Anime/Manga Features

0 Comments | Add

Rate & Share:

Info:

Anime Boston - FUNimation Panel

By Chris Beveridge May 27, 2006

The folks at FUNimation had a good smooth hour long panel that played out about half of them talking and promoting their materials and another half doing Q&A. The panel has been a definite improvement over the past in that it felt like it flowed better, conveyed more when they could and was just a bit lighter and enjoyable. Part of that is due to that unlike past AB panels, there's more variety to talk about.

FUNimation made the formal convention announcement for Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid.

FUNimation made the formal announcement for Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad. Beck proved to be interesting as they explained WHY it's taken so long to actually announce. They've gone through all the episodes finding the various legal sticky points and worked them all out. Unlike Kodocha which had Japanese issues and Speed Grapher where it took Gonzo TWO years to get the rights to the Duran Duran song "Girls On Film", this was more workable in making sure it would stay true but it just took a lot of time. And yes, by the phrasing used, it sounds like Speed Grapher will not have the Duran Duran song - I also got the impression that the Japanese DVD release did not either and only the broadcast version had the song. Apparently Gonzo was trying to get the rights to the song for quite some time before even a frame of animation was drawn for the series.

There was plenty of talk about FuniGirls and some of their other projects such as the cranes for Fruits Basket which has just been delivered. Dragon Ball Z is undergoing some changes that will be revealed later in the summer but what they're working towards, thankfully, is getting the franchise in a more workable form that will work not only for fans but for retailers. Though jokingly said, imagine the kind of box set required for the complete series. They'll do it someday.

We got some good up close pictures of the Negima box and the Basilisk box (which is a slight variant on the Samurai Deeper Kyo box) and will post them sometime on Sunday.