Crunchyroll has announced plans to bring two upcoming anime movies to North American theaters: Blue Lock The Movie -Episode Nagi- and Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom.
Blue Lock The Movie -Episode Nagi- will arrive in North American theaters on June 28, 2024. Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment will release the newest Blue Lock movie in other select international regions in Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa at a later date.
Blue Lock is based on the award-winning manga by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura, and has quickly become one of the world's biggest sports-themed mangas and anime series. The series is available to stream on Crunchyroll. The streaming service describes the Blue Lock synopsis in full:
"Japan's desire for World Cup glory leads the Japanese Football Association to launch a new rigorous training program to find the national team's next striker. Three hundred high school players are pitted against each other for the position, but only one will come out on top. Who among them will be the striker to usher in a new era of Japanese soccer?"
The anime is directed by Tetsuaki Watanabe (Haikyu!! episode director) and assistant-directed by Shunsuke Ishikawa (Sword Art Online Alicization episode director) at studio Eightbit (That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime).
Episode Nagi is a spin-off manga that focuses on Seishiro Nagi, a second-year high school who is invited to the mysterious Blue Lock project with the hopes of becoming the world's best striker.
The official movie synopsis reads:
“That’s a hassle.” That was second-year high schooler Nagi Seishiro’s favorite phrase as he lived his dull life. Until Mikage Reo, a classmate who dreamed of winning the World Cup, discovered Nagi’s hidden skill, inspiring him to play soccer and share his outstanding talent. One day, he receives an invitation to the mysterious Blue Lock Project. What awaits him there is an encounter with the finest strikers assembled from across the country. Nagi’s dream of becoming the best, alongside Reo, will take this prodigy to a world he’s never known.
A prodigy can only be shaped when someone discovers him….now, striker Nagi Seishiro’s incredible talent and persona will set the soccer world ablaze.
Ishikawa also directed the upcoming movie, with character designs by Yusuke Nomura, Screenplay/Composition by Taku Kishimoto and music by Jun Maruyama. The film will be available in both Japanese with English subtitles as well as dubbed in English.
OVERLORD: The Sacred Kingdom doesn't yet have a release date, but Crunchyroll announced that it has acquired the North American and select international rights for the feature, including Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.
The film, which picks up after the conclusion of season 4, is described by Crunchyroll as well:
After twelve years of playing his favorite MMORPG game, Momonga logs in for the last time only to find himself transported into its world playing it indefinitely. Throughout his adventures, his avatar ascends to the title of Sorcerer King Ains Ooal Gown.
Once prosperous but now on the brink of ruin, The Sacred Kingdom enjoyed years of peace after construction of an enormous wall protecting them from neighboring invasions. But, one day this comes to an end when the Demon Emperor Jaldabaoth arrives with an army of villainous demi-humans.
Fearing invasion of their own lands, the neighboring territory of the Slane Theocracy is forced to beg their enemies at the Sorcerer Kingdom for help. Heeding the call, Momonga, now known as the Sorcerer King Ains Ooal Gown, rallies the Sorcerer Kingdom and its undead army to join the fight alongside the Sacred Kingdom and the Slane Theocracy in hopes to defeat the Demon Emperor.
Anime series director Naoyuki Ito helmed the film with Satoshi Tasaki as character designer and chief animation director and Shuji Katayama doing music.