Anime News Service reports that Tezuka Productions, the Japanese company that manages the rights to all Tezuka works, has contracted with Apple directly to provide various Tezuka anime, including the well-known (Astroboy, Phoenix, the ‘99 Blackjack OVA, Jungle Emperor Leo) to the slightly obscure (8 of Tezuka’s ‘62-’88 experimental short animations).

I find the report a little confusing; tAstroboy, Phoenix, and Blackjack are definitely all going to be English dubbed versions, and the way ANS puts it, it ALL could be dubbed, which is possible– I believe that all the anime on iTunes to date is dub-only, so far. But on the other hand, those three had already BEEN dubbed, and I don’t know if Tezuka Productions will/would have them dubbed again. I guess we’ll see!

At any rate, it’s the first time a Japanese company has directly contracted with iTunes in the US, so, groovy.

Posted by gia in Anime, News, Western News • Comments (1)