Category Archives: Anime Expo

Anime Expo Round-up

Monday, July 7, 2008 – 6:09 pm

So, who scored big and who lost big (if that’s the best way to put it) at Anime Expo?

Well, it looks like the convention itself scored big once again with 43,000 paid attendees, which is up from 41,500 last year, a 3.6% increase.

Now, here is the licensing round-up from the convention:

ADV Films

While none of this technically took place at Anime Expo, obviously the big loser of the weekend was ADV Films who had Sojitz leaving their agreement with ADV, taking 32 anime licenses with them.  ADV said they had a new partner in Japan and were negotiating to get 23 new licenses, but nothing new was announced at AX.

Bandai Entertainment

Bandai Enterainment announced that they have licensed the Hayate the Combat Butler anime and the Girl Who Leapt Through Time manga.

Bandai also announced the dub cast for Gurren Lagann, as well as announced details regarding their new Honneamise label, which is where most of Bandai Visual’s titles are going.

Dark Horse

Dark Horse announced the license for the Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Shinji Ikari Raising Project manga by Osamu Takahashi.

Digital Manga

Digital Manga picked up more titles than God at AX, including:

  • Utahime - Princess Song by Aki
  • Overclock: Once in a Blue Moon by Riya Hozumi and Ryouko Seki
  • Ghost Hunt Scramble by Ototachibana
  • Tale of a White Night by Tooko Miyagi
  • 1 Sakura Hill by Fujiko Kosumi
  • Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS by Maki Tsuzuki and Kōji Hasegawa
  • RH Plus by Ayako Suwa
  • Time for Magic by Morehe Yoshida
  • Princess Princess+ By Mikiyo Tsuda
  • Happy Boys By Makoto Tateno
  • Wolf God by Ai Tenkawa
  • Otodama By Youka Nitta
  • Crimson Cross By Kyoko Negishi and Sakae Maeda
  • Millennium Prime Minister By Eiki Eiki
  • Hey Class President by Kaori Monchi
  • Dog x Cat by Yoshimi Amasaki
  • Desire-Dangerous Feelings by Shinobu Gotoh
  • Moonlit Promises by Souya Himawari
  • Tricky Prince by Yukari Hashida
  • Double Trouble by Takashi Kanzaki
  • Where has Love Gone? by Ryou Tsunoda
  • Then Comes Love by Riyu Yamakami
  • Pure Heart by Hyouta Fujiyama
  • The Way to Heaven by Yamimaru Enjin
  • Clan of the Nakagamis Volume 2 by Homerun Ken
  • The Object of my Affection by Nanao Okuda
  • Love/Knot by Hiroko Ishimaru
  • The Longest Time by Tohko Tateno
  • Live for Love by Jun Mayama and Itsuki Sato
  • Eat or Be Eaten by Jinko Fuyuno and Yamimaru Enjin
  • The Spiral of Sand by Yuna Aoi
  • Honey/Chocolate by Nanao Okuda
  • Manhatten Love Story by Monoko Tenzen
  • Planet of Earthquake by Miou Takaya
  • Cut by Toko Kawai
  • The Lonely Egoist by Hikaru Masaki and Masara Minase
  • When the Heavens Smile by Aki Senoo
  • Suggestive Eyes by Momoko Tenzen
  • Hey, Sensei by Yaya Sakuragi
  • Love Syndrome by Yura Miyazawa
  • Love Potion by Sakuya Fujii

Funimation

If ADV was the big loser this weekend, then Funimation was the big winner.  Again, while none of this technically was announced at Anime Expo itself, Funimation both picked up the right to distribute 18 Geneon titles, as well as picking up the rights to the 32 Sojitz titles that used to belong to ADV, giving then the rights to distribute 50 new anime titles, some of which hadn’t been complted or even started yet.

Out of the Sojitz announcement came the news that the OVA Murder Princess has been licensed.

Funimation also announced the dub cast for Ouran High School Host Club.

Go! Comi

Go! Comi licensed:

  • Angel’s Coffin By You Higuri
  • CROWN By You Higuri and Shinji Wada
  • Bound Beauty By Mick Takeuchi

CMX

CMX licensed The Name of the Flower by Ken Saito

Kadokawa Pictures USA

Kadokawa announced licenses for:

  • Coo ~ Our Guardian
  • H2O ~Footprints in the Sand~
  • Junjou Romantica
  • My Heartfelt Sympathy, Ninomiya-kun
  • Rental Magica
  • Spice and Wolf

Right Stuf/Nozomi

Right Stuf International announced new licenses for the Gakuen Alice anime series as well as DVD rights 1980 Toward the Terra movie (they had originally released it on VHS and Laserdisc).

TokyoPop

TokyoPop announced the following new licenses, among other things:

  • Phantom Dream By Natsuki Takaya
  • Tsubasa: Those with Wings By Natsuki Takaya
  • .hack//G.U. (novel) By Tatsuya Hamasaki
  • Peacemaker Kurogane (formerly released by ADV Manga) By Nanae Chrono
  • Momo Tama By Nanae Chrono
  • Castle of Dreams By Masami Tsuda
  • NG Life by Mizuho Kusanagi
  • This Ugly Yet Beautiful World By Ashita Morimi
  • Maid-sama! by Hiro Fujiwara
  • Demon Sacred by Natsumi Itsuki

Viz

Viz announced new licenses for:

  • Honey Hunt by Miki Aihara
  • Gestalt by Yun Kouga
  • Magic Touch by Izumi Tsubaki
  • Otomen by Aya Kanno
By Josh | Posted in Anime Expo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Kadokawa Pictures USA licenses H2O, Ninomiya-kun, Rental Magica, others

Saturday, July 5, 2008 – 8:54 pm

I’m following at gia’s and japanator’s.

Kadokawa has licensed the 12 episode H2O: Footprints in the sand, Good Luck! Ninomiya-kun (aka Goshūshō-sama Ninomiya-kun) which is also 12 episodes, and Rental Magica, which is 24 episodes.

No word on who is doing the producing or distributing yet.

Update: They picked up Coo ~Our Guardian~ (aka Wagaya no Oinarisama) too (also 24 eps).

Update 2: Wow. On a spree.  They got Junjou Romantica as well (releasing it as Romantica ~Pure Love~) which is a 12 episode boy’s love series which just finished airing.

Update 3: To round it out they pick up Spice and Wolf too!  Good grief they’re going crazy! Who do they think they are? Funimation?

Update 4: Apparently we won’t get any word who producers and distributors are tonight, but should "very soon"

By Josh | Posted in Anime Expo | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (3)

Bandai Entertainment licenses Hayate anime

Friday, July 4, 2008 – 7:50 pm

This just in.  I’ll try to fill in details when and if any are made available.

Update:

Japanator says first season of Hayate the Combat Bulter (52 episodes) with more details to be announced later.

By Josh | Posted in Anime Expo | Tagged , | Comments (0)

A little update on Funimation, Geneon, and ADV

Friday, July 4, 2008 – 1:41 pm

I apologize to gia, but I think it will just be easier to quote from her post:

Fukunaga is now talking about FUNi’s major coup d’etats: the 10+ Geneon titles and the 32 ADV titles (Gen says 34– are there more to hear about? Hm).

Moving into questions…Will you go with box sets for the new titles? Yes if they can, but with Geneon most of the titles are part-in, so they want to start releasing the rest of the series. Also with Geneon, that’s a partnership and Geneon is continuing to dub and will finish all of their shows– it’s their productions still. So no dub changes! With ADV, they’re in talks to have ADV finish up the series, again to avoid dub disruption, but nothing’s set in stone yet.

First thought: The 34 could have been a misspeak, or it could mean they’re also grabbing 2 out of 5 of Best Student Council, Ghost Train, Innocent Venus, Kurau: Phantom Memory, and Synethesia and just haven’t announced it yet (I would have to imagine that ADV would fight to the death to keep 5 Centimeters Per Second).

Second, at least ADV may be able to make a little money to still being in charge of production of the series that were taken from them (Shattered Angels, NHK, Kanon, Tokyo Majin, and possibly Murder Princess, if any dubbing has taken place on it.  I’m not sure what else is still outstanding).  Same thing for Geneon, though Geneon has completed the dubs on a good portion of their shows anyway, so I’m not sure how much there is left to do.

Part of it, of course, could also be due to the fact that I’m sure Funimation may not want to see ADV go away, even though they are competitors.  Right now, Funimation is the undisputed King of anime, but it’s rarely good for an industry to have only one major player in the market (Yeah, I know Bandai Entertainment is still out there, but can anyone argue that they’re as big as Funi is now?).

By Josh | Posted in Anime Expo | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

ADV Update: It ain’t lookin good for Kanon, NHK, et. al.

Thursday, July 3, 2008 – 6:18 pm

It’s hard to tell how much trouble ADV is in, but apparently ADV has had a falling out with their licensing parter Sojitz which, from the sound of it, effectively makes the four titles announced yesterday technically unlicensed for the time being.

The fact that the ADV rep at their Sneak Peak panel talked about how he hoped whomever ended up distributing those titles used the same voice cast was especially foreboding, since it seemed clear that the “whomever” may or may not be ADV Films.

They said they were still working on 23 different licenses, so it doesn’t sound like the company is necessarily in as dire straights as some people have feared, but as I said earlier, this definitely can’t help them.

By Josh | Posted in Anime Expo | Tagged | Comments (0)

Anime Expo Industry Panel Schedule

Thursday, July 3, 2008 – 4:45 pm

OK, I know AX has already started, and I’m not there in LA (whaaa! It’s my goal in life to, at least once in my life, make the cross-country trip to AX), but in any case, here is the schedule for the industry panels there:

July 4th

11:00am - 12:00pm: Aurora Publishing
12:00 - 1:00pm: Viz Media
12:00 - 1:00pm: Honneamise (aka Bandai Visual)
1:00 - 2:30pm: Dark Horse
3:00 - 4:00pm: Nozomi/Right Stuf International
4:00 - 5:00pm: Bandai Entertainment
4:00 - 5:00pm: ADV Films
5:00 - 6:00pm: Digital Manga

July 5th

10:00 - 11:00am: TokyoPop
11:00am - 12:00pm: Go! Comi
3:30 - 4:30pm: Funimation
3:30 - 4:30pm: Broccoli International
5:00 - 6:00pm: ImaginAsian
5:30 - 6:30pm: Kadokawa USA
5:30 - 6:30pm: CMX

And there are other industry sponsored panels (though not necessarily Q&A panels about the companies themselves) at other times - especially on July 3rd.

And, of course, I apologize if I missed any industry panels.

P.S.:

Uh, oh yeah, those times are almost certainly Pacific Time, so add 3 hours to the time if you’re on the east coast like me.

By Josh | Posted in Anime Expo | Comments (0)

Final AX licenses

Tuesday, July 3, 2007 – 9:08 am

Anime ExpoOnly a couple of new licenses were announced on Monday:

Manga Entertainment
Strait Jacket

TokyoPop
Jyu Oh Sei

Also, Anime Expo announced that they will once again be moving venues, this time to the Los Angeles Convention Center next year. Preliminary numbers show that attendence is over 40,000 (which includes anyone giving a badge, including press, staff, and exhibitors, etc.)

By Josh | Posted in Anime Expo | Tagged , | Comments (0)

More AX licenses

Sunday, July 1, 2007 – 11:08 pm

Anime ExpoThis time it’s Bandai,Entertainment, Dark Horse, DrMaster, and Funimation

Bandai Entertainment
AIKa OVA
AIKa R-16 OVA
Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny Special Edition
Silent Möbius
Silent Möbius 2

Dark Horse
Adaggio
Blood+
Blood+ (Novel)
Blood+ Russian Rose (Novel)
Bride of the Water God
Gantz
Ghost Talkers Daydream

DrMaster
Phantoms
Purgatory Kabuki
Metro Survive

Funimation
Darker than BLACK
Jyu Oh Sei
Negima!?
Tsubasa Chronicles Season 2

By Josh | Posted in Anime Expo | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

More AX licenses

Saturday, June 30, 2007 – 10:32 pm

Anime ExpoFor Geneon, Digital Manga, ADV Films, Go! Comi, and The Right Stuf International:

Geneon
Deltora Quest
Lyrical Nanoha
Lyrical Nanoha A’s
Shakugan no Shana Tokubetsuhen: Koi to Onsen no Kougai Gakushuu! (OVA)

Digital Manga
Family Complex
Flamboyant

ADV Films
Devil May Cry
Gurren Lagaan
Kyoshiro

Go! Comi
A.I Revolution
Angel’s Coffin
A Wise Man Sleeps
Cy-Believers
Kamisama Kazok

The Right Stuf International
Victorian Romance Emma

By Josh | Posted in Anime Expo, Shakugan no Shana | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Bandai Visual Panel

Friday, June 29, 2007 – 9:42 pm

ANN now has up the report from the Bandai Visual panel.

BV mostly discussed the upcoming Gunbuster vs. Diebuster movie as several titles that they are going to be releasing in HD. As far as licensing, again I’m not sure this is 100% for certain new, but they did announced that they had acquired the Super Robot Wars OVA and TV series. They also licensed Gundam MS IGLOO: Apocalypse 0079.

By Josh | Posted in Anime Expo | Tagged | Comments (0)