A-Kon Wrap-up and Broadcast News
Well, A-kon has ended for another year, but even so, we still have some more news coming in its wake. Bandai has made it clear that Saber Marionette J Again has already been dubbed, while Saber Marionette J is still awaiting its dub. They also cleared up the Gundam Wing figure to episode purchase correlation.
Purchasing DVDs:
2-3 will allow you to get the Gundam Wing figure (Heero's Gundam)
4-5 will allow you to get the Gundam Deathscythe figure (Duo's Gundam)
6-7 will allow you to get the Gundam Sandrock figure (Quatre's Gundam)
8-9 will allow you to get the Gundam Shenlong figure (Wufei's Gundam)
10 will allow you to get the Gundam Heavyarms figure (Trowa's Gundam)
No information is available as of yet whether these figures will be available separate from this promotion at some point or if other Gundams will be available (let's hope Epyon gets released. It's one awesome Gundam!).
Those who attended A-kon also got a fair bit of bang for their buck out of Manga. Wings of Honneamise is scheduled for release in 3-4 months, containing a director's commentary on the anime and the making of the DVD. The DVD may be delayed several months if it is decided to make accommodations for proper HDTV formatting and display. The first Patlabor movie is right on schedule for its July 25th release, featuring a number of extras like Easter eggs (no, not actual eggs silly ^_-). The first VHS tape of the Magic Knight Rayearth OVA has been delayed until August 29th, with the DVD release following sometime before the end of the year, which should include three volumes worth of episodes on a single disc. Neither version will use the same voice actors as those used by Media Blasters for the TV series. Additionally, the one that everybody is waiting to hear about, the Neon Genesis Evangelion movies are currently being held up by some contract issues that need to be cleared up before work can begin on them.
Manga also had some good news for those of you that missed the deadline on the Macross Plus DVD trade in. Even though the deadline is long past, they're still accepting faulty DVDs. For those of you still waiting on your replacement discs, Manga does apologize, but due to the number of discs they received back, it is taking them a long time to get replacements out to everybody. If you have any questions regarding the Macross Plus DVDs, or just want to check on the progress of your return, email Keith@manga.com.
With A-kon over, news will probably slow down a bit, but the Cartoon Network has given us a few bits of post con news to help keep up the pace. New Sailor Moon episodes will be getting a domestic broadcast, the Cartoon Network having acquired 38 new episodes from the Sailor Moon S season. This season continues the saga of the Moon Princess turned school girl and her friends. It also contains a number of what I consider to be the best episodes of Sailor Moon. I won't spoil anything for you, but it's a must see for all you Sailor Moon fans out there. Just as a reminder, the Cartoon Network will be airing Tenchi Muyo starting July 3rd, having already begun showing commercials for the series. If you haven't seen it and are interested in the series, check out the commercials. If you have seen it and can't wait for to see that wacky Tenchi and his friends again, the commercials are fairly long and cover some of the best aspects of the series.
On a related note, the Kids WB has begun showing commercials for Cardcaptors (Card Captor Sakura... I had to put that in! Cards Captors just seems wrong somehow). They've also released the first episodes in their Wild Card slot, with Pokémon getting an extra episode at 10:00 AM. You can vote for Pokémon and Card Captors (or other shows too I suppose, but they're not anime so why would you want to?) for a place in the slot in upcoming weeks, so take a trip over to Kids WB and vote.
That's all for today. Don't forget to send in those Macross Plus DVDs to rid yourself of those dreadfully obvious subtitling issues (that goes for you too Moridin, you big procrastinator =P ) and check out the new anime coming to TV. While you're at it, you might as well thank Moridin for sending in all this news.
Moridin: "Legion, I choose you!" Oops, I forgot. You're weak against bad subtitle type Pokémon. Sorry :P I guess I'll just have to send in my Mac+ discs like everyone else.
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