Anime Limited Licenses Wings of Honneamise Film

British anime distributor Anime Limited revealed on Thursday that it has licensed the Royal Space Force - The Wings of Honnêamise film. The announcement notes that the film will be "made available for the first time in the UK in High-Definition" in a Collector's Edition and a regular edition in combo-packs this November. Pre-orders should go live in June.

Manga Entertainment previously released the film on VHS in the UK, and the edition had an omitted scene in order to obtain a PG rating.

Bandai Visual USA had previously released the film on HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc in North America with a bundled standard DVD version in 2007. Maiden Japan released the film on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on October 13 in North America.

The 1987 film served as GAINAX's first full-fledged anime production. The film follows Shirotsugh Lhadatt, an astronaut candidate for the world's first manned spaceflight program. Shirotsugh belongs to a small group who want to use technology to move mankind into the future and into space amidst two rivaling entities, the Kingdom of Honneamise and The Republic, who are on the verge of all-out war.

Hiroyuki Yamaga (Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Mahoromatic - Automatic Maiden) directed and wrote the screenplay the film, and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Neon Genesis Evangelion) created the character designs. The film also helped elevate the careers of other directors such as Hideaki Anno, Hiroyuki Kitakubo, Mahiro Maeda, and Ichiro Itano.