San Diego Comic-Con 2010

Bandai Entertainment Industry Panel

Bandai Entertainment's industry panel was hosted by marketing director Robert Napton, president Ken Iyadomi, marketer Loy Fruel, and ADR producer Taku Otsuka.

Iyadomi opened by reminding the audience that the panel was for Bandai Entertainment and would talk about anime. Napton then launched a Powerpoint presentation and talked about the company's new online store before detailing current and upcoming releases:

• Gurren Lagann the Movie - Childhood's End (available now)
• Gurren Lagann the Movie - The Lights in the Sky are Stars (July 30)
• Gurren Lagann Anime Legends (available now)
• K-On! ("coming soon")
• Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (available now; screening at CCI)
• Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season Parts 1 & 2 (available now)
• Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season Part 3 (September)
• Kurokami Volumes 1 and 2 (available now)
• Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (available now)
• Hayate the Combat Butler Volumes 1 through 6 (available now)
• Freedom Parts 1 and 2 (available now)
• Ghost Slayers Ayashi Anime Legends (available now)
• Code Geass
• Kannagi Complete Collection (available now)
• Eureka Seven the Movie (available now)
• The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Anime Legends (available now)
• The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Season 2 ("coming soon," dub screening at CCI)
• Haruhi-chan and Churuya-san ("coming soon")
• The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya ("coming soon")

Napton also noted that Minori Chihara, the voice actress of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya's Yuki, will be on-hand at New York Anime Fest in October to give a concert, host a panel, and sign autographs.

Bandai Entertainment manga was discussed next, starting with the Code Geass: Knight and Code Geass Queen anthologies, Gundam 00 2nd Season volume 2 and Gurren Lagann volume 5. Lucky Star's fifth volume is out and the sixth is shipping now.

Next came new anouncements:

1. Tales of the Abyss, the anime adaptation of the Namco-Bandai game, a 26-episode series with more information to be determined later.

2. Turn A Gundam (∀ Gundam), a 50-episode anime written and directed by Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino, scored by Yoko Kanno and featuring Gundam designs by Syd Mead of the film Blade Runner.

3. The original manga of Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens, which was adapted into a Bandai-licensed anime in 2008.

Napton offered a brief homage to the recently-passed Peter Fernandez and Carl Macek before moving on to the Q&A session. During the session, Ken Iyadomi noted that licensing fees in Japan have come down as the industry in Japan has noticed the declining market. Iyadomi also added to ANN after the panel that occasionally they can get a license with a lower bid because they have fewer shows on the docket and can pay more attention to individual titles.