Sing A Bit Of Harmony, VES Awards, Batman: The Long Halloween, Blue Sky and More

Leading anime distributor Funimation has been active in co-producing anime series for some time now, but with the previously announced Sing A Bit of Harmony, they're getting into co-producing movies, too, Funimation has released a new trailer for the musically themed feature, centring on main characters Shion Ashimori and Satomi Amano. 

The film is the latest to be written and directed by Yasuhiro Yoshiura, previously known for Time Of Eve and Patema Inverted.  Ichirou Ohkouchi serves as co-screenwriter, Kanna Kii is on character design duty and the animation will be produced by JC Staff.

It's all looking very pretty, but the plot seems surprising straightforward in comparison to Yoshiura's previous films. Is it really just a High-school romance/slice-of-life or does the writer/director have some tricks up his sleeve? Only time will tell! Check it out in the newly released trailer, below.

They've also revealed the first information about the (Japanese cast) which will feature Tao Tsuchiya as Shion, Haruka Fukuhara as Satomi and Asuka Kudo as Touma. The cast will also include Kazuyuki Okitsu, Mikako Komatsu and Satoshi Hino.

Funimation will debut Sing A Bit Of Harmony in US cinemas sometime later this year (all being well).

Funimation have also announced that the English dubbed version of My Hero Academia season 5 will stream on Funimation Now from Saturday April 10, with new episodes added weekly.

The Visual Effects Society's 19th Annual VES Awards took place online on April 6 and crowned Pixar's Soul the dominant animation winner of the year. Pete Docter and Kemp Power's feature won for Outstanding Viusal Effects, Outstanding Animated Character, Outstanding Created Environment, and Outstanding Effects Simulation in the animated feature categories, as well as Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in A CG Project. The Mandalorian won three award for the photoreal series categories and Sony's Ghosts Of Tsushima won the games award. See the full list of winners here.

A trailer has been released for upcoming DC Animated movie Batman: The Long Halloween Part One. based on one of the Dark Knight's most iconic comic runs. The story features Batman teaming up with Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent to try and take down Gotham crime boss Carmine Falcone, only to discover that they are also up against a serial killer.

The film will see Jenson Ackles stepping into the shoes of Bruce Wayne/Batman (reprising the role from Under The Red Hood), the late Naya Rivera giving one of her final performances as Selina Kyle/Catwoman and also features Josh Duhamel, Titus Welliver, Jack Quaid, Troy Baker and Amy Lackander.

The Long Halloween Part One is directed by Chris Palmer from a screenplay from Tim Sheridan, reteaming after the recent Superman: Man Of Tomorrow. The film will be available on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital later this year.

The cute but violent anime Gloomy The Naughty Grizzly will start airing on Japan's Tokyo MX TV network on April 12 and will then be available to international fans via YouTube and other social media. The series will star Koichi Yamadera (the original Japanese voice of Spike In Cowboy Bebop) as Gloomy and Demon Slayer star Natsuki Hanae as his hapless human owner Pity.

Blue Sky co-founder Chris Wedge has penned a touching farewell letter to fans on the eve of the Studio's closure.  😢 [Via twitter]