29/05/2010:

London MCM Expo industry panel announcements

Having just sat through the MCM London Expo's anime industry panel, which consisted of representatives from Beez, Manga Entertainment and MVM, we now have plenty of juicy news and gossip to share with you.

- Starting out with MVM, the company confirmed forthcoming releases of Moribito, Blade of the Immortal, and both Slayers Revolution and Evolution-R as the year progresses.  Also of interest is the news that MVM will be moving away from single disc releases later in this year, in favour of 2-disc sets and the like as per other UK distributors.  The company will also be continuing with their range of live-action Japanese movie releases to boot.

- Next up are Manga Entertainment, who have announced that the Eden of the East TV series will be released as a two-disc set on both DVD and Blu-Ray in November.  The company is also expecting to release Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society on Blu-Ray before Christmas.  Vampire Knight will also see a release before Christmas, with these releases expected to be available at a low price.  In terms of other license acquisitions, the company has also announced Baccano, and are currently looking into picking up other titles including Kanon and Bamboo Blade.  Manga also admitted that they constantly look into bringing One Piece and Dragonball Z to the UK, while they're reticent to license Sgt. Frog at the present time.

- Finally, Beez's biggest announcement is the acquisition of Durarara!!, which will be released in a subtitle-only format - A first for the company.  The company has also confirmed that they have one other subtitle-only release planned at present, and that they will consider subsequent dubbed releases if they become available.  Also announced by Beez are season two of Gundam 00, the Gundam Zeta movies, and Outlaw Star as an addition to their Anime Legends range.

- In other industry-related discussion, the Dangerous Cartoons Act was fingered as the cause of the brief one second cut to Code Geass R2, while it was also posited that the act could cause UK distributors not to pick up certain series due to the costs of making cuts to a show to comply with the law. 

- All three parties also discussed the current situation in terms of sales and profits, with Beez noting that selling 5,000 copies of a given release is "a good figure" for them, while Manga confirmed that Ouran High School Host Club has sold over 15,000 copies to date.

- While acknowledging the flaws in te recently passed Digital Economy Bill, all three distributors were, as ever, keen to ask that anime fans support the UK industry as much as possible by buying releases and supporting legal distribution methods wherever they can.  Both Manga and MVM in particular were keen to point out that money from these sales goes back to anime producers directly, with MVM confirming that most of their anime-related profits go back to their Japanese rights-holders and producers.

- Finally, Manga did confirm an interest in setting up a UK-centric streaning site (in conjunction with FUNimation, most likely), which would make use of both Manga's UK web site and iTunes.

Keep your eyes peeled on our Twitter account throughout the Expo weekend, as we bring you more news and goings-on as we find them!