For more than 30 years, the apocalyptic and magical science fiction series ‘The Queen of a Thousand Years’ lived on as a memory in Germany. Tōei Animation’s elaborately produced anime format, which was also responsible for megahits such as “Dragon Ball Z” and “Sailor Moon”, was last shown on TELE 5 in the early 1990s. People waited in vain for repeats on other channels, late are on an actual home theater release.
At least until July this year. Then the first half of the series appeared in home theater – and that on Blu-ray worldwide for the first time*. Fortunately, fans won’t have to wait that long for the rest of the format: On September 28, 2023, “The Queen of 1000 Years” part 2 will be released in home theaters – as a German DVD premiere and for the first time worldwide on Blu-ray.
For its release, the KSM Anime label lovingly restored the anime classic: in the course of a complex process, original 35mm film rolls were scanned and the image was carefully reworked.
The reactions to the image quality of part 1 with episodes 1-21 were euphoric, now established and new fans can finally experience episodes 22 to 42 in top quality. Good to know: Of course, all episodes are available in a German dubbed version and in the original Japanese language.
“The Queen of a Thousand Years”: Will the World End in September?
Ever since 14-year-old Hajime made a sensational discovery with his telescope in March 1999, the world has been in turmoil: the boy came across a new planet, which is moving directly towards Earth. According to expert calculations, the crash that wiped out all life occurred on September 9, 1999 at 9:09 am (and nine seconds). The clock is constantly ticking and humanity is pinning all its hopes on the Queen of 1000 years.
The second half of the series begins after the Queen reconciles with her former archenemies, the Thieves of 1000 Years, to avert catastrophe together. But new obstacles stand in her way…
The story behind The Queen of 1000 Years comes from manga and anime great Leiji Matsumoto, creator of the hit manga Captain Harlock and designer behind Daft Punk’s iconic animated project Interstella 5555 – The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem.
“The Queen of a Thousand Years” was directed by Nobutaka Nishizawa, who also directed “Galaxy Express 999,” while the script was written by Toyohiro Andô (“Captain Future”) and Hiroyasu Yamaura (“Godzilla 1985”). The cast of the German-language version includes “The Three ???” voice Jens Wawrczeck and Patrick Dempsey’s regular voice actor Boris Tessmann.