Section23 Films Reveals August 2017 Release Dates
Quite a few long-awaited anime series will soon be in the grasp of fans in America, as Section23 Films reveals which in their Sentai Filmworks library are graced with a home video release.
It all kicks off on August 8th, with season four of Hidamari Sketch. Continuing on the story of Yuno and her friends, Hidarmari Sketch x Honeycomb slowly builds up to her "big sisters" Sae and Hiro's graduation. As such Yuno starts taking on the guidance role for Nazuna, Nori and the other young artists who've entered Hidamari's protective cocoon. With more challenging artistic assignments and thoughts on future plans, the friends learn that sometimes fun misadventures must be put aside for the sake of art!
On August 15th, the biggest culinary competition to the hit the anime realm finally comes to Blu-Ray in both regular and super-sized special editions. Food Wars! follows the quest of Soma Yukihira, who yearns to defeat his father in a cooking contest and take over the family diner. When his dad suddenly shuts the restaurant down temporarily, Soma is sent to Tohtsuki Academy, the most elite cooking school in the world. Going head-to-head with culinary giants like Erina Nakiri and the rest of the school's biggest snobs, Soma serves up some tasty justice in the biggest of food battles. However when he learns that only a handful of the students manage to graduate every year, Soma swears that the only way he'll leave Tohtsuki Academy is as the number one chef! (Check out our review of Season One here, and see why you might find yourself licking your television screen.)
Hit the road on August 18th with the girls of Bakuon!!, the story of how Sakura Hane went from biking to motorbiking! Sakura's all-girl school happens to feature a motorcycle club, but it only has one member though: The Stig Raimu Kawasaki. This changes immediately once Sakura and fellow bike enthusiast Onsa Amano sign up and start recruiting! Although there are challenges amuck such as Sakura earning her license and finding a faculty sponsor, it's when the rubber hits the road when the wild side of the motorcycle realm opens up for the six student bikers. (Check out our review of Bakuon!! here, and see why bike enthusiasts of all creeds and sizes will find something enjoyable about it.)
A double-feature of sorts also comes to Blu-Ray on August 18th, with the release of the two-part film finale of Beyond the Boundary. Mirai Kuriyama's ability to control and weaponize her blood has left her an outcast and pariah. Thankfully a chance encounter with the subhuman and nearly invulnerable Akihito Kanbara may have finally given her a chance at finding peace. When the cost of that path is revealed, the two contemplate whether or not its price is worth paying for that true happy ending. Told through two feature films (Beyond the Boundary -I'll Be Here-: Past and Beyond the Boundary -I'll Be Here-: Future), the conclusion of the popular series will unveil whether or not Mirai can exist in a world that sees her as a lethal threat.
Finally what's retro is new once more, with the complete collection of 2015's Ushio & Tora remake coming to home video in a regular and a monstrous collector's editions on August 29th. Based on the classic manga by Kazuhiro Fujita, the tale follows young Ushio and his discovery of a locked basement with an actual demon pinned to the wall by a spear! The tiger-striped demon Tora threatens to devour Ushio if he doesn't free him, with Ushio naturally choosing to ignore him. However, when the demon's presence starts to attract others, Ushio is forced to remove the spear to save himself. To make a bad situation even worse, freeing the demon also bonds Ushio to the cursed Beast Spear, sending him on an incredible journey where unspeakable dangers await.
