FUNimation announced the acquisition of the latest Evangelion and Hetalia features, along with several other anime properties, at Otakon in Baltimore last weekend.  The company will release Evangelion:  2.0 You Can (Not) Advance on DVD and Blu-ray in 2011.  As recently as Anime Expo in early July, the title had not been licensed (see “FUNnimation Announces a Host of New Licenses”), so this was a fairly recent deal.  The film, the second of four films by Hideaki Anno and Studio Khara based on the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime series, opened at #1 in theaters in Japan on release in October 2009. 

 

FUNimation also acquired Hetalia World Series, the new series following Axis Powers Hetalia (see “Hetalia Gaining Momentum”), and Hetalia Axis Powers:  Paint It, White, a feature based on the property.  A date has not been announced for the DVD release of the series, but it will be streamed beginning this month.  The feature will be released on DVD in 2011. 

 

FUNimation will release Summer Wars, a feature from Madhouse directed by Mamoru Hosoda which won a Japanese Academy Award, will be released theatrically this year and on DVD and Blu-ray in 2011.

 

Strike Witches 2, the second Strike Witches series, will be released on DVD in 2011.

 

Blessing of the Campanella, a 12-episode anime series based on a visual novel (Shukufuku no Campanella), was acquired for streaming and home video release. 

 

And FUNimation also acquired Okamisan, a 13-episode anime series based on light novels that parody famous children’s stories such as Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood, and will release it on DVD in 2011.