I would have had this up before midnight, but for some technical difficulties! I swear!

Anyway! Shawne Kleckner, the owner of Right Stuf and Nozomi Entertainment, generously spent some time with me this weekend to chat for a bit. He dropped some hints about what we might see from Nozomi in the future, talked about the industry’s current and future states, and even reminisced about some of his favorite anime merchandise from years past.

So, without further ado: hit the jump for the full interview! Read more…

Another thing that happened during this con: the announcement of the SPJA Industry Award winners, straight from the Anime Expo newsletter:

Best Voice Actor (JP): Tomokazu Sugita for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya’s Kyon
Best Voice Actor (EN): Alessandro Juliani for Death Note’s L
Best Voice Actress (JP): Aya Hirano for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya’s Haruhi
Best Voice Actress (EN): Laura Bailey for Shin-chan’s Shin-chan
Best Casting Director: Kaeko Sakamoto for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Best Character Design: Shoko Ikeda for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Best Mechanical Design: Eureka Seven (staff includes Shoji Kawamori)
Best Male Character: Ichigo Kurosaki, Bleach
Best Female Character: Haruhi Suzumiya, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Best Mascot Character: Mokona, Tsubasa
Best Background Desing: Gundam 00
Best Original Video: Hellsing Ultimate
Best Feature Film: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Best Television Series: Death Note
Best Original Score: Toshio Masuda & Musashi Project for Naruto
Best Original Song: “Hare Hare Yukai” from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Best Director: Mary Elizabeth Glynn for Naruto
Best Manga - Action: Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle
Best Manga - Comedy: Negima!
Best Manga -Drama: Eureka Seven
Best Publication: Newtype

…Whew. Haruhi much? But really, “Hare Hare Yukai” for best song? It’s fun and catchy, but not all that impressive– I don’t remember which I voted for but I would easily have taken Black Lagoon’s OP “Fraction” (by Mell) or Darker than Black’s first ED “Tsukiakari” (by Rie Fu), or even Naruto Shippuuden’s “Nagareboshi ~Shooting Star~” by Homemade Kazoku over HHY in terms of what’s actually a “good” song. But maybe that’s just me.

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! Read more…

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:

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. ♥