Anime Boston Details
Bandai News
Bandai Entertainment's Robert Napton presented his company's news and announcements. Last summer, Bandai was very active in licensing new shows, and the dubbing and production on several of those is just about finished. Lucky Star will be Bandai's first upcoming new release, scheduled for May 6. A new DVD of the series will then come out every two months, for a total of six volumes, and each one will contain thorough liner notes explaining Lucky Star's vast numter of in-jokes and references to other anime.
Even before that, on Saturday, April 26, the first episode of Bandai's military science ficiton series Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion will premiere on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block. Before the broadcast, on Friday night, and on every subsequent Friday, the episode that is scheduled for that week will also be streamed on adultswim.com. There is no set date for when Code Geass will come to DVD yet, but Bandai is working on dubbing the series, and onlincluding as many of the extras, such as sound dramas, that are available on the Japanese DVDs as possible. On April 6, the second 25-episode season of Code Geass will begin in Japan, and Bandai's license already extends to cover that, as well as the manga adaptations of the series and the light novel.
The summer months of the year will see Bandai brining out the first volume of Ghost Slayers Ayashi (aka Ayakashi Ayashi), starting around June. Both the 25 episodes of the main television series and the five of the Ayashi Divine Comedy OAV sequel will eventually be brought out. The initial volumes of Toward the Terra and Clamp School are also set for the summer, as are the single-volume My Otome Zwei and the four episodes of the Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny Special Edition OAV. To avoid confusion, the 90-minute episodes will be brough out as the Gundam Seed Destiny TV Movies. Over the summer, Bandai is also planning limited theatrical distribution for its The Girl Who Leapt through Time feature film. Both a subtitled and a dubbed print will be distributed to theaters, based on interest and the concentrations of anime fans in the markets that individual theaters serve. The prints will be based on that used for the Japanese theatrical run of the film, rather than the slightly different DVD version, which Bandai is currently scheduling for the fall.
Bandai Entertainment's one new announcement of the 2008 Anime Boston, is last year's 12-episode science fiction comedy Rocket Girls, about a high school student who stumbles into becoming an astronaut while looking for a part-time job. Until a short time ago, fansubs of the series were hosted on the CrunchyRoll service, which removed them following a Bandai request.
As the victory of Blu-Ray in the DVD format wars has been declared, Bandai is looking at the beset ways to take advantage of it. No definite decision about when the company will begin releasing discs in the new format has been made yet. Overall, Bandai Entertainment's core business remains producing and distributing anime. Despite the fact that it has been publishing the Eureka 7 manga, and will be bringing out the three companion manga series to Code Geass, it still considers manga to be a shoot-of from its primary products. When manga related to Bandai's licenses do exist, however, it does plan to consider acquiring the rights to them, and in fact, Bandai is extremely pleased with being able to end up with as high-profile a manga as Code Geass.
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Funimation News
FUNimation Entertainment's events manager Adam Sheehan hosted the Anime Boston panel of North America's largest anime distributor. Incidentally, Anime Boston 2008 is the 400th anime convention he has participated in as an attendee and industry rep.
As he has at other previous panels, Adam began by going over some of Funimation's ongoing sales and promotional initiatives. 12 different series are currently available for digital download on iTunes and the XBox Live Marketplace service, priced at $1.99 per episode or $38.99 for a full series, while subtitled episodes of Black Blood Brothers can be downloaded to own from Funimation's own website. Funimation is treating digital distribution first and foremost as a way to get fans interested in new series that they may not want to immediately buy DVDs of, and to introduce non-fans to different anime. Nonetheless, the end-goal of any digital distribution initiatives will be to drive the sales of the series DVDs. Funimation's website has also recently been redesigned, with features like an enhanced video section and a list of broadcast of Funimation titles.
The cable FUNimation Channel continues to feature new series from both Funimation and other companies. Funimation's Black Cat, MoonPhase, Peach Girl and Suzuka have recently premiered on the channel, with Ninja Nonsense, Record of Lodoss War and Shingu set to start screening in the coming weeks.
The company is also continuing to promote its Operation Anime club assistance program, the budget-priced Viridian Collection of $14.98-$19.98 single DVDs and $29.98-$49.98 full-series box sets, and the Funimation Green initiative. All DVDs featuring that logo feature packing that uses recyclable materials, printing technologies that use renewable energy sources and cleaner production practices, and paper from forests grown with sustainable techniques.
Of the shows Funimation is currently releasing, Sheehan highlighted Shuffle!, Black Blood Brothers, the One Piece movie, and Aquarion. That show is being used to test how the North American anime market will respond to releases of multi-episode sets instead of four or five-episode individual disks. If it works, Funimation intends to release other future series the same way.
Spring plans include the May 20 street dates for the single-volume BALDR FORCE EXE Resolution series and the computer-animated movie Vexille. These will be followed on May 27 by the standard and Blu-Ray release of the Dragon Ball Z Dead Zone and The World's Strongest movies, packaged together in a single collector's tin. Both films will be remastered in high-definition, digitally restored and with a wide-screen transfer. On the same day, DBZ's Season 5, the complete Imperfect Cell and Perfect Cell sagas will also be brought out, with both Japanese and "newly revised" English-language dialogue. And for a one-two-three punch, the first of Funimation's DVD release of the uncut, Japanese-dialogue One Piece is scheduled for that date as well. One Piece, Season 1: First Voyage will be a two-DVD, 13-episode set, and further releases of the pirate adventure series will follow the same pattern of availability as sets only. The School Rumble OAV (scheduled for June 17) will be the last release of Spring 2008, and the second season of that series will be brought out over the second half of the year. The summer will also see the Blu-Ray version of the Dragon Ball Z: History of Trunks and Bardok specials.
With Sheehan's presentation taking up most of the panel's allotted hour, the audience questions at the end touched upon several older Funimation series. The license for Kodocha was not extended past episode 51, as the company chose to focus its resources on other, more popular series. On the other hand, while it did not work as well as expected in its Cartoon Network broadcast, more Case Closed season box sets are in the pipeline. Finally, while Funimation is extremely interested in acquiring the first 13 episodes of the original Dragon Ball, that license is not currently available.
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ADV Films News
At his company's Anime Boston 2008 panel, David L. Williams of ADV Films announced that his company has acquired the North American distribution rights to Kiba. This 51-episode alternate-world adventure television series, with animation produced by Madhouse, was sponsored by the Japanese division of the trading card company Upper Deck. Williams was not able to make any comments about ADV's plans for the Gurren Lagann anime.
(There may be more news to ADV Films details, I will try to keep people posted)
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Hello everyone this is Fallenangel8 counting down Anime Expo with weekly updates of guest and events.
count down to AX 102 days
David Hayter best known as the the voice of Snake from the hugely popular METAL GEAR SOLID video game franchise is a Guest of Honor at Anime Expo 2008
David Hayter other works include Yu Yu Hakusho: The Movie, Giant Robo: The Animation, and Tamahome from Fushigi Yūgi.
http://www.anime-expo.org/
photo from http://www.plastico.tv/
-fallenangel8
Funimation Clarifies Status of Negima, Romeo × Juliet
Negima OVAs' license confirmed; Romeo X Juliet still unlicensed for N. America
The North American distributor Funimation has clarified with ANN the licensing status of Mahou Sensei Negima! OVA Haru (pictured at right), Mahou Sensei Negima! OVA Natsu, and Romeo × Juliet anime titles. The company has confirmed that it does have the North American rights to both of the Negima videos. These videos recount side stories with the magic students of Mahora Academy's Class 2-A. Funimation also confirmed that the Romeo × Juliet television re-imagining from the Gonzo anime studio still "has not yet been licensed to a local distributor in North America." The issues regarding these titles' licensing were raised in an earlier ANN news piece. Funimation reaffirmed that Gonzo asked Funimation to monitor and take action against unauthorized distribution of Gonzo's titles as part of their longstanding relationship.
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Vampire Knight Anime's Promo Video Posted Online
The official Japanese website for the Vampire Knight anime series has posted a pre-broadcast promotional video on March 22. The video showcases the character designs, but no actual animation footage. The anime adapts Matsuri Hino's original manga about Cross Academy, a school where the student body is divided into the "regular" Day Class and the "elite" Night Class. Yuki Cross, the adopted daughter of the headmaster, is one of the few people in the entire school who knows that the Night Class students are vampires. Viz Media has been publishing the manga in North America since last year, and the anime premieres in Japan's TV Tokyo broadcasting station on April 7.
Click here to watch the promo video.
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Fullmetal Alchemist Manga: Over 30 Million Served
The promotional sleeve wrapper on the 19th volume of Hiromu Arakawa's Fullmetal Alchemist manga announced that the series has sold over 30 million copies in Japan. Arakawa began drawing the "dark fantasy" manga in Square Enix's Monthly Shonen Gangan magazine in 2001, and Viz Media has been publishing the manga in North America.
Front cover of Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 19
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Gonzo Works to be Streamed Simultaneously with Airing
Worldwide, same-day streaming of new titles on YouTube, Crunchyroll, BOST
The Japanese media company GDH has announced that the YouTube, CrunchyRoll, and BOST online video services will be streaming new titles from GDH's Gonzo animation studio — worldwide and on the same day as their Japanese broadcast. The video streams, which will be in Japanese with English subtitles, will start with The Tower of Druaga: the Aegis of Uruk (pictured at right) and Blassreiter anime series. Druaga premieres on April 4, and Blassreiter premieres on April 5.
All three video services offer their content via streaming, although GDH also mentioned "fee-based download of high-resolution movie files" in its press release. America's Viz Media offered NTV's Death Note episodes for download within half a year of their Japanese broadcast, but GDH's new initiative is the first global, simultaneous streaming of multiple series from a major anime studio. GDH added that its "decision to provide its content globally in parallel with Japanese broadcast is an effort to offer equal accessibility and new viewing opportunities to fans around the world, while at the same time showcasing a legal online alternative to illegal file-sharing and downloading." GDH also emphasized that the services are for foreign viewers only; the company already has deals in place to stream its content through services within Japan.
Image of Blassreiter, which is airing in Japan on April 5th 2008
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but before offical release 
Natsuki Takaya's Fruits Basket manga volume 19 debuted at #112 on USA Today's list of America's top 150 best-selling books for the week of March 10 to March 16 — even though Tokyopop did not officially schedule it until March 18. Fruits Basket last appeared in November, when volume 18 reached #67 at its peak. Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto volume 28 dipped slightly from its all-time series high of #17 to #26 this past week. Ken Akamatsu and Del Rey's Negima volume 17 dropped off the chart after debuting at #115 the previous week.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-03-20/usa-today-booklist-march-10-16-fruits-basket-returns
-fallenangel8
