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Tales from Earthsea - coming to the UK a hell of a long time before the US!

Optimum have released no less than ten Studio Ghibli films in 2006, completing their Studio Ghibli Collection series in September with Only Yesterday.  This was the most anime releases Optimum had ever made in a 12 month period, but now they have released pretty much all of Studio Ghibli's output, where do they turn next?

The only feature-length Studio Ghibli titles that have yet to be released in the UK are the TV movie Ocean Waves and Tales From Earthsea, the studio's latest hit and the debut feature from Hayao Miyazaki's son Goro.  At the moment the schedule for 2006 is pretty sparse, with single-disc re-releases for Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away in January being all that's on it.  However, Optimum have confirmed that they will be releasing Tales From Earthsea, a  great decision for the UK considering it is likely to come out here a long time before our US

Heidi, cute she may be but at a hefty 52 episodes long the series is unlikely to see a UK release

cousins get it.  The American release is held up by copyright issues because of a recent drama series based on the same source material, and may not come out until 2009.  Unfortunately, considering most anime dubs are produced in America, this is likely to mean that a UK release will be subtitled only rather than have any English audio option.  The lack of an English dub will hit the film's chances of a cinema run in the UK.  However, with no release date set for the film as yet there is the possibility that a dub may be recorded in the UK or another English-speaking territory like Australia or Canada.


But where else will Optimum look?  The obvious place is to Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata's pre-Ghibli films, from which Optimum have already released Little Norse Prince, Castle of Cagliostro and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.  'We have looked at their back catalogue but nothing has been decided yet', confirms Candy, and it's easy to see why.  The big problem is that both Takahata and Miyazaki used to work on more TV series than films, with only Panda Go Panda, Gauche the Cellist and Chie the Brat (which span off into a TV series) the only anime films they directed that are unavailable here.  'We haven’t released any anime series as yet because they tend to be less popular than feature films' admits Candy, 'but if the right title comes along we will definitely be open to acquiring it.'
 

Despite the Western appeal of some of the series Miyazaki and Takahata worked on, their length has always put companies off.  Anne of Green Gables, Heidi and 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother may all be based on classic novels that are popular in Europe, but with each series clocking in at over 50 episodes they are unlikely to get a UK release.  At a push we would say that the most likely are Miyazaki's superb 1978 sci-fi series Future Boy Conan and fun canine take on the Sherlock Holmes stories, Sherlock Hound.  We'd love to see any of these great series come out here, 

The Ghiblis Episode 2, great fun, but not a likely UK release...

but if we're honest we don't hold out much hope even for the latter two.  The only other options are some of Studio Ghibli's short films, but with some being exclusive to the Studio Ghibli Museum in Japan and others (such as The Ghiblis, see picture above) being a bit experimental it's unlikely too.

Of course there's the other (slightly worrying) option, Optimum may not release any more until the next Ghibli film.  Unlike the four main anime companies Optimum aren't reliant on anime sales and can therefore afford to be choosy.  However, they have in the past picked up the likes of Appleseed, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust and Barefoot Gen, an eclectic mix of titles that are all striking in their own way.  We hope that Optimum will look to those remarkable and unusual films that other companies overlook, the ones that would appeal to a selective audience that buy foreign films for something different.  The likes of Night on the Galactic Railroad and Angel's Egg fit in to this category, but to be fair we have no idea where Optimum will go next, making us all the more intrigued by what 2007 will bring.


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