Okay, I’ve got a lot of items here, so let’s get started, shall we?

Anime:

- ICv2 took part in a conference call between Navarre and industry analysts. Navarre has made most of its money via FUNimation, while other subsidiaries are falling behind in sales, CEO Cary Deacon says. FUNi has acquired an even bigger chunk of the market share thanks to the demise of Geneon and the slowing of ADV, of course. Deacon also offered that there are possibilities for further acquisitions within the US anime industry, but that they have no plans currently.

- Gainax has officially announced that they’ll be adapting Shikabane Hime, but we already knew that, didn’t we?

- On the digital distro front, GyaO is going to run Tower of Druaga in its entirety online for free (Japan-only) starting June 14, while Bandai Networks is running the first episode of the original Gundam for free on DoCoMo’s FOMA mobile service.

Manga:

- On the Borders front, they’ve sold off their storefronts in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore, says ICv2, and MangaBlog’s Brigid checks out a local Borders and learns that they’re doing pretty well selling manga.

- Speaking of Brigid, she’s posted a press release from DrMaster announcing their acquisition of the man hua Divine Melody, by Real/Fake Princess creator I-Huan.

- Tiamat talks about Seven Seas Entertainment, and she doesn’t think the outlook is good for the young publisher, which has been pretty quiet since their enthusiastic announcements back at Anime Expo ‘07.

- More TOKYOPOP news: they’ve set up shop with Big Tent, which will handle the worldwide licenses for I Luv Halloween, Princess Ai, Bizenghast, Dramacon, and Van Von Hunter. Of course, it’s not the news we want– an announcement of what manga Tpop will (and won’t) continue publishing.

- Comics distributor Diamond is in the dog house with Chris Butcher, who notes that even though Diamond lists the first four volumes of Vagabond as “out of stock, no backorders,” they’re completely available to retailers– through Simon and Schuster.

Music:
- Singer/songwriter Masaaki Endou has released an anime cover album, which will feature, among others, the OP from GaoGaiGar, the Power Rangers theme (not an anime, but I suppose we can allow it), the Stellvia theme, and a slew of others.

- When do I get to report on a Cyndi Lauper tribute album on an anime blog? When Jpoppers Puffy, Chara, Tommy february6, Sowelu, Nana Kitade, and others are involved in the project. Yeeeeah.

- Singer Ayaka (she sung “Okaeri,” the theme for the currently-running Absolute Boyfriend drama) will be singing the theme for Mamoru Oshii’s Sky Crawlers– or rather, she already has: it’s “Konya mo Hoshi ni Dakarete,” from her album coming out later this month. It was originally going to be an image song, but Oshii decided it meshed so well with his work that he’d make it the official theme.

Games:
- We now have a date for the Haruhi Wii game (which comes with that figure I posted about yesterday): it’ll hit stores November 27th.

Posted by gia in Features, Roundups • Comments (1)

Over the evening I just got word on this from the Boys Next Door girls, and then Brigid mentioned it today over at MangaBlog: apparently a new yaoi publisher called Yaoi Generation, who will be at Yaoi-Con (and, according to BND’s Cynbaby, possibly at Otakon as well).

GloBL comic writer Tina Anderson and blogger/writer/editor Kethylia trade speculation, including the possibility that Yaoi Generation is being established by Yaoi Press (the company is based in Fremont, CA, where Iris Print’s Kellie Lynch lives and now works for Yaoi Press) or DrMaster (also based in Fremont).

I’m a bit skeptical on the YPress idea– I didn’t get the sense that Lynch was especially interested in doing the licensed manga thing, and I’m not sure why Yamila Abraham would launch a whole new company for that when Yaoi Press has an established reputation and sales. As for DrMaster, I suppose it’s entirely plausible.

A whois on the domain shows that the registrant as a “Thuy Duong.” I can find plenty of Thuy Duongs online, even ones in Fremont and ones who are into manga, but I can’t find any that seem particularly affiliated or connected with the industry, so I guess that’s mostly a dead end.

I suppose only time will tell. I’m shipping out an e-mail, though I don’t know if I expect a response. But if I bump into them at Otakon I’ll certainly get the details!

EDIT: Oh, I forgot to mention– do look around their site. They talk a bit about what they’ll be up to, including publishing “Yaoi mangas, English edition” and a bi-monthly magazine, plus merchandise. It looks like they’ll be going for Internet sales only, with no mention of trying to get books into brick-and-mortar shops (though the online versions of real shops like Barnes and Noble and Borders’ websites are mentioned).

Posted by gia in Gossip, Manga, News, Western News • Comments (9)

So I was given a few Q&As for companies that didn’t have panels and whatnot. Someone asked about Seirei no Moribito and I wasn’t able to get an answer, but I’m supposed to e-mail them about it after the con.

Someone else wanted to know about DrMaster’s King of Fighters releases…they do NOT intend to do any more SNK/Capcom series, and they aren’t going to release any more of King of Fighters Maximum Impact.

That’s it! We’re doing our last dealer room run soon, so leave me any final questions NOW. ♥

Posted by gia in Con Reports, Features • Comments (1)

Wrote this between Dark Horse and Broccoli, so here you go: