MIPTV, the four-day Cannes television trade show is just weeks away and as companies prepare to hawk their latest productions to merchandisers and broadcasters the world over, news of what will be available is slowly starting to trickle out.

Sunrights has confirmed they’re bringing season two of Beyblade Burst, known in Japan as Beyblade Burst God, to international markets as Beyblade Burst Evolution. The follow-up premieres on Japan’s TV Tokyo on April 3rd and sees lead Valt join the Spanish BC Sol Beyblade team in an attempt to win the European League and qualify for the World League championship. To help amp up the dramatics, the show is bringing Zain Effendi on as composer. The American, who previously worked under Hans Zimmer on The Dark Knight, replaces Yusaku Tsuchiya and seems to be delivering a more orchestral flair to the series. Sunrights says the second season will consist of 51 twenty-two minute episodes. The show will continue to be animated by OLM for d-rights and Takara Tomy. No release window for Beyblade Burst Evolution was shared, but given the first season began last year, it’s possible we may see it in the fall.

Sunrights is also looking to find a home video distributor for the earlier Beyblade series, which were localized and distributed by Toronto’s Nelvana.

Beyblade Burst airs in Canada on Teletoon and Disney XD Canada. The English dub is produced by Vancouver’s own Ocean Media.

Source: TV Kids MIPTV 2017 (pg. 34 + 43)

Speaking of d-rights and Nelvana productions, while the company will be present at MIPTV, Nelvana does not appear to be showing Battle of the Planets: Phoenix Ninjas. Does it even exist anymore? The Gatchaman reboot was originally set to debut later this year but has seen complete silence since its announcement.

Another part Canadian adaptation of a Japanese IP will have a MIPTV footprint. DHX, Dentsu and Man of Action’s Mega Man series will be available to prospective broadcast and merchandise partners. An advertisement for the animated series demonstrates that the look for the blue bomber has indeed evolved from its previously scrutinized design. It also reveals that the first season will consist of 52 eleven-minute episodes, which will likely run as 26 twenty-two minute episodes on some channels. While this is an assumption on my part, that format leads to me to believe Mega Man will be more of an action comedy than a traditional serialized action show. Man of Action’s Ben 10 was a more action heavy show in its twenty-two-minute iterations but as of last year’s reboot, which clocks in at eleven minutes an episode, has played up the humor.

Dentsu wasn’t lying when they said the test animation by Film Roman wasn’t representative of the final product. According to a promo I got my hands on, the series appears to now be CG-animated. The 30-second video shows the 10-year-old Aki Light transforming into Mega Man, via what the logline is calling “nano-core technology” in an attempt to defend Silicon City, a place where robots and humans live, work and play in harmony. You also get a peak of the Mega Mini character.

No release window or broadcasters have been confirmed.

Source: TV Kids MIPTV 2017 (pg. 11 + 43)

UPDATE (04/02/2017): Dentsu Entertainment’s Japanese parent company has announced that Mega Man will air on Cartoon Network in the US in 2018. The hope is that the show will spawn merchandise, primarily toys.

UPDATE (04/03/2017) DHX’s English press release for the show confirms it’ll be airing on their channel, Family CHRGD, in Canada. The release also confirms Mega Man will be animated by DHX Vancouver (formerly Nerd Crops). Here’s an updated synopsis for the series:

Aimed at kids 6 to 11, as well as their parents who grew up loving the video games, the new Mega Man animated series will feature exciting new technologies and robots, as well as the introduction of Mega Man’s alter-ego, Aki Light. Aki is a normal, upbeat, schoolboy robot who has nano-core technology that allows him to transform into the mega powered super hero Mega Man! With his Mega Buster arm cannon and iconic helmet, Mega Man battles the wickedest villains Silicon City has to offer. Beloved characters, such as Mega Man’s robotic dog, Rush, will return – while new characters, like Mega Mini™ and Suna Light, will make their debut! The Mega Man franchise is grounded in a series of video games, first launched in 1987 by Capcom, featuring battles fought by the eponymous blue robot protagonist and an ongoing cast of allies and enemies. The Mega Man multiverse has spawned over 130 video games on multiple gaming systems, selling over 31 million copies worldwide, as well as a plethora of toys, comics and collectibles. A highly rated Mega Man TV series was popular in the USA in the mid-1990s and aired on ABC Family. The new animated Mega Man series focuses on a normal, upbeat schoolboy robot, who discovers that deep within his programming lies secret protocols that can transform him into the powerful Mega Man. And, as the world’s first robotic super-hero, Mega Man must face the threats of Silicon City, while trying to preserve his secret identity and maintain a regular robot boy life.

Back to another Canadian anime dub, Bushiroad has announced that the English version of Buddyfight‘s fourth season will premiere on Youtube on April 15th. This would set debuts two weeks after Japanese broadcast, which represents a larger gap than the dub for prior seasons. Those dropped the same day as Japan. Contrary to earlier reports, Bushiroad is calling it Future Card Buddyfight X.

Shifting to something that really has nothing to do with the above but doesn’t have enough meat to support its own article, Netflix has released its first teaser trailer for Adam Wingard’s live action Death Note film.



What if you had the power to decide who lives and who dies? We suggest you obey the rules. Based on the famous Japanese manga written by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, Death Note follows a high school student who comes across a supernatural notebook, realizing it holds within it a great power; if the owner inscribes someone’s name into it while picturing their face, he or she will die. Intoxicated with his new godlike abilities, the young man begins to kill those he deems unworthy of life. The Netflix original film is directed by Adam Wingard (Blair Witch, You’re Next) and stars Nat Wolff (Paper Towns), Margaret Qualley (The Leftovers), Lakeith Stanfield (Get Out), Paul Nakauchi (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End), Shea Whigham (American Hustle) and Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man). Death Note will premiere exclusively on Netflix on August 25th.

That copy neglects to mention that the Greater Vancouver Region seems to be playing the role of Seattle, Washington.

Still no word on if Viz is ever going to bring over the recent Japanese live-action Death Note productions.

Speaking of live-action anime adaptations, Rupert Sanders’ Ghost in the Shell opens pretty much everywhere next weekend. This paragraph is basically all the coverage I’m going to give the film. That’s not a statement on what I think of the film, but just that you don’t really need a rinky-dink blogger to tell you where a $100 million Hollywood blockbuster is going to be playing near you.