At Anime Expo Media Blasters unveiled a host of new licenses including the second season of the Ikki Tousen anime and the Kujibiki Unbalance TV anime, which is based on the metafictional series from the Genshiken manga/anime as well as several yaoi/shonen ai anime and the yuri-themed Strawberry Panic and Otoboku (Otome wa Boku ni Koshiteru). With these additional yaoi and yuri (lesbian) titles Media Blasters is staking a claim as the foremost purveyor of these edgy genres, which are doing increasingly well here in the manga marketplace.
The sexy fan service-filled Ikki Tousen property features well endowed heroines engaging in plenty of martial arts action and it has been popular in both its manga (published here by Tokyopop) and anime form -- the first 13-episode Ikki Tousen anime was released here by Geneon. Media Blasters has acquired Ikki Tousen Dragon Destiny, the 12-episode second season of the anime, which aired earlier this year in
Media Blasters has already released the Genshiken TV anime series through its Anime Works label so it's no surprise the it will also be putting out the the three-episode Genshiken OAV series that ended in Japan in April. Media Blasters is also releasing the 12-episode Kujibiki Unbalance series, which aired in Japan in 2006 and which recreates the fictional anime series that is the focus of the otaku characters in the original Genshiken manga (by Kio Shimoku, published by Del Rey) and anime -- a brilliant, and very funny, slice of life saga about Japanese fandom that remains as subtly realistic as it is humorous.
Media Blasters is also releasing the Futari Ecchi anime, a three-episode OAV based on the 34-volume manga series that Tokyopop plans to debut in January 2008. Katsu Aki's manga combines comedy and romance with pornographic and informative elements in following the sexual adventures of two mid-twenties virgins who get married and try to establish a viable sex life. Media Blasters will probably use its Kitty imprint to release the more straightforwardly pornographic hentai anime OAV series, Gakuen Nanafushigi.
In addition to the yuri-themed Strawberry Panic(Seven Seas publishes the manga see 'Seven Seas Announces Yuri Line') and Otome wa Boku ni Koshiteru, Media Blasters is also releasing the shonen-ai Angel's Feather OAV and the yaoi OAVs, Haru wo Deiteita and Fuyu no Seme.
