Anime Boston 2004
Geneon Entertainment
by Bamboo Dong,
Studio Representative: Chad Kime
Presented by Chad Kime, the Pioneer panel started off with a brief explanation on why they changed their name to Geneon, and how the name was chosen. This helped alleviate some confusion amongst fans as to why the name change was necessary.
Shortly afterwards, he named some of the upcoming Geneon releases, such as the Snow Fairy Sugar Special, which would be packaged with shampoo bottles. The Mahoromatic: Summer Special would also be released, along with a Mahoro action figure and an optional empty box for the first and second seasons. The boxes would also be sold separately to consumers.
An outline of Geneon's release schedule for the upcoming months was also given, along with details about some of the releases. Of particular note, Geneon has licensed Hajime no Ippo / Fighting Spirit and will release it on DVD in July. Geneon will also release Gungrave in a seven volume set with the original Nightow art that was one the Japanese box set. Gungrave will include a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix for the English track and a DTS 5.1 mix for the Japanese track. The R.O.D. the TV releases will also feature DD 5.1 mixes for both languages. Ai Yori Aoshi ~Enishi~ volume 1 special edition is to be released in July and will include an artbox, and a capsule figurine, the remaining SE volumes will also include the figurines.
In August Geneon will release a 2-disc Memories soundtrack that will include several tracks that were left off the original release. They will also be releasing Dokkoider and Ikki Tōsen (which they will not be calling Battle Vixens).
In September Geneon will release a title called "The Gregory Horror Show," a non-anime CG that Kime referred to as "really weird". The first volume of Stellvia will also be released in September.
October will hail the release of Satoshi Kon's Paranoia Agent, and the live action Omniyoji 2.
During the question and answer session, Kime gave more information about Geneon's current plans. There are tentatively 15 volumes planned for the Hajime no Ippo TV series. Nothing is currently known about Hajime no Ippo properties other than the TV series. Also, more Lupin III TV episodes have been licensed, but it is unsure of how many more were acquired.
Geneon has no current plans to release any more Japanese artist CDs (like Yuki Kajiura's Fiction and Yoko Ishida's Sweets). Kime cited tofu's current release plans and inherent competition as a possible deterrent, but said that it was not a definite decision. There are no planned game soundtracks at the moment, as the .hack CD was just an experiment.
When asked about the Geneon acquisition process, Kime said that oftentimes, the company didn't get to preview the series before the parent company told them what to license.
Regarding Sailor Moon, Kime confirmed that their Sailor Moon licenses would also be expiring soon and that they were not renewable. The movie licenses will expire late this year, and the TV series will expire sometime sometimes afterward.
Responding to another question regarding licensing, Kime stated that it was not always 100% certain that Geneon Entertainment (USA) would distribute titles that it co-produced.
Presented by Chad Kime, the Pioneer panel started off with a brief explanation on why they changed their name to Geneon, and how the name was chosen. This helped alleviate some confusion amongst fans as to why the name change was necessary.
Shortly afterwards, he named some of the upcoming Geneon releases, such as the Snow Fairy Sugar Special, which would be packaged with shampoo bottles. The Mahoromatic: Summer Special would also be released, along with a Mahoro action figure and an optional empty box for the first and second seasons. The boxes would also be sold separately to consumers.
An outline of Geneon's release schedule for the upcoming months was also given, along with details about some of the releases. Of particular note, Geneon has licensed Hajime no Ippo / Fighting Spirit and will release it on DVD in July. Geneon will also release Gungrave in a seven volume set with the original Nightow art that was one the Japanese box set. Gungrave will include a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix for the English track and a DTS 5.1 mix for the Japanese track. The R.O.D. the TV releases will also feature DD 5.1 mixes for both languages. Ai Yori Aoshi ~Enishi~ volume 1 special edition is to be released in July and will include an artbox, and a capsule figurine, the remaining SE volumes will also include the figurines.
In August Geneon will release a 2-disc Memories soundtrack that will include several tracks that were left off the original release. They will also be releasing Dokkoider and Ikki Tōsen (which they will not be calling Battle Vixens).
In September Geneon will release a title called "The Gregory Horror Show," a non-anime CG that Kime referred to as "really weird". The first volume of Stellvia will also be released in September.
October will hail the release of Satoshi Kon's Paranoia Agent, and the live action Omniyoji 2.
During the question and answer session, Kime gave more information about Geneon's current plans. There are tentatively 15 volumes planned for the Hajime no Ippo TV series. Nothing is currently known about Hajime no Ippo properties other than the TV series. Also, more Lupin III TV episodes have been licensed, but it is unsure of how many more were acquired.
Geneon has no current plans to release any more Japanese artist CDs (like Yuki Kajiura's Fiction and Yoko Ishida's Sweets). Kime cited tofu's current release plans and inherent competition as a possible deterrent, but said that it was not a definite decision. There are no planned game soundtracks at the moment, as the .hack CD was just an experiment.
When asked about the Geneon acquisition process, Kime said that oftentimes, the company didn't get to preview the series before the parent company told them what to license.
Regarding Sailor Moon, Kime confirmed that their Sailor Moon licenses would also be expiring soon and that they were not renewable. The movie licenses will expire late this year, and the TV series will expire sometime sometimes afterward.
Responding to another question regarding licensing, Kime stated that it was not always 100% certain that Geneon Entertainment (USA) would distribute titles that it co-produced.
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