Aniplex launched a press release this morning announceing that the Gurren Lagann films-- Gurren Lagann the Movie -Childhood's End- and Gurren Lagann the Movie -The Lights in the Sky are Stars- --will both be available on DVD in the US and Canada this July (30th, to be exact). But they aren't coming from Bandai...exactly. Aniplex of America, Inc. is releasing the films officially, although they will be available at Bandai Entertainment's online store and ONLY there. Additionally, the films will not be dubbed into English, but there will be a Limited Edition version and a regular version of each movie. The LE versions will include the Gurren Lagann Parallel Works collection-- the first set --split into two parts; Childhood's End will include the first four videos and Lights in the Sky will include the remaining four. Each film also comes with a 32-page booklet, a postcard from the Japanese special edition DVD, and a copy of the movie program book that was sold at movie theaters in Japan. You can preorder either version of the movies at a discount at Bandai's site right now, if you'd like. (Oh, and the official Gurren Lagann the Movie website updated as well.) So, bad news for fans of the Gurren Lagann dub, but hey, better something than nothing. And hey, ADV went back and dubbed some titles later-- maybe Bandai/Aniplex could do the same.       PRESS RELEASE: Aniplex of America Inc. Launches Gurren Lagann the Movie in North America; Exclusively Available at Bandai Entertainment E-Commerce StoreSome of you industry otaku may be wondering if this means that Aniplex of America is going to start releasing more of their own stuff-- that may be. I would have guessed that this was more a response to lower sales of the TTGL TV series than expected and perhaps Bandai's unwillingness to dub, but ANN has an interview with Aniplex exec Hideki Goto, who says that Aniplex is planning to bring their close relationship with anime creators to the fans in the future.
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