A DVD with a mysterious menu listing the numbers 1 through 6 was used to present the titles. First was a trailer for Innocent Venus, followed by a trailer for Air. The remaining four trailers (actually the Japanese opening sequences) were the new announcements: Red Garden, Pumpkin Scissors, Welcome to the N.H.K., and Magikano.
Questions were asked in between some of the trailers, and many more followed during the actual Q&A session afterwards.
The four new titles that ADV announced are all due to start on DVD this year, though the dates given in the press release are still tentative. ADV still has a lot of new titles to announce, and are really ramping up for 2008. The new title announcements will not necessarily be made at conventions. Matt suggested keeping an eye on things like press releases and ADV's website.
Somebody asked about Kanon, and Matt acknowledged that ADV is aware of fan interest and may look into it if Air does well. The monthly release for Air is also due to fan interest, and ADV's desire to get the series to the fans as quickly as possible. The R2J Blu-ray release of Air was brought up, and Matt said the Japanese need to do more shows properly in HD, noting that the Blu-ray release of Air was simply a standard definition version on Blu-ray discs.
ADV has been supplying shows in HD for TV broadcast in the U.S. for a while now, but isn't planning any Blu-ray or HD-DVD releases for the time being. ADV believes there is a future for HD anime, but it's up to the Japanese to do more as far as things like properly animating new shows for HD. Matt also mentioned that they don't think releases like Freedom from Bandai Visual USA are the way to go for HD releases in R1. Somebody also asked about features such as anamorphic widescreen and surround sound appearing on more regular DVDs, and Matt said, like with HD anime, it's up to the Japanese to make it that way in the first place. He then went on to say that letterboxing titles that weren't originally widescreen, like "a company north of us," isn't the way to handle such things.
One of the first questions asked was whether or not ADV could at least include clean opening and ending sequences in their thinpak collections, due to English credits sometimes crowding the screen, to which Matt replied that they'd take a look at it. He then asked the audience if there was a preference for English credits or the original Japanese credits, noting that while English credits are useful for TV broadcasts there's no reason why the original Japanese credits couldn't be used on the DVDs.
Another thinpak question had to do with other older titles like Princess Nine, Generator Gawl, and Nadesico getting thinpak collections. Matt noted that those three titles had already gotten brick collection releases. There will probably be a thinpak collection for Hakugei: Legend of the Moby Dick coming up. Re-releases like the thinpak collections are driven by stores, but are also used to maintain shelf presence of titles. The Web and more downloads from ADV are being considered as other ways to keep titles alive.
Regarding illegal downloads, Matt acknowledged that fansubs were a "great idea" once upon a time, but that they're killing the Japanese anime industry. They're bad for the anime industry as a whole, but it's also up to the industry to find ways to adapt to the current situation.
ADV titles will be present on Xbox Live, and the masters have already been sent. When asked about the Sci Fi channel's upcoming anime offerings, Matt noted the "somewhat incestuous" relationship Sci Fi has at the moment with Manga Entertainment, but that it's good to see anime on the channel again and that ADV would love to have some of their titles on as well. Somebody mentioned Mezzo being offered through Gametap and asked if other ADV titles would be offered there in the future, and ADV is looking into it. ADV does believe the future of anime is on TV, as opposed to purely being on DVDs.
When asked what determined what is or isn't licensed, Matt explained that co-productions are important, and an incentive to then release a particular title in R1, though they may not always be handled by ADV, as has already happened in some cases. ADV pays attention to fan interest, but they also keep track of and watch new shows, but often review titles while they are still in the storyboard stage.
ADV Manga is returning, and ADV is currently looking at scheduling with retailers to get their titles in stores. There will be new titles coming up. The challenge at the moment is to decide on the best way to get some of the more niche titles out.
The Evangelion 10th Anniversary Set is on hold, while ADV waits to see how the situation with the new movies turns out. Nothing was said about licensing other than that ADV was looking into it. Matt was wearing a prototype of the jacket that was slated to be included in the set.
The current ADV website is essentially a beta version, and a major site overhaul is coming in June with more features, more content, and more downloads.
Somebody asked about Sgt. Frog, and Matt replied that there will be news "soon."
The Musicland bankruptcy and restructuring was a big change for the industry, largely due to the fact that Suncoast backstocked DVDs (versus Best Buy continually cycling older DVDs out to make room for new ones). This contributed to ADV's scaling back of licensing and releasing titles in the past couple of years.
One fan complimented ADV on the quality of their dubs, and Matt replied with a brief explanation of ADV's dub history, talking about things like the building of new studios for increased production and finding talented voice actors (noting here jokingly how other studios are now "stealing our voice talent away from us"). He also made a general comment about how there are a lot of good dubs out there today, and other studios that do good work. Voice actor commentary is a good selling point for titles, and there will be more on the way.
The panel ended with several rounds of Jan-Ken-Pon to win DVDs and thinpak sets.
After the panel, a small group of us followed Matt out into the hallway for a few more questions. Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2041 is still a project that people are interested in, with the biggest holdup being the unavailability of the staff from BGC: Tokyo 2040; the idea is that certain staff members are keeping the project in reserve in case they find themselves at a point in time when they may not have any big projects to work on. Mike Sinterniklaas was originally supposed to have voiced Keiichi in the Oh My Goddess! OVAs, so his directing the TV series dub and casting individuals like Juliet Cesario from the OVA dub is sort of like coming full-circle. ADV was glad to have found Guil Lunde for redubbing Fuyutsuki's scenes in the Evangelion director's cut episodes, though it took them a while due to incorrect information (they eventually found him in Chicago). ADV will not be using alternate angles for credits sequences, due to dissatisfaction with what can be done with the current DVD technology, though Matt was excited about the potential of the HD formats for alternate angles of good quality, a variety of colors for subtitles, and so on. 6 discs for full-season shows and 3 discs for half-season shows are currently the standard for ADV releases.
Panel report verified by ADV.
LOGIN
REGISTER
RSS
HOME
