Masaaki Yuasa's Kemonozume Hits Japanese DVD June 22nd. Whither North America?

We are big, big fans of Masaaki Yuasa's feature film debut Mind Game around here so when word came that he was preparing an animated series for television we were more than a little excited. And, as it turned out, justifiably so. Unlike Ergo Proxy, another hotly anticipated anime that started well only to lose its course badly down the final stretch, Masaaki's creation moved from strength to strength driven by the man's fearsome creativity and intelligence. It's stunningly animated, funny, sexy, smart and action packed - a show that blends characters with style so well that it's hard to tell where one stops and the other begins. Is it better than Cowboy Bebop, the standard to which all subsequent anime series get held around here? It might just be, it's certainly the best new series I've seen since Bebop - and I include the GitS: SAC series in that statement.

So. The show hits DVD in Japan June 22nd. No concrete word yet if that release will include subtitles but my money says that it won't. If there has ever been a televisions eries subtitled for domestic DVD release in Japan I've certainly never heard of it. So this is no surprise. What IS a surprise is that there's been no word whatsoever of this being acquired for release anywhere outside of Japan. People: Masaaki is the real thing. The man is a legitimate auteur and yet his creations remain virtually unknown outside of Japan. Somewhere out there there must be an English-friendly distributor willing and able to take a risk on both Kemonozume and Mind Game. Get to it.

Kemonozume Website

Some info via Catsuka.