New York Comic Con 2013

Sunrise Panel

Sunrise's panel got off to a slightly late start to let everyone in, and the panel was standing room only.

Robert Napton moderated the panel, and introduced Sunrise, an anime studio founded in 1972. The company is comprised of 12 independent studios that work together, and Sunrise is a part of the Namco Bandai Group. Sunrise has animated titles such as the Gundam franchise, Code Geass, and Tiger & Bunny.

Shin Sasaki, Managing Director at Sunrise, and Akane Hagino, Manager of International Sales Department, also hosted the panel. Sasaki introduced himself and thanked all the audience for coming. Sasaki is a producer and has worked on Gundam UC and Gundam AGE. He also oversees Valvrave the Liberator, Code Geass Akito the Exiled, and Love Live! Hagino said she is currently working on the English production of Gundam UC.

Napton started the panel by discussing the recent productions Sunrise has worked on. For each property, Sunrise showed a trailer. First up was Tiger & Bunny. The television series is available subtitled through Viz Media on VizAnime.com and dubbed on Neon Alley. Blu-ray and DVD box sets 1 and 2 for the television series are available now. Viz Media has an English-language Facebook page for the series, and fans can find the latest news about the series on that page. Tiger & Bunny the Movie –The Beginning- is also available on Blu-ray Disc and DVD in North America – Viz released the film on October 1. The film is also available to watch dubbed on Neon Alley. The home video release has more than 2.5 hours of extra features.

Next Hagino talked about Daily Lives of High School Boys. NIS America released the premium edition Blu-ray Disc with a hardcover artbook on August 6. Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere II is available now streaming on The Anime Network, Hulu, and Crunchyroll. Sentai Filmworks released the Blu-ray Disc and DVD sets for the second season of the series on July 2. Binbogami-ga (Good Luck girl!) will get a DVD and Blu-ray Disc release from Funimation on November 19. The series is available now streaming on Funimation.com and Hulu. Love Live! is now available on Crunchyroll. The second season will debut in Japan in spring 2014. NIS America will release the first season on Blu-ray Disc.

Sunrise then launched into its new lineup, starting with the second season of Valvrave the Liberator. The second season premiered on Thursday and is streaming on Hulu, Daisuki, and Crunchyroll. T.M. Revolution and Nana Mizuki are performing the opening theme for the second season, as they did for the first season. Aniplex of America will release the Blu-ray Disc for the first season in 2014.

The third season of Phi-Brain: Puzzle of God launched on October 9 on Crunchyroll. Season 1 (collections 1 and 2) and season 2 (collection 1) are available now from Sentai Filmworks on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. The second collection of season 2 will be available on home video on November 8. Episode 2 of Code Geass Akito the Exiled, the Code Geass side story, opened in theaters in Japan on September 14. Funimation announced at Otakon this year that it will release the four-episode series on home video. Sunrise hopes the third episode will be released in Japan next year.

Tiger & Bunny The Movie –The Rising- will get its theatrical release in Japan on February 8, 2014. The film takes place after the television anime series. Viz Media has licensed the film. Hagino noted that there is a Tiger & Bunny event that is being held on Saturday in Japan, and she said she hopes Viz Media can talk about that event at its Viz Animation/Neon Alley panel at NYCC on Saturday evening.

Napton then began talking about the Gundam anime franchise, showing an English-narrated trailer presenting an overview of the franchise. Sasaki then discussed various Gundam series, beginning with Gundam UC. Episodes 1-6 of Gundam UC are available now on Blu-ray Disc, and Right Stuf and Sunrise are re-releasing the series on DVD: volume 1 with episodes 1 and 2, and Volume 2 with episodes 3 and 4 are available now. Volume 3 with episodes 5 and 6 will ship on DVD on November 5. The series is also available to rent on PSN, Xbox, and is streaming now on Daisuki. Sunrise is currently working on the seventh episode in the series. The Gundam Seed Destiny HD Remaster project is streaming now on Gundam.info with English subtitles. Gundam Build Fighters, the most recent Gundam series, premiered on October 7 in Japan. Gundam.info is streaming the series with English subtitles. Next year is the 35th anniversary of the Gundam franchise. Sunrise hopes to plan a number of different events to celebrate the anniversary. They plan to release three Gundam projects. The first is the seventh episode of Gundam UC. Sunrise is also expecting that Yoshiyuki Tomino will help a new Gundam project. Additioanlly, Sunrise hopes to announce more details about the Gundam The Origin anime project. The manga of Gundam the Origin is available now through Vertical.

Sasaki will be signing autographs at Daisuki's booth at New York Comic Con today and tomorrow. Sunrise then launched into a Q&A to end the panel.