinese and Russian text options, and new music and art. A free voice-over patch is also planned for those who already own the game.
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And that's it. A ton of news revealed in that entire weekend. Overall I thought it was pretty good announcements as a whole, especially on the books side. Usually I would split the announcements across multiple posts but I decided to place it all in one post since I was occupied by other things. Hope this round-up post helped everyone who wanted to know what news was revealed.
Aksys Games
Aksys Games continued their appearance for the convention with a lot of announcements, most are on Vita!
Otome visual novels will be pleased to hear that more titles have been announced for localisation on the PlayStation Vita, some of which are from Idea Factory. The titles are 7’scarlet, Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly and Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk. All three are set for a 2018 release window. Bad Apple Wars, which was announced previously, has a set release date of September 29th.
In addition Code: Realize ~Bouquet of Rainbows~ was announced for the PlayStation 4 due for 2018. This release consists of the previous Code: Realise titles from the Vita; Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ and Code: Realize ~Future Blessings~.
Despite already released in Europe, the North American release for Drive Girls is not far off with an August 11th release date for the PlayStation Vita.
For the Nintendo 3DS two titles were announced for the platform. Creeping Terror, a digital download Horror title (which will also be available on PC) due this fall, and the mystery adventure title Jake Hunter Detective Story: Ghost of the Dusk coming sometime in 2018.
SG/ZH School Girl/Zombie Hunter, one of those D3 Publisher weird titles, was rumoured for localisation in Europe many months back, but it's now confirmed for North America on the PlayStation 4 late 2017. SG/ZH is similar to OneeChanbara if I recall.
Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st], the latest & updated version of the Under Night In-Birth Exe fighting game, is heading west for late 2017 across both PlayStation 4 and Vita with cross-play support planned.
Last but not least, the third Zero Escape title Zero Time Dilemma is heading to the PlayStation 4 on August 18th in North America.
Bandai Namco
Bandai Namco America & Europe had some news to share for the fans at the convention.
.hack//G.U. Last Recode was already confirmed for North America & Europe, however at the panel it was confirmed that North Americans will only be getting the game in digital format on PlayStation 4 compared to Europe getting both retail and digital. Bandai Namco America have done this to a number of other titles as well including Accel World vs Sword Art Online and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven. .hack//G.U. Last Recode is a remaster of the G.U. Trilogy released in North America back in the PlayStation 2 era (the games were never released in Europe) that includes 1080p resolution, 60 frames per second, and tons of improvements to the gameplay with some new bonus extras as well. The remaster is planned for later this year on PS4 and Steam.
Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time is heading west for Early 2018. No details on whether the game will be available in retail format but for now it's confirmed for both PlayStation 4 and Steam. The game is a 2.5D style RPG.
Gundam Versus has a confirmed release date of September 29th for North America. Game is currently exclusive to PlayStation 4 for both retail and digital formats.
Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker will be heading west in Early 2018 across PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. In addition the already announced Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Legacy has new information regarding its release plans. The collection consists of Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst, and Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 Road to Boruto. The retail release will offer a steelbook, special artbook and Boruto anime special on Blu-ray. The games will be split across two Blu-ray discs; one for the Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy, and another for Road to Boruto. The Legacy collection is due for August 25th 2017 for North America & Europe on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
The Seven Deadly Sins: Knights of Britannia will also be heading to North America & Europe. Currently due for 2018 and on PlayStation 4, the game will be available digitally and also in retail form for both regions.
UPDATE: In addition Tales of the Rays will also be localised for the west on smartphones.
JAST USA
The publisher have announced two visual novels getting localised for the west, which kinda makes sense because their backlog of titles being translated is quite large. The titles are MinatoSoft's Majikoi! Love Me, Seriously! (Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai!!) and Oyari Ashito's Machine Child. As expected, no dates were mentioned for the both of them so chances are it will be quite a while.
MangaGamer
Umineko: When They Cry will be given a hardcopy release on August 18th containing the first four chapters of the story plus a reversible cover art and Steam Key. This game is All-Ages though technically aimed for DES. DESDESDES. DESDESDESDESDESDES. The next set of chapters are still being worked on.
Princess Evangile W Happiness is now available for pre-order with its release date due for July 18th. This fandisc sequel provides new content like extra epilogues for original cast members and new routes for 5 characters. The game will also be heading to Steam.
From Yamakaze Ran and Moonstone (the same folks behind Princess Evangile); Magical Marriage Lunatics has been licensed and will be coming to both MangaGamer's site and Steam.
Alicesoft's Evenicle was also announced for localisation. The Eroge 3D RPG also has artwork done by Yaegashi Nan of Senran Kagura fame. The game will be available on MangaGamer's site.
From Hermit and the creator of White Album 2 and Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend comes The Most Forbidden Love in the World which will officially be translated into English. So far it's been confirmed for MangaGamer's site.
From the developers behind Da Capo and Dal Segno series is another new license announcement for MangaGamer with Space Live. This title was not announced in Japan at the time of the panel but it has been confirmed for MangaGamer's site.
And the final announcement is an interesting one. MangaGamer will be producing visual novels themselves and have teamed up with Itaru Hinoue, the lead artist for a number of Key titles, for Koropokkur. This game will be available across MangaGamer's site, Steam and Japanese retailers however the whole project will be funded through Kickstarter. More news to follow on that.
NIS America
NIS America were one of the last publishers to host a panel at the convention. They showed off some new titles as well as updates on existing releases.
For the new additions Penny Punching Princess (Princess wa Kane no Bōja) will be coming to PlayStation Vita and Nintendo Switch in Spring 2018. The Vita version will be digital download only while Switch will offer retail, limited edition version and a digital download.
Demon Gaze II was also announced, however it's now also coming to PlayStation 4 which was originally released as a Vita exclusive in Japan. The Vita version will also be released and both will have a retail, limited edition version & digital download on November 14th 2017.
In terms of existing titles, The Longest Five Minutes (Sekai Ichi Nagai Go-funkan) has been pushed back to 2018 but will also offer a Nintendo Switch limited edition retail version & digital release while the Vita version will be digital only alongside the Steam release.
Yowamari: Midnight Shadows now has a set release date of October 24th 2017 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita and Steam. The PS4 version will also have a limited edition version.
Sekai Project
Sekai Project have a fair amount of new & existing updates for the fans. The titles listed under the Sekai Project panel are pretty much all-ages versions planned at the very least (as anything NSFW would have been said under Denpasoft).
The surprising one of the lot is Visual Art's' Rewrite+ which was originally going to be translated under Visual Arts's English team but apparently it's now being re-translated under Sekai Project.
Other titles announced include:
Novectacle's NarKarma EngineA
Yuzusoft's Dracu-Riot!
Yuzusoft's Senren * Banka
code;jp's Ninja Girl and the Mysterious Army of Urban Legend Monsters ~Hunt of the Headless Horseman~
Mawari Works' Eternal
Silky's Plus Alpha's Nanairo Reincarnation
Watakubi's Island Diary
More updates to existing titles:
Wagamama High Spec is slated for July 25.
SakuSaku is slated for this fall.
Baldr Sky Dive1 “Lost Memory” and Baldr Sky Dive2 “Recodare” will get a combined release slated for mid-2018.
Rabi-Ribi will get a physical release on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in late summer 2017.
Fault Silence the Pedant is now slated for the fourth quarter of 2017, and the demo is out on Sunday.
Original English visual novel Highway Blossoms will get a remastered physical release with English voice-overs, Chinese and Russian text options, and new music and art. A free voice-over patch is also planned for those who already own the game.
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And that's it. A ton of news revealed in that entire weekend. Overall I thought it was pretty good announcements as a whole, especially on the books side. Usually I would split the announcements across multiple posts but I decided to place it all in one post since I was occupied by other things. Hope this round-up post helped everyone who wanted to know what news was revealed.