News

Funimation's Escaflowne Dub Casts Caitlin Glass as Hitomi

Funimation's Kickstarter campaign for The Vision of Escaflowne anime series' new English dub posted an update on Saturday. The update revealed that Caitlin Glass (Fullmetal Alchemist's Winry, Ouran High School Host Club's Haruhi, Danganronpa's Kyoko, Attack on Titan's Petra) will voice the heroine Hitomi Kanzaki.

The campaign announced that all backers at the $175 tier and higher will receive a Kickstarter-exclusive Collector's Edition box with a "specialty effect premium print finish." The Kickstarter-exclusive version of the Collector's Edition will also include a replica set of Hitomi's tarot cards from Dybex.

The campaign previously revealed that Aaron Dismuke (Fullmetal Alchemist's Alphonse Elric, Blood Blockade Battlefront's Leonardo Watch, The Heroic Legend of Arslan's Arslan) will voice the main male character Van Fanel. Sonny Strait will direct the English dub.

The campaign will reveal a new voice actor for the dub at every US$10,000 mark. As of press time, the campaign has raised US$230,441, and has reached its first stretch goal at US$200,000. The release will now include a special feature with the English cast, including interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. The campaign will end on March 31.

The company plans to release the director's cut of the series in HD on Blu-ray Disc, including scenes that were not available when Bandai Entertainment's original English dub was released. Kelly Sheridan and Kirby Morrow played Hitomi and Van, respectively, in Bandai Entertainment's dub.

Funimation will also make a new matching dub for Escaflowne: The Movie. Funimation will release both a standard edition and a collector's edition for the series. The standard edition will be a Blu-ray Disc/DVD combo pack, and both discs will have the director's cut with the new dub. The collector's edition will have the new dub on Blu-ray Disc and the old dub on DVD. The release will also include an exclusive interview with director Kazuki Akane and creator Shōji Kawamori.

The rewards for the campaign include pre-orders of exclusive Kickstarter editions of both parts of the release, featuring 13 episodes each of the HD complete uncut version of the series in Japanese with English subtitles as well as the new English dub. The Kickstarter edition also includes exclusive art cards. Other rewards include digital wallpapers, on-disc credit listings, pre-orders of Escaflowne: The Movie, theatrical-sized posters, the series' soundtrack, and collector's edition box sets that feature an art book and an unannounced exclusive item, among others.

One backer who donates US$5,000 will receive a tour of the Funimation office, a bag of Funimation merchandise, and a chance to do voice work that will appear in the new English dub. This reward has already been claimed.

The campaign's remaining stretch goals include art booklets and foil printing for the Kickstarter edition of the release for US$250,000, and an invitation to meet director Kazuki Akane at an exclusive VIP party at a major U.S. anime convention for US$500,000.

Thanks to Adam for the news tip