Relative newcomer to the DVD scene, Media Blasters is preparing several varied foreign releases for a January street date, the Japanese live action thriller Zero Woman Returns, the anime action film Cleopatra DC and British adaptation of the classic Hemmingway novel The Old Man and the Sea.

The most beautiful and deadly operative of Section 0 is back in “Zero Woman Returns”. Even in a modern democracy, a police network so covert, it does not really exist, exists. It is in this world of nonexistence that Rei operates, nonchalantly completing her assignments with the cold, hardened edge and precision that is expected of the operatives of Section Zero. Rei is sent on a mission to investigate Kayama, the main channel to the outside for dirty cops selling confiscated drugs and guns. But as the theory goes, like attracts like, and Rei finds a soulmate in her target – a man, like her, who does not really exist.

The Cleopatra Corns Group, aka “Cleopatra DC”, is a powerful financial conglomerate controlling most of the United States economy, almost as powerful as the US government itself. At the top of the organization is the beautiful, smart and brave Ms. Cleo, the Group’s young, talented Chairman. This is good–it means she can handle the repair bill when that airplane crashes into her bedroom. With stolen artifacts, corporate kidnappings, and top-secret cyborg projects gone awry, her luck only gets worse from there. At the root of all these seemingly unconnected events is the Sleider Group, a mysterious criminal organization bent on taking over the world, starting with Cleo’s company.

The top of so many high school reading lists, “The Old Man and the Sea” tells the story of Santiago, an old fisherman from a small village who has run into a long spell of bad luck. He hasn’t caught a single fish in many weeks. But today is different because he has hooked one of the largest fish he has ever seen, a giant swordfish too large to be captured by one man in a small fishing boat. But Santiago is determined not to let his streak continue and fights the fish for several days. The ultimate result wins him the fish, but not the glory he thought it would bring him. The television adaptation takes several liberties with the simple story adding and expanding several characters to fill out the story, but the spirit remains true to the novel’s ideas of courage, determination, and self realization.

All three titles are coming January 29th of next year carrying their original fullscreen aspect ratios. Sadly no supplemental features have been announced for these titles. Each is priced at $29.95 with the exception of “The Old Man and the Sea” which is priced at $24.95.