I'm not going to cover everything in this report. Just the highlights and the news that particularly newsworthy and of interest to the No Editing Zone.

ADV

Announcements:

From Live Action titles to brand new OVA Series and Movies, the latest acquisitions on that front are as follows:
(copied from advfilms.com since the list is so long)

• Colorful
• Dirty Pair - Affair of Nolandia
• Dirty Pair - Project Eden
• Dirty Pair - 005 Conspiracy
• Let's Dance With Pappa
• Puni Puni Poemi
• Sakura Wars 2 OVA Series
• Steel Angel Kurumi OVA series
• You're under Arrest Mini Series
• Zone of Enders OVA
• SiN 2
• New 13 episode Urotsukidojii series (this title has since been removed from the listing for some reason)
• Wonderful
• Yuki Terai

Moving along from OVA's and Movies to hot new television series, ADV went on a spree and acquired the rights to the following new TV series.

• Aura Battler Dunbine
• New Cutey Honey series
• Dark Millenium
• Eden's Boy
• Goemon - Legend of the Mystical Ninja
• Louis The Rune Soldier (Rune Soldiers)
• Neoranga
• Noir (this title has since been removed from the listing and they are disavowing any rights to it)
• Saiyuki (Paradise Raiders)
• Sakura Wars TV series
• Zone of Enders TV

Sailor Moon on DVD:

They indicated they were trying to get the rights and materials to do an uncut sub release of the first two seasons of Sailor Moon on DVD. When asked about a sub./dub release, they mentioned using branching or some other way to get the dub on there, but I think that's a pipe dream.

Editorial:

In case you haven't heard (or read the editing report here on Animeprime): The dub version of Sailor Moon is HEAVILY edited from the original and if they couldn't take the time to reedit Robotech to use the new remastered footage Animeigo is using for their uncut Macross TV release, I doubt they are going to spend the time and money needed to somehow get the dub to match unedited video (if it would even be possible). It'd be cheaper to get a new dub made. As good as that would be (providing the dub is accurate and restores the original names and story), I don't think ADV wants to spend even that much.

Sakura Diaries LD Version:

When I asked about when we might see a release of the LD version of Sakura Diaries, Matt Greenfield replied that it would likely be a year or more. He indicated they wanted to let some time pass between the existing version and that they would almost have to start from scratch as far as production was concerned.

Inaccurate dubs:

When I asked about the recent inaccuracies in the Generator Gawl and Orphen dubs, Matt Greenfield indicated they were aware of them and that they have already taken steps to prevent it from happening in the future, but due to production time fans are only seeing the bad dubs now.

Unfortunately, he also indicated that the Orphen dub was changed mostly in conjunction with the Activision game and that other changes are done in anticipation of TV deals

Editorial:

While I do think it's good that they saw the problem and have (reportedly) taken steps to rectify it for future titles, it still doesn't address the basic problem: ADV seems unwilling to put the home video release FIRST. They obviously put the Activision game above their own release and they still seem to be inclined to change the dub in anticipation of a TV deal.

Would it have killed Activision to do an accurate game translation? Instead, we end up with an inaccurate dub AND an inaccurate game.

Changing dubs and video in anticipation of TV deals is just not acceptable for a HOME VIDEO release. Even little Right Stuf mentioned that they take the time to record some lines with a second set of dialog so that they can put out an accurate dub for those BUYING the home video release and use the alternate language for any potential TV deals.

Bandai

Announcements:

Love Hina will probably be released starting in early 2002. They have the first 24 TV episodes; the OVAs and specials are still being negotiated.

Crest of the Star video quality:

When I asked about the quality of the video that many people had reported on the Crest of the Stars disc 1, Jerry Chu (I believe) responded that the Crest of the Stars disc was considered acceptable in the industry, but that they would replace discs for anyone disappointed in the quality of the first Crest of the Stars disc. They also indicated that Comchoice would no longer be doing Crest of the Stars discs for them. It was unclear if this also meant that they wouldn't be using Comchoice for any future titles.

Editorial:

While I am glad that Bandai has ditched Comchoice for at least the Crest of the Stars discs (and hopefully they won't use them for other titles either) and will be exchanging customer's discs, I have to wonder when they knew about this problem. Crest of the Stars was originally planned for early this year, but got delayed to get new masters. With this problem and the fact that they appear to have new discs ready already, I wonder if they foresaw this issue and had a new mastering house redo the first disc.

Which would mean they knowingly distributed the bad discs (which were presumably already replicated) and the remastered discs when the first volume shipped in early June (this would also explain why at least one person on Anime on DVD claims not to have seen any problem with the video on his disc). Trying to minimize losses due to replicating the bad disc (since many people may not hear about the exchange program and just keep the bad disc) is understandable, but not very customer friendly or good for their image as a high quality DVD producer. I only hope that should a similar issue arise in the future, they don't ship a product that they know to be flawed (which I consider this disc).

CPM

Announcements:

No major title announcements, but they did show trailers for:

• Angel Sanctuary
• Detonator Orgun
• Garaga
• Night on the Galactic Railroad
• Legend of the Dragon Kings Under Fire
• Now and Then
• Utena movie

They are co-producing the new LaBlue girl OVAs with the Japanese creators. A mid 2002 release is likely from CPM.

Their sublicenses with Nutech and Image are expiring at the end of this year, which means they will have the ability to go back and redo some of their older discs that got less than ideal treatment from Nutech and Image. The only direct mention was the possibility of redoing the LaBlue girl discs, but others may be redone as well.

Slayers DVD sound issue editorial:

They are still in denial about the Slayers DVD audio issues on the Japanese track. They still are trying to claim that the sound sounds okay on a stereo setup, when it doesn't. It sounds BETTER on a plain stereo system, but it still isn't a proper stereo signal.

What it comes down to is that they only had about 500 complaints and that it's not worth the cost of fixing the problem for them. They didn't completely dismiss the possibility of redoing the set to fix the Japanese audio, but they didn't sound encouraging at all.

If you want the set fixed, I suggest you let John O'Donnel (the president of CPM) know at jod@teamcpm.com (he gave this e-mail address out at the panel). If you're holding off on purchasing the other two sets, tell him that too. Maybe if he realizes there's more than sales of the first set to consider, they'll do something.

Needless to say, I consider CPM's response to this issue to be unacceptable and extremely bad public relations move on their part. Unfortunately, Manga Entertainment is taking the same tactic with Wings of Honneamise.

Missing La Blue Girl footage:

When I asked if they would restore the missing footage featuring Nin-nin to LaBlue Girl if/when they remaster the original OVAs now that NuTech's license is running out, I inadvertently started a discussion about child pornography laws.

Unfortunately, things look less encouraging than they did when John O'Donnel was asked about this last year. As things stand now, CPM doesn’t appear to be intending to put the missing footage on any upcoming La Blue Girl discs (old or new OVAs).

I encourage all interested La Blue Girl fans to ask CPM to do the right thing and finally give us a completely uncensored version of La Blue Girl on DVD. Be polite, please.

Funimation

Blue Gender and Yu Yu Hakusho:

When I asked if Blue Gender will be unedited and have an accurate sub and dub, they indicated that it would. They seemed to be sincerely interested in doing Blue Gender (and Yu Yu Hakusho) right on their DVD releases. They indicated that since they are starting from scratch with these two titles and have the complete series in hand to refer to, they don't have any of the issues they had with Dragonball Z (which has been worked on by several different companies and groups of people, plus they didn't have the entire series to refer to when making decisions on how to translate it/change it).

I hope they can do a truly unedited release for these two great series.

Manga

I got to this panel late and really didn't get any news out of it.

Media Blasters

Announcements:

Among others, they announced that they had the rights to Bersek (including the DVD rights that kept Urban Vision from getting the rights last year). Ironically, Urban Vision was saying in their panel the day before that they were still in negotiations for the rights to Berserk.

Uncut/less-cut Kite editorial:

Amazingly, I didn't start this discussion and let it run its course without commenting. It's nice to see other people fighting the fight (although I was ready to jump in as needed).

The two Media Blasters reps did indicate that the less-cut version didn't sell as well as the hacked to pieces version, but this is to be expected when the bulk of people already have one version that they may or may not realize is edited. I'm sure if they had released the edited and less-cut version at the same time without hiding the fact that one was edited, that more people would have chosen the less-cut version than bought the recently released less-cut versions. And it doesn’t help that the less-cut version is only available on VHS at a time that VHS sales are plummeting throughout the industry.

They did indicate that it was fan pressure that led to the less-cut release. So we, as fans, can make a difference if we just try. I'm a bit miffed they didn't name me by name, though. :-)

They did reconfirm that Messo Forte will be released on an uncut DVD and edited DVD. As always, I recommend you buy the uncut version. Even if they tried to downplay the sex scene(s) that will be cut from the AnimeWorks version, it was part of the original version and deserves to be left as is despite Media Blaster's meddling with the creative process.

Pioneer

Announcements:

• Oh My Goddess movie and Mini-Goddesses TV series
• Soul Taker
• Vandread (previously rumored to be licensed by Media Blasters)

Announced at the Studio Peirrot panel:

Studio Peirrot will be making a third Fushigi Yuugi OVA series containing 4 episodes. It will take place several years after the end of the second OVA series (which was just released by Pioneer in the U.S.) and feature our favorite heros and some sort of evil Four Gods. Pioneer will be releasing these OVAs in the U.S. sometime after they are finished.

Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura openings and eyecatches:

Pioneer indicated that they will put new openings on Sailor Moon S disc 3, but were unclear if they would be on the episodes themselves or if they would just be available as extras.
They also mentioned they were getting the materials for the alternate opening and eyecatches to put onto the uncut Cardcaptor Sakura discs. Due to production times, they won't be able to add them till at least the seventh disc.

Cardcaptors Sakura disc 4 licensing issues:

When asked why exactly Cardcaptor Sakura disc 4 was delayered, they repeated that it was at the request of their licensor (they wouldn't say if that meant Nelvana or the Japanese licensor) because of the 'content' of the episodes on that disc. They indicated that the editors would be uncut based on what materials they were given, so it was unclear exactly what might be on the final discs when we see them in January.

Packaging editorial:

The Akira Tin special edition will have two plastic holders glued to the tin to hold the discs in place. I have a feeling that these are the same plastic holders that Pioneer uses in their foldout cardboard cases (called digi-paks, apparently). If that is the case, the Akira Tins may have a high return rate, since those hubs are notorious for letting discs fall off in shipping (but not releasing the disc for the user, ironically) and causing scratches. Time will tell.

When asked about their use of the cardboard foldout cases, they indicated they decide on a case-by-case basis. Unfortunately, their upcoming El Hazard boxset will use the digi-paks. They are using multi-disc Alphas for other sets, so maybe we may see an end to these flimsy cases someday.

If you don't like the digi-paks, please e-mail or otherwise let Pioneer know your displeasure. Politely, of course.

Right Stuf

Announcements:

Kare Kano will likely be released in spring of 2002. It looks like they are not looking at using overlays for all the onscreen Japanese text and stated that DVD soft subs are likely to be used, but the final decision hasn't been made.

TV editing:

When asked about how they feel about TV shows that they license to broadcasters and getting HEAVILY edited to where they are very different shows, Shawne Kleckner replied that he didn't have any problem with it.

Editorial:

This is unfortunate. I have been fairly impressed by the Right Stuf's treatment of anime titles (except for their edited TV dub only releases, of course) and am discouraged that their president doesn’t at least have some reservations in letting broadcasters do whatever they want to their titles. That's how we get heavily edited versions of anime like Robotech and Cardcaptors: The licensor not caring how their titles are treated by a licensee (direct or sub-licensee).

Synch-Point (Digital Manga)

Announcements:

They are hoping for DVDs of Tenshi Ni Narumon by end of year.

They looked at overlaying the manga panels in FCFL, but the video people they showed it to couldn't figure what to do with it (thank goodness), so they will look into other ways to translate it (hopefully DVD soft subs).

Tokyo Pop

I didn't have the chance to attend their panel, but I did discover at the New Generation Pictures panel that they are doing the subtitles for Vampire Princess Miyu and Saint Tail. Apparently, they didn't have enough time in their schedule to do the dub as well. This at least bodes well for the subtitles on Tokyo Pop's release of these two series. Hopefully the dub will be accurate, but we'll have to wait and see.

Urban Vision

Most of this panel had to do with the upcoming Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust movie. English is the original language and Urban Vision is doing the sound effects and music in the U.S.

Viz

They announced that they have the Inuyasha anime, but no details of when and how it'll be released.

Ranma 1/2 episode order:

When asked about the chance of them putting season 2 of the Ranma 1/2 TV series back in its original order when they release it on DVD, Toshifumi Yoshida indicated that it would be too much work and that he already had to rearrange season 6 TWICE (one for 2 eps per tape and again when they switched to 3 eps per tape).

Editorial:

I'm appalled at his attitude in this matter. It's his JOB to do Viz's video releases and to say it would be too troublesome to put them in the order the original creators (both of the anime and manga) intended them to be released in, shows me he has little respect for the decision of the creators.

It's also funny (well, not that funny) that he can't be troubled to put the episodes back in the order the were originally in, but seems to be okay with taking the time to mix up the order in the first place: Note to Toshi: If you don't change the order of the episodes, and the openings and endings in the first place, you will save even MORE time.

Taking the time to fix past mistakes when titles are released on DVD isn't an option in my opinion. It's something I expect.

It's also unfortunate that he's indicating that they will rearrange season six (I'll have to keep my eye on their release order and update the editing report as needed). The real surprising thing is that they hadn't made many changes to seasons 3-5 outside of pulling episodes from future seasons to fill the last tape of a season, but for them to go back to the days were they rearranged the episodes willy-nilly is just more proof that Viz doesn't belong in the anime business. My fear of Viz getting Inuyasha was well founded, it seems.

I recommend that those of you are concerned about Viz's continued mistreatment of Ranma go to their website and use their feedback form to let them know that you do not appreciate them changing openings and closing and the order of episodes.

Other panels

When asked about the Nelvana/WB version of Cardcaptor Sakura, anime director Morio Asaka said that he liked the voices, but was unhappy with the edits and wishes they wouldn't have changed it so much.

Editorial: Which goes to prove that Nelvana wasn't dealing with the original creative team in making their changes. So the next time someone says 'the Japanese okayed the changes' (a term some companies are all too fond of using to explain their changes), remember that could mean the original creative team, but more often it means the businessmen handling the licensing of shows.

At the Love Hina panel, some comments were made about how the anime director (Yoshaki Iwasaki) had some problems toning down the manga events to meet TV broadcast standards. He indicated that he eventually loosened up as he got further into the project (this is why the towels around the girls are less frequent later in the series.

Editorial: This is why I am so vocal about differences between TV versions and home video versions in Japan: The home video version is usually closer to the creators intended vision and not hampered by broadcast standards. Note: As far as I know, the home video release of Love Hina is the same as the TV broadcast version, I'm just using this comment as an example here).

I was a bit disappointed that at the Studio Peirrot panel Yu Watase (creator of the Fushigi Yuugi) wasn't there longer (I didn't get a chance to see her at her solo panel), but it was a good panel and I got a good idea about the titles they make. They may be milking Fushigi Yuugi a bit too much with another OVA series, though.

General con comments and observations

Facilities:

The buildings were nice and spacious. I rarely felt cramped or overcrowded. Much better than the Anaheim Convention Center/Hilton or the Disneyland Hotel.

Unfortunately the events were a bit too widely spread out for my taste. Lots of walking, especially on the first day as I tried to find things with the less than helpful maps provided.
Registration was in the Westin hotel and was a good 3-4 block walk from the Hyatt and south end of the Long Beach Convention Center (pretty much the center of most events). To make matters worse, they made attendees enter the registration area from the back of the building and walk up a long flight of (wet due to rain) stairs to get in. I only found this out after going into the front of the hotel (where the big 'Westin' sign is, funny enough). This might have been a last minute change, but it surely didn't look like they planned the layout well at all.

The dealer's room was large and nicely laid out (could probably use a little wider aisles) with the art show being in the same large exhibition hall, but the location of the entrance was a joke. The map provided showed where the dealer's room was, but gave NO indication of how to get into it. The 'Exhibit Lobby' indicated on the map gave no access to it and the escalators under the 'Exhibit Hall' sign was guarded by a big security guard.

So how did you get to the dealer's room and art show? Go out the south entrance to the LBCC and hang a left. Walk down some utilitarian metal stairs to a back walkway. Go THROUGH the loading dock (which was probably for the best, since going around would take another 5 minutes) and go into a glass atrium that connects the exhibition hall to an arena and two theaters (one of which held the bigger events). This was also the only place that had a message board and a place for flyers in the whole con (they really needed one in the Hyatt too).

AX: Next time, indicate the entrance to events on the map. That's what maps are used for, after all. And try to use those nicely placed escalators in the front of the convention center instead of giving us a scenic tour of the loading dock.

The video rooms were split between the large theater, two ballrooms, and a tent set up behind the Hyatt. Yes, a tent. Obviously an attempt to have a little extra space to rent out by the Hyatt. Ironically, the tent was the only place I went to watch any anime (a few fansubbed titles).

The videos being shown at this year's con weren't the greatest selection. A lot of stuff I've already seen and a lot of stuff I plan to buy already, so it didn't make much sense to spend time watching it there at the con Even the movies showing weren't that spectacular (I'd seen Escaflowne already and I'll wait to see Oh My Goddess on DVD).
The videos being shown weren't quite as racy as some of the ones planned for last year before being pulled after the 'incident' last year.

Except for the dealer banned from Anime Expo and another who has apparently chosen not to go to cons anymore after the 'incident' last year, there didn't seem to be any affect on the products being sold in the dealer's room. They might have been a little more careful about allowing minors to see adult materials (which I have no problems with), but they didn't seemed to have banned the sale of anything (which I am against).

Sadly, there were still bootleg CDs being sold everywhere. You had to really search for legitimate CDs (and I didn't end up buying any due to the limited selection). I wonder if this might change once AnimeTrax (a music label setup jointly between ADV and Right Stuf) starts putting out more titles and they find that Son May and Ever Anime CDs are eating into their profits.Overall, a good convention marred by some poor planning and too much distance between events.

A fun time, but tiring. Goodnight.

[This column first published on animeprime.com on July 9, 2001 and is copyright 2001 by Jim Lazar and animeprime.com]