At New York Anime Festival this past weekend, Viz Media confirmed that they would indeed be simulcasting InuYasha: the Final Act when it begins airing later this week. & unlike their simulcast for Naruto Shippuden, InuYasha will actually be a same-day simulcast rather then 1 week later. & yes, it will still be completely free. Viz also confirmed that Monster will indeed be airing on SyFy's AniMonday block beginning next month. They also revealed at their panel that the episodes will be added online to Hulu a day after they air on TV.

In terms of new licenses they didn't have any new anime titles, but they did have some new manga & novels. For manga, they've licensed Gente, Library Wars, Grand Guignol Orchestra, & Nice to Meet You Kamisama. & for their Haikasoru book line (Japanese novels translated into English), they'll be releasing Book of Heroes, Loups-Garous, Slum Online, & Next Continent.

Source: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/convention/2009/new-york-anime-festival/viz-media

Did you know Del Rey had a giant cake at the New York Anime Festival shaped like a stack of manga? That's it pictured above, utterly amazing. It was partially done to celebrate their success as a manga company. When they first started, everyone thought they were just a big time publishing company (Random House) who didn't know anything about manga, but over these past few years they've grown to be a small (at least when compared to the likes of Viz) but powerful fan-favorite.

Onto the actual licensing announcements! As many had guessed, Del Rey announced that they have taken over the "Rave Master" license after Kodansha took it away from Tokyopop, & will be releasing it beginning September 2010. Tokyopop only had the last few volumes of the long running series to release before they lost it, & it's currently unknown if Del Rey plans to start from their or the beginning of the series. & if they do re-release the earlier volumes, will they be done in those giant multi-volume editions that have three or four volumes in one? At any rate, this was expected since Del Rey also releases Hiro Mashima's current series Fairy Tail.

Other new manga licenses include Here I Am! (Koko ni Iru yo!) by Ema Toyama, Arisa by Natsumi Ando, & Yokai Navi Runa by Michiyo Kikuta.

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In order to make up for all the manga titles they recently lost, Tokyopop announced a bunch of new licenses this weekend at the New York Anime Festival. The biggest one probably being ".hack//Link ~Kōkon no Kishidan~," the newest Dot-Hack title which that is a direct tie-in to the new .hack//Link video game. Link is said to be the final chapter of the .hack// saga, though that doesn't mean they can't have anime & manga spin-offs for it. It'll hit stores in August 2010.

Perhaps even more interesting though is that Tokyopop for some reason decided to license Seikon no Qwaser. I couldn't believe it when I heard it at first, they're actually releasing a Champion Red series in the US? What's next, YomeIro Choice? (Pleeeease?) Considering Qwaser's strong ecchi & maturity levels, you can guarantee this is one title that's sure to be shrink-wrapped. The first volume will also come out August 2010 (god I hate how long these things take).

Other notable licenses announced at the convention were Song and Laughter (Boku ga Utau to Kimi wa Waraukara) & Ratman, along with several new titles for their Blu boys-love imprint.

Source: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/convention/2009/new-york-anime-festival/tokyopop

The new York Anime Festival is going on this weekend, & FUNimation was one of the first in the industry to hold their panel this year. They announced two "new" licenses, but more like license rescues. First they acquired CLAMP's classic "X" TV series, as well as the OVA. It's another title that Geneon had previously released in the US that Funi will now be taking care of.

The other rescue title actually doesn't come from Geneon, but Tokyopop. It's the complete "Initial D" series. That's right, all five seasons of it- First Stage, Second Stage, Extra Stage, Third Stage, & Fourth Stage. But unlike most of their rescues, Funi will actually be completely redubbing this series rather than using Tokyopop's old dub. The original, uncut Euro-beat soundtrack will even stay intact as well.

Outside of licensing news, FUNimation also announced the dub cast for "FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood." Unlike the Japanese version, nearly the entire previous voice cast will be returning to their old roles from the first series. & yes, that includes Vic Mignogna as Ed. Naturally Aaron Dismuke grew too old to play Al anymore, but Funi did promise that he would be playing a "big role" later on in the series. Here's the new cast:

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Another industry panel at the New York Anime Festival that I thought was worth mentioning was from Yen Press. The biggest news is that they licensed the Spice & Wolf light novel series, of which the anime series was based off of. They also announced a couple new manga licenses: Hero Tales (by FullMetal Alchemist manga-ka Hiromu Arakawa), 13th Boy, Sugarholic, & Welcome to Wakaba-soh (by Sola manga-ka Chako Abeno).

But what makes me wish I was at that panel the most was that they were giving out free copies of the Haruhi Suzumiya manga, a whole frigging month before they come out. ;;_;; The first volume supposedly contains an excerpt of the Haruhi light novel series, which wont start coming out here until next year. Next month & next year can't come fast enough.

Source: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/convention/2008/new-york-anime-festival-yen-press

There hasn't really been a lot going on at the New York Anime Festival to write about this weekend. Or at least from my point of view, anyway. Of all the panels, I'd say Bandai had most interesting stuff going on.

They started off their panel with what seemed like bad news at first, announcing that the sola & true tears releases were now canceled. But as if playing a trick on us, they then announced that both titles would be getting complete series box-sets right from the get-go. Both titles were originally licensed by Bandai Visual USA, but when the company folded into Bandai Entertainment, all of BVUSA's titles went to BE. Bandai Visual originally was releasing their titles in the US the same way they release them in Japan- $40 for 2 sub-only episodes. This obviously wasn't a popular method with fans, hence why they had to get absorbed. But now Bandai Entertainment is releasing both of these titles in a matter much more appealing to western customers.

In terms of new licenses, Bandai will be releasing the legendary classic anime film "Akira" on Blu-ray in the US. The Blu-ray release was only recently announced in Japan & will be coming out there on February 20. The Blu-ray disc will then come out in America a mere 4 days later on February 24. The American version will retail for $49.98, compared to the Japanese price of 8190 yen (~$80). Akira was previously released on DVD in America from Geneon, so perhaps this can be considered another Geneon rescue?

Bandai also announced that they had acquired the rights to the Gurren Lagann manga, set to start coming out in the US sometime in 2009. It's the manga that's based off the anime series, as opposed to the more recent Gurren Lagann alternate manga that has the characters set in a high school setting.

Finally there was a separate Gurren Lagann dub panel, which featured voice actors Tony Oliver (narrator & voice director), Kyle Hebert (Kamina), & Steve Blum (Leeron), as well as producers Toshifumi Yoshida & Hiroe Tsukamoto. In addition to showing the uncut version of episode 6, the panel mostly consisted of Q&A from the audience. The panelists provided some interesting answers & information, so it's worth reading the article from ToonZone to see what went down.

Sources: http://news.toonzone.net/article.php?ID=26306
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/convention/2008/new-york-anime-festival-bandai-entertainment

Well it sure took them awhile to get this piece together, but G4's "Attack of the Show" attended last month's first annual New York Anime Festival & put up some video coverage of the event. Check out the clip above to see what the massive event was like, & don't miss out on the end to see reporter Zach Selwyn dressed up like an Akatsuki member from Naruto.

We already talked about how Bandai announced the dub actors for both Code Geass & Lucky Star at the New York Anime Festival, but they still had a little more news at their main panel. The biggest being their announced licensing of the great anime movie, "the Girl Who Leapt Through Time," which we had shown here on NebsTV a few weeks back. Not only will they bring the film to American DVD, but it'll also be getting a limited theater run in several major cities.

Also at the Bandai panel, they showed a Haruhi dub blooper reel to 18+ audience members only (why didn't they include these with all the other extras on their DVDs?). Bandai also said that they're trying to license the Gundam 00 series that's currently airing in Japan, but nothing has come of it yet.

Source: http://giapet.net/2007/12/11/nyaf07-bandai-entertainment/

American publisher Del Rey (who release a good amount of translated manga in America) & Marvel Comics announced at the New York Anime Festival that they had teamed up to create 2 new manga-inspired X-Men series. One title will revolve around Wolverine. There really doesn't seem to be anything special to report about this series other than it'll put a manga spin on the classic character's story. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but wait till you hear what they have in mind for the other series.

The main X-Men title that they plan to release will be a shoujo series. Shoujo, as in meant for girls. They even described it at there panel as X-Men meets Ouran High School Host Club. & that seems like a good description too, as the story revolves around high schooler Kitty Pryde attending an otherwise all-boys Xavier's Institute for Higher Learning. It really is a mutant version of Ouran, & Kitty's the Haruhi of the series! So we have here one girl who's surrounded by a bunch of bishounen young male mutants (& trust me, they will be drawn to be sexually attractive to girl readers). Should be interesting, to say the least.

Source: http://anime.ign.com/articles/840/840435p1.html

Bandai sure was in the habit of announcing the dub casts for their new shows at the New York Anime Festival the English dub cast for the series. First was Code Geass, & now Lucky Star. They are:

• Konata Izumi - Wendee Lee (Haruhi in Haruhi, Ururu/Yoruichi in Bleach, Dorothy in MAR)
• Tsukasa Hiiragi - Michelle Ruff (Rukia in Bleach, Koyuki/Snow in MAR, Nagato in Haruhi)
• Kagami Hiiragi - Kari Wahlgren (Saya/Diva in Blood+, Anemone in Eureka 7, Tsuruya in Haruhi)
• Miyuki Takara - Karen Strassman (Soifon in Bleach, Steyr in Scrapped Princess, Kallen in Code Geass)
• Akira - Stephanie Sheh (Orihime in Bleach, Hinata in Naruto, Mikuru in Haruhi)
• Minoru - Sam Regal (Taniguchi in Haruhi, Kudamon in Digimon, Faust VIII in Shaman King)
• Kuroi-sensei - Kate Higgins (Miki in Digimon, Sakura in Naruto, CC in Code Geass)

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The biggest new (for me at least) at Viz's panel at the New York Anime Festival was that the Eyeshield 21 anime would finally be coming to Toonami Jetstream starting December 17. Viz announced back in June that the series would begin airing online this Fall, but it looks like things got delayed a bit. Back then they also announced that the series would be airing simultaneously on NFLRush.com, but that wasn't mentioned at all. In fact the NFL in general wasn't mentioned in the press release for its debut. Makes you wonder if Viz still has a deal with them.

In other big news, Viz announced that they had licensed the Buso Renkin anime, based off the Shonen Jump manga by Nobuhiro Watsuki of Rurouni Kenshin fame. The series is described as Kenshin meets FullMetal Alchemist meets Bleach, though unfortunately it's not quite as good as any of them. Viz is doing something interesting with this series, however. Rather than release individual volumes, they'll be doing 2 boxsets of 13 episodes. The first set will be available on April 29 for $49.99, & the second & final set will come out a few months later. Viz releases their Prince of Tennis episodes & their uncut Naruto sets in the same fashion, but in the case of those at least the episodes are available to watch elsewhere. Why they chose this approach with Buso Renkin is hard to say (maybe it'll air on Toonami as well?).

Source: http://giapet.net/2007/12/08/nyaf07-viz-media/

Bandai announced at the New York Anime Festival that the hugely popular Code Geass, which they licensed earlier this year, will be airing on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block (I called it!). While there's no word on when AS will actually be airing the first season of the series (the 2nd season, which was announced earlier this month to begin airing this Spring in Japan, has yet to be licensed), chances are it'll be sometime in 2008. Perhaps when Blood+ ends this Spring, Geass will be taking its place on Saturday nights. Now if Adult Swim were smart, they'd be like Japan & hire Pizza Hut to sponsor this series. It is in every episode, after all.

Bandai also licensed most of the different manga series connected to the anime, with the exception of the 2 anthology lines that are each aimed at a different gender. Code Geass does, after all, have fan-service for both guys & gals (but when you have uncut boobies on the DVDs & an episode on TV where one female character uses a table edge to masturbate over a picture of another female character, you have to think there's a slight advantage to guy fan-service). Other goods such as figures, a Lelouch jacket, pendants, bracelets, & notebooks will also be sold. & finally, Bandai finally announced the cast list for the dub as well:

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At the ICv2 Anime & Manga Conference that was held the day before the New York Anime Festival kicked off this past weekend, there was a bit of controversy & flying sparks. When the discussion of manga's success came up, chairman & CEO of 4Kids Entertainment Al Kahn had this to say about it:

I think basically it’s over in Japan, for the moment… I think Japan is tired, I think manga is tired… [There’s] a tremendous reduction in the sale of manga on a weekly and monthly basis… [Japanese] publishers and creators don’t really care what you want. It’s a real systematic problem… We’ve walked away from Japan to a great extent… [I’m] very skeptical of the Japanese model. If you’re big in manga, you should be looking elsewhere, because it’s going south.

Well considering how 4Kids has pretty much abandoned anime because it wasn't making them enough money any more, it's not surprising he's "walked away" from it. But to an extent he's kind of correct. Manga sales have been down as of late. & here in America, despite that more manga is available & is given more store space then ever before, it doesn't mean it's become huge on a wider spectrum. While successful in it's own little corner, huge titles like Naruto & Fruits Basket are lucky to even GET on USA Today's 150 weekly best sellers list, much less rank high on it. Still, I wouldn't say manga is over. This is just more reason for anime fans to hate 4Kids.

Source: http://myriadissues.blogspot.com/2007/12/manga-is-over-says-al-kahn-of-4kids-at.html