I nvied this person.

Unless something amazing happens, this’ll be my final photopost…although I have a couple of videos to upload later. So…photos! Continue Reading »

More twitters from LordRichard indicate that Bandai Entertainment has a new announcement, probably something that occurred here at Expo, because they’re not actually allowed to tell us until the first business day after the con, i.e. tomorrow. So check back here on that! Apparently there’s some news on the Honneamise line, although I’m not sure if that’s the same news they have for tomorrow or not.

I’m personally hoping for BEI to score some Spice and Wolf, but we’ll see.

Hokay, Kadokawa is getting started soon, and they passed out flyers saying that they’d have one new announcement…and…I see Rob Napton from Bandai Entertainment up at the panelist table, so….should be interesting, whatever it is. I’m running through a list of recent Kadokawa anime in my head. Or hey, maybe Bandai Entertainment (or somebody) finally scored the Lucky Star manga.

And now we’re getting started (a bit late because the last panel ran over). What oh what will Kadokawa announce? Actually maybe Bandai doesn’t have something, Rob Napton seems to have left and there’s a Haruhi hug pillow up there; maybe he was just delivering? Well, we’ll see.

Panelists are Chiako and Yuko from the Kadokawa licensing team. They’re talking a bit about the company, and they’re going to announce six new titles with animation samples, so I’m betting we actually have already heard of them, so we’ll see…

So! New, sexy titles (their words not mine): H2O ~Footprints in the Sand~, Good Luck! Ninomiya-kun (aka Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun)…more coming after we get a little preview. Next up is Rental Magika…And then there’s Coo ~Our Guardian~, which is also known as Wagaya no Oinarisama. And Junjou Romantica (being called Romantica ~Pure Love~, even though Tokyopop kept the Japanese name), and yes, it’s BL. And finally…Spice and Wolf for the win!

So the question is, what company will Kadokawa pick to do the production and distribution in the US? Bandai Entertainment, or someone else?

And now, special guest from Bandai Entertainment– Rob Napton! SURPRIIISE! And also Ocean Studios’ Jennifer Fairweather, since they dubbed The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, which they just showed the preview for. They’re going to add more theaters to the theatrical release, so keep an eye out on the official website. The special edition of the DVD will offer a lot of bonus stuff that came with the movie in Japan.

Fairweather is talking about the dub cast: Emily Hearst is Makoto, Andrew Francis played Chiaki, Alex Sehara playing Kousuke, and a few others. Napton also wants to note that the Seattle release is going to be at the Varsity theater August 29th through September 4th (I’m going!).

And so they’re done…so I guess we’re moving into the giveaway. They have a Haruhi dakimakura. @_@; Moving on to the Q&A!

Is it possible to see Gamura vs Godzilla? I can’t hear the answer because the guy isn’t talking into the microphone at all but I think it sums up to “we don’t own Godzilla so we can’t do that easily.”

Will the DVD release for Girl who Leapt through Time have Japanese subtitles? He wants to use the film to help teach Japanese to his students, and the Japanese DVD didn’t have Japanese subs. But no, alas.

Are there any American publishers in mind that they try to work with, because they’ve worked with Bandai Entertainment and FUNimation in the past…when will the US distributors be announced for these series, basically? They can’t say right now but it’ll all be released in the US very soon. Follow-up: how is working with Bandai? What kind of question is that? Napton from off to the right says that it’s great! And so does the guy who doesn’t talk into the microphone, who also just introduced himself, not that I heard it since he’s not talking into the microphone…I think he’s being corrected now. Oh, his mic was off. But his short answer is “we love Bandai.”

Kadokawa JP just announced a content sharing deal with YouTube for derivative content, any plans to bring it to the US? They’re hoping that there’ll be a step forward from the way YouTube is currently being used by fans and they hope it’ll be mutually beneficial.

Do they have plans to release a Blu-Ray disc of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time? They hope to do so soon but no specific mentions just yet…oh look, the president of Kadokawa Pictures USA just jumped in and said they hope to get it done with Bandai next year.

Reader Kuro just got up and started sucking up by thanking everyone for putting The Girl Who Leapt Through Time in theaters and asked if the new licenses be sub-only or dubbed? They hope dubbed but they’re not sure yet.

Some guy is trying to ask about Lucky Star’s OVA, which is currently in production in Japan, a single 30 minute episode, and I didn’t catch his actual question or the answer. Another thanker is at the mic.

A Haruhi fan is up, is this the requisite season 2 question? Yes indeedy, although he asks about there being a rumor of a season two. The longer you wait, the better it’ll be, they’re saying…and yes, there will be a season two.

TokiKake question who was annoyed it didn’t show at Expo– maybe at Otakon or another con? They’re working on it. Napton said something but I couldn’t hear it from back here where the power outlets are. Any chance of it coming to Phoenix? Maybe, they’re trying.

Yet another thanker (what is this, FUNimation?) TokiKake is based on a light novel, H2O is based on an eroge, etc. What is Wagaya no Oinarisama based on? Short answer: light novel! That was easy.

A general question: how does Kadokawa Pictures USA work? How is it different from other Japanese companies? They try to maximize the benefits of having the books as well as anime rights, among other things.

Another quick one about TokiKake: will it hit the Bay Area? Answer: Yes! Well, that’s cool, I was expecting another “maybe, can’t say, working on it!”

And that panel is over– my last one for the con, huzzah! I’ll get up my interview with Right Stuf’s Shawne Kleckner tonight or early tomorrow, and I’ll get out the Hideyuki Kikuchi interview as early as I can, probably later in the day tomorrow.

So you don’t sit there waiting for me to update about it, I just heard from Tim over at the Broccoli panel and he says they have no new licenses.

Adam Sheehan presides once again over FUNimation’s panels, and he reminds us once again that in terms of the state of the anime industry: DON’T PANIC!

So far it’s mostly the usual Sheehan notes about the industry combined with some quotes from Gen’s keynote.

Aquarion and Witchblade dubs are going up on iTunes in late July. I think that’s new…

FUNimation Mobile is going to be available on AT&T and Sprint, just text “go funimation” to the number 22646. Each episode is presented in five-minute chapters, and Gunslinger Girls and Moon Phase are both available– and either comes with Galaxy Railways for free. Each series is $4.99/mo.

And then there’s the FUNimation Update and the FUNimation Quickie, their new podcasts.

More items on blu-ray, can’t remember what’s new and what’s not, so here’s the full list: Afro Samurai, DBZ Tree of Might and Return of Cooler, Robotech Shadow Chronicles, Shinobu: Heart Under Blade, and Vexille. I think most of that is not new, actually, but there it is anyway.

Case Closed season 1 is coming out for $49.98 for the first season (26 episodes), due out July 22nd. YuYu Hakusho will also be out, first season (26 eps) for $34.98, out July 8th, and it’s already here at the con. One Piece eps 14-26 are coming out September 23rd for $49.98 with exclusive cover art as previously announced.

And then, of course, there’s Dragon Ball Z season six, hitting stores September 16th. 29 episodes, marathon play, etc. No price on the slide. The first season of Dragonball GT is also coming out in late 2008, more information coming soon.

Many screams for Ouran High School Host Club of course, part one October 28th for $59.98. Part two is due out January 6th with 14-26, also $59.98. There’ll be actors commentary, manga pages, and outtakes as well. (No swag? After all this time? Aw…)

Another title that’s taken forever: Darker than Black, volume one coming out November 25th. Nothing more on that.

Now, a special announcement…oh, no, wait, it’s the same stuff they’ve already announced so far. Let’s see…all the recent announcements, like Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino and Heroic Age and D.Gray-Man and Romeo x Juliet and stuff. Then there’s the new YouTube deal; full-length eps of Blue Gender, Slayers, Peach Girl, Mushishi, and Kiddy Grade. Those are apparently available right now, with new episodes every week.

And then there’s the new Geneon acquisitions, which you can get the list of here and no doubt next he’ll be listing the ADV titles…yup. He also gave us a full list, which ended in “the cake is a lie,” and then “it’s over 9000!!!” Ah, memes.

But the question is, will there be any NEW new announcements here at FUNimation today? Looks like no, we’re moving into the Q&A– which will actually include Gen Fukunaga as well as Sheehan.

They have Claymore and Host Club pencil boards at the FUNimation booth, but they’re already running low.

Here’s a question– why does Navarre’s stock keep going down? Fukunaga says that FUNi’s earnings keep going up, so maybe it’s just too under the radar in the rest of the world. They are trying to get analysts to notice the stock more.

Why did FUNi get ADV titles, and why did Ouran take so long? With Ouran they couldn’t start working on the show until some time after the original announcement was made. Also the licensor didn’t want to give up the digital rights for a long time, apparently, which as Gen noted in my interview, they insist on them. And apparently Sojitz offered FUNi the ADV titles.

For Geneon, will there be complete season packs? It’s a partnership with Geneon, so they’ll release the remaining volumes and then offer a box set. So probably no going back and getting individual volumes that had previously been released, and I doubt I’ll get to ask a question in this panel…there are a LOT of people here. I’ll try and ask afterwards since I know someone wanted to know about that.

One Piece will have marathon play. Any chance to pick up older Geneon titles like Trigun and Tenchi? Those are mostly reverted to their original JP licensors, so they might be able to cherry pick the ones that are strong but there are no guarantees. Any chance at Battle Athletes? Keep an eye out for updates on the website and podcast and if anything happens we’ll probably hear about it there.

Any chance of picking up the Rozen Maiden OVA since they have the first and second season? They don’t know yet, it’ll depend on how the show goes. Will there still be special editions for Hellsing and Saiunkoku? Gen says that Geneon finished the packaging on a lot of it already, but the stuff that isn’t done, there’s no way to say for sure…they’ll sell the leftover special editions that they have already, but probably nothing new will be manufactured on that front.

They’re trying to get ADV to finish out their series but no guarantees just yet, so we’ll see…Any chance at the FUNimation channel going to DirectTV or dish? And…Geneon was a bit more pricey, is it going to stay that way or will the prices go FUNimation style? Gen says that FUNimation and Geneon both do about $30 for a 4-episode disc on the shelf at best buy, so probably no difference in pricing there. The FUNi channel is aggressively pursuing VOD, so that’s the real focus right now, but Dish could happen on a VOD basis. Probably not DirectTV, no negotiations at this time, though they’d like to be.

Second season of Kodocha? Not available yet, but either August or September. And there’ll also be a slimpack of season one at the same time. Are they going to be on Anime News Network’s new anime video service? ANN is interested but Gen says that the focus is working on the more mass audience sites (i.e. YouTube). (Haven’t had time to post about this yet, but here’s the info.)

What happened to One Piece on Cartoon Network? Apparently we didn’t write enough letters to CN…but One Piece takes a while to catch on, so the ratings didn’t get high enough. They’re also changing their strategy to do less anime (cue boos).

A question about Big Windup (Ookiku Furikabutte)– it’s so different from what usually sells here, so why did you pick it up, and when will you release it? Early next year on the timeline front. As for why? Well, it may take a while to figure out how to do the marketing and the voice cast.

Are they going to keep doing stuff on MySpace and other word-of-mouth/viral campaigns? Yes. They’re thinking outside the banner, as it were.

Any repackaging of DVDs from Geneon that fans might have missed out on? Yay, now I don’t have to ask that question later! It’ll depend on how the volumes sell, so vote with your dollars, kids.

Only two more questions…someone just called them the “Chuck Norrises of the anime industry.” Wow. Will there be two months or four months between One Piece releases? Probably around two…no! Three! Three months, says some FUNi staffer in the audience. And the DVDs are doing well, it and Shin-chan. Gintama? They’ll keep it in mind.

Last question? First two kudos (for Mushishi and D.Gray-Man). The question: is there a timeline for the second semester of School Rumble– again, August or September. The end!

So at the Dark Horse panel yesterday Carl Horn passed around a number of samples, including the Japanese volumes of Clover. Toward the end of the panel they were having trouble finding volume 4, and Anime on DVD notes in their panel report that the volume was never recovered.

That’s not cool, guys. If it was one of you, return it to the Dark Horse booth and they’ll accept it as a mistake. They need the book in order to get the Clover omnibus done in time!

So since I am a mere human (in spite of reports that I’m actually a spam bot, wich are UNTRUE!), I wasn’t able to get to Bandai Entertainment’s panel on Honneamise (Bandai Visual USA’s anime label), which was also not on my schedule (*cough*).

Fortunately for you guys, Anime on DVD’s Jason did go, and reports back that among other things, BEI plans on producing simultaneous releases with Japan under the Honneamise label, starting with the Freedom full Blu-Ray set, due out in a sub AND dub version (and with French subs) on November 11th. It’s four discs, $140 (it goes for ¥20,000, about $200, in Japan, so it IS cheaper than Japan– and this is Blu-Ray as well. Though still not cheap).

Other notables:

The Gunbuster and Diebuster films will be released separately, on Blu-Ray, for $50 each. All three (? Gunbuster and Diebuster OVAs plus the Gunbuster vs Diebuster movie, or am I confused?) will be sub-only still.

Apparently Freedom volume 7 is NOT being planned for a separate release, meaning the only way to get the last volume of Freedom is to get the full Blu-Ray set, or later, when the DVDs come out, they’ll come out in two chunks (volume one will include 1-3, and volume two will include 4-7).

They ARE planning to finish Super Robot Wars.

They ARE dubbing some series, but not all.

Prices will be lower than BVU’s– but they’ll still be going for high-quality print/product/packaging, so don’t expect this to be a bargain line.

Hokay, Production I.G is getting started now, but the group’s a little smaller– because of the Shokotan concert, no doubt –the panel’s being hosted by Maki Terashima. She’s adorable, by the way.

Anyway, she’s talking about I.G’s upcoming Mamoru Oshii flick, Sky Crawlers, which is hitting Japan on August 2nd. There’s no U.S. distro yet, but they’re looking. They’re also working on World Destruction starting July 7th, which you can read more about at my summer preview.

Announcements that couldn’t be made last year but are interesting for this year, although she can’t say much on them: Clone Wars, they apparently did an episode of the new Star Wars cartoon. And second: the Anibatrix, Batman: Gothic Knight, which I couldn’t see the screening for (sad pandas). It’s due out Tuesday.

Cue the trailer reel, with shots from past I.G series from Blood: The Last Vampire to Tokyo Marble Chocolate to xxxHOLiC to Ghost in the Shell to…well, you get the idea. Then there are subbed trailers of Sky Crawlers– we’re told Oshii didn’t right it, so it’s easier to understand. Heh. Apparently Oshii is also a major fan of basset hounds, and his just passed away. (We’re seeing pictures from the sound recording of Sky Crawlers at Skywalker Ranch.)

They also played mahjongg– with actual gambling –and went to the Napa Valley wineries. Work, drinking, and gambling: a true California experience!

Moving on to a trailer for Real Drive, which I never got around to watching but which looks kinda neat…

Now a show called Phone Braver 7, which is actually a live-action TV series, a first for I.G. Takashi Miike is directing the series, and Mamoru Oshii directed one episode of it too. Maki is chastising people for leaving the room– why ARE they leaving right before a Miike reel? They’ll also be showing a preview of the replaced CG scenes for the upcoming remastered version of Ghost in the Shell too.

I only caught snippets of Phone Braver 7 since I was posting about the Honneamise stuff, but what I did see looked fun. Next up is the Ghost in the Shell 2.0 remix. Manga Entertainment will be releasing it, and they’ll have details on that release at New York Comic Con.

In the Q&A: anything in the future for Dead Leaves? No plans yet, apparently it didn’t do very well in Japan or the US, but the desire will be relayed. No plans for bringing Tachiguishi-Retsuden yet either.

In response to a question Maki says that the European anime audience is much stronger than the North American audience right now in terms of sales, so we need to compete! (Mind, our economy is also doing worse compared to Europe’s, I think…)

Any shot at Ghost in the Shell 2.0 in theaters in North America? Maki says she thinks it’s high-quality enough but it’s out of their control, it’ll depend on Manga Entertainment…but the theatrical market is really bad in the U.S. right now and not just for anime, so who can say?

Are there any plans for a Seirei no Moribito sequel? Not at this time, but she’ll tell us as soon as she can. How about a Blu-Ray release for Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex Second Gig? Maybe…

Might they do more animated sequences in American movies like Kill Bill? Yes. Apparently there are always a couple of announcements that she can’t do at every Expo (like this year she mentioned Clone Wars and Batman), so next year she can answer that question for us. Of course, we’ll already have the answer online next year, but that’s okay.

How did they come to work with Skywalker Studios? Back when Mamoru Oshii did the live-action film Avalon he liked working with them so much that he insists on going to them, which is why his films are so high-budgeted. But they MIGHT be willing to work for him on a discount for a lower-budget film Oshii wants to work on, she says, but nothing official going on there yet.

Before asking a question, this guy told Maki that her panel is the best one at Expo. Maki says she wasn’t even going to have a panel this year except her trip to Japan was postponed. But hopefully next year she’ll have a better timeslot (i.e. NOT at the same time as a major concert event).

On to the guy’s question…he asks if it’s kinda like Battle Royale since it involves kids killing each other? At risk of spoiling, that’s not the main theme of the film, so no, not really related…but there’s a lot of action and killing, but that’s not the most important part of it.

Any plans on reworking or continuing the Kerberos Saga films? No plans to date. Why do they call them “tachikoma” in the anime instead of “fuchikoma” like in the manga. They’re actually slightly different machines, according to Wikipedia, but the best guess of the I.G rep off to the side is because the personality is a bit different.

“What was with Blood+?” This guy thinks it was horrible. (It was just DIFFERENT from Blood: The Last Vampire.) She says she doesn’t know how to answer that but she’ll pass on the message. And she even let him still take home a little giveaway item. Aww! I wouldn’t have let him. But then, that guy who asked Tpop to stop publishing yaoi won one of their giveaways too. (Lillian handed him the pinkest, girliest prize.)

Tachikoma are really popular; has anyone considered doing a project just with tachikoma? Like a side movie? (Maybe a 4koma? IS there a tachikoma 4koma?) Apparently there already is a “Days of Tachikoma” short video at the end of the DVDs, so…yeah. The guy’s trying to defend himself for not having seen it, blaming it on the fact that he watches the anime at his club. He’ll try to go back and watch.

We’re about out of time, although there’s nothing in here for a while so maybe they can continue?…we’ll see what she does.

How did I.G get involved in live-action, and why an attack cell phone show? Maki’s not entirely sure, but she thinks the director (Takashi Miike) wanted to do it with I.G and Oshii in particular. And let’s face it, who says no to Takashi Miike?

Next fan has a suggestion for subtitles on all the trailers in the US from now on? Maki says yeah, but she only had a week to prepare since she was originally going to be going to Japan around this time.

And now, jan-ken-pon to pass out the rest of the giveaway items. And I get a break until FUNimation! I think I’ll spend my last dollars at the dealer room. ♥

Sitting in on the Go! Comi panel now: and they’re first telling us that 07 Ghost is actually read “seven ghost,” not “oh-seven ghost.” Just so we know. And now they’re doing one of their cute little manga trailers for the series, which, btw, they have a HUGE banner for in the convention center.

We’re talking over all of the current titles, like Crossroads, Tenshi Janai, After School Nightmare, Kamisama Kazoku, Ultimate Venus, etc.

New licensing announcements, yay! Only a few that they can talk about: one is Days of Cool Idols, a BL one-shot, due out this fall (I’ll get the author name at the end). Next year they’ll release You Higuri’s series Crown, based on the original work by Shinji Wada. It’s a shoujo manga, not BL. It’s ending in Japan this December, and they’ll start releasing it in January. She may also get back to Cantarella at the end of this year…maybe.

And finally…a new series by Mick Takeuchi (creator of Her Majesty’s Dog and Wise Man Sleeps), titled Shibariya Komachi. The series follows a 17-year-old girl who accidentally loses nine years of her life– i.e. she becomes an 8-year-old. (Another description says she becomes a 10-year-old, but Go! Comi says she loses nine years, so…you tell me!). I love Takeuchi’s other works so I’m sure I’ll love this one too. ♥

And we’re now getting a preview for o-play, Go! Comi’s new manga gaming initiative– inspired by the Japanese dating sim/renai visual novel type games. However, instead of stat-building like what appears in some games (Angelique) it’s all about story-building. It’ll be online-only, and episodic, kind of like an anime or a manga– so expect cliffhangers. And the price will be under $10…a hit. Hm. It sounds interesting…

The title of the demo game is Dragon Academy. It looks okay so far, although the music’s awful– but this is slug music, not the actual final music, so we’ll see how it goes. It looks very much like a standard visual novel kind of game. It’s all flash, and the art looks really nice.

Here’s a shitty photo of the game:

When you need to make a decision, instead of selecting a text response, you get a wheel of faces (the wheel of emotions, or “wheel of emo”) where you select the way your character responds internally. Interesting.

And now just a couple of minutes for questions: the game will be charged both on a per-chapter (”episode”) basis, and probably also a subscription service eventually, probably when more chapters are available. They’re currently making three games, and they definitely are investigating the possibility of taking Japanese manga and developing games based on their manga (there’s a reason they’ve shown this to You Higuri already)…IF the games do well.

Some asker just got corrected for using “shounen-ai” (which is NOT a term for BL in Japan). A Black Sun/Silver Moon question about whether they’ll pursue more titles by her, and the answer is yes. And a question about Masque of the Red Death, their OEL BL title from Wendy Pini, who is here sitting in the audience already. They had a panel about it last night, and they’re going to have a signing with Pini back in the dealer room after this panel, with posters. There’s also a mock-up of the print edition for people to flip through…if you’re 18+. Those who preorder the book will get it signed by Pini.

The end!

Kasia, Marco, and Lillian are presiding over the Tpop panel, and they’re starting off with upcoming titles, like the Ghostbusters OEL. Artists include Yamashita, Johnson, Delk, Lorenzo, Schelfer, Watson, and Steinbach. Coming out around the same time as the video game.

OH GOD DISNEY. Camp Rock, High School Musical, and Hannah Montana comics…

This has been announced but here’s the first real discussion of it: full-color manga from non-Japan, non-US countries. The first title is Orange by Hong Kong artist Benjamin, due out February 2009, and I have to tell you– the cover is HOT.

Then there’s Pixie, which is thematically more manga-like than Orange. It’s by Mariolle and Aurore, hailing from France. This one was originally a large trim-size book (think TinTin), but they’ve been working their butts off to make sure the art and everything comes out well in a smaler trim size– regular manga size, for the record.

Last up is Luuna, about a Native American girl. I can’t read the names of the artists on it.

Moving forward with other titles that have been announced, they say? Tsubasa: Those With Wings (aka Tsubasa wo Matsu Mono) by Fruits Basket creator Natsuki Takaya.

A, um, Battlestar Galactica manga. Huh. Apparently they’re in close contact with the writers of the recent TV series, so they’ve got some plotlines that were actually supposed to be in the TV show that they didn’t have time to actually do. So, for BSG fans, this could be cool. That’s due out in March ‘09, ish.

They’re coming out with a novel of Tarot Cafe, written by Chandra Rooney and illustrated by Sang-Sun Park, who did the original manhwa, of course.

The .hack//G.U. novel is going to come out next winter, and they’ve acquired Peacemaker Kurogane, the follow-up to the original Peacemaker manga.

I’ve totally lost track on what’s actually new and what’s not, but here’s Nanae Chrono’s Momo Tama, which actually kinda reminds me of Potemayo in style o_o The Japanese title is Senki Senki Momotama, and it looks ridiculous and awesome. And it also includes hot dudes and fighting and action and stuff. Sounds win!

Kare Kano creator Masami Tsuda’s Castle of Dreams, which is actually two of Tsuda’s anthologies combined into one book.

Aaaand NG Life, by Mizuho Kusanagi, of Mugen Spiral fame (but very different).

Oooh, Togainu no Chi manga, by Sugaro Chayamachi and Nitro+ CHIRAL. This is a manga adaptation of a violent, action-oriented BL game. Yes, you heard that right.

This Ugly Yet Beautiful World, based on the Gainax anime of the same name. And then Maid-sama! (also known as Kaichou wa Maid-sama!), by Hiro Fujiwara, about a feminist school president who secretly works in a maid cafe. Mwahaha. Looking forward to that one, which runs in Lala with Host Club and Vampire Knight in Japan.

Last but not least, Demon Sacred, from Jyu-oh-Sei creator Natsumi Itsuki, he rmost recent series. Apparently it involves demons and unicorns. What more do you need?

Q&A now…are they going to continue publishing the Gundam manga Ecole du Ciel, which was suspended– it’s among the titles that are being re-evaluated after the Tpop/Tpop Media split and layoffs. When might we hear about them? As soon as possible but no specific timeframe yet.

Any shot at the .hack//sign SD 4koma strips coming out? Not at the moment, and Tpop is a little wary of the gag strips because they’re hard to translate (AzuDai being an exception, Lillian notes).

How can someone who is an established manga artist in China approach Tpop to publish their works? Sounds like he’s talking about someone specific. In the case of Benjamin, he has an agency, but the person this guy’s talking about can just contact someone at Tpop directly.

A fan of the bind-ups wants to know what other series are going to be done that way. They’ve done Sgt. Frog, KareKano, ReBirth, Chronicles of the Cursed Sword, Battle Royale, and they’re doing an ultimate edition of DramaCon– a 624-page book, with a 15-page bonus story and some stuff. Due out in October. Also I Luv Halloween is getting a bind-up, and Ai Yori Aoshi, and they’re considering many other series. They’ve even talked about doing one for Loveless– it’s just a matter of permission. Oh, and a Demon Host of Ouran bind-up. And the question asker wants Tactics, but that’s not super-long or finished for now.

What’s up with the light novel line? Like the manga, some of them are being re-evaluated but they plan to continue some, like Twelve Kingdoms. But they’re still working it out with the rights holders in Japan.

Questions on Battlestar Galactica (for which there is apparently an exclusive toaster being sold at San Diego Comic Con, scary!). The new manga is set in season 3, and it has not been determined if it’ll be pre-New Caprica(sp?) or post, but it’ll be an anthology of shorts.

I can’t even describe this question. This guy wants to find the UK office, and he wants them to do manga versions of ancient Egyptian scrolls, or something?…Tokyopop is handling this waaay better than we are, I can’t stop chuckling.

How about the reaction on the Kodansha news, will it affect Tokyopop– especially titles like Beck. As far as they know there should be no effect; they haven’t gotten any news from Kodansha, so speculation on that front was apparently wrong. It’s mostly business as usual for Tpop, since they don’t get a lot from Kodansha these days anyway.

Whose idea was it to publish tankobon instead of just single issues? Lillian says VIZ actually had been doing it for some time and Tpop (back when it was Mixxzine) did floppies, but eventually it was probably Stu who made the decision for Tpop, since he usually does. He also standardized the price and trim size.

Any update on the Return to Labyrinth and Dark Crystal manga in terms of releases? Labyrinth 3 is due out in December, and Crystal volume 2 should be sometime early next year, probably.

Same question but on Mamotte Shugogetten, which is still on the schedule. Volume 2 should be out soon. See, these questions I normally get annoyed by: “just check the website!” But it’s so hard to do that with TOKYOPOP. Lillian mentioned that they’d be updating the site soon, but they’ve been saying that for a while, so we’ll see.

Two final questions: next one, will you please stop releasing yaoi in the US? He’s wearing an Anime Pulse t-shirt…hmmmmm! I might sell him to Yaoi Press.

Last question: do they have an affiliation with Capcom? And will they please do the MegaMan manga? Lillian says it’s a good question, they have a relationship with Capcom, so it’s a possibility.