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 A lot going on at London Expo - although the anime industry 'panel' was reduced to an informal meet in a nearby cafe after the organisers did away with one of the stages - so we'll do this in point form. Read on below the cut for full details of announcements.
Revelation were only present to run their stall - being essentially distributors and not a dedicated anime company, they tend not to get involved in industry panels and such, and that trend continued here, so no news from them. Their Q3 solicitation booklet has been doing the rounds recently, though, and reveals that for the next 3 months at least, they'll be concentrating on continuing shows, with the exception of a Special Edition of the Full Metal Alchemist movie.
Like their US parent, ADV are majoring on box sets for the rest of the year - Noir and will get themed sets with matching dogtags to go along with their close relationship, while they're looking at an Eva Platinum-style set for Guyver TV. Other sources tell me that Coyote Ragtime Show and RahXephon will also both be getting the box treatement, with the RahXephon set including the movie. There was one title confirmation, though - Welcome to the NHK's first volume is due in August.
Manga have "everything Viz - if Viz Media hold the UK license to a title, Manga will be releasing it, which means we'll be getting Ichigo 100% (I think that's the OVA) and Honey & Clover, probably during 2009. I have to say that releasing Honey & Clover into the UK is a risky idea, but kudos to them for trying. Both those shows have yet to be released in the US. They currently hold the Naruto rights up to episode 104 & the second movie - they're trying to pick up the remainder of the original series (up to episode 220, and excluding Shippunden, for now) and to speed up the releases. Buso Renkin and MAR will be released in 13-episode sets, while the release of Megaman Star Force later in the year will be a trial run - if it sells well, expect further Megaman releases. Blue Dragon is a possibility, but Viz are looking for a TV deal first; the Bleach movie is due in October; and Hellsing Ultimate will be released in two 2-episode sets.
Beez weren't saying much - they're in negotiations for a number of titles but couldn't talk about them yet - but were able to confirm they'll be releasing the .hack//G.U. movie trilogy (a strange choice - they accompanied the PS2 games in the US, but the games look unlikely to be released here and the 'movies' are simply the game cutscenes with some additions), while a Wolf's Rain box set, packaged in a pseudo-leather 'book', is due before Christmas. A Gundam Wing box is also in the works. They're also working on bringing the Bandai Channel download service to Europe, although there are no further details on that yet.
Also from the "strange license choices" department, MVM have the Adolesence of Utena movie - which I can safely say makes no sense at all without the TV series, so I'm half expecting news on that to follow.
Blu-ray is getting off the ground, too, with Manga planning to release Ghost in the Shell: Innocence (the overly-philosophical 2nd movie) and Beez looking at a number of un-named titles - although I suspect a quick trawl through Bandai Visual UAS's catalogue could reveal a few likely suspects.
That's your lot. Quite a bit going on there, and there should be enough variety in what's been announced to keep most people happy. |
