NISA's House of Five Leaves Anime License Expires

NIS America confirmed with ANN on Friday that its license for the House of Five Leaves television anime series is expiring. The company added that it has "no current plans on renewing the license." NIS America didn't confirm with ANN when the license is expiring, but the anime retailer The Anime Corner Store noted in a weekly newsletter on Friday that the license is expiring at the end of January.

The 12-episode anime series premiered on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block in April 2010. Funimation streamed the series as it aired. NIS America released the series on DVD in a premium edition in 2012 and in a standard edition in 2013.

The anime adapted Natsume Ono's manga of the same name, which follows the lives of the House of Five Leaves gang members in Edo-era Japan during the height of the shōgun's rule. In particular, the masterless samurai (rōnin) Akitsu Masanosuke becomes the bodyguard of the gang's charismatic leader Yaichi. Tomomi Mochizuki (Ocean Waves, Ranma ½) directed the anime series at Manglobe (Samurai Champloo).

Viz Media released Ono's eight-volume manga in North America in 2010-2012.​