The FanimeCon 2008 anime convention has kicked off, and with it comes some fresh news about Bandai's much speculated new license. But first, let's quickly relay that the group's two American subsidiaries - Bandai Entertainment and Bandai Visual USA - will be merging on July 1, and as a result Bandai Visual will be liquidated before the end of September.

On to the license, then. Contrary to the various titles speculated over the past few days (including School Days and Gunbuster 2, among others), the real winner is... the anime movie Sword of the Stranger, according to Anime UK News. Officially known as Stranger: Mukou Hadan, this is studio Bones' self-proclaimed "greatest animated historical drama", and it aired last autumn in Japan, so it's a fairly fresh production.

Update: ANN confirms the Sword of the Stranger license, adding that the film will be released theatrically on July 18, and that standard DVD and Blu-ray releases are also planned.

Update #2: Split this post in two, moved everything about Gurren Lagann here.