Manga & Anime Comics

FUNimation Entertainment has acquired a few more titles to pad its late-2010 and 2011 release schedules; the following of which were noted at the Anime Central 2010 fan convention this past week.

The animation licensing and distribution company adds a couple of interesting science-fiction titles to its catalogue, including MADHOUSE Studio's Rideback, and the post-apocalyptic Chrome Shelled Regios.

FUNimation also seems confident in licensing an additional string of harem/fanservice-lenient content too, with the comedy Heaven's Lost Property leading the pack.

Summaries of new FUNimation Entertainment anime licenses are as follows:

Rideback is an intriguing mecha-drama, newly acquired by FUNimation Entertainment and scheduled for domestic release sometime next year. The anime series follows a girl named Rin Ogata whose chance encounter with a state-of-the-art hybrid motorcycle changes her life in more ways than one. Previously an aspiring ballet dancer, the girl suffered a torn ligament during a key performance in her youth. In Rideback, Rin enrolls in college when older, shuffling aside her dreams of becoming a phenomenal dancer in favor of more traditional education/success. One day, she comes across a vehicle called a Rideback -- a transforming motorcycle whose ergonomic design and pure, liquid movement enchants the young woman.

As the anime series continues, Rin takes to the Rideback machine like a natural. Rin subsequently aligns herself with a caucus of university students taking up arms against the GGP, an organization that has assumed political control over most governments around the world.

Rideback is billed as a bit of a futuristic political drama freshly outlined by paramilitary/mecha insight. The twelve-episode animation is slated for domestic release in the 2011-year.

First distributed Stateside by Geneon Entertainment in the spring and summer months of 2006, the sci-fi mecha title GUNxSWORD will return to western retailers later this year, according to FUNimation. Van is a bitter man on an even bitterer mission; after witnessing his bride sliced to death before his eyes on their wedding day, the man vowed to seek revenge for his fallen beloved. Equipped with an enormous mech, called an Armor, which descends from the sky when summoned, Van wanders a largely desolate planet in search of the mysterious, clawed man who ruined his life. As GUNxSWORD continues, Van is accompanied by an assortment of quirky but useful allies, while at times confronting all sorts of demons from the past. The mecha drama is a twenty-six episode action series scheduled to return in late 2010.

Commonly cited last year for its acute fascination with girls' underwear, Heaven's Lost Property -- originally, Sora no Otoshimono -- is about an easygoing small town boy who lucks out when a mysterious girl falls from the sky and into his lap. The girl is an angel robot of some sort, and can grant him pretty much anything and everything her new "master" asks of her. Heaven's Lost Property is a romantic comedy first and foremost, frequently dabbling in fanservice and ecchi humor before dipping its toes into a little bit of sci-fi or fantasy. The anime series spans fourteen episodes, and was directed by Hisashi Saito (Bamboo Blade). Heaven's Lost Property will be released in 2011.

FUNimation Ent. at Anime Central 2010

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