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Though the announcement of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 hitting Sci Fi was certainly big news, Bandai's panel Friday afternoon at the 2008 Anime Expo was packed with recaps, trailers and a couple noteworthy announcements. If nothing else, the hour-long presentation reaffirmed that the company has a very compelling product roster for anime fans.
Though it was the last part of their presentation, Bandai announced they had secured a new anime license: Hayate the Combat Butler. A trailer was shown for the 52 episode series, but no further details were announced. One executive stated that the deal had just been made, so all considerations - including whether the series might be censored or not - were still very, very early.
Moving back to the top of the hour though - After working through a few technical difficulties, Marketing Director Robert Napton began to run through Bandai's upcoming products. First up was a mention of Bandai's extensive deal with Honneamise, which encompasses a wide range of titles. A spotlight was placed on Freedom, which will release simutaneously in the United States and Japan. A four disc Blu Ray collection will be released first at a MSRP of approximately $140. A DVD release will follow in early 2009. As with just about every product shown, the company treated fans to a trailer.
The popular Code Geass was next. The company mentioned that a DVD release was slated for August. Bandai is taking a new approach to its releases, with Limited Editions encompassing larger groups of episodes while standard one-disc releases will still make their way to store shelves. The Geass limited edition will cover nine episodes and will come with the OST for the show, the first volume of the manga and a "radio drama" CD that plays out the action through audio.
Moving to their next major franchise, Bandai presented the comedy Lucky Star. More t-shirts are on the way for fans, and a quick recap of upcoming releases was done.
Ghost Slayers Ayashi, one of the many products of Bones Studio, is set for release on September 2, 2008. A Collector's Box will hit with 10 episodes, a guidebook and the manga will be included. A price point around $65 is set. As with Geass, individual volumes will be released.
As the packed presentation began to eat into fan Q&A time, things rolled along quicker, with some trailers being skipped (and some stubbornly refusing to play). Toward the Terra was shown. The series is going to be packaged into three 8-episode sets, and Bandai told the crowd that they were releasing the first volume early so show attendees could buy it. Next up was a quick mention of My Hime followed by Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Girl is a full-length film that Bandai is bringing to a limited number of theaters followed by a standard and limited edition release on DVD. One of the company's other announcements involved licensing the manga adaptation of the film (not to be confused with CMX, who is bringing the adaptation of the novel to stores).
Gundam occupied a good chunk of the panel at this point, with discussion of Gundam Seed Destiny films and Gundam Wing 00 hitting Sci Fi. You can check out our news story by clicking here. 00 will be joining Gurren Lagann, which begins airing on the cable network later this month. One detail for 00 fans - Ocean is handling the voice acting.
Ghost in the Shell: Innocence was mentioned as being a Fall release while the Sword of the Stranger film is being released in theaters on July 18 (limited release). Blu Ray and DVD products are being planned, but no dates were specified (pricing was not finalized either).
A quick Q&A session followed the Combat Butler announcement (mentioned at the top of our recap since it was the biggest news outside of Gundam). Some of the details we've already mixed into this report, so here's the rest. Macross titles are proving difficult to bring to the United States due to naming rights and an ongoing lawsuit. The legal battle does not directly involve Bandai, so no one could speculate if any progress was being made on that front.
On the issue of full-series releases for various shows, Bandai stated that they typically release products like that for popular shows a few years after all of the individual volumes have been released. They did mention their general trend has been to include more episodes with each release because fan feedback has leaned in that direction.
Bringing Geass back to the spotlight, one fan asked if Bandai would be releasing all of the manga series. The answer was yes, and the light novels would also be making the trip from overseas. The company also hopes to put more of the show on Adult Swim.
Though it's a bit of a down note to end a panel recap, we thought we'd wrap with some sobering news. One fan asked Bandai if the industry was really in a downward swing or if reports and analysis online (we've run a few on this site as well) were simply misinformed. The panel agreed that the industry was suffering. It was mentioned that comparing the year 2000 with now would reveal sales were down. This admission was lessened a bit by saying the entire United States economy was suffering, and that all retailers were feeling the effects. Bandai mentioned that it was simply trying to provide the best products it could to convince consumers to spend what they could afford.
link
very interesting.
Though it was the last part of their presentation, Bandai announced they had secured a new anime license: Hayate the Combat Butler. A trailer was shown for the 52 episode series, but no further details were announced. One executive stated that the deal had just been made, so all considerations - including whether the series might be censored or not - were still very, very early.
Moving back to the top of the hour though - After working through a few technical difficulties, Marketing Director Robert Napton began to run through Bandai's upcoming products. First up was a mention of Bandai's extensive deal with Honneamise, which encompasses a wide range of titles. A spotlight was placed on Freedom, which will release simutaneously in the United States and Japan. A four disc Blu Ray collection will be released first at a MSRP of approximately $140. A DVD release will follow in early 2009. As with just about every product shown, the company treated fans to a trailer.
The popular Code Geass was next. The company mentioned that a DVD release was slated for August. Bandai is taking a new approach to its releases, with Limited Editions encompassing larger groups of episodes while standard one-disc releases will still make their way to store shelves. The Geass limited edition will cover nine episodes and will come with the OST for the show, the first volume of the manga and a "radio drama" CD that plays out the action through audio.
Moving to their next major franchise, Bandai presented the comedy Lucky Star. More t-shirts are on the way for fans, and a quick recap of upcoming releases was done.
Ghost Slayers Ayashi, one of the many products of Bones Studio, is set for release on September 2, 2008. A Collector's Box will hit with 10 episodes, a guidebook and the manga will be included. A price point around $65 is set. As with Geass, individual volumes will be released.
As the packed presentation began to eat into fan Q&A time, things rolled along quicker, with some trailers being skipped (and some stubbornly refusing to play). Toward the Terra was shown. The series is going to be packaged into three 8-episode sets, and Bandai told the crowd that they were releasing the first volume early so show attendees could buy it. Next up was a quick mention of My Hime followed by Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Girl is a full-length film that Bandai is bringing to a limited number of theaters followed by a standard and limited edition release on DVD. One of the company's other announcements involved licensing the manga adaptation of the film (not to be confused with CMX, who is bringing the adaptation of the novel to stores).
Gundam occupied a good chunk of the panel at this point, with discussion of Gundam Seed Destiny films and Gundam Wing 00 hitting Sci Fi. You can check out our news story by clicking here. 00 will be joining Gurren Lagann, which begins airing on the cable network later this month. One detail for 00 fans - Ocean is handling the voice acting.
Ghost in the Shell: Innocence was mentioned as being a Fall release while the Sword of the Stranger film is being released in theaters on July 18 (limited release). Blu Ray and DVD products are being planned, but no dates were specified (pricing was not finalized either).
A quick Q&A session followed the Combat Butler announcement (mentioned at the top of our recap since it was the biggest news outside of Gundam). Some of the details we've already mixed into this report, so here's the rest. Macross titles are proving difficult to bring to the United States due to naming rights and an ongoing lawsuit. The legal battle does not directly involve Bandai, so no one could speculate if any progress was being made on that front.
On the issue of full-series releases for various shows, Bandai stated that they typically release products like that for popular shows a few years after all of the individual volumes have been released. They did mention their general trend has been to include more episodes with each release because fan feedback has leaned in that direction.
Bringing Geass back to the spotlight, one fan asked if Bandai would be releasing all of the manga series. The answer was yes, and the light novels would also be making the trip from overseas. The company also hopes to put more of the show on Adult Swim.
Though it's a bit of a down note to end a panel recap, we thought we'd wrap with some sobering news. One fan asked Bandai if the industry was really in a downward swing or if reports and analysis online (we've run a few on this site as well) were simply misinformed. The panel agreed that the industry was suffering. It was mentioned that comparing the year 2000 with now would reveal sales were down. This admission was lessened a bit by saying the entire United States economy was suffering, and that all retailers were feeling the effects. Bandai mentioned that it was simply trying to provide the best products it could to convince consumers to spend what they could afford.
link
very interesting.