I did pop by the FUNimation booth and talked to Adam Sheehan, who said he hadn’t heard anything about One Piece not continuing on Cartoon Network, but told me to check in tomorrow with someone else at FUNi, which I will do. I couldn’t find anyone for BVU around, though, so I wasn’t able to ask them anything. (Maybe they’ll be at NYCC?)

That was pretty much the rest of the con as far as work went, so I hung around the Kumori Con booth and pimped out my tail for a while, then helped with the teardown. That was kinda fun. (I love riding on the carts!) Hey, did you know that the dealers basically get to leave their garbage behind? Here’s a video of the aftermath:

And with that, I’ll leave you with a final, epic cosplay image.

Hope you enjoyed Sakura Con ‘08! For those of you who are curious about my next con coverage, it’ll be New York Comic Con next month.

I got an e-mail back from VIZ today explaining that they were never in fact confirmed to be hosting a panel at Sakura Con, and the panel’s appearance in the program was an error on the convention’s part– VIZ did send an editor to talk about the manga Haruka -Beyond the Streams of Time- but was not supposed to be having a full-on industry panel. The same thing happened to Antarctic Press, who was showing in the exhibitor’s hall but who didn’t know they’d been scheduled to have a panel until it was about ten minutes from being over.

So! In other words, VIZ did everything they had planned to do at Sakura Con, and we don’t have to be worried that something’s up anymore. Yay!

So it turns out that tomorrow’s Bandai Visual USA panel has been cancelled, which means I have no panels to cover, which means I’ll probably spend most of the day hanging around in the dealer’s room, acting as a booth babe for KumoriCon.

In the meantime, here are the primary highlights from the panels I covered:

• TOKYOPOP has put Kino no Tabi on hold indefinitely and they blame themselves, but didn’t detail the reasons.
• TOKYOPOP.com v2.5 is due in the next few weeks.
• Bandai Entertainment DOES have the rights to season 2 of Code Geass (not surprising, but nice to know). The DVDs of season 1 will also feature many of the bonus stuff that came with the Japanese discs, including sketch booklets and stuff.
• This was sorta already known, but TWO versions of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time/Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo are going to be sent to theaters: a digital dubbed version to theaters that can handle those, and a subbed 35mm version. So what appears in your city (if anything) will vary depending on what your theater takes. The dub will premiere at NYCC in April.
• Dark Horse’s CLAMP project may be a candidate for a movie, although it’s still unclear whether that’s a possibility for one of the seven movies that Universal makes on its own or whether they might try to self-finance, but it’s still an exciting possibility, to use Carl Horn’s words.
• DH’s Domo-kun doll is also coming available soon, including exclusive colors at San Diego Comic Con (yellow) and for Newberry (green).
• FUNimation is still pushing Operation Anime, their anime club connection program.
• Info on Ouran High School Host Club should hit this summer and will be released uncut.
• Koge Donbo is too busy working on Kamichama Karin Chu! to do a second volume of Broccoli’s Kon Kon Kokon. Sad charats!
• VIZ Media and Antarctic Press both mysteriously no-showed. (I have an e-mail out to VIZ asking what’s up and who I might ask some questions.)

I’ll be dropping by the dot anime booth to see if any BVU folks are around to chat with for a bit, since they didn’t have a panel, so I’ll let you know if I glean anything interesting from that– and I’ll check in with Sheehan regarding One Piece on Cartoon Network. Now, the swagpost…

Closeups (but not of the doujinshi ♥) and a couple of cosplay shots (including another L-in-disguise) after the jump! Read the rest of this entry »

Okie-dokie, I’m done being a booth babe for KumoriCon, so I guess it’s time for the Bandai Entertainment panel! Rob Napton presides, and he also told me that there’ll be no BIG announcements, which seems to be the theme this weekend (last year they had a *couple* of licenses…there are really just too many cons these days, I think).

Anyway. On we go! We’re gonna be checkin’ out Lucky Star, Code Geass, Ghost Slayers Ayashi (aka Ayakashi Ayashi), and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time first…or at least those are the ones I see on the list so far.

Nothing new about the Lucky Star release, but someone asked about Blu-Ray which we’ll hear a bit about later, although not necessarily pertaining to Lucky Star.

Next is Geass so I’m hoping we’ll hear more about the DVD releases for it…okay, I have to admit, I kinda like the Lelouch voice, and it’s Bosch, which kills me a little inside. Nice trailer for it, though it doesn’t quite offer some of the over-the-top-ness. Blah blah blah, broadcast on Adult Swim on April 26th, running on Adult Swim Fix starting April 25th, CLAMP designs, etc. DVD and manga will start running in July/August, more specific dates soon, and I’ll ask if there are plans for a premium edition and whatnot later.

Now we’re on the Ayakashi Ayashi trailer. I actually caught a rough cut of the first episode dubbed earlier (a friend was interested) and it still looks very pretty. So-so on the dubbing, I think, but so I often think, so don’t worry about it too much. the 30-ep anime will also start being released in July/August.

And now, Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo, aka The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, yum yum yum! Same trailer as when it was announced at…was it NYAF or NYCC? I forget, but it’s still awesome. Theatrical release will begin in June, but they’re trying to get more booked before they announce everything– it’ll be at least 10 screens (please god let one of them be in Portland!). The DVD is scheduled for fall.

The next set will be Terra E, My-Otome Zwei, Gundam SEED Destiny, and the newly-announced Rocket Girl.

I never did watch Terra E when it ran; I guess it just slipped through the cracks. It looks fantastically gorgeous, though, not that the trailer says anything really about the plot besides “pretty stuff! In space!” and some mechs. (Don’t worry, we got a description after.) Maybe I’ll get to it eventually. The theme, Takuya’s “Jet Boy,” is pretty nice. The 24-episode series will begin its release in August.

My-Otome Zwei, which I have to say I’ve never really been all that interested in (or Mai-HiME either), whose trailer is still raw, no dubs or subs. Huh. Zwei will see an October release of the OVAs.

Maybe the lack of announcements is partially because of Tokyo Anime Fair being this weekend? Hmm.

Next up, Gundam SEED Destiny “TV movies” (oh, is that what it was?). Nice trailer, ’bout what I’d expect for Gundam from Bandai-E. Okay, they’re 4 “special editions” that were released, which is why BE is calling them “TV movies.” They re-tell the tale of Gundam SEED Destiny with some of the old animation and some new, and a lot of fans in Japan allegedly preferred this version over the orginal TV version. Hmm. First one will probably be in June.

Last up is Rocket Girls, but they apparently had some trouble with the source material, so the video is pixelated. Boo! The 12-episode comedy/adventure/sci-fi series doesn’t have a release date, but nothing solid just yet.

Time for Q&A. I’m going to ask about is Crunchy Roll and Adult Swim Fix…someone asked if they have ADR info for Rocket Girls, nothing yet.

Asked my question, they had a limited experiment with Amazon Unbox in ‘07 and they’re looking at their options. Apparently until recently in Japan digital distro wasn’t really encouraged by Japanese companies, and digital distro rights were hard to acquire even for shows they had DVD rights to, meaning the companies have their hands tied a bit in terms of releasing them online to English fans.

Geass question: the DVD releases! The other question I was going to ask about Geass DVDs and boxes; it’ll start being released probably August, which Robert doesn’t think of as “late.” Nothing’s official yet but they are looking at different distribution patterns, so we don’t know about a box or anything like that, but it’s a special show so they want to do something really spiffy. They ARE officially committed to the sequel season, R2, by the way. Win!

No plans for a Canadian broadcast just yet, but they have a good relationship with Canadian broadcasters (probably since Canada still actually likes most Gundam shows– hey, I should ask about Gundam 00). Someone asked about Geass pronunciations, like whether the rankings will be pronounced correctly per British pronunciations, and it looks like they’re being careful to stick with the original creators’ intentions.

There are some coffin-shaped goodies up on the table but I’m not sure what they are O_o. Someone just asked of the Pizza Hut ads will be retained in Geass; apparently it gets asked a lot. The answer is: Sunrise cleared the use of Pizza Hut for Japan, not international use, so anyone who uses the show outside of Japan will have to deal with Pizza Hut. Eep. There are discussions going on between BE and Pizza Hut, nothing definite just yet.

Someone just asked a Bandai Visual USA question, oops! Someone just informed me that BVU has cancelled their panel, by the way. Will have to pop on by dot-anime to see what that’s all about! (I also just got introduced to a BVU marketing person; maybe I can ask her.)

On the Blu-Ray front, now that Blu-Ray has won the hi-def war, BE is looking at doing it in the near future, but nothing definite yet. He’s not sure why Zwei was put on multiple discs (or the SEED Destiny movies either). As for the new My-Otome OVAs, but they’ll probably try for it if they aren’t already.

Bandai Entertainment will be releasing the booklets and character sketch booklets and mini-comics that come with the Japanese Code Geass releases, which is awesome. He’s not sure about other Geass merchandising (but I did get that awesome notebook from their booth!). It could go to Bandai America, the toy division, so we’ll see what happens there.

The company’s official stance on the state of the anime industry: “it’s in transition/flux, a lot’s happened, a lot’s changed; our business continues to be pretty much the same…looking at what’s going on, looking at options, moving forward in terms of different types of distribution. We’re very aware of what’s going on but it hasn’t had a tremendous impact on us yet.” (I.e. We put out Haruhi awesomely so the fans love us right now. Heh.)

Bandai Entertainment has NOT considered putting together a channel a la FUNimation or ADV, by the way. Aaand the Geneon titles that may or may not be up for grabs: hasn’t been told anything, so doesn’t know anything. Aww.

TokiKake: English dubs AND subs will be screened, but within the same city? It’ll be either or. Dang. I reeeeally hope Portland goes with subs, if they get it at all. T_T The dub version is a digital recording, whereas the subs are 35mm, so actually the sub may be more common. Interesting. It’ll be kinda random. No for-sures on IMAX but hey, it’s actually a possibility, sweet.

The first Zwei DVD will have a box but the contents for the series haven’t been completely decided (or told, at least), but there will be some stuff, maybe “a t-shirt and some other stuff” but that’s not official.

Sounds like Seattle might be on the list of cities getting the movie, but not for sure. I can’t quite tell if that’s a hint or if he’s just sucking up to Seattle since, y’know, that’s where this con is. Curse you, Napton! (I curse with love.) As soon as they have a schedule there’ll be a press release and stuff on the site.

Somone just asked if there’ll be a screening– the dub of TokiKake will premiere in April at New York Comic Con (can’t remember if it’s been announced, but hey, neither does he!). Guess I’ll have to check it out!

Haruhi sales (particularly special edition): very successful. Like there’s any surprise? (Well, it WAS kinda expensive. I know; I bought them all.)

Alright, that’s pretty much it. Time to go spread my business card. ♥ OH WAIT THERE’S MORE! Lucky Star will include liner notes with ALL of the references to other anime and games in the series, they even brought someone on specific to go through and pick up as close to EVERYthing as they possibly could.

I can’t get EVERY cool outfit here, but here are a handful of awesome outfits– under the jump, for the bandwidth Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, Antarctic was a no-show but Dark Horse is up next, and I have faith that they will appear, although I hardly are hope that they’ll be on time. I’m secretly hoping that they have news about the CLAMP mangettes, but on the other hand, I suspect that they’d be more likely to announce stuff at a bigger con if they can. (Realistic me!)

Oop, there’s our favorite translator, Carl Horn, who apparently just got in from Portland (literally; he’s got his suitcase with him). He’s worried his presentation will be pretty dull. And they ARE starting up with their release list. But it’s Carl Horn, so I’m okay. And they plan to show some previews.

Apparently they’re releasing a series of Japanese children’s books about a cat in April– didn’t catch the name. I don’t remember that but I’m guessing it was announced before. We’re going to see Dark Horse’s Domo doll, which sounds fun.

Gantz volume 1 is out in June, by the way. Blood+ novel volume 2 will be out as well, I’m in the middle of volume 1 and I like it. ♥

There’s Domo-kun, who will come in multiple colors, including those shown. Special-edition yellow Domo-kun will also be available at San Diego Comic Con, and a green one is being made for Newberry. (Now, who is faster than this? Enjoy Domo!)

Previews of Gantz and Color of Rage, which both look fantastic, are being handed around, along with hardbound copies of the childrens novels, which are by Akiko Ikeda and feature really cute, goofy cat drawings. They look pretty nice. Great way to indoctrinate the kids! ♥

Ghost Talkers Daydream, about an exorcist-by-day, dominatrix-by-night (or was it dominatrix-by-day, exorcist-by-night?)– you might remember the anime, which Geneon put out –is also getting passed around, Japanese copies though.

Moving on to the Q&A session…I’m gonna ask about CLAMP but I don’t expect anything. Oh wait! He brought it up. Looks like he actually DOES know something about the story but still can’t share it. Rrrrahhhh! I will ask about the movie thing.

Okay, on the CLAMP movie thing it’s an “exciting possibility,” so I get the sense it’s definitely something they’d like to do if they can wing it– and CLAMP is a big enough name worldwide that I think it’s actually feasible. But only time will tell.

I know I just posted some cosplay, but I’m still going here– I’d forgotten I still had that waiting in the background. ♥;;

Nothing much new in the q&as that I didn’t already cover previously or or previously-er, but apparently Berserk is selling well– but some of their manga are struggling (*cough cough EDEN cough*).

Well, I think that’s about the most that we’re going to get, and I’m running low on battery, so I’ll shut down. Seeya later for Bandai Entertainment! (Well, I’m checking out Ocean, but I’d be surprised if they have anything to post about…though it’ll be interesting to see what they’ve been up to since the Geneon thing.)

Okay, let’s see: Gurren Lagann Yoko poseable figure (with squishy boobs!) but her waist is still too tiny. Damnit! Geass notebook, Blood+ novel volume 1, My Heavenly Hockey Club volume 4, Suzumiya Haruhi no Gekisou VINYL (oh yeah baby!), Kyon character CD, this awesome t-shirt with wings on the back, a Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei clearfile (only SZS merch I’ve seen thus far), and a Haruhi trading figure.

I also got a cute apron.

See what I mean about the hips?

I got Kyon! ♥ Even if it’s an ugly Kyon. (Why can’t they get his goddamn face right?)

Alrighty, so I escaped the questions of Broccoli Books (when I left they were talking about torrents), and I’m now sitting in VIZ Media.

By the way, I finished that first e-mail; I’m now 28% into the second one. In case you were curious.

No one’s here for VIZ yet, and we are now seven minutes into the panel slot. Hmmmm…everyone’s having trouble reading the schedule. Wonder if they got confused.

15 minutes…still no VIZ…58.8%.

Yeah, VIZ is a no-show. Seeya!

Okay, my internets are SUPER SLOW thanks to my sister-in-law sending me a bunch of photos and me being on slow internet to begin with, so we’ll see how this goes.

That said, I’m in with Broccoli’s marketing coordinator Johnathan Kung instead of Shizuki Yamashita, who usually runs Broccoli’s panels. (Does this mean we won’t get jan-ken-pon contests?!) Also, there is some really loud musical event going on next door that makes it hard to hear, even though I’m up front right next to the guy. Yeesh.

We’re having more technical difficulties for the slide show, so we’ll see how this goes. My e-mails are at 10%…for the first one…of three…*whine*

Broccoli distributes Bandai Visual USA DVDs (I think they don’t have choice on the prices though), and they’re working on getting them in Best Buy, but no luck yet. (Yay, someone turned the volume up on the mic, so I can hear him better!)

They’re working on One Piece shirts and haven’t managed to get them approved by Toei just yet. No new licenses that they’re allowed to talk about except for previous ones, like World of Disgaea 2, Nui!, sola, Koi Cupid (which is even cuter than Di Gi Charat, apparently, and it also apparently hurts to look at for long), and Honoka Level Up!

27%…

Note to self: ask Broccoli if their involvement with Bandai Visual USA has anything to do with BVU’s move into moe stuff, since that’s kinda where Broccoli’s been for ages, sorta.

Anyway! I don’t know why he keeps talking about BVU, but apparently they’re concentrating their distro on a smaller-scale, brick-and-mortar stores and stuff instead of major mainstream distro.

YukiKaze is comin’ out on Blu-Ray soon, apparently. I just hinted at some digital distribution, which they seem to be working on…though I’m not sure if “they” is Broccoli or BVU anymore! (64.8%!)

Other Broccoli partners: Cospa, UART (United Arts of Real Toys), Hobby Japan, and Nippon Ichi Software. Whee! Yuji Shiozaki, the Ikki Tousen mangaka is here hanging out, he has a panel later today. Now questions…

Kon Kon Kokon volume 2 isn’t being worked on because Koge Donbo is too busy with Kamichama Karin Chu!.

Asked my BVU question; BVU does whatever Bandai Visual Japan wants, so it has more to do with BVJ than the BVU/Broccoli team-up. Smaller stuff that they think shouldn’t be dubbed gets given to BVU, who doesn’t have the dubbing resources, while a big series like Geass gets sold to Bandai Entertainment (yes, sold; BE has to vie for these things too).

I got a Di Gi Charat ruler for asking my question. Whee. Poor Johnathan is not used to running panels. ♥;; I’m going to scoot out in just a sec so I can get in on the VIZ panel next door.

Aaaalrighty, it’s about time for TOKYOPOP to start. I see Lillian Diaz-Przybyl here, and a few other familiar faces who I’m sure I’ll put names to as soon as they introduce themselves. I just heard her mention that they have some new announcements, so looks like this time we’ll have some actual licenses. Yay!

Last chance for T-pop questions, btw.

Kasha(?) is the Gakuen Alice cosplayer; Michelle Nguyen is dressed in Gothic Lolita fashion to go with her job, editing the Gothic & Lolita Bible. And while waiting on technical dificulties they are handing out some free swag, starting with a Gakuen Alice bag and volume 1. Next up is a Princess Ai notecard box thingie. And a giant hardcover copy of Battle Royale (the Ultimate Edition).

Taking some questions now: starting with the Slayers novels. They want to, but the sales have been incredibly low. So BUY THE DAMN NOVELS.

Kino no Tabi volume 2 is officially on hiatus indefinitely due to trouble with their licensor. No details on the problems but they’re working to get it resolved. Someone asked about TOKYOPOP’s occasional anime licenses and DVD stuff, and it’s been noted that FUNimation handles that stuff for them.

Okay, now the real panel begins, starting with an OEL title: Hellgate London, by Arvin Nelson. It’s actually something they’re working with Flagship Studios on. It looks gorey and violent and not manga-ripoff-y. Awesome!

More general notes: Sgt. Frog is being repackaged for when the anime comes out; volume 15 is out in May and 16 in the summer and which apparently has a lot of fun stuff on TOKYOPOP.com. At NYCC they’ll have a Sgt. Frog giant costume and prize wheel, so I’ll be sure to check that out when I’m there.

And then, of course, Fruits Basket, which will come to an end this year I think? (Maybe ‘09?) Stickers, temporary tattoos, etc in a $14.99 book. TONS of stickers, dang. Makes me wish I liked Furuba. A Furuba planner is coming out this summer too. It’ll be an exclusive at Barnes & Noble, interestingly, until October– which may tie into my question later about what they think about the Borders issue (if I get around to asking it– I’m going to ask them about the state of the yaoi industry as well).

On the G&L Bible, they note that 50% of the content will be original, including an interview with Sakura guest ALI Project and photos of gosurori from the con. They’ll also have a big fashion show at New York Comic Con, and then something REALLY big, a famous designer, is coming to New York Anime Fest– but they can’t announce who yet. (Hmm!)

OEL title Bizhenghast is getting a novelization, and Diaz-Przybyl notes that it is one of many novel spinoffs T-pop has planned. A new Princess Ai trilogy is in the works, starting probably in the winter. Drawn by the original artist, Misaho Kujiradou, and it takes place a year after the original series finishes. In July there will also be a Princess Ai comic strip collection…they’re really working to push Ai, have you noticed? The iManga video is also on the way. Wonder if they’re working on putting Ai out in Japanese?

Vassalord, which will feature sexy vampires, is up next. Hey, I’m sold. Now Silver Diamond, a BL title that is being published by T-pop and NOT its BLU line due to the mangaka’s wishes. It’s purdy though. First volume in July.

Now Daemonium, a manga by Kosen, a Spanish duo who has made a bunch of BL manga for Yaoi Press (though Daemonium isn’t BL). Jyu-Oh-Sei, which made a shitty anime, but I’m hoping that the manga isn’t quite so bad. (The anime just suffered from really terrible pacing.) T-pop says they’ll also present more by Natsumi Itsuki, Jyu-Oh-Sei’s creator, so there’s a hint I guess.

TOKYOPOP will be bringing Jrock bands MUCC, the Underneath, and D’espairsRay (the Taste of Chaos tour) to Dallas on April 1st, Long Beach on the 10th, and San Jose on the 12th, meaning I will miss aaaaall of them. Meh! T-pop is also supporting ketchup mania, and there will be a raffle at 3pm, and the winner will get a VIP pass to the concert.

New project: the Bishonen explosion 18-month calendar, with Vassalord on the (tentative) cover. Yowza. It’s purdy-lookin’.

TOKYOPOP.com version 2.5 is coming up in a few weeks. Hopefully it’ll suck less than 2.0, which was about equally sucky as 1.0 (just in different ways). More on TOKYOPOP iManga…and now Rave Master, which will be released on TOKYOPOP.com– all 100 episodes, sometime in the late spring or early summer. She THINKS it’s going to be free but don’t quote her on it. Oops! So we’ll see what happens on that.

So I guess no new licenses, actually. But now we’ll get back to Q&A…asked my question about yaoi and whether it’s hit a plateau, which she thinks has more to do with DMP putting out a million books a month whereas BLU focuses more on quality. She also mentioned new deal with a Japanese publisher that she can’t talk about yet, but will allow them to pick up some really cool stuff. Woot.

More questions on OEL…blah blah, it takes ages to put out a book! etc. Previews have been greasing the wheels for sales, as proven by Fruits Basket. One fan asked how they decide about things like dust jackets and other printing decisions. Diaz-Przybyl says dust jackets aren’t really doable in the US because people thumb through the books so much and damage the jackets…which doesn’t seem to hurt DMP, but then, a lot of their books need to be shrinkwrapped anyway.

A Canadian has just asked what’s up with the difference in US and Canada prices given that the two dollars are worth about the same amount now. They ARE lowering the Canadian price with new books, but they can’t go back and do it retroactively to older books. They do it based on their distributor’s advice.

Someone asked if they’ll ever bring over drama CDs, which is always a great idea until you realize, how do you do it? I mean, sitting there with a book of translations reading and listening doesn’t sound fun; redubbing would defeat the purpose. So, unlikely, but they might do it for some of their original titles.

Scrapped Princess novels aren’t selling too well, so whether or not it will continue remains to be seen, and it’s on hold-ish for the time being. Talking a bit more about Jyu Oh Sei, which was apparently originally serialized in LaLa in ‘98-’03 (current LaLa titles include Ouran High School Host Club and Vampire Knight.

DNAngel just reappeared after several years of hiatus, with something like 120 pages. Not quite a full volume, so we’ll see when TOKYOPOP manages to release it, but they say they’ll push it as fast as they can.

Legal Drug 4 is allegedly being worked on finally, but since xxxHOLiC and Tsubasa Chronicle, leaving a lot of speculation on what CLAMP is doing, it’s possible. But we’ll just have to wait and see.

We’re technically over time now, but no one’s yelling so we’re all kinda hangin’ around asking more questions. I think it’s winding down a little bit. Okay, it’s done. Bye!