I was disappointed by the cancelation of Bandai Visual USA's panel - apparently, all the representatives had to be recalled to Japan for corporate matters - but thankfully, Bandai Entertainment was still present with their presentation, albeit marred by technical difficulties. The biggest news they had to offer is their licensing of Rocket Girls, a 12 episode comedy about a girl pressed to become an astronaut while searching for her father. The anime was produced in conjunction with JAXA, the Japanese equivalent of NASA, except more open to the development of real-life giant robots in space. Well, I would hope, at least. I sure wish NASA would get on that.
In addition, Bandai reaffirmed that Madhouse's The Girl Who Leapt through Time (Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo) will be getting a theatrical release this summer before a DVD release in the fall. Instead of choosing between a dub or sub version, Bandai will be sending out both versions to theaters. While I question whether a dub version is necessary for what will sadly be a niche film in US theaters, the option of a subtitled version will certainly help mobilize fans to see it when it comes out. I'm just curious how theaters will determine which version to screen.
Beyond that, most of the other announcements were reassertions of previous licenses. Most notable was that Lucky Star will have a May 6th release date, with the special edition supposedly following the extravagant Haruhi DVDs. A couple of CDs will be included, and there are extensive liner notes for both versions.
Ghost Slayers Ayashi was announced for a June release, while the series that replaced its timeslot in Japan, Toward the Terra, will be released later in the summer. Gundam SEED Destiny: Special Edition, the reediting of the original series into short films, will be marketed as TV movies and also be released this summer. Finally, My-ZHiME: My-Otome, the OVA sequel to My-Otome, will come out this July.
So it was a decent panel, but most announcements seemed like minor clarifications of previous notifications. Still, Rocket Girls looks like it might be entertaining as a light-hearted weekend rental. Is anyone planning on going out of their way to buy the special edition of Lucky Star's first volume?
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