 Gundam Wing
has turned out to be the breakout hit that Bandai hoped it would be. In
the few weeks since the animated soap opera of war, young angst and cool-looking
war robots started on the Cartoon Network, large numbers of viewers have
caught the twice-a-day cablecasts, and more people have traveled to toy
stores to buy the model kits of the five Gundams featured in the show.
All of which pleases Jerry Chu of Bandai... |
 ...who notes
that stores have having a hard time keeping the Gundam kits in stock. The
success of Gundam Wing also has driven the sales of other Bandai titles
on DVD. Chu said one dealer at Sakura Con ran out of Bandai DVD's on the
first day of the convention and had to reorder - fast. |
 Fans of the
other dozen or so Gundam series might think the Wing success would lead
Bandai to rush other titles to market, but that's not the case. "We know
there are a lot of Gundam fans out there who want Zeta, but we'll take
it slow," Chu said. The Saber Marionette J to X series also will be placed
on hiatus, he said. |
 Those who
want to learn Bandai's future release plans will have to be patient. "We
have a lot of titles coming that we haven't announced yet," Chu said. He
added that there will be four or file titles to be released "from July,"
which implies they may be announced at Anime Expo. What about that announcement
by a Fox network that they would broadcast the Vision of Escaflowne series?
"Let's just say that they jumped the gun and Bandai has no comment," said
Chu. |
