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Of the companies that sell anime in the U.S., four - Central Park Media,
AD Vision, Viz and AnimEigo - held panels at Project A-Kon 9. Central Park
Media, based in New York City, batted lead-off with a Friday panel held
by Jason Crystal (left) and C.B. Cebulski (right). |
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Among the anime series that CPM will release in the next year: the
Patlabor TV series in July; Arslan in October; a series titled "Hen" in
Japan, that will likely be retitled Strange Love in English, about the
relationships between young women, a teacher and a rock star; Birdy the
Mighty in January; Zha Zha Uma Portet, a series about female super heroes
who take their powers from magic cards, in 1999; Inachu Ping Pong Club
("You can't describe it, you have to see it," Crystal said) in September;
Revolutionary Girl Utena in November (probably packaged with stickers and
rub-off tattoos); a series to be called Beast City (no relation to the
previous series with a similar name) or Vampire Madonna (a "very adult
Devilman"); a series to be called Nightmare Jungle or Nightmare Campus
in July; and Phobia, known through fan subs, in August. |
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CPM's big move in the coming year is toward DVD and away from laser
discs. "With the versatility of the DVD we can put both the sub and the
dub on it, and the Spanish track as well," said Cebulski. |
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According to Crystal, DVD looks hot while fewer than 1,000 laser discs
are being sold each month. "(The laser discs is) a dying format and it's
been dying for some time," he said. One spectator at the panel complained
that DVD's audio tracks were inferior to laser disc audio. "In any compression
process there are going to be problems at first, but the masters are improving,"
answered Crystal. |
