First Season of ‘The Promised Neverland’, ‘Children of the Sea’, and Satoshi Kon’s ‘Millennium Actress’ to be Released on Blu-Ray

Here’s some news for those who love to collect Collector Blu-Ray’s. In an online anime panel under the “Reed Pop Metaverse” event, Anime Limited announced that they will be releasing three titles for Collector’s Blu-Rays. The three new titles are The Promised Neverland (Season 1), Children of the Sea, and Satoshi Kon’s Millennium Actress.

Both The Promised Neverland Season 1 and Children of the Sea are tentatively scheduled for release on the 4^th quarter of 2020. While Millennium Actress will be released "tentatively around the very tail end of the year (2020)." Anime Limited has confirmed that the Collector’s Blu-Ray release of the 2001 film will be based on the recently-produced remaster.

Recently, the official website of The Promised Neverland anime released a new visual for the upcoming second season, which is slated to air in January 2021. The series was originally slated for October 2020 but delayed to a later date due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides a second season, The Promised Neverland will also be getting a live-action film adaptation which is set for a December 18, 2020 release. A teaser video was released just this week, and you can check it out here

The last chapter of The Promised Neverland was kind of an emotional one as this was the ending of the popular manga series. The said chapter was released in this year’s 28^th issue of Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. According to ANN, the manga’s 20^th and final volume is slated to be released in Japan in October.

Weekly Shonen Jump also revealed that the series would have both an artbook and fanbook slated to be release in Tokyo in December.

The Promised Neverland is based on a popular manga series of the same name created by Shirai and Demizu in August 2016 in the Weekly Shonen Jump. The series entered its final arc around September 2018. VIZ Media licensed the manga in English, while MANGA Plus releases the manga digitally in English.

In an August 2018 Interview, Shirai stated that Shirai would like the story to “not too much” in accordance to the story editor. Shirai also said that the manga series should be “ideally 20 to 30 volumes long”.

The hype of the manga series has paved the way for an anime adaptation that premiered in January 2019 in Japa. Aniplex of America also streamed the anime as it aired in Japan via the following streaming platforms: Hulu, HIDIVE, Crunchyroll, and Funimation. Toonami officially aired the anime in April 2019.

The second season of the anime was originally slated to premiere in Japan on in October. However, it now rescheduled to January 2021 due to production delays caused by COVID-19.

Aside from the anime adaptation, Japanese live-action film adaptation is also expected to premiere in Japan on December 18.

It was announced recently by the anime streaming platform Funimation that they will start streaming the English Dub of The Promised Neverland anime series on July 1. The stream will be available for the following regions: Ireland, United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.

About the Promised Neverland Anime

Surrounded by a forest and a gated entrance, the Grace Field House is inhabited by orphans happily living together as one big family, looked after by their "Mama," Isabella. Although they are required to take tests daily, the children are free to spend their time as they see fit, usually playing outside, as long as they do not venture too far from the orphanage—a rule they are expected to follow no matter what. However, all good times must come to an end, as every few months, a child is adopted and sent to live with their new family... never to be heard from again.

However, the three oldest siblings have their suspicions about what is actually happening at the orphanage, and they are about to discover the cruel fate that awaits the children living at Grace Field, including the twisted nature of their beloved Mama.

It was reported previously by entertainment websites Variety and Deadline that Amazon is currently in the works of producing a live-action series adaptation of the popular manga series The Promised Neverland. Both Fox 21 Television Studios and Amazon Studios will be producing this production.

This upcoming project already has a director—and it’s none other than Rodney Rothman, the director of the hit Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse. Meghan Malloy, who also worked for Into the Spiderverse, is also tasked to write the series’ pilot episode.

Rothman is also the executive editor for the series along with Masi Oka, who worked for the live-action series Heroes, the Netflix live-action Death Note film, and a Hollywood film adaptation of Attack on Titan. Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee and Miri Yoon are also the series’ producers.

Back in May, Weekly Shonen Jump teased a “special project” for The Promised Neverland franchise.

About Children of the Sea

One summer vacation, Ruka meets two boys, "Umi" and "Sora," whose upbringing contains strange and wonderful secrets. Drawn to their beautiful swimming, almost more like flying, Ruka and the adults who know them are intertwined in a complex mesh...

Meanwhile, an unexplained anomaly is occurring all over the world: fish are disappearing. Thus begins a marine adventure of boys and girls to captivate all the senses!

About Millennium Actress

At the turn of the millennium, Ginei Studio's dilapidated buildings are set to be demolished. Ex-employee and filmmaker Genya Tachibana decides to honor this occasion with a commemorative documentary about the company's star actress: Chiyoko Fujiwara, the reclusive sweetheart of Shouwa Era cinema. Having finally obtained permission to interview the retired starlet, an enamored Genya drags along cynical cameraman Kyouji Ida to meet her, ready to put his lifelong idol back in the spotlight once more.

Hidden in this secluded mountain retreat is a thousand years of history condensed into one lifetime, waiting to be narrated. Chiyoko's recollections take them on an illusionary journey through Japanese cinematic history that transcends the boundaries of reality; the saga of her acting career intertwines with her filmography, the actors in her life blend seamlessly with the characters on screen, and the present melds with the past. Though the actress may have retired at the height of her career 30 years ago, the curtain on her life's stage has yet to fall.

The film won the awards of Best Animation Film and Fantasia Ground-Breaker at the 2001 Fantasia Film Festival. It was also awarded the Feature Film Award at the 8th Animation Kobe. In 2002, it won the prestigious Ofuji Noburo Award at the Mainichi Film Awards, and was honored with the Orient Express Award at the 2001 Festival de Cine de Sitges in Spain. The film was nominated for four Annie Awards in 2004, including Outstanding Direction and Writing.

Source: ANN (with synopsis from MAL)