The Anime News Network is reporting that FUNimation Productions, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Navarre Corporation, has acquired the rights to Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles, the 'first true sequel' to the 1980s Robotech anime series.  Robotech's North American license holder Harmony Gold revealed the project at Anime Expo back in 2004 as a potential TV series, Robotech: Shadow Force (see '4th Robotech Anime Series in Production').  Now that long awaited sequel arrives in the form of an 88-minute movie, which FUNimation hopes to place in theaters and on TV.

FUNimation's acquisition of the new Robotech feature is another example of that company's aggressive pursuit of popular anime licenses.  ADV currently has the rights to the classic Robotech series (as well as the related Macross, Southern Cross, and Mospeada properties that Carl Macek combined to create the original 85-episode Robotech series) and could also benefit from a revival of interest in the property.

Developed by Tatsunoko Productions (Speed Racer, Battle of the Planets) the new Robotech movie should be a major boost for the hybrid mecha-happy property that was a key component in the development of the modern anime market (and fan base) in the U.S.  In spite of legal disputes in Japan that have kept some related movies such as the 1984 feature, Macross: Do You Remember Me from ever being released officially in the U.S., Robotech has been a licensing powerhouse with a wide range of spin-off properties including a role-playing games, video games, CCGs (see 'Robotech Collectible Card Game'), comics (Wildstorm's being the most recent), novels, and toys including Toynami's superb Robotech Masterpiece series of die-cast transforming toys (see 'Robotech Masterpiece Collection').