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Bandai, Shogakukan, Toei Animation Announce Bakutsuri Bar Hunter Franchise with Anime, Manga, Game, Toys
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Bandai, Shogakukan, and Toei Animation opened a website on Monday to announce a new multimedia franchise titled Bakutsuri Bar Hunter. The concept of the franchise is that the barcodes on our personal belongings all have a "bar soul." These unknown "bar soul" lifeforms live in the "barcode ocean." And in this world, people can use a "Bakutsuri Bar Rod" fishing rod to fish for and collect the bar souls using AR (augmented reality).
The franchise will include an anime, a manga, a game, and a toy line. Toei Animation will be in charge of the upcoming anime. The manga will launch on March 15 in the April issue of Shogakukan's Coro Coro Comics magazine. Bandai will release the toy line starting with the "Bakutsuri Bar Rod" on March 17. The toy retails for 4,800 yen (about US$43).
The Bakutsuri Bar Rod will be an attachment for a player's Nintendo 3DS, and players can then download a free Bakutsuri Bar Hunter game for the 3DS to play the game.
Source: Comic Natalie
Disclosure: Bandai Namco Filmworks Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings Inc., is a non-controlling, minority shareholder in Anime News Network Inc.
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