24/05/2009:

London Expo Announcements

The May London Expo has been and gone along with the UK anime industry panel where we get to hear the new releases planned for the rest of the year. So let’s get straight into it and see what new series have been announced.

Beez
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion – Q3 2009
Gurren Lagann – July 2009
Gundam 00 – Jul 2009
Sword of the Stranger (Theatrical) – Sep 2009
Sword of the Stranger (DVD / Blu-Ray) – Oct 2009

Manga Entertainment
Blu-Ray Releases
Afro Samurai series 1 and Resurrection film – 1st June
Origin: Spirits of the Past – June/July 2009
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time – Christmas 2009
Blood: The Last Vampire (anime) – 19th Oct 2009
Ghost in the Shell 2.0 – Oct 2009
Ghost in the Shell: Innocence – Oct 2009

New Anime
Tamagotchi – Sep 2009
Devil May Cry (DVD / Blu-Ray) – Oct 2009
Guyver Box Set – Sep 2009
Naruto: Shippuden – Early 2010
Naruto the Movie 3: Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom – Boxing Day 2009
Bleach: Memories of Nobody – End of June 2009
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Streaming with catch-up) – July
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (DVD with English Dub) – Feb/Mar 2010
Sky Crawlers – deal currently being closed

MVM Entertainment
Disgaea – June 2009
Shana Box Set – June 2009
Samurai Deep Kyo – July 2009
Black Lagoon Box Set (separate barrages) – July 2009
Gunparade March – Aug 2009
Berserk / Witchblade Box Sets – Aug 2009
Slayers Try (series 3) – Sep 2009
X TV series + OVA – Oct 2009
Genesis of Aquarion – Nov 2009

Those are all the major announcements for new releases coming soon. ADV were not present at the panel, but they were at the event itself doing some fantastic sales on their older titles.

All three talked about digital downloads, with Manga coming to the front with their releases on Xbox Live, iTunes and some more in the future. Beez are in the beta phase of their download channel through their website and will be showing licensed and new Bandai shows through the service once it goes live. Both Beez and MVM will be working with Manga and their parent company Starz to bring their respective catalogues to digital download services as well. Gurren Lagann was highlighted as the first major release of Beez that will be part of Manga’s help to bring the series onto the internet via Manga’s own website and their YouTube channel.

The three companies were keen to say that they were getting more support from Japan, but getting digital download rights was problematic currently and hope that future licenses will benefit from easier acquisition of digital rights.

MVM have also said that while they were gearing up to have Black Lagoon as a complete boxset with both barrages as one, licensing issues have forced them to release each barrage of Black Lagoon separately.

That’s it for this Expo. The next will be in October later this year where we are sure to hear about the new exciting stuff we’ll see in 2010.