Viceland UK confirms late-night anime TV partnership with Anime Limited

It was perhaps the most surprising announcement of last month's MCM London Comic Con, and as promised more details have now emerged about Anime Limited's partnership with TV channel Viceland UK with a view towards the latter hosting a late-night anime programming block featuring those titles.

As part of a press release announcing this partnership, it's confirmed that Cowboy Bebop, both seasons of Tokyo Ghoul and Eureka Seven will all air on the channel, while MVM Entertainment's Samurai Champloo will also get an airing on the block.

The channel will host these series in a nightly slot at midnight, with the block commencing from Monday, 17th July. The channel airs in the UK on Sky channel 153 as well as via Sky's NowTV digital service.

You can find further details on the All the Anime web site, while the full press release is reproduced below:

VICELAND UK AQUIRES LATE-NIGHT ANIME CONTENT BLOCK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ANIME LTD

“Cowboy Bebop”, “Tokyo Ghoul”, “Tokyo Ghoul Root A”, and “Eureka Seven” amongst first Anime titles to debut on VICELAND UK

London, June 20th 2017: VICELAND, the youth-focused TV network from VICE Media, has announced a string of critically acclaimed anime acquisitions for its UK channel, in partnership with leading distributor Anime Ltd. The added titles mark the genre’s return to linear television, with the series block to TX from 17th July at midnight in a regular daily slot.

Amongst the acquired titles are ‘Tokyo Ghoul’, based on the cult manga series by Sui Ishida, along with season follow-up ‘Tokyo Ghoul Root A’. Ahead of Tomorrow Studio’s recently announced live-action re-boot, VICELAND has also picked up rights to the award-winning series, ‘Cowboy Bebop’, along with the acclaimed 50 episode series, “Eureka Seven”.

CJ Fahey, General Manager of VICELAND International, commented: “We’ve been on the look-out for a strong roster of Anime content for the channel for some time now, as a genre that we feel strongly aligns with the appetite of our inquisitive viewers and creative vision of the channel. The growing international interest stemming from anticipated anime titles such as “In This Corner of the World” and "A Silent Voice" has been reflected in the success of animated shows already airing on VICELAND – with “Party Legends” and “Archer” capturing a strong fan base. The addition of Anime Limited’s content is a perfect fit, with their portfolio of shows bursting with cult favourites and long-running hits which will no-doubt greatly support our growing youth-offering in the UK.”

Andrew Partridge, president of Anime Limited says: “This is a very exciting time for anime as a whole – with so much film in the cinema. Even more thrilling is the fact that anime is coming back to TV after a long exile – thanks to the efforts of VICELAND! We are very excited to partner with VICELAND on this project and are thrilled that our titles will be part of this exciting block”.

The added titles mark the latest in a new wave of programming on VICELAND, following the network’s recent announcements of original series including: property show Generation Rent (w/t), reality sitcom Bobby and Harriet Get Married and the return of Jamali Maddix’s investigative docu-series Hate Thy Neighbour.

About The New Shows:

COWBOY BEBOP

The crew of the Bebop is once again ready to clean up space by bringing bad guys to justice and trying to make some cash while doing it! Join the always-cool Spike Spiegal, investigative genius Jet Black, the alluring Faye Valentine, the amazing (but weird) Ed and the super-smart Welsh Corgi named Ein as they try to make a buck in the year 2071. How do they do it? They’re bounty hunters!

TOKYO GHOUL

In modern day Tokyo, society lives in fear of Ghouls: mysterious creatures who look exactly like humans — yet hunger insatiably for their flesh. None of this matters to Ken Kaneki, a

bookish and ordinary young man, until a dark and violent encounter turns him into the first ever Ghoul-human half breed. Trapped between two worlds, Ken must survive the violent conflicts of warring Ghoul factions, while attempting to learn more about Ghoul society, his newfound powers, and the fine line between man and monster.

Based on the manga series by Sui Ishida and produced by Studio Pierrot (BLEACH, YU YU HAKUSHO) TOKYO GHOUL is directed by Shuhei Morita, who received an Oscar- nomination at the 86th Academy Awards for his short film, Possessions.

TOKYO GHOUL ROOT A

The twisted horror hit is back, and the ghouls haven’t lost their taste for blood. After weeks of torture at the hands of Aogiri Tree, Kaneki emerges a changed ghoul. No longer the meek young man who struggled with his hunger, Kaneki goes through a ravenous feeding frenzy, even devouring other ghouls to collect their power. He then joins the very organization that attempted to break him, Aogiri Tree, and the ghoul faction quickly becomes embroiled in a war between other ghoul groups and the CCG.

Along with Amon, Mado’s daughter Akira, hoping to avenge her father’s untimely death, spearheads the anti-ghoul attacks. As the war between humans and ghouls intensifies, one question remains: what makes a monster?

SAMURAI CHAMPLOO

Where Hip-Hop meets Anime. From the directors of Cowboy Bebop, Animatrix and Kill Bill animation. Mugen’s a buck wild warrior– violent, thoughtless and womanizing. Jin is a vagrant ronin–mysterious, traditional, and strong. These two fiercely independent warriors couldn’t be more different from one another, yet their paths cross when Fuu, a ditzy female, saves them from being executed. Fuu convinces the two young men to help her find a mysterious samurai.

EUREKA SEVEN

Relive the classic era of anime with the studio that brought you Escaflowne, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Wolf’s Rain.

Renton is a teenager trapped working as a mechanic in a backwater town. He dreams of joining up with a daredevil group of pilots known as Gekkostate and following in his father’s heroic footsteps. When a mysterious beauty named Eureka shows up asking for a tune-up, Renton soon finds himself drawn into a high-flying mecha dogfight that makes him a target of the military. When the dust settles on the spectacular battle, Renton is invited to join Gekkostate, but he soon discovers that even a dream come true has a dark side.

— Ends —

ABOUT VICELAND:

VICELAND is an international television network owned and programmed by global youth brand, VICE Media. Launched in the US and Canada in February 2016 under the direction of Academy Award-winning writer/director Spike Jonze, the channel has since confirmed it’s plans to launch into 51 new territories throughout 2016 and 2017. To date, VICELAND channels are broadcast in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, France, Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia, with forthcoming launches announced for Sub-Saharan Africa and Benelux.

The VICELAND network extends to both linear and digital platforms, creating high quality, original programming produced in-house, as well as commissioned globally and locally. Everything at VICELAND has a reason to exist and a strong perspective. Boasting Emmy Award-nominated shows, the channel has built a reputation for housing culturally relevant content for young people, with strong international perspectives covering music, food, news, technology, sex, fashion and more.