Guillotine

While I couldn’t go to the Anime Expo I have been gleaning as much info as I can find from the relative safety of my secret base.

Bandai Entertainment had their panel yesterday, and had several announcements and tidbits of info.

Most of their announcements were just things most people already know about. The more interesting bits are regarding the Haruhi Suzumiya franchise. Bandai has announced that they will be releasing The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Season 2 in August 2010. And I’m sure the fans are happy to hear that it will be released as a complete set… Which is the rather obvious choice since most fans in the US have pretty much made it clear that they would not buy singles due to the Endless Eight episodes. The original English voice cast has returned for the dub.

It was announced that after the sell out of the San Fransisco screening of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya that it will receive more screenings in Hawaii… I guess if you happen to be going there you may be able to check it out. No other US screenings have been announced at this time.

And there was also an announcement that the Haruhi Suzumiya-Chan and Nyron Churuya-San shorts will be released on DVD dubbed in English by the Haruhi cast.

And the big news from the Bandai panel was the announcement that they have acquired the license for the first season of K-On! as well as introducing the English dub cast. Christina Vee will play Mio, Stephanie Sheh will play Yui, “Kix” will play Mugi, and “Briana” playing Ritsu… Kix and Briana??? No last names??? C’mon… This isn’t the 80s, and you aren’t Prince. No word on who will play Azusa yet that I’m aware of.

Bandai will be streaming a series of promotional live-action videos on their web site for K-On! starring the voice actors similar to the ASOS Brigade videos they did for Haruhi.

Bandai Entertainment’s president Ken Iyadomi apparently wants to encourage more fans to buy DVDs… Well… Release more. I mean if you go to the typical store Bandai’s shelf presence is rather minimal with Funimation and Section 23/Sentai/ADV taking the most space. I remember the nightmare I had trying to find the Lucky Star DVDs as they released. Even if it’s older stuff you guys really need to just get more in the stores. It’s kind of sad that I can go to my local Best Buy and see more ADV logos even a year after the label became defunct than Bandai titles.