Manga Otakon News

Their release of Blood: The Last Vampire may be piggy-backed on a theatrical re-release of Ghost in the Shell because the feature is only 50 minutes long. If that does not work out, it will be released direct to video.

The Evangelion movies may be released as soon as late February/early March. The movies will be released as a two-DVD/VHS tape box set. As far a theatrical release goes, the movies may still see an art house run. The movies are taking a long time to get released because of the time necessary to get extra materials. The release will have extras such as storyboards, cels, and interviews. The deals have all been signed. Manga is just waiting for the material. The wait between the release of the movies on VHS and DVD will only be a few weeks at most. They will be uncut and uncensored.

The Devilman OAVs may be shown on cable TV (HBO/Showtime). Manga has now obtained the subtitle rights to the series, and may be doing a subtitled DVD release. The long awaited DVD release of Wings of Honneamise will be November 28th.

The situation with their release of the Fist of the North Star television series is that they will continue to release the series up to “episode” 12. [Note: here at AnimeNation, we assume that this is an error and the report intended to state “volume” 12.] The first 12 episodes will be shown on HBO, and the episodes will be on DVD (release date is mid-late January 2001). They have an option to pick up the rest of the 156 episodes.

There is currently no date for the DVD version of X because their contract states they have to wait for the Japanese to make their DVD release first. Shadow Skill will be released on DVD in mid-January and feature all 4 OAVs on 1 disc. A Giant Robo DVD box set was just released in Japan, and Manga wants to do something similar for the series in America but admits it will be difficult to equal the Japanese release. Manga has the DVD rights to the Macross Plus movie, and are looking to get the voice actors and actresses together to do a dub of it. They are currently looking into acquiring more Lupin III features, more live action movies, and clothing and other apparel. Every day in early December Manga will hold a live, two-hour long online chat for fan suggestions.

Source: Anime on DVD