New York Anime Festival and ICv2 Conference on Anime and Manga

ADV Films

Panelists: Chris Oarr, Mike Bailiff

Sunday's full day of industry panels started off with ADV Films, who began things by showing clips from recently released titles, including Blade of the Phantom Master, Venus Versus Virus, Magikano, Tokyo Majin, and The Wallflower. The panelists also showed clips for series that haven't hit store shelves yet, like Kanon, Project Blue Earth: SOS, Moonlight Mile, and Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann, and Devil May Cry.

To the excitement of the panel attendees, they also screened a clip from the film, 5cm per Second, the most recent film from director Makoto Shinkai (Voices of a Distant Star). The film will be screened in March 2008 at the New York International Children's Film Festival, as well as a special engagement at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Following up on the November release of the new Jing, King of Bandits: Seventh Heaven OVA, the original Jing: King of Bandits TV series will be receiving a thinpak release on January 1. In addition, the first volume of the hotly anticipated Gainax series, Gurren Lagann, will be released on Feb. 26. The entire series will come in six volumes, and will feature the original R2 DVD cover art.

Regarding Gurren Lagann, Oarr hinted at an answer to fans' concerns about being able to legally preview a series before purchasing it, saying, “Maybe we're going to have a little Gurren Lagann to share with you soon. See it before you buy it.” No further information was given. In the past, ADV has streamed the first episodes of certain series, like Le Chevalier D'Eon, Oh! My Goddess season 2, and Air Gear.