Saturday
[Hyakunin Kuizu]
Yup… we went back. But this time we were nice enough not to take our existing group of five and let other people have a fun and fair time playing the game. Overall, still a lot of fun. There were some great themed teams playing and I think that added some flavor to the festivities.
The teams knowledge wise were far more balanced then some we encountered at PAC as well. I think the true key to the event was how many people in the audience were charged up for the event. That was really one of those things that made the event more fun for everyone!
[Artists Alley]
We hadn’t posted anything about Artists Alley yet, however no better time then the present. Artist Alley is sort of tucked away on the 3rd floor however the amount of space for the artists more then makes up for it! The amount of artists in there was impressive.
Everyone’s art work was top notch and I was also impressed with the diversity of art. Not everything was nessisarly drawn. There were displays of chain art, cosplay art and so on. It was quite interesting.
[Dealers Room]
I’m sure most people could care less about places like the dealers room at a con but there are some pivital improvements from last year that i had to pipe in with. First, the hours were greatly improved allowing for more time to get in there and not worry about it closing on you. Second, the amount of space was HUGE! I mean you really had to almost be trying to bump into people(actually I did twice but I was carrying all of our podcast equipment with us. It sort of gave the impression there weren’t as many vendors but trust me, there were!
I was however disappointed with Funimation’s booth this year. It felt all flash, no substance… where as its been the opposite in other years. The Nintendo Fire Emblem booth stood out to me in particular as did Comicopia’s.
[Funimation]
Adam Sheehan gave us the Funi run down. Mainly a large amounts of numbers at first in relation of releases. He mentioned that flooding the market is a bad idea… i.e don’t release so much that people can’t catch up.
Big plug on streaming anime on Hulu, veoh, joost, YouTube and download to own with iTunes, XBL, D2D, Amazon(!) and PSN. And a big plug for the video player!
The big annoucement from last week was brought up, Funimation on Comcast VOD. Also they mentioned with Verizon FIOS. They also brought up that they made some money on it. 
Funimation Update, blog and twitter.
Adam then talked about some of the current shows coming out including Kenichi, Shigurui, D Grey Man, Last Exile(!), Heroic Age, Murder Princess, Shin Chan, Romeo x Juliet, Kaze no Stigma, Samurai Champloo, and One Piece.
One Piece now simulcast,… an hour later(Why couldn’t they do this with Fullmetal Alchemist?). May 30th
Speaking of FMA: Brotherhood… they mentioned this too. They talked about the streaming/buffering problems and that they’re working on it. The mention its an overload of the servers and that upgrades are in progress. They also played a sweet trailer for the FMA OVA’s.
Sgt. Frog, Sept. 22nd, DVD release! With Cast List! Gundam/Macros references are IN! Season 1 Part 1, meaning its all boxes.
Spice and Wolf officially announced! Planned Winter 09 release!
Evangelion 1.0! Dub will premier at Anime Expo! ADR Director: Mike McFarland, who actually attended!
Cast:
Misato: Allison Keith-Shipp
Shinji: Spike Spencer
Ritsuki: Colleen Clinkenbeard
Ibuki: Caitlin Glass
Gendo: John Swasey
Rei: Brina Palencia
Hyuuga: Mike McFarland
Fuyutsuki: Kent Williams
Kensuke: Greg Ayres
Toji: Justin Cook
Aoba: Phil Parsons
Kiel: Bill Jenkins
Hikari: Leah Clark
Kaworu: Jerry Jewell
Yui: Stephanie Young
Eva: Mike McFarland
EVA 1.0 Q&A Highlights:
There is work on theatrical release next year.
No word on Blu-Ray.
Just the first movie is licensed.
No word on Digital Distribution.
Dub is going to ‘be the character’, no impersonate the last… unless they’re reprising I’m guessing.
I’m not going to deny, the trailers are getting far better… in fact some are reminding me of old Toonami ads(Kenichi).
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