| FanimeCon - Day Four - Bandai/Anime Village |
 FanimeCon
was the last anime convention before the big break for the Bandai division
that sells anime videos and model kits, Anime Village. In early March,
Gundam Wing was scheduled to make its cablecast debut on the Cartoon Network.
Jerry Chu of Bandai said there would be two versions of the show on the
cable network, an unedited version at midnight and a version trimmed to
meet the network's standards and practices. The word "damn" will be edited
out of some showings, Chu said. Gundam Wing videos will follow in late
spring, with both subtitled and dubbed versions on DVD. And you can expect
to find more Gundam model kits in stores such as Toys 'R Us, with Japanese
packaging and English-language instructions. |
 Chu hopes
that Gundam Wing is just the first of Bandai's U.S. home video series to
move to broadcast or cable TV. "The more stuff you have on TV, it translates
into dollars because of exposure," he said. To make that possible, Bandai
executives recently went to the National Association of Television Program
Executives convention in New Orleans, the gathering where syndicated shows
are sold to stations and networks. At NATPE, Bandai was shopping Vision
of Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop and Gundam for broadcast, said Chu. |
 Bandai is
still looking for more shows to release on home video, and one of those
programs is a fansubbers' favorite, the Jubei-chan Lovely Eyepatch series.
It's another case of a super-powered school girl, only this time the girl
doesn't really want the superpowers and doesn't take the stories too seriously
- even with a cast of characters that wants her to fight at every opportunity.
Among those titles could be childrens' series made fashionable with the
success of Pokemon. Chu said Bandai is considering a series that resembles,
in some ways, the Card Captor Sakura series that another company is bringing
to the U.S. |
 "We're a wholesome
company. We're the anti-tentacle company," Chu said. "Last year it seemed
like we were the science fiction company. We want to do more action for
the older crowd and things for the younger crowd." Bandai's home video
future could include a live action series that Chu wasn't ready to announce
at FanimeCon (but an announcement might come at Animazement, he hinted).
Other changes might come from the gradual home video move from VHS tapes
to DVD's, he noted. Bandai plans more DVD releases and expects to cut prices
on some of them (Blue Submarine will drop from $25 to $20, he noted). But,
with subtitles and dubs both available on DVD, there could be fewer subtitled
tapes in the future, Chu said. |
Day One |
Day Two |
Day Three |
Day Four |
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