What’s New From FUNimation:
After the internet presence pitch, they went straight into shows and movies they wanted to plug. It was basic “we love this show, you’re gonna love this show” kind of stuff. They showed some trailers, mentioned other neat tidbits about them, and in general got people really excited either because they were discussing new shows or because they were discussing old favourites. Adam had slides for:
Evangelion 1.0 – It was currently making its rounds at film festivals.
Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple – This is a show my friend has been recommending for a while, and apparently it’s just been flying off the shelves since they made it available. I also need to say that it had an amazing trailer.
Shigurui – A series about “death, blood, blood, and death.” Samurai ultra-violence, not recommended for all viewers.
D. Gray Man – It’s out, and people were very glad to hear it’s out. Also amusingly mentioned how the final episode in the set introduced a new character that audiences wouldn’t see for another three months (for the next release)… “…because [they’re] bastards,” evidently.
Last Exile – “Not on BluRay… yet…”
Big Windup – This one, Adam specifically mentioned regarding Hulu and YouTube and stuff so people can “check out now, buy later.”
Heroic Age – “Gundam Seed meets Mad Max.”
Case Closed, Season 5 – This season marks the end of FUNimation’s contract… but they want more…
Murder Princess – “She will cut you!” Lots of laughs as Adam described the main character as “Lina Inverse on crack!”
Shin-Chan – The Shin-Chan DVDs will continue the “Bowels of the Booth” features. Beyond that, they shared one particular (apparently axed) DVD cover in homage of the Scarface cover… but with Shin-Chan… and with mosaic-covered Shin-Chan bits…
Romeo x Juliet – Adam was really enthusiastic about this one, calling it “the best dub we’ve ever made.” Taliesin Jaffe, who wrote the Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad dub (which is also fantastic) has apparently done something remarkable with this dub: he’s taken actual lines from Shakespeare and matched them to the lip flaps of the characters on-screen. The various FUNimation talent have all apparently expressed great admiration for this script, so this definitely sounds like one to keep tabs on.
Kaze no Stigma – I forget what he said about it beyond “it’s coming out”. My bad.
One Piece: Season 2, Part 1 – Adam described this release as “almost the end of the beginning!” Beyond that, he said that they were releasing One Piece season sets more by story arc than by episode count. It’s a neat idea, and I hope it works out.
Samurai Champloo, Complete Series – “Certain shows should never leave the shelf…”
After those presentations, we then got to see a big screen of less-expensive Viridian box covers. Always good if you’re looking to clean up on older shows. So that was that… next were their special announcements…
