Madman Entertainment, the overwhelming regional leader in anime home video distribution laying claim to some +90% of the local market, has had a busy few months. Japanese animation that is now available to anime fans native to Australia or New Zealand touches on a healthy variety of comedy, sci-fi, and action. Noted here are a few highlights of local anime releases from March through June 2011, for both standard DVD and Blu-ray Disc
Key anime releases from the month of March 2011 included the medieval fantasy anime The Sacred Blacksmith (AUD $59.95), an engaging swords-and-sorcery title set in a quiet town where a female knight quests for success; while Mamoru Hosoda's sophomore feature Summer Wars, released on standard DVD ($34.95) and Blu-ray Disc ($39.95). Summer Wars profiles the genuine emotions of a bookworm highschooler struggling to get a grasp on his relationship with a classmate, who it turns out, has quite a lot of plans in store for him.
Also releasing locally in March, the weighty science-fiction narrative Xam'd: Lost Memories debuted the second-half Set on DVD ($59.95) and Blu-ray ($64.95). In the sci-fi series, a boy named Akiyuki is cursed with a phenomenal power during a tumultuous civil war, but welcomes the responsibility and soul-searching the comes with it. Madman Entertainment released a complete Blu-ray Disc Set of Ouran High School Host Club ($84.95) as well.
April and May 2011 witnessed a few notable Blu-ray releases by way of the Studio Ghibli fantasy piece Laputa: Castle in the Sky ($39.95), perennial classic FLCL ($39.95), and the 2002-produced romantic comedy Chobits ($59.95). The first of these three (Laputa: Castle in the Sky) is a feature film, produced in 1986, and soundly articulates director Hayao Miyazaki's typical eco-friendly worldview but in the purposeful context of a crumbling civilization and the two children caught at its center.
Chobits, meanwhile, is a more modern comedy about a loner who stumbles upon a presumably dysfunctional girl robot in the trash. However, the girl, Chi, quickly becomes the closest thing this young man has ever had to a meaningful relationship.
The second half of the martial arts-infused animation Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple ($59.95) helped lead off a number of standard disc releases for April/May 2011. The fighting anime eyes one kid's transition from nameless wimp to pursuer of justice (or something along those lines), after enrolling in a dojo across town. The first of a three-volume local release of the shoujo cartoon Vampire Knight Guilty ($24.95), the second season of an anime tracking one Yuki Cross, a girl stuck with the job of quelling disputes between the Day Class (human students) and the Night Class (vampires).
Scheduled for release in late May 2011, consumers may also note the first release of Strike Witches ($59.98), bloomers and all, and both parts of Black Butler ($59.95 ea.), demon butler and all.
June 2011 will find the release of Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance on DVD (15th, $29.95) and Blu-ray (15th, $39.95), as well as the conspiracy-theory-driven anime film Eden of the East: King of Eden on DVD (15th, $29.95) and Blu-ray (15th, $34.95) -- both titles incorporate a bit of cerebral surrealism in their efforts to stave off the end of civilization by means that are both necessarily logical and yet out of this world.
Madman Entertainment has also scheduled the Blu-ray Disc Set release of the anachronistic period-comedy Samurai Champloo (15th, 79.95), containing the entire twenty-six episode animation.