Araki Joh and Kenji Nagamoto's Bartender is a manga series that released in both Shueisha's Grand Jump and Super Jump magazines in 2004. The manga ran until 2011, with a total of 21 volumes and was a great slice of life and anthology series for readers.
In 2006, the book was greenlit an anime series from director Masaki Watanabe and writer Yasuhiro Imagawa at Palm Studios. The show was an instant success while only running for 11 episodes! Now, Shout! Factory and Anime Limited have teamed up to bring the series to fans in a home video format! Anime Limited is a UK distribution company that has recently partnered with Shout! Factory to bring some of their titles to North America. Anime Ltd. had this to say, “We’re excited to once again be working with Shout! Factory to distribute another one of our great home video releases in North America. BARTENDER is a special title, and we’re thrilled to bring our Collector’s Edition to fans in the US and Canada – an edition that shows a lot of love to a hidden gem of a series.”
This partnership will include not just home video distribution rights but also the rights for digital, video-on-demand, and broadcast across all of North America. Shout! Factory had this today about the deal; “We’ve been enjoying our on-going collaboration and couldn’t be more excited about this new opportunity with Anime Limited. This truly unique and highly entertaining anime series is a very exciting addition to our anime library. We look forward to bringing BARTENDER Collector’s Edition to fans and collectors in North America.” With Bartender being the first of many shows coming to the west, the sky is the limit for what could come from this partnership!
Bartender will hit the west with a multi-disc collector's edition for its 15th anniversary and will have a physical and digital release. While the show won't drop until early next year, we would love to hear your thoughts on the release and partnership in the comments below!
Bartender follows the nightlife of Ryū Sasakura (佐々倉 溜, Sasakura Ryū) (voiced by Takahiro Mizushima in the anime), a bartending prodigy who is said to mix the best cocktails anyone has ever tasted. Upon returning from his studies in France, Ryū works as an assistant for a senior bartender at the bar Lapin.
The Bartender 15th Anniversary multi-disc Collector’s Edition will come to Blu-ray and digital in early 2021!