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And now for part two of my con report! This post will focus on the “industry” panels at Anime North.
The Funimation.com panel was one of very few industry panels at Anime North this year. Considering that Anime North is the biggest anime convention in Toronto, it’s a little disappointing that there aren’t more industry representatives leading discussion panels as well. Funimation however, had two, lead by Adam Sheehan, marketing manager for Funimation.
The first of their panels mainly focused on the Funimation website, with the premise that Funimation feels there should be more anime online, distributed legally.
Adam explained that on their website, there are show pages for every show they have distributed, and thousands of hours of videos available to watch. Videos include not only trailers, but full episodes as well. He indicated that the video area has ten to twenty times more popularity than the rest of the Funimation website.
Also on the Funimation website are news delivered via their blog, discussion forums (on a wide variety of topics including forums for specific shows), simulcasts, and an elite video subscription option.
Latest simulcasts are available here. Latest simulcasts at the time of Anime North included: Toriko, Is This a Zombie? (season 2), Eureka 7 AO (sequel to Eureka 7), Sankarea, Jormungand, Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko, and One Piece.
The elite video subscription service is available for $7.95 USD per month (there is a 14 day free trial period). This includes HD videos, no commercials, dubs are available the day they are released for sale on video, some exclusive titles, bonus features such as interviews and con footage, and more to come.
New releases at the time of the panel were…
Shiki (a thriller with vampires):
Cat Planet Cuties (a harem style series with alien cat girls):
and Panty & Stocking (angels kicked out of heaven for using too much foul language that become superheroes?):
New releases in June were: Tenchi Muyo (OVA and movies), Hellsing (Ultimate and TV), Fractale, Tales of Vesperia, Panty & Stocking with Garter Belt.
If you’re interested in a more current listing of releases from Funimation, you can check out this page for an idea of some of the items soon to be available on their site, and here’s their latest news post about upcoming video releases.
The second Funimation panel had some similar content, so I won’t be discussing it in detail. Suffice it to say, the first part included a presentation outlining recent releases and titles coming soon while the second portion was a question and answer period, where fans generally asked about specific titles.
I did speak with Adam after the first panel to briefly talk Sailor Moon. He remembered Moon Chase’s purple binder from the first time we were sending out reports! He also said that he really wished he could say that Funimation has the rights to Sailor Moon, but they do not currently have it. However, he did indicate that they will be practically shouting from the rooftops if they do get it, because Sailor Moon is a great property and they would love to have it. (this is NOT an official statement from Funimation, although we would be more than happy to share a statement from Funimation here about Sailor Moon)
Next up in my report: general interest panels at Anime North 2012! We hope you’re enjoying the convention coverage so far. More coming soon!
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