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Sentai Filmworks Adds Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Higurashi Anime
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Sentai Filmworks announced at its panel at Anime Expo on Thursday that it has licensed the Legend of the Galactic Heroes and both seasons of the When They Cry - Higurashi (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni) anime series, as well the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei OAV.
The Legend of the Galactic Heroes video anime series adapts Yoshiki Tanaka's space opera novel series. The story follows the epic conflict between the Galactic Empire and Free Planets Alliance, as well as the personal stories of Imperial Admiral Reinhard von Lohengramm and the Alliance's Yang Wen-Li. Viz Media's Haikasoru imprint has licensed the original novel series and plans to release the first three novels in spring 2016.
The late director Noboru Ishiguro (Macross, Orguss, Megazone 23) and his Artland anime studio spent more than a decade adapting the novels into a theatrical and video anime franchise, with over 100 installments, from 1988 to 2000.
The 10 main novel volumes and four side-story volumes in the Legend of the Galactic Heroes saga have sold 15 million copies and earned Tanaka a Seiun Award. Besides Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Tanaka also wrote the original novel inspirations for The Heroic Legend of Arslan, Ryoko's Case File, Sohryuden - Legend of the Dragon Kings, and Tytania anime projects.
A stage production of the series had announced last year that a new anime adaptation was in the works. The new anime is not a remake of the earlier anime, but another anime adaptation of the original novels with a new staff.
Funimation originally released When They Cry - Higurashi in North America in 2008 after acquiring the license from Geneon Entertainment. Funimation then announced in 2011 that it was going to let its license of the series expire.
07th Expansion's original Higurashi no Naku Koro ni visual novel software revolved around murders that coincide with an annual festival in a quiet rural village. The software inspired two television anime series, several video anime projects, two live-action films, and manga adaptations by several artists.
The 26-episode television anime series originally aired in 2006. Chiaki Kon (Nodame Cantabile: Paris/Finale, Umineko - When They Cry) directed the series at Studio DEEN off of scripts by Toshifumi Kawase (Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, Umineko - When They Cry).
NIS America released Umineko - When They Cry in North America on Blu-ray Disc in 2012.
Update: Sentai Filmworks confirmed with ANN that the OVA it has licensed is Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei.
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