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Beez Oct 2009 Expo Interview

Beez Oct 2009 Expo Interview

Written by Kevin Leathers on 18 Nov 2009



Here is the last of our trio of October 2009 Expo interviews and here we have the always helpful Andrew from Beez Entertainment. It hasn’t been long since we last talked to Andrew, but with all the exciting stuff at the Expo we couldn’t help ourselves and just had to grab him again. So, let’s get on with the interview.

UKA: Thank you again for letting us do this interview so soon after the last. How was the Expo for Beez?

Beez: As ever London Expo went well for Beez- then again working on the PR side I always consider it a great success if we have a chance to reach a lot of fans at once – which we certainly did!  We also managed to serve over 400 people at the Beez shop over the weekend so hopefully people got a hold of what they wanted there!

In terms of the event too – it continues to grow each year just now, I have the upmost respect for Bryan, Paul and everyone else who helps make London Expo a success each year.  It reaffirms itself each year as the premier commercial event for Japanese animation, moreso than ever having taken the plunge into looking at Japanese guests now!

UKA: Our interviewer Andy was very pleased to have met Masahiro Ando and Masahiko Minami. Did they enjoy their visit to the UK and do you think we’ll see more Japanese guests in the future?

Beez: Firstly I’m glad Andy enjoyed meeting Ando san and Minami san.  Both of the guests really enjoyed their visit to the UK as well and I think were blown away by the reception they received.  Without a doubt you will likely see more in future – it may be one Expo a year or such due to cost for everyone but you will most certainly see more people coming across I think.  Is there anyone people would like to see – be it directors, producers or Japanese voice actors?

UKA: As both second seasons for Gundam 00 and Code Geass have already been announced, have the two series proved to be popular for Beez?

Beez:  Code Geass has been especially popular – as proven at London Expo and in at least the amount we shipped out – which for Beez is often an indicator of demand anyway.  It’s also one of these shows that it would be inherently cruel to not release the second half of – as it may be marked as “2 series” but season 1 ends on such a cliffhanger you’d be mad to not be at least a bit curious about what happens next!

Gundam 00 is similar in a way – it’s obviously not been as popular as Geass but it’s doing well within the Gundam universe for sales.  Both of which are shows I got caught up in at the time too so feel that having taken on season 1 of – that we have an obligation to the fans to bring the second half out!

UKA: Beez announced their plan for an “Anime Legends” line, some of the UKA community would like to know if you could talk about these plans in any more detail?

Beez: I think my thunder has been stolen a little bit here by our tweets and upcoming blog article on the topic but I most certainly can tell you more here too.  I put the range together after listening to what the fans were saying – that overall you appreciate a limited edition release with say 1000 units only at £99.99 but that’s for the people who adore a series.  It’s not for every show and there are many out there that many would only consider cheaply.
I’ve designed the range so you’ll see more Anime Legends titles each month this year – the packaging will be simple cases much like our US cousins use as did ADV Films but the cover art will be far nicer!  Our artist has done a very nice job of making it obviously an “Anime Legends” range but a lot less space is taken up by it than the US ones.

In terms of titles first up are Wolf’s Rain (complete) and the first half of Gundam Seed in January with an RRP of £24.99 making them £16.99 on Play.com!  This represents something to this date unseen in the UK for pricing on Anime in the UK for a AAA 6-DVD series regardless of age. 

I want to lodge an honest request as I stored them at the time but we’ve moved mail servers twice since then so I would appreciate if any old title you recall has errors send me details so we can revise the masters used.  I know there were issues in Eureka Seven and My HiME so please let me know about them again by email to info AT beez HYPHEN ent DOT com and mark it as “FAO ANDREW PARTRIDGE: ERROR” and I’ll do everything I can to see the masters fixed.

We have a couple of surprises up our sleeves regarding the content for the AL catalog – there’s some stuff that’ll be better quality than it was available in before for example too (I’m referring to DVD quality though, not Blu-ray here).

Watch this space for more information though about the range over the next few months.  As ever any opinions you have too are always welcome!


Kevin Leathers

Author: Kevin Leathers


Kevin hasn't written a profile yet. That's ruddy mysterious...

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