A-Kon - Full Report

By Andrew Tei     June 04, 2002

By Mariela Ortiz



Maybe it’s a sign you’ve been to too many cons, when each con you go to you
seem to be doing less and less “con” things. Or maybe I was just feeling sick.
Because while A-kon was enjoyable, I was truly spaced during whole chunks of
it.



One really good thing about A-kon is its Thursday night registration. Not just
pick up for pre-regs, but new membership sales as well. Having seen the lines
Friday morning, I once again was happy I made the extra trek Thursday night.
(A-kon is a commuter con for me, heh heh) However, going back to the DFW Hyatt
had mixed results. A-kon in many regards has outgrown it, and with the
demolishing of one tower, the hallways seemed extremely cramped. Parking,
while free, was filled up very fast, meaning an extra trek for latecomers, or
anyone who gave up their space in search of food. Food was the other major
issue. In years past, the many eating establishments located in Terminal C
were available to the con goers. But with the new security restrictions, con
goers were limited to the hotel restaurants, a few delivery places, or leaving
the airport.



Scheduling was the other major gripe. That there were so few industry panels
was certainly not entirely the con’s fault (though with Media Blasters right
there, they certainly could have been given a panel.) Even putting them all on
Saturday isn’t a real problem. That THREE panels were held at once –
unforgivable. As a result, I have no news from Manga’s panel or Studio
Ironcat’s. And considering the gaps in the schedule and there not being all
that much on Sunday – there was really no excuse for that to have happened.




I didn’t partake of most of the major events (the concert, cosplay) and sadly
wasn’t up to karaokeing this trip, but the video rooms were once again a
cavernous wonder, which my vid-room only companions spent many apparently
enjoyable hours in. Me, I circled the dealer’s rooms (there were 2) a lot,
talked to people, and tried to make sure I was medicated enough to not fall
over.



So on to the meat of the report, the reason you are all here, the panels!



Bandai Entertainment



This panel was run by Jerry Chu, who came bearing hats, and swears he’ll
remember me by AX. We’ll see. The early part of the panel as spent pimping
upcoming projects such as the just-about-to-be-released Betterman (Jerry did
give away 2 copies of that) and Silent Mobius TV, and of course the Escaflowne
movie. Much was made about their being the only company doing DTS tracks, and
that TV series with DTS tracks were likely for the future. Looks like Bandai
is trying to win Chris away from ADV . . .



As may have been mentioned before – Tsukikage Ran is officially being retitled
Carried by the Wind and it is expected “soon,” as is Arjuna – which when panel
guest Ms. Kawamura of Bandai Visual (Japan) was asked how much it cost (chotto
takai?) her eyes widened as she nodded vigorously. Bandai expects much from
that title. Bandai America (the toy and game branch) will have the .hack game
out by the end of the year, and Bandai Ent. Wants to get the TV series out
soon afterwards, though no date is set and 2003 is more likely.



Some things were mentioned about Char’s Counterattack, such as the fact there
is a subbed print (in fact it is that print that will premiere at Expo next
month.) And for those of you wondering about the extra for the DVD labeled
“Gundam Model Musical” well, it sorta is. It’s a STOMP like musical tour of
the making of Gundam model kits. I’m sure it will be insane.



The big news Jerry meant to announce were two new box sets for the holidays.
(Yes, I was thrilled.) One is an Outlaw Star box set, which will either retail
for $79.99 or 89.99 (he couldn’t remember) and the other is a Gundam Wing TV
box set which will retail for $199.99. (Endless Waltz NOT included) Both will
be the DVD keepcases in cardboard boxes and NO CURRENT PLANS TO MAKE THEM
AVAILABLE SEPERATELY. Commence whining – but not to my e-mail!!!!!!!!!!



In other news, still no plans to ever put CCD on DVD, so Bandai must be
punished. Unlike at the last con he was at, Jerry is now aware of the plans
for a Big O 2, and confirmed that Cartoon Network is involved. However, there
was no confirmation that Bandai Ent. Had or will have anything to do with it.
G Gundam’s start date on CN is completely up to CN, and hence BE isn’t even
sure when it will begin, they do expect to start the DVD release around
December, and it may even carry a lower SRP (possibly $20). Jerry once again
reassured everyone that the discs will have the original Japanese track. More
Love Hina is “being worked on” but still nothing official.



The big fun? When asked about the sequels to Crest of the Stars, Jerry replied
that one was in the pipeline. Oops, accidental title announcement.



Of interest – though not Bandai specific were the two series that Ms. Kawamura
(who works in licensing at Bandai Visual) is apparently very interested in
selling to US companies – Onegai Teacher and Galaxy Angel. She also tried to
ask which Gundam series people wanted to see most, but Jerry cut her off
stating “they’re all gonna just say Zeta.” For the record, I said SD Gundam.
^_^





ADV Films



Since ADV owns me, I certainly couldn’t miss their panel. Even if it meant
missing the Manga one. Poor me. I was also tape recorder-less – something
which panelists Matt Greenfield and David Williams threatened to take
advantage of. (Janice Williams was also on hand to provide release estimates
and other tidbits.)



While there were no new titles announced (BOO!) more CD titles for the
animetrax line were mentioned. New ones seemed to include the Blue Seed
soundtracks, more Lost Universe OSTs and more Slayers movie soundtracks. Many
apologizes if I missed something.



News of note – ZOE OVA is set for this fall, TV series will follow afterwards.
YUA is set for 2003, the specials will probably precede the movie. Saiyuki
will be called just that, instead of the icky Paradise Raiders title
originally announced. Mahou Senshi Riui will be titled Rune Soldier (singular)
which is pretty close to the English title we see in the opening anyway. And
the main character’s name will be Louie.



Despite the fact some people think they will never be released, more Slayers
movies are being translated right now (the translator was in the room) so work
is really being done on those. Excel Saga may prove to be the most insane
release ever made by an anime company. (The ADV/Suncoast booth had 12 copies
Friday morning. Sold them in 5 minutes. Yes, they ordered more.) Volume 2 is
even more evil than volume 1, trust me. DLW was told to come up with 13 easter
eggs for it. But there are so many more . . . and they are evil. Oh and “EXCEL
LOVES MENUS!!!”



The plans for Southern Cross, Mospaeda and Dunbine call for multi-disc
keepcases, one each for SC and Mospeada and two for Dunbine. City Hunter
however, is currently being reevaluated due to circumstances out of ADV’s
control.



Tiffany Grant beat me to asking about those little OVA sequels to ADV series
that still haven’t really been aquired (like the Gekiganger OVA, Blue Seed 2
and the Sorcerer Hunter OVAs) – the most we got was a “Gekiganger is likely”
*sigh* the battle continues.



And while Softcell is not a division of ADV Films, DLW mentioned that he has
been asked to consult on their DVDs, and in fact the oft-requested F3 is
already being produced, and will even include the dubbed episode 1 as an
extra. Make of that what you will.



Oh, and they gave away many goodies, and someone finally knew who the main
character in Arc the Lad was. I was relieved.



Funimation



I’ve been very bad about going to Funimation panels in the past. But ever
since they announced Fruits Basket of all things, I have been forced to take
them seriously. So off to the Funi panel I went. It was run by someone from
their web branch – Hunter Mews (all apologizes, I don’t know how to spell your
name!) But he had been briefed some and could answer several production
questions. Of great amusement was the fact he was convinced he was going to be
lynched by the fans for Funi’s earlier mistakes, but everyone was quite
friendly. As I said, we save the knives for other companies these days.



Some facts about Funimation’s production capabilities these days, they are up
to three recording studios and 60 employees, so they expect to be getting
things out faster. In fact Blue Gender has been officially bumped up (some of
this has shown up in changed release dates on TRSI) and the remaining volumes
are tentatively set to come out two volumes every other month.



First question asked? When is Fruits Basket coming. The answer – soon they
hope. And like all their other properties, they are trying to sell it to TV.
(No they have not given up on Blue Gender, the fact it will be on TV in the UK
is encouraging to them) He also believes Cartoon Network has enough episodes
of YYH to air through October.



About Dragonball, and the lack of uncut and subtitled DVDs, it seems to not be
so much of a rights issue with Kidsmark (who released the original 13 cut
episodes and one movie) and more of a marketing one. Plans still call for
those discs to eventually come out, but no dates were given.



As for DBZ, mid-2003 remains the date that the Pioneer contract for the
earlier episodes of that series expires, and as usual “if there is a market”
an uncut release will be made. What was different this time is that they are
thinking of redubbing those episodes (instead of, say a sub only release) to
give the entire series one dub cast. If you are a fan of the DBZ movies – they
are all coming, in fact movie #7 is set for January 2003 and they hope to get
four or five movies out next year. In the world of (ack) box sets, they do
intend to make DBZ DVD box sets, like they have done with VHS, but entire
sagas have to come out first. (Remember they skip around a lot.)



Their new deal with 4Kids to distribute 4Kids shows was asked about. This is a
distribution deal, so Funimation has to work with the materials they are
given. However, they have stressed to 4Kids that they believe a truly
successful release is a dual language one (my how far they have gotten!) so
we’ll see.



Concluding thoughts



Well, another A-kon gone by (my 5th, eek) and what did I learn? Don’t trust
vague directions (hence the really small forum gathering), don’t stand by dlw
when someone is trying to embarrass themselves for a DVD, Knight Hunters is
every bit as bad as I remember it being and I still bought 3 volumes, cell
phones are useful, and finding myself in Princess Nine vol. 4 was great.
Having a sucky computer that delayed this report, not so great. And randomly
walking into the video room may result in finding out that Kurogane
Communications may be worth picking up . . . or that Gundress should be
avoided like the plague. Till AX, ja ne!