Some of this is new news, some is old news - some may be old news that I missed. I just took a lot of notes on my Palm...
Anime on DVD:
Not really much new news here. Panel consisted of reps from ADV, Bandai, AnimEigo, and Media Blasters. ADV and Bandai saved their news for their panels later in the day.
I asked the obligatory question about the future of sub VHS and the panel concensous was that sub VHS is dying, rapidly. (More on this below.) Sub VHS is expected to start drying up at an increasing pace, with the occaisional exception of a title that is felt will still sell well enough on sub VHS. DVD is definitely the prime media for subs moving forward. Special offers may occur: For example, ADV may release a special 'ADV Fansubs' edition of a mainline title, etc. But be prepared to buy DVD for subs for the majority of titles.
DLW said something he's been wondering lately is which title will be the first on DVD only, with no VHS at all - and what company will do it. Sub VHS is going away fast, dub VHS will follow it into oblivion - the question is how fast.
There were some tidbits from ADV and Bandai, but I'll include them in their on blocks below...
Bandai:
All of the material from Cowboy Bebop Session 0 will be included on the US DVDs - just spread out across the set.
Jubei-Chan: The Ninja Girl - Secret of the Lovely Eyepatch will be on 4 DVDs (4-3x3). NO SUB VHS. Due in early August.
BIG NEWS: All of Outlaw Star will be released on THREE volumes! 9-9-8 count. Price point is $45 a volume. Bandai is experimenting with their episode count and pricing. Each volume may be a single dual layer disc OR they may end up with 2 discs in each volume (packed like Eat-Man 98). It depends on how they can compress it and still maintain quality. If they can't do it right on a single disc they'll go to 2 discs. The first volume is due in early September. So this is a change from what was originally solicited.
Fox originally wanted to change the music on Escaflowne (DUMP YOKO KANNO?!?!) but Bandai said no way. Music will be unchanged. As we know the DVD has been delayed until October. Jerry reassured fans that the discs are UNCUT dub/sub and he said they will have a lot of extras - including extra footage. (I believe some Esca fan can fill in the details - I just recall something about the Japanese release having some extra material...)
He teased us by saying their next title is an OAV series they've picked up - and then refused to name it.
Gundam 08th MS Team on DVD early next year.
There will be a new line of Gundam Wing action figures in stores soon.
A bit on Brain Powered and Silent Mobius:
Jerry said that the decision to only dub the first 3 volumes was made beforep production started. This was done as a trial balloon to see how they'd sell. These will not be appearing on DVD for at least a year, maybe two (DAMN!), and their intention is to dub the rest of them before they do the DVD. So these will NOT get the Eat-Man 98 treatment. The DVDs will be dub/sub and more 'conventional' in their release - just a long way off.
Bandai intends to do day & date on all their new releases.
They are definitely moving away from sub VHS. It is highly unlikely that any new Bandai titles will be on sub VHS - they'll be dub VHS and sub/dub DVD.
ADV (DLW, jump on in...):
BGC2040 should be the next title announced on DVD.
Dragon Half WILL be coming to DVD.
Gasaraki will not be day & date, but the DVD will be worth the wait. They will be including a LOT of extras, including a booklet explaining a lot of things. They had a fairly impressive list of extras.
ADV holds the options on Blue Seed 2 and the Sorceror Hunters OAVs - but have not exercised them at this time. (They have a pretty full schedule.)
Emeraldas has been quietly semi-fixed. When the second pressing was done the French/Japanese audio switch was corrected. The missing Japanese credits and mistimed subs at the very end are still an issue. I believe David said that he didn't hear about and/or catch the sub problem until after the 2nd pressing was off (There was some noise at that point so I couldn't clearly here it all). They'll still talking about a fully corrected disc and a possible swap.
Other than the first 4 CDs already announced for ADV Music, the 5th CD will be the Sin soundtrack. David said a few others are in production right now, and wanted to spill the beans, but said he couldn't just yet.
Suncoast/MusicLand came to ADV after they announced the ADV Fansubs line and picked it up as a trial to see how they'd sell. Which was a pleasant surprise.
As for the special versions of the Eva episodes - this was a topic of discussion (as was the age of consent in Japan and such, but I'll not go there...). ADV couldn't work with Manga on this if they wanted to - Manga doesn't have the rights to give ADV the footage. It is all controlled with separate contracts. Manga has the rights to release the movies as they are. ADV currently has the rights to the original TV series, as is. Neither has the rights to the special episodes, and those could be licensed by either of them (or a 3rd party) separately from the originals or the movie. (The Manga rep said the same thing at the next panel.) The issue is that Gainax wants a lot of dough for the episodes, and no one is really willing to pay what they're asking now.
Sin will be out in October.
Manga:
X DVD in October
Eva may NOT have a theatrical release. It may go right to VHS/DVD, the rep was in favor of the latter.
Gainax has script approval on the Manga adaptations.
Virus Buster Surge is their next new title.
The rep said Manga is trying to get the rights to The Big O
Manga does plan to put the rest of their back catalog out on DVD - except maybe Fist of the North Star TV. They've only licensed 57(? 50-something) episodes and there are a lot more.
Wings of Honneamise due 09/26, Angel Cop and Blackjack 08/29
The rep said Perfect Blue DVD was NOT a new transfer but was the master they were provided with. Since they didn't have to spend money on a new transfer they didn't - which meant no anamorphic.
On CoC the rep said he didn't think anamorphic was a big deal for the market yet, so they just didn't think it was important.
I brought up GitS as an example and he said something confusing. He said that the anamorphic transfer was the transfer that Manga was given so that's what they used. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to clarify that more fully.
I asked for an official way to identify the second pressing of Mac+. He said there should be two numbers around the spindle. If one of them starts with '4017' then you have a second pressing. He later added that, actually, if it starts with '4' or '41' then it should be ok.
He also said that while the official deadline for the Mac+ swap has passed, they are still unofficially taking returns. They'll do that until they deplete their stock of replacement discs. So if you haven't sent them yet, do it now.
BIG NEWS: He said all 4 Rayearth volumes will be collected on ONE DVD. So the DVD won't be out until they complete all 4.
ADDENDUM:
Keith Burgess from Manga Entertainment sent in this update to the above:
Street Fighter IIV will see a DVD release the title which I was talking about was Fist of the Northstar we have 56 episodes of that title not Street Fighter, all of "Fist" is out there is nothing else but the new series Alpha. Also "Street Fighter Alpha" is the next new title for us then "Rayearth" and then "Virus". The statement made about GitS was that it was given to us as an anamorphic transfer from the Japanese they did before we got a hold of it. And for "Perfect Blue" as the standard for DVD transfer becomes that most are anamorphic we will comply with the standard.
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