Sakura Con and Anime Boston continued today. With the numerous industry panels taking place there were plenty of announcements to cover. Here they are, divided up by company:
Sentai Filmworks
At their Anime Boston panel earlier today, Sentai Filmworks announced that they had licensed Senko no Night Raid, which they referred to as Night Raid 1931. Night Raid was the second series in Aniplex’ and TV Tokyo’s joint project Anime no Chikara, which focused on creating original anime series, as opposed to adapting them from manga or light novels. It focuses on a group of Japanese spies dispatched to Shanghai in 1931 due to the First Sino-Japanese War, Russo-Japanese War, and World War I. Sentai will be releasing it in a complete series set on DVD and Blu-Ray this August.
Sentai also premiered their dub of Angel Beats, which will be out on DVD and Blu-Ray in July. Unfortunately the host of the panel did not have a cast list with him, so the actual cast is currently unknown.
Funimation Entertainment
At their Anime Boston panel earlier today, Funimation announced that the final Eden of the East movie, Paradise Lost, would be released in August. Kenji Kamiyama, director of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Moribito Guardian of the Spirit, directed both the TV series and the movies. The TV series originally aired during Fuji TV’s noitaminA block, and was released on Blu-Ray and DVD by Funimation last fall. The first movie, King of Eden, comes out next week in a DVD/Blu-Ray combo pack and includes Air Communication, a 90 minute recap of the TV series.
The also announced that they would simulcasting the series Aria the Scarlet Ammo starting this upcoming Tuesday at 10 AM Central. Aria the Scarlet Ammo is about a bunch of girls with guns at a high school who probably shoot stuff.
Those were the only new announcements made at the panel, with the rest being devoted to Q&A as well as going over releases for series that have already been announced such as Shin-Chan, Sgt. Frog, Excel Saga, Dance in the Vampire Bund, and the Soul Eater and Yu Yu Hakusho Blu-Ray releases.
Bandai Entertainment
Bandai held a panel at Sakura Con earlier today where they made several announcements.
The first couple of announcements are about Gundam properties. Bandai had mentioned last year that they intended to re-release the original Mobile Suit Gundam series, this time with the original Japanese audio that was lacking from its first release. Today they’ve announced that they plan to release the series on DVD this summer. There was another Gundam announcement at the panel, this one in regards to the Gundam 00 movie, A wakening of the Trailblazer. Bandai announced plans to release it on DVD and Blu-Ray this summer.
Bandai also announced plans to release The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, the latest entry in the Haruhi franchise. They aim to release it some time this summer on DVD and Blu-Ray. The movie adapts the fourth book of the Haruhi light novel series, in which Kyon arrives at school one day to find that Haruhi has vanished, and the other members of the SOS Brigade claim they don’t know him. Kyon seems to be the only person who remembers Haruhi and the SOS Brigade, and he seeks an answer as to what’s going on.
The last announcement Bandai made at their panel was the acquisition of Star Driver. This was to be expected since they had teased the announcement a few weeks ago. They have not announced a release date, format, or any other information whatsoever.
That’s all the information out of the conventions today. Aniplex USA held a panel at Sakura Con, but had nothing to announce.
