RetroCrush Adds Rose of Versailles, Space Adventure Cobra Anime on September 15

The official Twitter account for Digital Media Rights' RetroCrush streaming service shared last week an image from the 1979 anime based on Riyoko Ikeda's The Rose of Versailles manga, stating that the service will add the anime on Friday. It announced on Saturday that it will add the 1982 anime adaptation of Buichi Terasawa's Space Adventure Cobra (or Cobra) manga on Friday.

The 40-episode Rose of Versailles anime ran from 1979-1980. Right Stuf released it in North America in 2013 in two DVD sets. DLE Inc. created authorized parody shorts based on the series with Flash animation. Discotek produced an HD remaster of the series, and the two-volume release shipped in April 2021 and on June 29.

Ikeda serialized the original manga in Shueisha's Weekly Margaret magazine from 1972 to 1973. The "story of love and destiny" is set in the intrigue-filled court of Queen Marie Antoinette before and during the upheavals of the French Revolution. Lady Oscar is a young woman raised as a man to serve in the palace guards.

The manga is inspiring a new anime film.

© BUICHI TERASAWA／ART TEKNIKA・TMS

The 31-episode Space Adventure Cobra anime premiered three months after the Space Adventure Cobra - The Movie anime opened in theaters in July 1982. Nozomi Entertainment released the TV anime on DVD, and the anime previously streamed on the company's YouTube channel and Crunchyroll until Nozomi Entertainment's license expired. Discotek Media released the television anime on Blu-ray Disc. Discotek also released the Space Adventure Cobra anime film on DVD in 2012, on Blu-ray Disc in 2015, and on Ultra-High Definition (UHD) 4K Blu-ray Disc in 2019.

Terasawa published the Cobra manga in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 1978 to 1984. The manga followed the titular Cobra, a man who can turn his left arm into a gun, and who is on the run from authorities and nefarious forces due to his mysterious past.

Microids and TMS Entertainment are developing a video game based on the manga.

Terasawa passed away on September 8.

RetroCrush is a free, ad-supported video-on-demand service available in the United States and Canada. The service has apps on iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, and smart TVs, in addition to being available on browsers. The service launched in March 2020. A free ad-supported television (FAST) version of RetroCrush launched through the STIRR streaming service in July 2020.

Digital Media Rights stated to ANN that its goal with the streaming service is to "serve as a community built for the consumption and discussion of the Golden Age of Japanese animation, (and some not so retro), from the perspectives of pop culture, fandom, art, internet memes & more." The service plans to include a library of content that "hasn't had proper streaming releases outside of Japan." RetroCrush's streaming partners include Discotek Media, TMS, NHK, Studio Pierrot, AMG, Happinet, and Right Stuf among others.

Cinedigm acquired Digital Media Rights (DMR), the parent company of the RetroCrush, AsianCrush, and Midnight Pulp streaming services, in January 2022.

Source: RetroCrush's Twitter account (link 2) via Yuri Network News