Robotech Premieres On Funimation App August 24
Ah, good — we finally have a release date for the return of Robotech, the iconic and influential anime dub. It’s never been streamable before, but Funimation announced earlier this summer they had finally gotten the rights straightened out and would be adding the series to their service, as well as publishing a deluxe remastered Blu-Ray set.
Many, many years ago, before “anime” was ever a word, American audiences first got hooked on Japanese storytelling through a syndicated series Harmony Gold had named “Robotech.” Their creation was a splice-up of three different yet similar mecha shows, dubbed in English and sold as one continuing narrative. But continuing narratives were very rare in American animation at the time, as well as plots with real stakes. Robotech had those things all to itself, and it blew away a generation of 80s nerds.
As one of the firecrackers responsible for setting off the anime market in the US, Robotech’s importance can’t be understated…which is why it’s kind of a pain Harmony Gold has made the dub so hard to reissue for so many years. The struggle is over now, though, and the series is about to make a long-overdue debut on modern physical media.
A special Collectors Edition Blu-Ray set will be available next month through the Funimation website and will include all 85 episodes, a Transforming Robotech (Roy Fokker’s VF-1S), an exclusive Variant Action Figure (Roy Fokker in Pilot Uniform Variant Shade of Black), and a series of Robotech-embroidered patches.
The streamable version is coming sooner than we figured — like NEXT WEEK soon. All episodes of Robotech will appear on the Funimation app August 24, and so will the follow-up movies Robotech II: The Sentinels and Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles. They will be the same cleaned-up versions that are on the discs.
“Robotech is a beloved series and an integral part of anime history,” said Mitchel Berger, Funimation Global Group’s Senior Vice President of Commerce. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to engage the original passionate fans from decades ago and also expose a whole new generation to this classic series.”
The Robotech Blu-Ray set will be available starting September 28, and the show will be added to the Funimation app August 24.