Also plans to release Fractale, Freezing on DVD, Blu-ray next year

The North American anime distributor Funimation announced at its Anime Detour convention panel on Saturday that it acquired the 2009 animated feature Tales of Vesperia ~The First Strike~ for North America. Funimation licensed the title's home entertainment, broadcast, theatrical, digital, and merchandising rights, and it will release the feature on DVD and Blu-ray Disc next year.

Funimation also acquired additional rights for both Fractale and Freezing in North America. The company now has the home entertainment, broadcast, digital, mobile and merchandise rights for Fractale, and it has the home entertainment, broadcast, theatrical, digital, and merchandising rights for Freezing. Funimation will release both Fractale and Freezing on DVD and Blu-ray next year.

Kanta Kamei (Digimon: Diaboromon Strikes Back animation director, Kill Bill Chapter 3: The Origin of O-Ren visual supervisor) directed Production I.G's theatrical adaptation of NAMCO's Tales of Vesperia role-playing game for the Xbox 360 console. Kousuke Toriumi (Basilisk, Di Gi Charat, Naruto, To Heart) and Mamoru Miyano (Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Death Note) played the heroes Yuri and Flynn, respectively. The original game was released in Japan and in the United States in 2008, and the film opened in Japan on October 3, 2009.

Thanks to Shiroi Hane for the news tip.

Image © 2009 NBGI/TOV Project