MCM London Comic Con October 2015 Announcements

msgeek said:
There was only one piece Andrew seemed key in - introducing and being on stage with the Sunrise representative (who addressed the crowd via her interpreter)... It almost seemed like Andrew was particularly stressed the whole weekend and had put most of his effort into ensuring the trip for the sunrise rep went smoothly...
Click to expand...
I thought that the Anime Limited panel was left to Jeremy and Kat to give her a chance to shine. Andrew was at the booth/MCM floor a lot of the time. Didn't seem too stressed to me, but who wouldn't be when you've traveled for hours to a convention and have things constantly keeping you busy?

msgeek said:
The sunrise rep kinda came across a little scary. Certainly when questions came around no one had the guts to ask what (seems to be to me at least) the elephant in the room of "Why didn't you let Andrew use the nice Italian art"...

There was meant to be a video message from (can't remember who exactly - creator?) a big cheese at sunrise which unfortunately wouldn't play
Click to expand...
I thought she was pretty normal so to speak. Generally panels I've seen with Japanese guests portray them as pretty reserved and shy, whereas she was the opposite IMO - confident in what she was talking about and happy to be up there. Question wise - the main problem was that there was only time to take two or three questions, at least two of which were a waste of time (Are you releasing G Gundam and Will there be a UK release of Iron Blooded Orphans). Dumb questions always come with expo Q&A's, so nothing new there. The video not playing was a big disappointment though.
 
As far as I'm aware Omakase didn't have a booth. My own reading is that AL booked the Sunday slot and late in the game Viewster asked if they could give them some representation. Hence deciding half an hour was enough for Gundam (and given how thin the crowd was, I'd begrudgingly suggest that's an accurate estimate) and giving the other half to Viewster.
 
HellCat said:
As far as I'm aware Omakase didn't have a booth. My own reading is that AL booked the Sunday slot and late in the game Viewster asked if they could give them some representation. Hence deciding half an hour was enough for Gundam (and given how thin the crowd was, I'd begrudgingly suggest that's an accurate estimate) and giving the other half to Viewster.
Click to expand...

The thin crowd for Gundam gives me a bad feeling about how well Gundam will sell we needed the extra push of an artbox too so im unsure how well it will sell
 
Damn that makes me sad in regards to the *thin crowd, I'm not a Gundam person myself however it always makes me sad. Hopefully those there made up with their enthusiasm!
 
I don't think enthusiasm is any replacement for sales. I wonder what impact it would have on these already negotiated licences if this release in November tanks...
 
Before we all crap ourselves, Andrew said on the podcast that the pre-orders and tracking figures for Gundam were actually quite good.

He also said non-UC stuff sold better, so why they're focussing on UC Gundam is beyond me. Maybe he has almost no say in what Sunrise actually release?
 
So according to ANN Anime Limited have picked up Prison School, very surprised at that as I thought they had already passed on it?

The BBFC should have fun with it anyway.
 
Buzz201 said:
Before we all crap ourselves, Andrew said on the podcast that the pre-orders and tracking figures for Gundam were actually quite good.

He also said non-UC stuff sold better, so why they're focussing on UC Gundam is beyond me. Maybe he has almost no say in what Sunrise actually release?
Click to expand...

Because its the popular one only one that could probably sell as much as Gundam Z is Wing or Seed maybe 00
 
Hana & Alice and Wixoss sound great. More good stuff from AL. The other two don't sound like my normal cup of tea but as per usual I'd be willing to give them a go Thanks to AL.
 
qaiz said:
Damn that makes me sad in regards to the *thin crowd, I'm not a Gundam person myself however it always makes me sad. Hopefully those there made up with their enthusiasm!
Click to expand...

This is why I've always said that Gundam needs active promotion in the west.

I don't know what it is, but Gundam fans do seem to be in their own little niche, and not necessarily of one mind. I know a few folks who watch Gundam to the exclusion of all other anime. Some of them are big into the model kits, and in a few cases I think they're more interested in those than the shows. I just don't get that.

As a franchise, Gundam does seem to present some tricky problems for newbs. For one thing, it's so expansive that a newcomer may have difficulty knowing where to start. And even the wealth of standalone, non UC stuff can be intimidating to folks who are lured by the giant robots, but not necessarily interested enough to do some basic Googling. Price is another bugbear. Sorry to beat this drum again, but a few folks I know who were curious about the shows were instantly turned off by the RRPs, and even the discounted prices online. And, no matter how great the show's standing, given the £90 asking price for dated animation and some aggressively nasty music spread over two blu ray only sets... I can see why, unfortunately.

As a fan, some of this stuff is maddening. You want to see it grow in the west, and to see other people discover and enjoy it. But it's weird how it gains traction with some, and not others. And I detect a bit of flip-flopping wher the Sunrise / western distro collaborations are concerned. RightStuf! Mentioned they were intending to release Victory Gundam, but that's missing from their 2016 announcements. And Anime Limited lost a sale of Turn A from me due to the lengthy gap between hints being dropped and the announcement being clearly made. Then, suddenly (and this is a WELCOME surprise, I hasten to add) Build Fighters and its sequel get added to the US release roster, seemingky out of nowhere.

I know there's probably a solid plan worked out for all this stuff behind closed doors. But it's not good to leave fans in doubt or without a clear idea of what's coming their way. That's not a complaint from me, by the way - more an observation.

Regardless, I'm really hoping these efforts to get more Gundam out in the west are successful. The shows deserve more exposure, and it's a great gesture towards the legions of faithful who are crying out for quality releases of them.
 
Back
Top