News
Sony Has U.K. Rights to First Squad and Legend of the Millennium Dragon
posted on by Andrew Osmond
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has confirmed it has the U.K. rights to First Squad and Legend of the Millennium Dragon, although release dates are not confirmed.
As reported by the website Anime UK News, both titles have appeared on the play.com website (which claims they will be released as Blu-rays). ANN contacted Sony in the U.K. to ask about the titles and was told: "They are both Sony Pics Home Ent releases. But release dates are still to be confirmed."
First Squad - The Moment Of Truth (pictured right) is Studio 4°C's animated video version of a story by Russian artists Misha Sprits and Aljosha Klimov. The director is Yoshiharu Ashino. The story is set during the opening days of World War II on the Eastern Front. A group of Soviet teenagers with extraordinary abilities has been drafted into a special unit to fight the invading German army. A Schutzstaffel (SS) officer attempts to raise from the dead an army of crusaders from the 12th-century Order of the Sacred Cross and enlist them in the Nazi cause.
Legend of the Millennium Dragon, originally called Onigamiden was previously acquired by the American distributor arm of Sony. Produced by Studio Pierrot, the story revolves around a 15-year-old boy who travels back in time — over 1,200 years ago to the Heian period — and faces a war between oni (demons) and humans in the former Japanese capital of Kyoto. The anime adapts a 2004 two-volume novel from author Takafumi Takada. The Japanese trailer is below.
