Anime Expo 2007

Broccoli Entertainment USA

Panelists: Shizuki Yamashita (director of operations), Samantha Yamanaka (editor)

Highlights Version

Complete Version

The Broccoli USA panel began with new manga release announcements. Koge Donbo's Kon Kon Kokon was released in June, as was the Coyote Ragtime Show manga. July will see the release of E's Volume 3 and Disgaea 2 Volume 2. Romantic comedy My Dearest Devil Princess is due in August.

Broccoli is also entering the yaoi market with the Boysenberry Books imprint. The first book is due in late July.

Among other products in the Disgaea franchise, the success of the World of Disgaea (Disgaea Character Collection) artbook has led to the upcoming release of its sequel, World of Disgaea 2. The Disgaea novel is also due sometime in the future.

Yamashita reminded audience members to read the Broccoli Books blog for further information and updates on Broccoli releases. At this point the panel was turned over to questions.

When asked about future Di Gi Charat manga releases, such as Leave it to Piyoko! Volume 2, Yamashita said that the series was currently on hiatus due to a very busy staff. However there are still plans to release it in the future.

An attendee asked if the Juvenile Orion property has a corresponding anime series. Although no such series currently exists, Yamashita hinted at a production that is still in the developmental stage.

Although Broccoli has recently released the Murder Princess manga, there are no current plans for licensing the anime series.

One question of interest was about the demographics of Broccoli readers. Surveys from the back of each manga volume showed that there were many teen readers, who enjoyed titles like Juvenile Orion. Although there are no solid figures comparing US and Japanese fans, there were some interesting differences, like female readers enjoying the male-targeted Galaxy Angel. In general, Broccoli titles are selected based on marketability in the US above all else.

Due to a very small staff of 8 employees, Broccoli is always currently hiring (fans looking for industry jobs, take note).

This report has been verified by a company representative.