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Anime Limited Acquires Promised Neverland S1, Children of the Sea and Satoshi Kon's Millennium Actress

During an anime panel streamed as part of the "Reed Pop Metaverse" event, Anime Limited confirmed three new acquisitions. The first 12-part TV season of The Promised Neverland (pictured) and the film Children of the Sea will both be released as Collector's Blu-rays, tentatively scheduled for Q4 2020, and Satoshi Kon's 2001 film Millennium Actress will be released on Collector's Blu-ray "tentatively around the very tail end of the year (2020)." (The Millennium Actress release will be based on the recently-produced remaster.)

The story of The Promised Neverland involves Emma, Norman, and Ray, three children at an orphanage called the Grace Field House. They and their fellow children eat well and are given an intensive education. However, despite living in a peaceful environment with fun games and a caring mother, there's something not quite right. When six year old Connie is "adopted" by foster parents, she forgets her favorite stuffed rabbit, and Emma and Norman sneak out to return it to her. When they arrive at the scene, the two realize exactly why they had always been isolated from the outside world...

Mamoru Kanbe (Elfen Lied, The Perfect Insider) directed the anime at A-1 Pictures' CloverWorks studio (PERSONA 5 the Animation). Toshiya Ono (Gatchaman Crowds, The Perfect Insider) was the lead writer, Kazuaki Shimada (Mahou Shoujo Nante Mouiidesukara.) designed the characters for animation, and Takahiro Obata composed the music. The band UVERworld performed the anime's opening theme song "Touch off," and the band Cö shu Nie (Tokyo Ghoul:re) performed the ending song.

Studio 4°C's anime film of Daisuke Igarashi's Children of the Seawill be a Collector's Blu-ray/DVD release. It will include a feature-length documentary on the making of the film, called "Turep - Looking for Children of the Sea." The film opened in Japan in June 2019. Viz Media published the manga in English, and the company describes the story:

When Ruka was younger, she saw a ghost in the water at the aquarium where her dad works. Now she feels drawn toward the aquarium and the two mysterious boys she meets there, Umi and Sora. They were raised by dugongs and hear the same strange calls from the sea as she does.

Ruka's dad and the other adults who work at the aquarium are only distantly aware of what the children are experiencing as they get caught up in the mystery of the worldwide disappearance of the oceans' fish.

Joe Hisaishi of Studio Ghibli fame composed the music for the film. Ayumu Watanabe (Space Brothers, After the Rain) directed the film, and Kenichi Konishi (Tokyo Godfathers, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya) was the animation director and character designer. The manga earned nominations and awards of excellence from the 38th Japan Cartoonist Awards, the American Library Association's Young Adult Library Services Association, the School Library Journal, and the 13th Japan Media Arts Festival Award.

Satoshi Kon's film Millennium Actress was released in 2001; it was the second feature film directed by Kon. following Perfect Blue (already released by Anime Limited). Paramount Pictures, which once streamed the film, describes the story:

Following up on his highly acclaimed animated psychological thriller Perfect Blue, Satoshi Kon spins this mystery about a documentary filmmaker and a legendary actress. In honor of Gin Ei studios 70th anniversary, a small production house run by Genya Tachibana is selected to make a commemorative documentary. Genya decides to focus his film on actress Chiyoko Fujiwara, a massive star who at the height of her popularity retreated from public life. Accompanied an eager young cameraman, Genya doggedly tracks her down to discover her living a hermit-like life of charmed isolation. He also learns that in spite of her advanced age, she has lost little of her famed charm or elegance. As he interviews her, Genya learns of Chiyoko's troubled past and eventually the reasons for her sudden retirement.