With the industry panels beginning tomorrow at Anime Expo and Otakon taking place in just three weeks, many big-name licenses are sure to be announced by the major US distributors. There will be confirmations of previously discovered domain names, logical steps and sequels based on previous licenses, and a few out of the left left field” announcements. The slam dunks and the relative unknowns share the stage of their respective industry panels. It’s the perfect time for fans to play prognosticator and predict how the chips will fall regarding the R1 fates of their favorite titles. [AOD has a topic on this for their AX forum.] Below the jump are those that will probably be locks along with many other less substantiated possibilities.

First, the big name fan favorites/locks this year seem to be:
Ouran High School Host Club – Funimation
Code Geass – Bandai
El Cazador de la Bruja – ADV
Kanon 2006 – ADV (maybe next year)
Lucky Star – Bandai, ADV, or Funimation via Kadokawa (if at all)

• Ouran is for certain going to be announced at AX and the leading candidate is Funimation, the main reasoning being they handled Fruits Basket (another beloved shoujo title) very well. Viz could possibly have the license but they have been quoted as saying someone else already had it.

• Code Geass is a lock for Bandai, especially since the old “neither confirm nor deny” line was thrown out at Bandai’s panel at Fanime this year. Also the last two ASOS Brigade videos have included shots of Pizza Hut boxes.

• El Cazador is so obvious for ADV since it’s a “girls-with-guns” Bee Train title directed by Koizumi Mashimo and music from Yuki Kaijura.

• Kanon (the KyoAni edition) will likely be licensed by ADV eventually but I don’t think they will announce anything (or even make a serious offer) until they see some results from their release of AIR.

• I’m not so sure that Lucky Star will be announced at AX because it just seems really soon – the 12th episode just aired a few days ago. If it is indeed held by a company right now, the company involved would likely be either Bandai or ADV – Bandai for the Haruhi connection, ADV for the conversationally-based humor school comedy connection. Funimation could be in the mix as well since they have School Rumble. Then again, SR is an ensemble comedy while Lucky Star is mainly confined to the four main girls so I think that connection fails.

There are also anime licenses that are waiting to be confirmed and were revealed through registered domain names or solicitation sheet. Geneon has domain names relating to Nanoha, Maria-sama ga Miteru while ADV has ones relating to Kanon 2006 and Night Head Genesis and recently confirmed Xenosaga this past week.

Other guesses from the thread [note: not my own]:
Asatte no Houkou – Geneon
Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto – Bandai, ADV
Buso Renkin – Geneon
Claymore – Funimation, Geneon
Darker than Black – Bandai
Getsumen to Heiki Mina – Bandai
Ghost Hunt – ADV
Hayate the Combat Butler – Geneon, ADV (Geneon is a sponsor during its Japanese run)
Hidamari Sketch – Geneon, ADV (I’m leaning toward Geneon)
Idolmaster Xenoglossia – Bandai (it’s got mechs!)
Ikkitousen Dragon Destiny – Geneon
Kamichama Karin – Bandai
Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora – Geneon
Mahoraba – ADV, Geneon (Could this and Hayate go to seperate companies?)
Manabi Straight – ADV, Geneon (leaning toward ADV)
Maria-sama ga Miteru – Geneon (have domain name), Media Blasters
Monster – Geneon (they have previously questioned its profitability so not likely)
Nanoha – Geneon (have domain name)
Negima?! – Funimation (already released the first series)
Night Head Genesis – ADV (have domain name)
Nodame Cantabile – Funimation, ADV, Geneon
Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru – Media Blasters
Romeo x Juliet – Funimation, Geneon, ADV (most popular shoujo title in this bunch)
sola – Geneon
Strawberry Panic – Media Blasters
To Heart 2 – Right Stuf
Touka Gettan – Media Blasters
Victorian Romance Emma – Geneon

Whew! Have any predictions of your own? Or is there any anime you do NOT want to see hit American shores, provided you care about who distributes what? Personally, I would rather not have Romeo x Juliet, Hidamari, Ghost Hunt, and Monster be snagged over the summer because then that will make scheduling for anime club more difficult. But I would very much like Mahoraba, Emma and Asatte to be announced. I don’t particularly care who picks them up, just get them into the country.

Related posts based on tags:

• AX06 Newsblast: PaniPoni, ParaKiss Licensed; 3 FMA DVDs in September!? (1)
• Will Thirteen Be A Lucky Number for Funimation? (0)
• What About The Geneon Remainders? (0)
• US Name Change for Higurashi? (10)
• Thank God My Batch Download Finished Last Night (1)

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 28th, 2007 at 5:21 pm and is filed under Commentary, Licenses. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.