Animejin News - 21st September 1997
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Manga Video October Press Release

                            MANGA GO MOVIE MAD WITH 
                                OCTOBER RELEASES 

Manga Entertainment gets feature-friendly with their full-length films on
October 13th 1997, with the release of the action-packed anime movies, Macross
Plus and Shadow Skill. Also out for Autumn is the finest in animated Chinese
mafia action with another chance to own the Crying Freeman box set. 


Shadow Skill - The Movie 
Two men stand atop a toyvering pinnacle of stone. One is Scarface, disfigured 
champion of the Shadow Skill. The other is Gau Ban of the Black Howling. It is
ten years since they first met - ten years in which the untrained boy has
become a fearsome warrior.... 

A decade earlier in the kingdom of Koruda, elite fighters battle for honour
beneath the blood-red flag of King Falkai. While Ella Ragu limbers up for an
apocalyptic confrontation with the demon beast Borsalt, her adopted brother Gau
is surprised by the arrival of a mysterious masked figure. After the fight it
is this man who gives Gau the strength to triumph when he and Ella are attacked
by the mighty Goa X. 

Later, Ella and Gau join spell caster Fowari and the young fighter Quo in a 
desperate attempt to defeat a carnivorous demon known as the King of the Moon. 
But even as they work together, conflict is growing deep within the group.
Watched by the enigmatic Scarface, friendship erupts into lethal combat -
Shadow Skill versus death magic in a fight to the finish... 

With stunning new animation and an original story by Metake Okada. Shadow Skill 
the Movie takes the Shadow Skill characters into a new dimension of violent action! 


Macross Plus - The Movie 
In A.D. 2040, on the colonial planet Eden, the Ministry of Defence is testing
and developing transformer aircrafts. A new, advanced defence to counter alien 
attacks. 

Following the fortunes of extrovert, jet fighter maverick Isamu Dyson and his
fierce rivalry with Guld, test pilot for a competing project, Macross Plus is a
torrid tale of mighty machines and self-aware psychic cyborgs and features some
of the most visually stunning mecha action on video. 

Macross Plus the movie consists of all four parts of the highly acclaimed anime 
series plus some previously unseen footage. 


Crying Freeman Box Set 
As the prime operator in the Chinese Mafia, Crying Freeman's callous killings
have earned him world notoriety. Only his tears hint at his inner struggle
against his murderous destiny. Leading the 108 Dragons - an elite fraternity
within the Chinese Mafia - Crying Freeman serves up a murderous helping of
bone-crushing violence, callous killing and naked destiny. 

The box set, which contains the entire series on three tapes, plus the Crying 
Freeman graphic novel has been re-released, due to enormous demand following 
the cinematic success of the live-action Crying Freeman film earlier this year. 


Credits 

Title:          Shadow Skill -    Macross Plus -   Crying Freeman - 
                The Movie         The Movie        Box Set 
Label:          Manga Video       Manga Video      Manga Video 
Release Date:   13/10/97          13/10/97         13/10/97 
Director:       Hiroshi Hegishi   Shoji Kawamori   Shigemori Yamauchi 
Running time:   85 mins           90 mins          3X100 mins 
Certificate:    15                PG               18 
Catalogue No:   MANV 1189         MANV 1194        MANV 1163 
RRP:            £12.99            £13.99           £39.99 

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Anime season on BBC2

BBC 2 has started a short season of anime films with a repeat screening of
Akira on Friday night. Further showings will be at the same time in the next
few weeks. A complete list of the films being shown is unknown, but next weeks
film is listed as Roujin-Z and patlabor will be shown on 3rd October. Manga
Entertainment have previously reported that the BBC will also be showing Wings
of Honneamise and Patlabor 2.

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