Sakura-Con 2013

Funimation

 

Funimation's industry kicked off at 11am in Sakuracon's packed 3 room.

Presenting was company rep Sarah “Sully” Sullivan. She got things going by handing out some es for Funimation's private invite-only Psycho- event this evening, the Psycho-Party. The audience struggled with some trivia questions about old cyberpunk literature, but soon the tickets were handed out and the announcements began.

First up was Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Tenchi GXP will be ending soon, so fans can expect another Funimation show to the block later in the season

Ms Sullivan then covered over simulcasts, starting by proclaiming, “We have Minami-ke.

Next up was Funimation's EVS, their elite video subscription service, an offering similar to YouTube. Finally, Funimation's still got their cable channel, so if fans want it, they need to ask for it.

Funimation's got plenty of presence on social media platforms like Twitter, Tumblr, and YouTube, so check ‘em out there. Sullivan pointed out that they do some exclusive announcements on their Facebook page, and are planning something special once they reach one million “likes” (they're about 50,000 off the mark).

Sullivan then ran a sequence of trailers for recent and current shows, starting with A Certain Scientific Railgun.

Next up was releases, starting with Fairy Tail movie following in the winter. One Piece Season 5 (episodes 264-336) is also in the pipeline, as is the STRONG WORLD film.

Smith closed the news portion of the with a special announcement – Psycho- is being dubbed. It will come out in spring of 2014, in a blu-ray/DVD combo pack. More information on casting and production will be coming out throughout the year.

Wrapping up the was a surprisingly interesting Q&A session.

 Q: Have you guys looked at live-action tokusatsu like GARO?
A: We did a lot of live-action, but we're focusing more on animation at the moment. But we've got some live-action stuff in the pipe that we can't talk about yet.

Q: Do you have any new simulcast announcements?
A: Not yet, but please keep an eye on the website. We'll have some soon!

Q: Do you have plans to release season 2 of Magical Index?
A: We're stil negotiating for it. Hopefully we'll have news soon.

Q: What about Oh! My Goddess season 3?
A: Oh! My Goddess is on hiatus due to contractual issues. We don't have any other information about it right now.

Q: Any word on Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods?
A: Wow, everyone is asking this question! All DBZ movies must first be offered to Fox, and the option for release hasn't picked up yet. It's way too early to talk release plans, but personally I think it'll probably be 2014 before we see it on these shores.

Q: Have you got blu-ray versions of Beck?
A: Neither Last Exile or Beck is on blu-ray in the US.
 
Q: What about Evangelion movie 3?
A: I believe that is being released on BD/DVD in Japan next month. Just like DBZ, it hasn't been optioned for licensing yet. I really like Evangelion, so I hope there's news soon!

Q: How many of Funimation's shows are on the subscription service, and not on other services like Netflix or Hulu?
A: There's a bunch. Also, Netflix expires shows suddenly sometimes—that won't happen on our Funi EVS. Nearly the entire library is on it!

Q: Some Funimation.com content isn't available in Canada. How come?
A: Yeah, it's a licensing issue. I feel bad about this, but stuff gets caught in “contract hell.” There are still some shows we don't have digital rights to in Canada. We're working on it, so please stay tuned for more details.

Q: When are you gonna release Lost Girl season 4?
A: The production announcement for season 3 just hit, so it's early. We don't produce it ourselves, we're just the distributor. Check with Prodigy Entertainment for information on that.

Q: Why is Heaven's Lost Property season 2 only on DVD?
A: Again, contractual issues. Sometimes we can't get the rights to both formats at the same time, but we released it on DVD because we knew fans were waiting for it. We do try to ensure that all of our shows are BD/DVD.

Q: Any hope for Lupin besides new series, like the annual TV movies?
A: No information at this time, sorry.

Q: How do we know when Funimation stuff goes out of print?
A: We try not to let our stuff expire, but it does happen from time to time. Sometimes the Japanese licensor chooses not to re-sign with us. But that's going to vary from show to show.

Q: My OCD needs to know: why do you put some BD releases in DVD cases?
A: We're trying not to do that anymore! We're trying to release everything in BD on the BD size, but it depends other factors: design issues, retailer requests. But we're moving to BD cases for everything, so expect way fewer DVD keepcases.

Q: With Bandai shutting down recently, will Funi get their catalog titles?
A: I mentioned Contract Hell earlier. When companies go out of business, there are always situations where previously announced titles sink. Technically Bandai Entertainment still exists in the world of legalese. We're sad about what's happened to our friends and partners at Bandai, but have no information about their holdings right now. Currently, we don't have anything of theirs.

Q: Will there be any more Panty and Stocking?
A: I'd love to see more, but there are no plans for more in Japan.

Q: Will there be a Shiki complete box set?
A: I haven't heard any murmurings about this around the office, but we might do in the future. No release date for it at this moment.

With that, Ms Sullivan closed the and thanked the attendees for coming.