Anime/Manga Features

Anime Expo - Saturday Report

By: Andrew Tei
Date: Friday, July 05, 2002

.hack//SIGN - Koichi Mashimo

Koichi Mashimo (President of Bee Train, director of .hack and Noir), Ken Iyadomi (Bandai Ent. VP & panel host), and another Japanese guest (who didn't say much) were present at the panel.

This is one of the more interesting panels I attended at AX this year. Generally I don't go to GoH panels because I find most of them boring. I'm more interesting in seeing voice actors/actresses and composers than directors and character designers. But when I realized Mashimo was behind Noir and .hack (one of my favorite current shows), I thought about skipping Pioneer's panels in favor of his. In the end, I figured Pioneer wasn't going to announce anything that interesting (except maybe Chobits) and decided to attend the Mashimo panel. Looks like I was half-right about Pioneer, but I'm still glad I went to see Mashimo.

The panel started off with Ken Iyadomi introducing Mashimo. Mashimo entered the room and sat down and said hello to the eager crowd. Iyadomi said a few more words then played the .hack//SIGN trailer on Bandai's 2002 promo dvd. After the trailer ended, Iyadomi directed the panel by asking Mashimo several questions. Here's a transcription of what was said between the two men, although it is far from 100% accurate.

Iyadomi: .hack is not only an anime but also a game. Why?

Mashimo: The target audience is not only children but also older people (ages 15-30). The .hack story takes place in the real world and game world. The OAV depicts the people in the real world and the TV show depicts the video game world. The game unifies the real and virtual worlds. Something I value in the real world are the relationships between people. For that reason, .hack holds a special place in my heart.

All people wear a masks. Currently I'm wearing a mask called "director". In my personal life, I wear a mask called "father of two daughters". The characters in the anime & game wear respective masks. On the internet, everyone wears a mask of anonymity. .hack deals with the relationships between each character.

Iyadomi: The screen writer for .hack [Kazunori Ito] is the same guy that worked on the Ghost in the Shell and Patlabor movies. Can you talk about that?

Mashimo: Kazunori never does a straight depiction of what a person should be. For example, if you wee to ask him to depict a male character in a show, he would depict the other related characters . In the dailogue, the .hack characters use big words (unlike the real world). Those are all depictions and it's up to the audience to find the true characters.

Iyadomi: And what about the game designer [didn't catch the name]?

Mashimo: At Gianax, we rarely worked together. Thru Production IG, I was asked to work on Neon Genesis Evangelion. I turned down the offer. But now I'm working with him on .hack.

Iyadomi: Can you explain what Bee Train is like?

Mashimo: It's a new studio that I founded w/ Ishikawa Mitsuhisa. As a director, I tend to increase the [project] budgets. Ishikawa makes sure that doesn't go too far. Before .hack, a lot of stuff was done with the help of Production IG. Production IG tends to work on movies and long projects. Bee Train tends to work on TV series and faster projects.

Iyadomi: The OAV, let's talk about it. It will be an additional disc to the game[s].

Mashimo: As I explained, .hack has a complex storyline. In the game package, you have one depiction of the series. The TV series is another package. The depiction of the .hack world is a virtual, online game world. The video game simulates a game (pseudo online game).

Iyadomi: Let's take a look at some visuals from the OAVs and game.

[short video of game footage is shown]

The OAVs have been dubbed in English, although the final mix hasn't been made.

[clip from OAV (dubbed) is shown next]

The [.hack] series starts with the TV, then goes into the game, then the OAV.

[video of TV OP is shown]

At this point, Iyadomi opens up the panel to Q&A. Mashimo answered most of the questions.

Question: What was the inspiration for .hack?

Mashimo: The TV show is geared toward a more sophisticated audience, but we can not deny that some adults have the heart of a child.

Question: Was "Bear" [character in .hack TV] inspired by Braveheart?

Mashimo: I like Mel Gibson, there are similarities.

Question: Why are the TV and OAV in wide-screen format?

Mashimo: I can no longer do storyboards in 4:3 aspect ratio.

Question: Where did the ideas for the lingo & acronyms come from?

Mashimo: The spoken Japanese language has a discrepancy between younger and older generations. The .hack virtual world uses the spoken language of the younger generation.

Question: In Noir, character depictions are not black & white. Why?

Mashimo: I like to tell a story that's easy to understand. The real world is not as simple as black & white. This is true in .hack and Noir. I like to inspire my staff and audience that not everything is black & white. When we all make something new, we tend to present something complex. I wish I could present things simpler.

Question: Who is the composer, is there an OST coming out, etc?

Mashimo: Yuki Kajiura is the composer. I met her 6-8 years ago while working on Eatman. She likes to drink. [FYI: OST is out 7/24, got my copy preordered :) ]

Question: The music takes place in the scene? [didn't quite catch the question]

Mashimo: When I'm watching an American movie in Japan, I may miss some of the subtitles. The presentation of music and dailogue in movies is standard. I've tried to do some experimentation. For one show, I specifically had the music louder then the dailogue. [me thinks he's referring to .hack TV] Some people complained, but that was my intent.

Question: How are you planning to release .hack in the US?

Mashimo: Game with OAVs will come out in the Fall.

Iyadomi: Next year for TV series.

Question: What is the origin of the name of studio Bee Train? .hack seems very ambitious. How was it all planned?

Mashimo: Bee train is a very noisy / busy studio. So in reference to the honey bee, that's where the name came from. The name actually was chosen by the staff.

It's impossible to conceive a project of this size all at once. The first conception was the video game. This title was 3 years in the making. So I got involved with the game, then the OAV, then the TV series. But the project is still ongoing.

Question: Why did you chose an English OP for the TV series?

Mashimo: The OAV OP is Japanese, but uses quite violent language. The TV OP would be profane in Japanese.

Question: Are there any plans to continue Noir as an OAV or movie?

Mashimo: I don't like sequels. The only sequel I worked on is Captain Tylor. That's because my staff works on a project from start to finish. To try to create closure for something that already has closure is redundant. I will not be able to cave into your demands. [Take note all you people that want a Noir movie and/or think it's in the works ;-)]

Question: What's you take on the .hack game selling more than FFXI in Japan?

Mashimo: I don't like to compare my works with others.

Question: [My question] What's it like to work w/ Yuki Kajuira?

Mashimo: It's very difficult. Various production houses use different processes. There is a music selection process. It takes as much time to choose the music as it does for the animation or screenplay. The composer and animators never listen to the director.

Question: Who is your favorite character from Noir and why?

Mashimo: There are many bad guys in Noir and I dearly loves these hapless villains.

Question: Is Captain Tylor a parody of Legend of Galactic Heroes?

Mashimo: I am convinced LoGH is a parody of Captain Tylor. [audience laughs]

Question: Given the violent nature of Noir, is there and X rated version [R would have made more sense]?

Mashimo: Please go find it, I'd like to see it myself. [audience laughs]

Question: Do any of you play online games? If so, which ones?

Mashimo: Well I gave my staff a PC and they stopped working. So I'm pretty sure they've gone underground and play at home. And 7 of my staffers stopped coming to work. It's a true story.

Question: If [one] doesn't play the game, can [one] still understand the story?

Mashimo: The video game is a self-contained world. The OAV stands on it's own as a teenage angst story. The TV series also stands alone.

Question: Can you speak on the use of computer graphics with cel based?

Mashimo: I've been using CG in other shows, it's just not as noticeable. Since .hack takes place in a digital world, I've made the use of CG more obvious. It's really about making what the creator and audience want to see and therefore I don't want to get into debates about CG versus cel animation.

Question: What's your favorite anime?

Mashimo: Tom & Jerry. I think it's a successful and classic show, I still enjoy it.

Question: Any hints on what you're working after .hack?

Mashimo: I don't want to think about it. [audience laughs]

At this point, time ran out and the Q&A session ended. People then made closing comments.

Other Japanese guest: Well Mashimo's OAV has no robots or gunfights, but if you watch it and watch it again after playing the game, you'll understand it more.

Iyadomi: Our own staff enjoys .hack a lot. And we hope you will watch it too.

Mashimo: I see a few people [dressed up]. I love cosplay. It's a beautiful example of statement without words.

Report by Jason Yeh(Wolve)

Pioneer Home Video Entertainment

Yukio Kusumoto and Hiroe Tsukamoto presented the panel. They gave us Sugar tickets as we walked in. Could they possibly have this?

Pioneer started off the panel with some trailers for their
upcoming shows. First off was I, My, Me, Strawberry Eggs, I
believe it was the trailer they've already included on
their DVDs. Next, was the Hellsing Trailer, that seemed to
focus on Crispin Freeman's performance of Hellsing and ran
for about three minutes. Vandread: Second Stage was up
next, and this time they showed the preview subbed. X was
next in the lineup, where they presented the Japanese X OVA
trailer that only used footage that would appear in the TV
series, also dubbed in English. Mariela was laughing
hysterically during it :)

Master Keaton was up next! Our first new "official"
acquisition announcement. They showed the opening from it
and part of the episode. Fushigi Yugi Eikoden was up next,
and it's using the same dub as the region 2. Next up,
Mahoromatic Maiden was up next. Next time, maybe people
will actually listen to when AX announces a title :) The trailer
first started off with serious music and Maho in her previous
battle sequences. Then it went back to the present with the music
from the ED, showing the comedic parts of the series.

Ai Yori Aoshi was showed next! They showed the opening.
Gatekeepers 21 was next, and people around the room cheered
after they finally figured out what it was. Tiny Snow Sugar
Fairy OP was next. I get to listen to Mariela sing! :)
And surprise, surprise, Pioneer stole another movie,
Sakura Taisen! Chobits! Chobits! Chobits!

Lupin the 3rd was next, and Pioneer showed the work in
progress dub. I must say, I was pretty impressed with
Lupin's dub actor. Pioneer only has the second Lupin series,
which is 52 episodes.

Next up was a list of back catalogue titles. See the titles at the end.

Next up they showed a mysterious trailer that no one could
identify. Oh, it Patlabor Movie 3! A theatrical release and
a DVD is in the works.

Mr. Ueda from LDC then was introduced. He was very happy
with the audience reaction to Chobits. Then they showed a
new work from Yoshitoshi Abe, creator of Lain and Niea_7. Hibane Renmei. We saw a girl fall, and scenes of what seemed to
be an angel being born. Wings grew out of her back, with
blood also pouring out.

For Fushigi Yugi Eikoden, there may be two releases. This is currently
in the planning stages. A limited release which would follow the style
of the old releases, plus a release of it in a more standard format.

Magical Project S will be released on 4 DVDs. To clarify further, it's not released as four individual volumes, but as two 2-disc sets. The first 2-disc set will have episodes 1-13 and the second 2-disc set will have episodes 14-26. The discs are DVD-9

Summary of new titles

Master Keaton

Fushigi Yugi Eikoden - Winter 2002, maybe 2003

Mahoromatic Maiden(anamorphic)

Aio Yori Aoshi

Gatekeepers 21

Tiny Snow Sugar Fairy

Sakura Taisen the movie

Chobits(animorphic)

Lupin the Third Second Series(52 TV eps)

Patlabor Movie 3

Back Catalogue Tile Name	Mouth to be rele
Mihoshi Special/Pretty Sammy	Oct
Armitage III OVAs	Oct
Magical Project S subtitled	November
Nanako Box	December/January
Hand Maid May Boxset	March
Tenchi OVAs released in 4 individual DVDs	March

Post AX-Addition: FY: Eikoden will be released as a Billginau DVD w/Collector's Box for 39.98 and just the DVD for $29.98,
both running at 100 minutes.

Written by Andrew Tei(Reikun) and Mariela Ortiz(Sapphire)

Pioneer Music

I must apologize here, but I did not get the name of the panelists.

They are in charge of all CDs Pionner Music has, and their objective is to expose America to Music from Japan.

Their objective is not to release all of their CDs, but bascially right now to concentrate on the shows that Pioneer Entertainament is releasing onto DVD also to tie in products. Pioneer US goes to Pioneer Japan basically to ask for stuff, so they won't be release titles from other companies.

Why are they pushing this now? They noticed another company doing it.

Pioneer's first big push will be Para Para. Yoko Ishida was there on the panel also. She answered a few questions like do you just have an angelic voice, or did you have to take a lot of training? Ms. Ishida answer that she does taking singing lessons.

A lot of the panel was a reverse panel in a way. The head of the US division of Pioneer queried the audience on what they would like to see. What packacing, pricing, extras, and what do about the availablity of bootlegs. It was like market research.

Soundtrack available include Tenchi Muyo, Bastard, Armitate Dual Matrix, and HellSing. They AMG Movie OST will also come out and is only available currently at cons only directly from Pioneer.

Report By Andrew Tei(Reikun)

Viz Communications

Carl Horn, Jason Thompson, and eventually Toshi Yoshida
This was a panel plagued with techinical difficulties, first with a misbehaving slide projector, then the player wouldn't play the disc and in the end - even the VCR wouln't play the tape.

While no new aquisitions were announced, many details about projects in the works were released.

First up, news from the manga division. Bastard - which has been coming out in the larger monthly format, is about to start its graphic novel release (collecting the monthlies) - however the plan for this title is 1 GN every 3 months.

With the collection of her manga Cinderella, Junko Mizuno
will be attending Comiccon next month. It should be noted that she did the new fx and even colored it herself for this edition.

Recently announced were the Spirited Away film books, these will be unflipped and the fx left untouched, a glossary in back will define them all. The Art of book is a hardback, there will also be a picture book for younger viewers.

The incredible cuteness that is Hamtaro begins its march to conquer North America, with many many books. These have started being solicited - and the handbook even has a manga piece.

Project Arms - the first manga will be publised in a 64 page supersized issue for $3.25. Subsequent volumes will be
40 pages at $3.25

Blood manga takes place in the 2000s - same "girl" as in the movie, of course. It is planned for October - 15.95 GN
The third and final GN for Uzumaki is due in October with bonus story that did not run in Pulp. For those of you who are fans of Junji Ito, expect more things from him the future, but there are no details.

Keeping with the horror theme, they have a new manga called Orochi the Blood - a horror manga in October by Kazu Mezu - a classic manga arist, and a contemporary of Tezuka.

Leaving the world of horror, but staying in October the Art of Fushigi Yuugi in October as is the first volume of Chicago (at the standard 15.95 price point)

Animerica Extra, unlike the about to depart Pulp is doing well - circulation is going up, which should bode well for expanded page counts in the future.

Shounen Jump, if you were expecting new titles announced for it - sorry. Those are coming at Comicon. The first issue is set for November, and the magazine it self will have 250+ pages a month, for 4.95, square bound.

For those who have wondered - the missing chapters of Steam Dectives are in the graphic novel.

In the world of anime, G Gandaioh was FINALLY officialy announced. In October, Hamtaro dub only DVDs 3 eps 12.98 - maybe (there was some confusion about VHS pricing for that title.)

But what about INU YASHA? "November" is the date at the moment. Once again, a TV deal has been delaying its home video release. However the deal has been going really well. After dropping many realy obvious hints - they just came out and said it was Cartoon Network.

And the release when it finally does come? It will be 3 eps a DVD, for at least the first 8-9 discs at a $25 price point. Marketting wants a monthly release for it.

Finally (I had to run to ADV) - when it comes to the back catalog, right now its more important to get the current schedule out on time.

Report by Mariela Ortiz(Sapphire)

ADV

Matt Greenfield, John Ledford, and David Williams presented.

Matt started with their lineup

New CD Acquisitions

Slayers Motion Picture Soundtrack

Slayers Return Soundtrack

Slayers Best of TV/Radio

Lost Universe Movie Soundtrack

Blue Seed Soundtrack

Giant Robo 1 and 2 Soundtrack

Ninja Resurrection OST

Princess Nine OST1 and 2

Steam Detectives OAV

Cat Girl Nuku Nuku OST

Nadesico Movie OST

Super Atragon OST

Borgman Last Battle OST

Lover's Rain(spelling)

Nadia TV OSTs

Nadia Movie OST

Kaimeria OST

Spriggan OST

Destroy All Monsters OST

Domme Megalopolis Animated OST

Mothra 1-3 OST

Jubeie Ninkuchu OST

New Video Acquisitions

Blue Seed OAVs

Sorcerer Hunter OAVs

Nuku Nuku Dash

King of Bandits Jing(Bandit King Jing)

Steam Detectives

Super GALs

Cosplay Complex

Zaion OAVs

Pretear

Rahxephon

Kolaida Star(still in production with Gonzo, so should never be fansubbed)

All of animated Steel Angel Kurumi

Noir will be coming very soon, and is currently having its

voice actors cast.

The new Urotsukidoji series has been transferred over to

SoftCel.

The Excel Saga DVD Volume 2 was shown. The disc boots up

similary to a Windows 2000 boot sequence. David showed some

of the easter eggs on the DVD which include commercials for

Cream of Menchi soup and Menchi Dogs. The episode

transitions are taken from a pool of 5 random transitions

so you don't have to see the same transition every time.

The new Excel has been cast, but Matt will reveal her

later. The street date for volume 2 is August 27.

David also showed the Dragon Half dvd. Miyuki-chan sold

really well at its price point. Colorful will be released

on 1 DVD. And Sailor Moon is close to getting its deal

done. City Hunter is also being reevaluated right now.

The Robotech Movie is currently in rights hell. The RoboCon

Masters were extremely low quality, which is why that

extras was removed from one of the Robotech Masters Extras.

Some special things are being worked on for the Southern

Cross and Mosepeada releases.

ADV is checking on Drama CDs also for the AnimeTrax line,

but this is no guarentee that anything will be done.

Bang Zoom! will most likely not be used for the new Kenshin

OAVs. ADV also has the new director's of the new Kenshin

OAVs.They will try to get Your Under Arrest theatrically

released. Super Milk Show is being shopped around to TV

networks. Devil Lady is the official title of Go Nagai's

Devil Man Lady. There will be a line of Diva shirts from

ADV, similar to the Milk ones. Lastly, ADV has optioned

Live Action Kurumi.

There will more annoucements at Otakon.

Written by Andrew Tei(Reikun) and Mariela Ortiz(Sapphire)

Gutsoon

The long awaited, long delayed Gutsoon report is here. Oh wait, several of you probably have no clue who Gutsoon is. Well - you may have heard of the product they are going to be releasing - Raijin Comics - a weekly manga anthology, a first for the US. And you may have heard of some of their titles, like City Hunter and Slam Dunk.

But this panel was meant to present them to the world. Well the US world. They already made a splash in Japan - their parent company Coamix and its upstart manga anthology Comic Bunch. More on that later.

The panel was run by many of the people behind this new move in manga - quite a collection of big names actually.

Horie Nobuhiko, the CEO

Negishi Tadashi, president

Hojo Tsukasa

Kamiya Akira

Also, one more person was introduced as the editor of Fuujin (more on that later) but forgive, I did not catch is name (the best I got was Takashin and that doesn't match anyone of the masthead)

This did cause one problem - as the panelists all spoke Japanese, a translator was needed, effectively doubling the length of time for anything to be said. Unfortunately a standard one hour industry panel proved too short to really let most of them speak.

The main speaker then, proved to be Horie, who remarked jokingly that they had all risked their lives to come to the US (Hojo himself was held up for 5 hours due to the shooting at LAX) and they hoped to be rewarded for this kind of effort. He also remarked that July 4th was his wife's birthday, so its always a day of agony for him.

First off there was some history of the formation of the company in Japan, Coamix. Most of the manga in Japan is dominated by the big 3 (Shogakukan, Shueisha and Kodansha) and since everyone reads it, the publication system has become very conservative, their goal at Coamix is to introduce new types of manga, new types of artists and new types of readers. In turn, they also have very different type of investor, like Hojo and Hara (mangaka themselves.) The former editors of Monthly and Weekly Shounen Jump are on board as staff and they do plan to even produce new animation based on Coamix titles - hence investors like Kamiya (a voice actor.)

They are a very creator oriented company (comparisons have already crept up with the launch of Image comics here in the US 10 years ago), it caused quite the stir when they started up, as it was said there was no market for new magazine in Japan. But in May of last year they launched Comics Bunch - and the premiere issue (725,000 copies) apparently sold out in 3 days.

At this point you can begin to see why they have such confidence.

Basically, they do agree there is now a saturation of manga titles in Japan, but they believed there was a lack of truly good titles - and that is the gap they wish to fill. Already collections of Angel Heart and Fist of the Blue Sky - the two big launch titles for Bunch sold out their first printings in two weeks, and they were proud to say that while Vagabond is the best selling young adult title, Angel Heart is selling at a more rapid pace. They were also happy to announce that a Blue Sky anime would start in October (the preview issue of Raijin did pretty much tell us that, since 1-year subscribers can get a bonus DVD with episode 1 on it - subbed even) and an Angel Heart anime was planned for April 2003.

However, while success in Japan makes them happy, their dream is to have all this manga read all over the world. Hence Gutsoon and Raijin comics. Horie remarked that when he worked at Shounen Jump - they were selling 6.5 million copies a week, and now other countries in Asia are translating it and other magazine, saturating the markets there. America is the new frontier, so to speak.

When they announced in Japan that they were going to publish Raijin, many artists were excited and wanted their titles in it, and some publishers like Kodansha have also promised titles in the future. (Interesting . . .) Since they are just now entering the American market, they really wanted a Japanese "dream team" of titles - but since no one knows if those will sell, they will be fine tuning their line up as they go along. The plan is to do it the way its done in Japan. Reader polls. That should prove EXTREMELY interesting.

Sega is on board for the Gutsoon venture, as the grand plan isn't just manga, but properties based on those manga. Video games, anime - all coming to the US. Horie even remarked they'd like to move the company to the US and run it from here - but he'd have to brush up on his English first. (His words!)

Now while all AX attendees were given a sample copy of Raijin in our bags, a trip to the booth in the Exhibit Hall could snag you a DIFFERENT sample magazine - Fuujin. Fuujin will be an insert in every issue of Raijin. While Raijin is all manga (which since its reprints can be worked on and stocked up), Fuujin is a magazine with "all the newest news from Tokyo." Having them be two physically separate issues lets this happen. The editor is quite proud of this idea - as it will be the first weekly anime and gaming magazine in the US. (Possibly first anywhere for all I know.)

Another aspect of the company they are quite proud of is the International Manga Awards - which are open to all. Pros, amateurs, team-ups, anyone. There are several cash awards, and the first winner (from last year) has his manga being published in Raijin! (Its called Encounter BTW.) The readership of their magazines’ votes are part of how the winner gets chosen.

As for Raijin itself, the art work will not be flipped (numbers will be used to indicate panel order) and sound effects are planned to be left alone as much as possible, with notes to explain what they are about. (The preview issue did this - it doesn't define all of them though.)

While there was little time for Q&A some questions were taken. The thing everyone wanted to know to start - how many pages. It will be 240 pages. (Significantly larger than the preview we'd all been given.) As for collections of the titles in Raijin, they will be coming, but actual plans aren't set yet. They plan to survey their readers about the schedule and pricing of them - pointing out that in Japan its currently about 6 months after the serialization in the weekly. (At least that is what it sounded like to me.) For those of you who worry about the USPS messing up your issues - they will be mailed in plastic.

However, some series ARE planned as Graphic Novels - like Fist of the North Star. (Now insert a giant debate on the fact Viz published it in the US before and what-not. Just a small point to make. Like most manga in Japan, Fist is owned by its creator - Hara Tetsuo. Who works for Coamix. Which means if they say they have it now - they probably do.)

</table>

Yes, Angel Heart WILL come out here at some point - but they want City Hunter out first. (My personal feelings on Angel Heart are another matter.)

Translators (and they are hiring) are all over the globe - but the translation is coordinated through the office in Tokyo.

The most interesting question to me was "How much market research have you done into the US?" And while some has been done, they pretty much admitted AX was their first big go at it. So there is a chance that reactions from people at AX would influence the current prices and such. We'll see in October/November when it starts. (Cover is $6.95)

All in all, I was impressed by the confidence of this young company. They really do have a LOT of talent on their sides. And momentum from their successful launch in Japan. But can a company - ANY company beat a US system that isn't all that friendly to manga and hates weeklies? Without a firm distribution network, it will be interesting to watch.

Oh for a listing of what titles they have - go to the GHLL, we cover manga too.

Bandai Enterntainment

Jerry Chu, and Ken Ioyodomi presided over the panel.

Jerry started with a recap of what the year has been for
Bandai. The Escaflowne theatrical release was there first
big event this year. SMJ->X, Ronin Warriors, and more
Gundam on DVD. August 6, G Gundam starts airing on Cartoon
Network Monday-Thursday.

New Acquisitions, which have already been mentioned mostly are Argent Soma,
Melty Lancer, .hack//SIGN, Infinite Ryvius, and Kikaider 01. They will also be
released Love Hina Xmas special bundled with episode 25 in time for Christmas. They
are still asking for Lova Hina Again and the Spring Special. The Ronin
Warriors OVA will be released from Bandai next year.

They will be releasing the 6 Cowboy Bebop episodes that were remixed in 5.1, and
they will also be releasing it in DTS. It will be japanese and english. $34.95 for
a 2 DVD set. Arjuna will be anamorphic widescreen and both
track with be 5.1. . There will be directory commentary from Kawamori.

G Gundam DVDs will be 5 episodes each, so 10 DVDs. Battleflag of the Stars questions were
pushed off to Otakon, since the creator will be there.

The .hack//SIGN game will be released with the Japanese dub, and the OVA
will only be released with the game.

Big O Season 2 is TOP SECRET

The Escaflowne TV boxset will be available empty from Right Stuf. There will also be a box that includes a black
transparent Escaflowne figure

On the Sunrise classic line, the master quality on the stuff is so low, that they
have to do restore work on the titles.

Report by Andrew Tei(Reikun), Mariela Ortz(Sapphire), and Jason Yeh(Wolve)

Arjuna

Shoji Kawamori (creator, director, script supervisor), Minoru Takanashi (Arjuna producer), Hidekazu Sato (assistant producer), Satoshi Kanuma?? (translator), and Ken Iyadomi (Bandai Ent. VP & panel host) were present at the panel.

Ken Iyadomi started the panel by introducing the guests from Japan and asked them to say a few words. Then Ken plays the first episode of Arjuna from Bandai's 2002 promo dvd (fyi, it's in English dub only). While the ep played, Kawamori and others provided commentary on the anime. Ken directed the commentary by asking various questions.

----------------- Commentary Begins -----------------

Note: The text below is not an exact transcription of what was said during the panel.

Kawamori: I was inspired to make Arjuna based on an old Indian story/script. In that text, Arjuna was a prince (not a princess) good at archery. In the story, Arjuna faces a big battle with his relatives and friends. Then Krishna (a man shaped god) came to Arjuna to give him advice. The relationship between Krishna and Arjuna was quite interesting. The story of Arjuna [the anime] encompasses the relationship between Arjuna and Chris [character that probably represents Krishna].

Juna just died in a bicycle accident. Her soul has left her body. The inspiration for Arjuna is from the Indian story, but the anime is my own. I have heard stories of people attaining super human powers after near death experiences and used this as an idea in Arjuna. I'm not really sure if it's possible, but I did interview 3 people.

Sato: I went to Malaysia and India to do research. During the trip, we got into a taxi for a 23 hour ride and saw 20 car accidents. Later I found out that there's so many accidents due to chicken races. That was the closest I got to a near death experience.

Iyadomi: What's the director's cut of Arjuna?

Kawamori: It's not uncommon for an anime to have more episodes than the ones shown on TV. In Arjuna, they cut out an episode where a baby is born.

I visited many countries like India, but that does not mean I used those places in the anime. You may notice the similarity between Hitomi and Juna. Escaflowne is a story of sword & sorcery. Even though the female characters are similar, the stories are different. It took 2 months for research and then 1 year to produce Arjuna.

Iyadomi: Arjuna has amazing music done by Kanno.

Kawamori: Well we have known each other since Macross Plus, so I didn't have to give her detailed instructions. I showed her the storyboards and then from there she created the music. Each episode has a new piece of music from Kanno. In two scenes before the current one, Kanno composed a new piece. Kanno never sticks to what I say, she comes out with something different.

Iyadomi: Does Kanno get mad at you?

Kawamori: That's where the action music comes from [*crowd slightly laughs*]. Kanno always comes up with music at the last minute.

Iyadomi: What was the biggest problem/issue with the project?

Kawamori: First of all, some of the materials got lost. Episode 9 got cut from TV, which screwed up the [production] schedule.

Takanashi: Well we [he and Kawamori] have worked together since Macross Plus and I know him [Kawamori] pretty well. But I'm still surprised he came up with a story like this. Of course the theme surprises me, I thought something like this would be better suited for science fiction. Kawamori came up with something more realistic. Well the first thing that crossed my mind is that Mononoke already covered the same theme. You must understand it's difficult to produce something that may not be released. I decided to just throw the dice and see what happens. As you notice, Arjuna deals with a lot of themes involving real world problems. Well I decided to bring Kanno on because I felt music would help tell the story a lot. We spent a lot of money, a lot of it on music. This project is easily the most expensive ever for Bandai Visual. What I meant by throwing the dice is that I wasn't sure if the project would make a profit. I went along with the project because I wanted people to see Kawamori's message.

------------------ Commentary Ends ------------------

After the commentary, there was only a little bit of time left for Q&A. One person from the audience spent a horribly long time rambling instead of asking a direct question, so I didn't even try to write down what he was saying. Here's a couple of questions directed to Kawamori though, the second one being my own.

Q) Would you make an Arjuna movie?

A) My wish is to make a feature film

Q) Did you use any ideas/themes from the Shinto religion in Arjuna?

A) I didn't get any ideas from Shinto, but there may be similarities. We have sophisticated technology, but we still can not explain many things.

Report by Jason Yeh(Wolve)

An interview with Matt Greenfield and David Williams

Ahh, finally all the industry panels at AX are over. I can finally get to
the part of the con where I have no responsibilities left. Ooops, there's
one item left to go, an interview with Matt Greenfield and David Williams of
ADV. Matt is the Co-Founder and a Producer at ADV, and David is a DVD
Producer. So I dragged myself off with Mariela to ADV's booth in the
dealer's room.

The ADV booth in the dealer's room was the only two story booth at the
convention. The bottom was where they had Suncoast set up to sell all their
wares plus a viewing room for a few titles. On the side though, was a
stairway leading up the castle to the tower. Matt and David were already
waiting for us up top. The view from on top is great, you get to see the
entire convention hall. ADV knows its place. We all sat down to begin.

I started simple, how does a DVD get produced at ADV? Translation is the
first step, and really precedes DVD production. ADV translates their shows
using several passes according to Matt. The script is the first place they
start, but sometimes the show actually deviates from the actual script so
that the entire show must be listened to and translated also. Some shows
have multiple translators who go over each other's work. For Excel Saga - it
took many people to get the Vid-Notes and translation ready. Shoko Oono
would take a first pass on a show. Then Dan Kanemitsu, Richard Kim and
Andrew Kent would go over it.

As the script is also being prepared for the dub, its time for Matt (or
whoever is directing it) to start casting the English language actors. While
there is the rare occasion where the producer already knows who they want to
cast into a role, like Jessica Calvello for Excel, voice actors mostly go in
for readings so that the producer can come up with the cast he has in mind.
Often the director also writes the ADR script. ADV is rapidly building more
dubbing studios so that they can keep up with demand. They have already
converted the warehouse they used before into four new dubbing studios. Each
studio will house several teams of directors and engineers.

(The warehouse - which was nothing to sneeze at in size, has been relocated
to another new building. The first of many relocations to come as ADV
expands and expands and . . .)

David is hard at work (when he isn't chatting online) preparing all the
elements needed by the ice houses (DVD authoring houses) which will be ice
picking (authoring) the DVD. This includes overseeing the menu navigation
and extras on the DVD. Of course, this is the man who brought us the Jiggle
Counter(TM) and AD Vid-Notes(TM). DVD subtitle tracks are worked on by
Andrew Kent and others. The Art Department is busy at assembling the menu
artwork, cover artwork, and the silk screen for the DVD, the idea being to
be ahead so everything is ready to go as soon as the disc is ready.

When all the assets are ready, everything is sent off to the authoring
house. ADV currently has around 4 authoring houses they are using. ADV is
currently growing by leaps and bounds. After the DVD is made, a proof copy
comes back and David and others now have the job of making sure everything
is alright. There are typically two to three passes of a proof copy before
the DVD finally goes off to Janice Williams at ADV, who has final approval
on a DVD. This means every subtitle track must be checked, every audio
track, every possible menu navigation. Typically several DVD-Rs are made and
re-made before the authoring house makes the DLTs to make t

More From Mania

London Expo - Complete Report

Anime Expo New York - Andrew\'s Travelogue
(Saturday, August 31, 2002)
Anime Expo - Thursday Report
(Friday, July 5, 2002)
Anime Expo - Sunday Report
(Friday, July 5, 2002)
Anime Expo - Complete Report
(Monday, July 9, 2001)
Anime Expo - Final Thoughts
(Thursday, July 5, 2001)
Otakon - Saturday Report
(Saturday, August 5, 2000)

See more related content