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Funimation Licenses The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Film
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
North American anime distributor Funimation confirmed on Monday that it has licensed Kyoto Animation's The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya anime film. It will release the film on Blu-ray Disc and DVD in the first half of 2017.
The 163-minute film is based on the fourth volume in the light novel series by Nagaru Tanigawa and Noizi Ito. In the story, it is mid-December, and SOS Brigade chief Haruhi Suzumiya announces that the Brigade is going to hold a Christmas party in their clubroom. The brigade members Kyon, Yuki Nagato, Mikuru Asahina and Itsuki Koizumi start preparing for the party, but a couple of days later, Kyon arrives at school to find that Haruhi is missing. Not only that, but Mikuru claims she has never known Kyon before, Koizumi is also missing, and Yuki has become the sole member of the literature club...
The film opened in Japan in 2010. Bandai Entertainment previously released the film on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in North America in 2011.
The first season of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya anime premiered in 2006 in a non-linear order, and was rebroadcast in 2009 with new episodes and a new chronological order. The story adapts Nagaru Tanigawa and Noizi Ito's The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya light novels. Bandai Entertainment previously held the license both series. Kyoto Animation animated the show's first and second seasons.
The series centers on the titular Haruhi Suzumiya, a girl who is bored of her regular life, but unknowingly changes the world through her thoughts and emotions. She befriends her cynical classmate Kyon, who founds the "SOS Brigade" club in their school, which proceeds to attract three seemingly normal people, but in reality are an alien, a time traveler, and an esper. Together with Kyon, they continue to indulge Haruhi's wild fantasies, while trying to prevent her from destabilizing reality.
Funimation licensed the series, and began offering it on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on September 13 to commemorate the anime's 10th anniversary. The release includes all the television anime episodes (including the "season 2" episodes that appeared in the 2009 re-broadcast). It also released the The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya, Nyorōn Churuya-san, and The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan anime.
Thanks to jlaking for the news tip.
