Madman Panel - Complete Report

Manifest Madman Panel - 10th Anniversary

The panel was presented by Dean Prenc and Slyvester Ip who are the Anime Brand Manager and the Assistant Anime Brand Manager respectively.

October Releases

• Naruto Uncut.
• Bubblegum Crisis 2032.
• Elemental Gelade.
• Fullmetal Alchemist v10, also avaliable with collectors tin and OST 3. Collectors set is limited to 3500 units.
• Speed Grapher.
• Howl's Moving Castle Special Edition - 2 disc set.
• Dragon Ball Z movie 13: Wrath of the Dragon
• Only Yesterday - Has not been released in the USA, Sub only release.

October Boxsets

• Gungrave
• Ikkitousen
• R.O.D tv
• Saiyuki Collection 1: Collecting Vol 1-6
• Dragon Ball Complete Collection: Vol 1-6

November Releases

• Negima
• Basilisk
• Inuyasha Movie 3
• Demon City Shinjuku
• Yukikaze v3 + Box
• Retro Madness
  • Mask Collection v1
  • Best of She-Ra, including the He-man / She-Ra movie, Secret of the Sword
  • Ulysses 31 Complete
  • Best of Sets, including Battle of the Planets, Transformers and Voltron

November Boxsets

• Chrno Crusade
• Gunslinger Girl
• Inuyasha Season 2
• Samurai Champloo
• Ranma 1/2 Season 4

December Releases

• Street Fighter II movie, this is the uncut version. On a side note Dean mentioned that this release will be special as the Madman making the DVD menus is a massive fan and has put a lot of work into this release, including his spare time.
• Street Fighter II V Collection. This will contain four discs with a total of 29 epidodes.
• Tree of Palme
• Tenchi Muyo Ryo Ohki OVA part 3
• Trinity Blood

December Boxsets

• Cromartie High
• DN Angel
• Get Backers Collection 2: Collecting Vol 6-10

Manga

• Ouran High School Host Club: Vol 1 + 2 due Nov
• Trinity Blood: Vol 1 due Feb
• Fruits Basket: Vol 21 due early 2007. This title is extremely popular in australia, being highly requested and getting healthy reprints.

10th Anniversay

Message from Tim Anderson, as he could not attend the convention he gave a video message, unfortunately I could not copy it down word for word but here's the annotated version. "Everyone here at Madman has enjoyed the last 10 years and we hope we can continue to entertain you over the next 10 years. We thank everyone that emails or visits our boards" With that said, we went on with the other things Madman is doing in celebration of their 10th anniversary

• Limited stock of essential anime collections. Future releases in this range will possibly be GTO, Ninja Scroll and DBZ collections.
• 10th Anniversary Party, this is the screening of the FMA movie with Vic Mignogna and Crispin Freeman attending as special guests. It will cost $20 or be free with entry to Sydney Supanova. The dates are
• Sydney - October 27th
• Melbourne - October 31st
• Madman will be releasing a special DVD on Osamu Tezuka under the Director's Suite label. It will contain 3-5 commentaries with three by Phil Brophy and 1 by Anthony Lucas, a interview with Tezuka. The downside is that the DVD will only be avaliable at the Osamu Tezuka exhibition.
• GITS:SAC Apparel: Otaku Wear will be releasing the following;
• Tachikoma, Laughing Man, Major and Batou shirts
• Laughing Man hoodie with Digital Audio Player pocket.
• Limited edition Edward Elric hoodie, this will be the FMA hoodie in red, but with the insigna in black.

Anime Music Soundtracks

• As reported on in the previous article, Japanese Import OST's will be released. They will be untranslated in content and packaging and only avaliable in small quantities to begin with, the price should be either $29.95 or $34.95.
• The first five titles will be Love Hina, Fruits Basket, FLCL and 2 Eva titles.

New Title Announcements

• Origin - Spirits of the Past, this will have a theatrical run in early 2007 with a dvd release mid 2007.
• Black Cat, this should be released in March 2007. Based off the Shonen Jump title.
• Ergo Proxy, this should be released in March 2007. Paranoid Android by Radiohead is confirmed to be in this release.
• Barefoot Gen movies 1 + 2, Subtitled only, this should be released in April 2007.

Question and Answer Time

At every Madman panel there is a Q+A session at the end, what follows are the majority of the questions, but please note that these are not taken word for word and that some of the answers should not be taken literally due to the relaxed nature of the panel.

Q: Any progress on Technoman?
A: On agenda, Madman is looking and will know in a couple of months if they can aquire for a 2007 release.

Q: What possessed you to release Naruto?
A: We thought we would take a gamble, that and we wanted another four years of torture.

Q: Is Shana on the cards?
A: License has been obtained by someone else in Australia.

Q: Can you get Macross Zero?
A: Macross Zero is in licensing hell.

Q: Any plans to release Fantastic Children?
A: Currently no plans.

Q: Will we be seeing any more Tenchi Muyo series?
A: Madman will see how the new series goes, possibility of end of 2007 release, but it would have the same extras as the US disc.

Q: UMD releases on the cards?
A: There is no intention to release to UMD, feedback is bad and most retailers are going away from the medium.

Q: Noein?
A: We're looking into it, but no promises.

Q: Any chance of Universal Century Gundam
A: Gundam has always been a real stayer, it's a steady series with a solid fanbase. Madman is looking into it and is curious about releasing it in australia, but we have to get through Gundam Seed Destiny first.

Q: Please don't release the Gundam Seed Movies
A: No, we may. Movies are attractive to retailers.

Q: Gokusen?
A: No plans.

Q: Will we ever see Gunbuster Remastered?
A: Spoke to license holders last trip to japan, however they talked us out of releasing Gunbuster.

Q: The Wings of Honneamise?
A: A new version is coming out in the US soon, we may look into it.

Q: Hellsing Ultimate?
A: We want to avoid this question, does anyone have a distraction for us? Please stay tuned.

Q: Sailor Moon, will we ever see a uncut version?
A: We would like to do box sets, but Toei has put it in licensing hell.

Q: Any chance of School Rumble?
A: Eh...

Q: Princess Tutu collection?
A: Fatpack release in first quarter 2007.

Q: New GITS:SAC title?
A: We are looking into Solid State Society, however due to Manga Entertainment being bought and sold and bought again, they don't know where the rights are, or who owns them.

Q: One Piece Uncut?
A: Would love to, but Japan is sitting on the rights, going to talk to Toei.

Q: Any plans for Studio Ghibi box sets?
A: Want to, but we're unsure how to do it, but we're looking at it.

Q: Card Captor Sakura?
A: No plans for CardCaptors Uncut, but we do have plans for other Clamp series.

Q: Could you PLEASE release Genshiken?
A: We all love the series and we are looking into it.

Q: Live Action J-Drama i.e GTO, is there any chance of a release, at least the movie?
A: No chance of the series, but unsure on the movie.

Q: What happened to Samurai Champloo on SBS?
A: The ratings didn't meet SBS's expectations. However ABC2 will be screening Cowboy Bebop and they want to do a anime slot, they are looking at Eureka Seven, Samurai Champloo and GITS:SAC. Remember that the ABC have screened Utena under the name "Ursula's Kiss" when ABC Digital started the first time.

Q: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, will you be getting this title?
A: This reminds me of the buzz surrounding Fruits Basket, we're looking into it.

Q: Rumbling Heart?
A: Looking at it.

Q: How did Madman get so far ahead in the Manga releases?
A: We recieve our titles from Chuang Yi, they usually use american translations but they're pushing ahead with the releases and obtaining their own translations.

Q: Any chance of the Angelic Days manga?
A: We want to release it.

In closing, Madman are spending a lot of time in meetings, so keep your eyes out.