Anime Picture Collections: AX

Showing posts with label AX. Show all posts

Thursday, July 15, 2010

"Cosplay in America" @ Anime Expo 2010

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

AX 2010: FUNimation Panel Report

By Chris Beveridge [Source: Mania.com] July 02, 2010

FUNimation’s panel was a touch awkward before it even started tonight as Geneon Universal Entertainment let the cat out of the bag regarding some titles that will be distributed through them with Black Lagoon OVA: Roberta’s Blood Trail, Hellsing Ultimate 5+ and To Aru Kagakuno Railgun. FUNimation’s twitter feed did confirm the information later in the day prior to the panel but also indicated that fans should, jokingly, act surprised when these announcements were made at the con. They also indicated that they have more to share than just this so attendance should still be high on the list for fans of FUNimation (and dubbed anime!).

FUNimation had a lot of staff on hand for this panel as approximately seven of them were noted either on stage or in the immediate audience when there’s normally two or three. The panel was run by Adam Sheehan, the outgoing conventions organizer who is moving on to other parts of the company.

Adam spent some time talking about the state of the industry and fandom itself, based on the response cards they get from DVD/BD buyers. He indicated that they believe the domestic anime industry is strong right now and that they're going to continue with that and that FUNimation itself is doing well. This was something they worked on back in 2008 in their "Don't Panic" campaign and which they carried into 2009 by bringing out more new shows that have come out this year on both formats. According to the feedback they get on the cards, it says that the majority of buyers are dub fans (or, as can be guessed, people who send back the cards are dub fans and are being more proactive and vocal), but as Adam said, "this doesn't say which is better.. we take subtitling just as serious as we take dubs" and "this is to say we aren't going to stop doing dubs."

Looking at basic consumer data by the response cards, buyers are generally older than 25 years by 51% and 40% in the 18-24 range. Naturally, the largest online segment of fans is the 13-17 year olds. And time spent o social media sites and YouTube has shown that this group is pretty strong in what they'll watch online. It's plainly obvious as it has been in the past that the younger fans are the consumers of the future and "since we understand that anime can be expensive, hopefully when you do have income, you have to make the tough decision between eat and anime..."

An interesting statistic regarding FUNimation titles, fans buy Blu-rays at twice the rate that other movie consumers.

Looking at their web presence, FUNimation has 6800 twitter followers, over 3.6 million in monthly impressions on Facebook with 69000+ fans and 20% growth over month. With their YouTube presence, they have 154k subscribers which places them in the 54th ranked position worldwide for subscriptions.

Adam then began to run down various announced titles with their dates and basic specs that readers here are familiar with.

FUNimation is set to do more simulcasts and is kicking off their announcements by saying they'll be doing the Moyashimon live action series from the Noitamina block. It will run for eleven episodes at 30 minutes each.

FUNimation is also doing a push into shows from the old Geneon catalog and have announced for release in 2011:

Texhnolyze
Ai Yori Aoshi
Armitage III
Haibane Renmei
Hellsing TV
Serial Experiments Lain
Tenchi in Tokyo
Tenchi Universe
Tenchi Muyo OVAs
Tenchi Muyo Movies

Adam then proceeded to delve into brand new materials by announcing the acquisition of Darker Than Black Season 2 and Shakugan no Shana Season 2 as well as the OVA and movie, all of which is slated for 2011.

Adam then talked about the Geneon Universal Entertainment revelations from earlier by stating that those weren't leaked (it was intentional, if you believe that) and that they will be releasing Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail, Hellsing Ultimate 5-7 and To Aru Majutsu no Railgun and Index in 2011.

After all of that was announced, Adam then proceeded to make the revelation that in 2011 they'll be releasing the new Trigun movie, Badlands Rumble, with an English subtitled premier this Saturday at Anime Expo.

Some Q&A questions worth bringing up:

Q: Trigun in theaters?

A: Stay tuned for wonderful news.

Q; Oh Edo Rocket?

A: November.

Q: Birdy the Mighty: Decode?

A: October.

Q: Dance in the Vampire Bund unedited?

A: 100% yes. We will do an unedited version as it was in Japan.

Q: Anything you can say about Sgt Frog? Still going? stalled?

A: We have s1 and 2, nothing beyond that.... it's doing well on DVD.

AX 2010: Geneon Universal Entertainment Panel

By Chris Beveridge [Source: Mania.com] July 02, 2010

Back in February 2009, Geneon Entertainment Japan merged formally with Universal Pictures Japan and became Geneon Universal Entertainment. Long time anime fans will remember when Pioneer Entertainment, a subsidiary of Pioneer who made laserdisc players a huge thing in Japan many years ago, changed their named to Geneon after being acquired by Dentsu. Over the years, the Geneon USA branch brought out a lot of quirky and intriguing titles but titles that had a hard time crossing over to larger sales and eventually the company folded. Since then, many of their titles have been picked over and grabbed by other companies who are now distributing them. This year has Geneon Universal Entertainment Japan making an appearance at Anime Expo to talk about…. ?

The company’s panel started off with a look at the shows that the company owns in Japan such as Black Lagoon: Roberta’s Blood Trail, Hellsing, Fate Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, To Aru Kagakuno Railgun and Highschool of the Dead. The panelists are promoting the Black Lagoon OVA, which starts in Japan in July, pretty well with the t-shirts for it on while handling the panel. The OVA series looks to be getting quite a strong backing in Japan with five episodes averaging 25-29 minutes each that are based on the El Baile de la Muerte segment of the manga by Rei Hiroe. Madhouse is animating it under the direction of Sunao Katabuchi with the theme song by Mell.

The panel ran through openings, closings and promos for the shows and then added in a bit of discussion about the US distribution of the titles.

When talking about Black Lagoon, Hellsing and Railgun, the panelists said (paraphrased), “by these.. we're not sure... but we think they will be distributed by FUNimation”

With high school of the dead, “it will be announced somewhere, sometime during this event.”

The Q&A phase made up the last quarter of the panel with some select questions and answers below:

Q: Geneon USA was formerly closed, does this mean you are back?
A: From now on Geneon itself, will be participating in distributing with like FUNimation and stuff, so they are back

Q: Are any of the series you are releasing going to be dubbed into english
A: For the dubs, we will discuss those with funimation but we do want to.

Q: Funimation titles only or all titles for dubs?
A: need to discuss that

Q: How do you deal with works that deal with manga series that are still going on? Do you decide to do an ending?
A: With ongoing manga series, we usually talk with the original artists and decide if we want an anime only ending or do a to be continued sort of deal.

Q: Geneon interested in online distribution and simulcasts
A: It's possible, we're still discussing it.

Q: Any hints for the Highschool of the dead announce?
A: The distributor will official announce it themselves... if we announce it, we'll get scolded at.

Q: DVD and Blu-ray for the releases?
A: Currently not decide, but we are making it in blu-ray quality so it's applicable but it is up to the distributor.

Q: Is Funimation going to be your exclusive distributor or is there possiblity you will set up shop again to bring in more product under your own title?
A: We do have a very mutual relationship with FUNimation but we don't want to just limit it to them so we are going to open up to other distributors

Thanks as always go out to Bayoab who has liveblogged the panel, which you can find here with additional questions and commentary.

AX 2010: Viz Media Panel

By Chris Beveridge [Source: Mania.com] July 03, 2010

Viz Media got their panel rolling this Saturday morning by starting with a look at their various manga properties that are due out in the next several months and talking about Vampire Knight's anime and streaming that's going as well as the release of the first DVD due out later in July (reviewed here yesterday!). Once they got through that portion of the panel, which ran for about 40 minutes, they started talking about new things that are coming up for the company.

New manga acquisitions:

Mistress Fortune vol 1 by Arina Tanemura in Feb 2011, $9.99

Sakura Hime Kaden, the Legend of Princess Sakura, vol 1, by Arina Tanemura in April 2011, $9.99

Oresama Teacher vol 1 by Izumi Tsubaki in March 2011, $9.99

Ai Ore vol 1 by Mayu Shinjo in May 2011, $9.99

New anime acquisitions:

Nurarihyon no Mago, aka Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan

This is a new Shonen Jump series that's starting its broadcast in Japan on July 5th and they will be simulcasting it on the same day via their VizAnime site that's powered by Hulu, giving it significant exposure over the summer.

Plot Summary: Rikuo Nura is part human and a quarter Youkai (demon). He lives in a house full of spirits along with his youkai grandfather. Trying to escape his fate of acting like a demon, he does good deeds in order to avoid becoming one, despite his grandfather's wish to succeed him as master of the Nura youkai clan. He eventually comes to terms with his demon blood and decides to take up the position of Young head of the Nura house. Multiple factions aim to stop him or overtake his position, and he must gather friends and allies, a new Hyakki Yaku under his banner of "Fear".

The series is based on the manga by Hiroshi Shiibashi which began its run in Weekly Shonen Jump in March of 2008 and is still ongoing with ten volumes released so far.

There was no formal Q&A session at the panel, but a question was snuck in afterward asking about the Monster series but nothing could be said by the representative about it at this stage.

Monday, July 5, 2010

AX 2010: Aniplex USA Panel Report

By Chris Beveridge [Source: Mania.com] July 02, 2010

Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music, held their Anime Expo panel today with a bit of anticipation as they indicated earlier in the year that they have some other shows to bring out after their initial foray with the two Gurren Lagann movies. The company talked about their various web presence and the growth of their YouTube channel in which they’re planning to show ROD theTV, Ghost Slayers Ayashi and Towards the Terra. They also covered the events they’re a part of or sponsoring at Anime Expo while also acknowledging their various partners over the years that have helped to bring over many of their shows.

In the midst of the panel, the Aniplex USA site went live where we saw the information on their acquisition of Durarara. The series is intended to be released on DVD in 3 parts starting in January 2011.

http://www.durararausa.com/

The show will have 8-9 episodes spread across two DVDs for each set (similar to Bandai Entertainment's release style) and the show will have it's English dub cast announced at Otakon at the end of July. No cast has been finalized yet, that will happen after Anime Expo.

During the Q&A phase, the reps indicated there are no plans to dub the Gurren Lagann movies that they're currently releasing in the future.

Q: Kara no Kyoukai movies?
A: We are now thinking about it... hopefully we can bring you the title quite soon. Please stayed tuned to our announcement.

Q: With the Gurren Lagann movies, blu-ray?
A: When Japan releases a blu-ray, prettty sure we will in the USA, but we don't know yet

Q: Working to the US?
A: We're working on it. You will hear the annoucnement quite soon but I can't say any further at this point.

Durarara!! has been available on Crunchyroll (and continues to be so according to the Aniplex page) and we've reviewed the entire series week by week, which you can find here:

Digital Distribution

AX 2010: Digital Manga Publishing Panel

By Chris Beveridge [Source: Mania.com] July 02, 2010

Digital Manga Publishing had their panel on Thursday night, the opening day of Anime Expo, and they covered a fair bit of what to expect from the company going forward with books and plans. Vampire Hunter D continues to be one of their better selling titles as remarked by the reps during the panel.

Their specific book plans for the rest of 2010 include:

Itazura No Kiss Volume 3 is due out this summer with Volume 4 in Winter 2010
Yashakiden by Hideyuki Kikuchi Volume 3 in its oversize edition in Winter 2010
Vampire Hunter D Volume 5 will arrive in Winter 2010
Wolf God, vol 1 summer 2010, should be getting it this month... 17:12:58 by Ai Tenkawa
Alice the 101st by Chigusa Kawai, shoujo title... vol 1 summer 2010, dokidoki line actually now available
Finder Vol 1 by Ayane Yamano, most requested Yaoi title ever, september or late august vol 2 will also be available this fall we're reissuing it with her permission
The Tyrant falls in love by Hinako Takanaga, going to be available in august, also yaoi/june line author will be dmp guest at yaoi-con 2010
Kizuna Deluxe vol 1 by Kazuma Kodaka, first vol in fall 2010, deluxe edition 2 vols in 1, june line.. 11 vols in 5 omnibus and a single stand alone
Under Grand Hotel by Mika Sadahiro, vol 1 summer 2010, 801 media.... also licened the more thick editions, so 2 vols instead of 4... believe next month

Digital Manga Publishing also talked about their 2011 plans:

Demon City Shinjuku by Hideyuki Kikuchi is coming in 2011 in a complete single edition novel format
Countdown 7 Days by Kemuri Karakara
Houou Gakuen Misoragumi by Aki Arara (4 volumes long, starting in 2011)
Border by Kazuma Kodaka, JP pub Med-i-ation and DMP is going to try and do simultaneous releases with Japan
Kusatta Kyo Shino Houteishiki by Kazuma Kodaka will begin a 5 volume omnibus release
Gochisosama by CJ Michalski
Boku no Shiru Anata no Hanashi by Tsuta Suzuki
Sabaku no Oujisama by Shushushu Sakurai

DMP is also kicking off a new exclusive soon by providing animation cels for sale via their site and convention booths. They've partnered with Viz Media And Studio Pierrot to bring this over and the first title they're working with is Naruto Shippuden. Pricing is expected to be around $60. More series are in the works as well.

Something else that DMP gets to promote a bit that's really interesting is that they're going to be providing a new title called Mizuki via their emanga site exclusively. Mizuki is being created by Nao Yazawa, the woman behind Wedding Peach. In addition to that they'll be releasing a title called Moon and Blood via emanga that apparently won't be available in Japan.

When the Q&A session started up, they were asked about how they market explicit titles. Not surprisingly, it's kept to just the core fans and most of their sales are made up through Amazon and independent stories though they occasionally get a couple into the brick and mortar chains as well. Asked about the omnibus editions that are re-releases of previous titles, the reps indicated that they're working from the Libre editions and with Finder they're getting things done according to the original authors wishes with corrections included.

When asked about marketing the Finder title and why it was going to June instead of 801 Media, both parties involved felt it had a wider appeal than the much more narrowly focused 801 Media and opted to go with June. And June books tend to get into Borders more often than not while Barnes and Nobel won't even take shonen-ai books.

AX 2010: Nozomi Acquires Soranowoto and Utena

By Chris Beveridge [Source: Mania.com] July 02, 2010

The Dark Lord held court today at Anime Expo as Right Stuf president Shawne Kleckner had the panel that covers their Nozomi Entertainment company and related labels releases and news. After taking a picture to prove that he was there, the panel launched into familiar territory as they showcased trailers of titles they’ve got and released, such as Aria, Rental Magica, Ninja Nonsense, Lost Universe, the fourth season of Maria Watches Over Us, El Hazard: The Wanderers , Super Gals in its complete form, Gravitation, Dirty Pair, Junjo Romantica and Antique Bakery.

El Hazard: The Wanderers will be created using remastered video and all hardsubs and overlays are no longer present. All soft subtitled.

Dirty Pair is getting two box sets releases with the first part due in Winter 2010 (November 2010 account to their Twitter feed) and the second part in Spring 2011.

Gravitation is getting a new box set that has both the TV and OVA series together with the English audio being remastered into a 5.1 mix.

Junjo Romantica has its second season due in Spring 2011 and Shawne showed off one piece of new merchandise coming from Great Eastern for it with a sample bear plushie.

Antique Bakery has a 2011 date, with the Twitter feed indicating early 2011.

Nozomi Entertainment has acquired some new licenses and kicked off their announcements with the series Soranowoto by playing the ending theme. The series is set for 2011 in a single box set with all the DVD extras and some extra things they got from the original producers.

Nozomi Entertainment has acquired the rights to Revolutionary Girl Utena, which has been out of print for several years after Central Park Media had it and released it in some pretty confusing configurations. This release has been worked on forever in being acquired (believe me, I know!) and they have managed to get it with the remastered video! from the Japanese release, which is critically important. This is due out in 2011. A lot of work is going to be put into making this a pristine release with a lot of interactive things with fans going on and some extras.

Utena will be released in 3 box sets for the thirty nine episodes that it runs.

After the announcements, and an attempt to escape from the room, Shawne participated in a Q&A session with attendees while noting that there are still more licenses to come along the way elsewhere.

With Soranowoto, the series aired as part of the Winter season earlier this year and was one of the shows we reviewed episode by episode, which you can peruse here:

Soranowoto Episode #01
Soranowoto Episode #02
Soranowoto Episode #03
Soranowoto Episode #04
Soranowoto Episode #05
Soranowoto Episode #06
Soranowoto Episode #07
Soranowoto Episode #08
Soranowoto Episode #09
Soranowoto Episode #10
Soranowoto Episode #11
Soranowoto Episode #12

Anime Picture Collections

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Thursday, July 15, 2010

"Cosplay in America" @ Anime Expo 2010

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

AX 2010: FUNimation Panel Report

AX 2010: Geneon Universal Entertainment Panel

AX 2010: Viz Media Panel

Monday, July 5, 2010

AX 2010: Aniplex USA Panel Report

AX 2010: Digital Manga Publishing Panel

AX 2010: Nozomi Acquires Soranowoto and Utena

Anime Expo 2010

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