Well, I’ve returned from the London MCM Comic Con, a fair bit poorer than I was before. I guess it would be fitting to go over what happened there, then.
First, I’ll talk about my purchases. I acquired a fair few new manga volumes; Bleach Volume 58, Puella Magi Oriko Magica Volume 2, A Certain Scientific Railgun Volume 8, Soul Eater Volume 16 and Fairy Tail Volume 10.
I picked up less anime than usual. Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works and Bodacious Space Pirates Parts 1 and 2 were it in terms of anime.
Finally, everything else; a £15 pack of Pocky and a couple of other treats, some Attack on Titan playing cards and an Attack on Titan Survey Corps uniform, including cloak. That last item cost me the most, but the whole idea was to go there and spend money.
Now for the panels I sat in on. The first one was the ‘Mega Ultimate Voice Talent Panel’. Richard Epcar, Ellyn Stern, Yuri Lowenthal, Tara Platt, Elias Toufexis, Troy Baker and Roger Craig Smith were all present for that. Unfortunately, the panel was cut short due to Namco Bandai’s panel running over. They answered a few questions, but there wasn’t any major news to come from this panel.
The Manga UK Panel came some time after that, where they announced several new licenses they’ve acquired for the UK. I will cover both Manga and MVM’s new licenses at the end of this post.
Finally, there was the Attack on Titan/Studio WIT panel. George Wada was joined by two other members of Studio WIT and they talked about both Attack on Titan and their new feature, Hal.
Hal is a feature about a girl named Kurumi, who is sent a robot substitute when her boyfriend is killed in a plane crash. Apparently it shares some themes with Attack on Titan; despair and death. However, it was described as a more ordinary boy meets girl story. Personally, I’m not a fan of romance, but don’t let my opinions stop you from checking Hal out if you get a chance.
Once the Q & A opened up, the most important question was asked right away; when can we expect season 2 of Attack on Titan? Studio WIT didn’t confirm or deny anything; we got a ‘we would like to do that’. Considering the sheer popularity of Attack on Titan, I imagine there is a really strong possibility of that happening.
Right, with that done, let’s take a look at what licenses both Manga UK and MVM have got their hands on.
First, let’s take a look at Manga UK’s announcements from their panel at the Comic Con:
- Dragon Ball GT in two box sets in January and March. They also mentioned something about trying to get the original Dragon Ball, but only time will tell for that one.
- Naruto Shippuden: The Lost Tower in February, available as a DVD or a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack
- The live-action feature, HK: Forbidden Super Hero. This will have festival screenings in both Leeds and Cardiff.
- Psycho-Pass will be available in two parts on DVD and Blu-ray. Manga UK are hopeful they will release it in Spring.
- Evangelion 3.33: You Can (Not) Redo will be released at the end of March on both DVD and Blu-ray.
- Manga UK are working on acquiring Steins;Gate The Movie: Loading Area of Deja vu
- Attack on Titan is on track for a DVD and Blu-ray release next year
Now, MVM didn’t have a panel at the Comic Con, but they have been announcing licenses on Twitter. Since I don’t really use Twitter, I know these thanks to the Anime UK News and Anime News Network websites. All these releases are due for next year.
- Girls und Panzer
- Night Raid 1931
- Infinite Stratos
- Dusk Maiden of Amnesia
- Btooom!
- Hakuoki, Hakuoki: Hekketsuroku and Hakuoki: Reimeiroku (including the OVA)
- Campione!
- 3 seasons of The Familar of Zero
- Ikki Tousen: Great Guardians and Ikki Tousen: Xtreme Xecuter
Also, Studio WIT’s Hal has been licensed in the UK, although it seems nobody knows exactly who is responsible.
It is possible that more licenses will be announced; I’ll post on here if that is the case.
Attack on Titan, Evangelion 3.33: You Can (Not) Redo and Girls und Panzer interest me the most out of all those up there, and Psycho-Pass looked pretty good as well.
So, yeah, the London MCM Comic Con was fun. I got to sit in on all the panels I wanted, bought stuff I wanted and even cosplayed for the first time. All in all, a successful day.
Rory Muses 