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Otakon 2010 License Roundup
Jul 31st
And that they did!
FUNimation and Bandai had some super exciting announcements this weekend at Otakon 2010. I’ll have a con report up within a week or so, but before that, let’s talk about the licenses!
FUNimation outdid themselves again (just when I thought it couldn’t get any better than what they announced at Anime Expo) by announcing Strike Witches 2, Ookami-san, Shukufuku no Campanella, Hetalia World Series, the Hetalia movie, Summer Wars, and Evangelion 2.22.
Obviously, I’m especially happy about the Strike Witches announcement. I’ve been watching the second season of everyone’s favorite pants-free mecha girl series on Crunchyroll, and it’s spectacular so far. FUNimation will be simulcasting it starting soon (Crunchyroll will continue to simulcast it as well).
Summer Wars is the next big hit movie by Mamoru Hosoda, the director of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. I was lucky enough to be able to see it at the New York International Children’s Film Festival earlier this year, and it is an outstanding movie. Look forward to this one and be sure to pick it up.
The second installment in the Rebuild of Evangelion series, Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance, was also picked up by FUNimation. I already imported the Blu-ray from Asia, with English subtitles. If you thought Evangelion 1.11 was great, this movie will completely blow it out of the water. And that’s saying a lot.
“Super Robot Taisen Original Generation: Inspectors” Revealed!
Jul 22nd
Dengeki Hobby Magazine has recently confirmed that the Super Robot Taisen OG animation has returned, with 2D robot animations! From the reviews of the first season Divine Wars with 3D robot animations, the team has decided to revive its original 2D enhanced action with characters and robots.
Takanobu Terada, the creator of Super Robot Taisen Project, has announced that Masami Obari (director of Gravion and Dancouga Nova) will be directing the series with Satoshi Kubo (animator for Medabots and Pokemon: The First Movie) with script supervisors Souichiro Morizumi, Yuichiro Takeda, Tatsunosuke Yatsufusa.
The actual release date is unknown, but it has been confirmed to be sometime this Fall. It will possibly consist of 26 episodes like Divine Wars.
This story takes place a couple of months after the war against Aerogaters and Divine Crusaders ended. The heroes are back to their own original cycle until they encounter newest hostile forces: Neo Divine Crusaders and Shadow Mirrors. What’s more surprising is that the Shadow Mirrors are using units that have not been fully developed by Earth at this time. Also unknown, new abomination aliens appear before the heroes driving Excellen out of control. Finally, another new encountering aliens that call themselves “Inspectors” have decided to put a judgment before the Earthlings. With such a large amount of pressures coming from these opposing factions, can the heroes stop the catastrophe in time?
Hit the jump for some images.
K-ON! Has Been Licensed, All’s Right With the World
Jul 2nd
Seriously, who could hate something so adorable?
The day has finally arrived. After years of wondering “When’s K-ON! gonna get licensed?”, “Who would license it?”, and “Will it ever get licensed?”, Bandai has finally saved our minds from perpetually pondering these questions. At Anime Expo, they announced that they have licensed K-ON!, and there was much rejoicing (and hating too, of course).
Is this a good move for Bandai? Many are skeptical that this show won’t sell since it appeals to the “otaku” crowd, many of which have already seen the show fansubbed and have no intention of buying it.
I think the key is in the marketing. If Bandai pulls off a decent viral marketing stunt, I have a feeling that will move more sales. At least it seemed to work with Haruhi and Kannagi (which sold fairly well, so I’m told). The extras (assuming there are extras) will also be key. Haruhi had some excellent extras – pencil boards, CDs, and tons of other free stuff. On the other hand, Lucky Star‘s extras, which consisted of shirts with pictures of sailor uniforms printed on them (to this date I still wonder whose brilliant idea that was), didn’t do so hot.
Will K-ON! help Bandai get back on their feet? Or will this be a repeat of Lucky Star, thus dooming Bandai into the fiery pits of US anime company hell? Only time will tell, but post your thoughts if you have ‘em.
Toradora’s Packaging is Amazing (a.k.a. BUY TORADORA Part 3)
May 18th
I don’t usually go out of my way to promote DVD sales like this, but Toradora! is an exception. Besides, I haven’t made a fanboy post on this blog in a while.
As if I didn’t already give you enough reasons to buy Toradora!, here are some photos that Zac Bertschy of ANN posted. This is the packaging for the limited edition version of the first box set. NIS America will be releasing it on July 6, 2010. If you want to pre-order your copy (and you should), click here!
Rejoice, Toradora Has Been Licensed!
Feb 11th
In case you haven’t noticed from this blog’s banner, my Twitter avatar, my constant ravings, and the reflection post I did on it, I really, really love Toradora! NIS America, a video games company just entering the anime market, has announced the title for a US release. Along with this, they have also picked up Pandora Hearts, Persona -trinity soul-, and Wagaya no Oinarisama.
Needless to say, this is incredible news. I really hope for the best for NIS America. They have done quite well in the past with releasing niche games, so hopefully they can do well with anime as well. As of now, there is no word on how the series will be released, or if there will be a dub. Regardless, I will fully support this series. Why? Because this show totally deserves it.
Dragon Ball Kai Licensed by Funimation
Feb 2nd
As if you didn’t see this coming. Funimation, in continuing their quest to acquire everything Dragon Ball-related, has confirmed the license of Dragon Ball Kai. In case you don’t know, Dragon Ball Kai is a remastered version of Dragon Ball Z formatted for HD and widescreen. It also removes all the “filler” content that wasn’t part of the original manga, thus shortening the series down to about 100 episodes (though an official number of episodes has yet to be confirmed).
Funimation has yet to confirm the details of its release, but knowing how well DBZ has done outside of Japan, it seems fair to bet that they will push for a major TV network airing of this show. Let’s hope they can get it on an HD channel. A Blu-ray release should also be expected.
To you fans who bought the DBZ box sets (and possibly even the recently released Dragon Box): Will you be “double-dipping” on this series? I’m sure that many hardcore fans will be willing to spend as much money as they can towards what is arguably one of the greatest anime series of all time.
As for me, this will be my chance to finally get into the Dragon Ball franchise. So, I will most definitely be picking this up when it gets released.
Funimation: Doing it Right
Jan 12th
For those of you who don’t know, Funimation has licensed the highly controversial totally awesome anime series Strike Witches and plans to release it on DVD on March 30, 2010. The show is widely known for containing copious amounts of gratuitous fanservice. This turns off many people, and yet despite this, the show does have a healthy fanbase. Funimation faces the challenge of marketing this show to the not-so-appreciative through use of their hilarious quirky humor.
To see what I mean, check out the link below, and be sure to watch the trailer:
Strike Witches – Winning the War on Pants
Is this marketing going to be effective? I think it will be. Of course, I’m sure many are turned off by the simple fact that a show like Strike Witches even exists, and don’t find this marketing approach to be humorous at all. But for the many of those who may be on the fence about such a show, I think this approach will help sway them in the right direction. Funimation, kudos to whoever works in your marketing department!
Bandai Updates ASOS Brigade Website – Possible Season 2 License?
Dec 25th
Bandai Entertainment updated the ASOS Brigade website. What’s interesting about this is what’s in the source code: a very long string of 八 – the Japanese kanji for “8.” Anyone who knows anything about the second season of Haruhi knows about Endless Eight, and this seems to be a big hint.
Seems like a safe bet that Bandai has licensed Haruhi season 2. The only thing I can hope now is that it won’t be sub-only. With a big title like Haruhi, you’d expect them to give it a dub. But with the way Bandai has been doing lately, who knows?
