SentaiFilmworks has announced today that they have acquired the licensing rights to the Sora no Kiseki OAV series, and that they will be releasing it for home video later this year.
The text from the press release is below:
HOUSTON, June 29, 2012 — The blood of heroes is a nice addition to any family line, and Sentai Filmworks is proud to announce its latest acquisition: Legend of the Heroes ~ Trails in the Sky. Based on the hit video game of the same name, Legend of the Heroes features direction by Masaki Tachibana (Tokyo Magnitude 8.0), series composition & screenplays by Makoto Uezu (Utawarerumono, Akane Iro no Somaru Saka) and character designs by Atsuko Nozaki (Tokyo Magnitude 8.0)
Ten years ago, a massive invasion by the Erebonian Empire almost shattered the Kingdom of Liberl, piercing to the heart of Capital City before being driven back by a determined counteroffensive led by Cassius Bright. Now, as the invaders pace behind the northern borders, coveting the small kingdom’s magic and high technology, Liberl slowly rebuilds with the aid of the Bracer’s Guild, whose mystical use of “Craft” is even more intrinsic to the nation’s defense than its own army. For young Estelle Bright, daughter of Cassius, this is all just ancient history that she and her adopted brother Joshua learned as kids. But history has a way of repeating itself, and as they prepare to join the Bracers Guild themselves, sinister forces are preparing to thrust them into the familiar family situation of being in the worst possible place when mayhem breaks out. Because when their father’s airship goes suddenly missing, of course it only makes sense to two green, but extraordinarily capable, young teenagers to strike out on a rescue mission of their own!
Legend of the Heroes ~ Trails in the Sky will be available through select digital outlets with a home video release to follow later this year.
About Sentai Filmworks:
Sentai Filmworks is one of the fastest-growing anime companies in North America, producing hit series like Highschool of the Dead, Towa no Quon, Samurai Girls, Guin Saga, Needless and Angel Beats! as well as high profile theatrical films such as Grave of the Fireflies and Appleseed. Sentai Filmworks’ programs can be found on home video distributed by Ingram Entertainment, Baker & Taylor, Section23Films, The Right Stuf and other good and fine distributors. Digital product offerings may be found at iTunes, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, Zune Marketplace, Anime Network, PLAYSTATION Network, Android Market and YouTube.
Many thanks to cxt217 for the tip!
That blurb makes me wonder if they somehow missed that this is an adaptation of the sequel to TitS. Might explain why they’re even considering localizing this since it’s a pretty bad idea to bring out the highly compressed fanservice adaptation before the game itself… but I’d hate to assume the worst without a bit more proof. Then again, they’re also horribly selling the Royal Army short so…
As I said on twitter, this is the successor of ADVision, who had some amazing screwups in the past. They didn’t terrible jobs on some of my favorite anime series of the late 90’s.
I’m not sure if I’ve completely forgiven them for it either. :/
(EDIT: lolwut. AIM? xD)
On a second look, I really do wonder about their intelligence, their ability to pick the proper words and/or their talent for puffery (these may not be mutually exclusive). They claim to have ‘produced’ Grave of the Fireflies. Oh really?
That’s both true and false. The only ‘production’ Sentai Filmworks has done for Grave of the Fireflies is rereleasing it after Central Park Media went under.
Neal Nadelman was the original CPM translator that worked on it. They didn’t touch his script. They didn’t make any changes from the CPM work, in fact. All they did was repackage it, put it on DVD, and put it back on shelves again.
Sentai did recently release a remastered version of Grave of the Fireflies, where they used remastered footage from Japan, not the CPM remaster, as well as the original script and English dub. This version is in addition to the re-release of the CPM remaster. That is a bit more work than saying they simply released the CPM remaster in a different packaging.
I will probably mention this possibility on the forums as well, but it is possible that Sentai got the OVA as part of a package deal that they agreed with the Japanese licensor to get another title or titles that Houston wanted. Given some of the more byzantine nature of Japan-to-US licensing, it would not be surprising.
C.T.