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I dropped by the Sync-Point panel this evening at Anime Boston, and took a few notes as to what they're up to (and not up to). I didn't catch the name of the company rep, but apparently she posts on animeondvd sometimes. These are the notes I took, apologies for any mistakes...
o FLCL #3 is planned for 22 July 2003. It will be sold in 2 formats: a regular DVD for $29.95 and a DVD+box for $34.95. The box will be in a limited edition of 10,000 - 'not 15,000 like Bandai does', according to the Sync-point rep. Tbe box will be sturdy, 'not one of the wimpy ones.' There are no plan at this point for a separate box set though, we gotta buy the DVDs individually.
The 3rd DVD will have a booklet included, inluding a translation of the animated manga sequence in the 6th episode. She mentioned that it was proving very, *very*, VERY hard to translate that manga...
o The next 'Tenshi ni Narumon' will be 1-2 months after FLCL #2, and will have 5 episodes. (I *think* she said it would be released on 5 DVDs total.) There dropping the 2 subtitle tracks in favor of a 'fan style' subtitle track. She mentioned that she and lots of the other Sync-point employees had been fans in college, they were comfortable with Japanese terminology, and now that titles like 'Strawberry Eggs' are coming out with Japanese terms left in, they were going to go with that as well.
To confirm - the rest of 'Tenshi ni Narumon' *will* be coming.
There's no decision one way or another about a 'Tenshi ni Narumon' box.
o Sync-point doesn't hasn't licensed any new Gainax titles at this time, all rumors to the contrary. (I.e. no Abenobashi from Sync-Point at this time.)
Also they aren't looking at Azumanga at this time.
o They've licensed 2 new titles. One is the 'DiGiCharat Movie'. It's a 30 minute movie about Degiko's trip back home, and will ship 'with lots of extras, as many as we want' including a 15-20 minute episode 'Black Gema Gema' that was included as an extra on the R2 DVD. The movie was directed by the same person who did the original TV series, whose name was something like 'Sakurai'.
The other is 'DiGi Charat - Leave it to Pyoko', a 6-episode OAV which is only now being created in Japan. The 1st OAV was released in March 2003, others forthcoming. The series is in the TV continuity and looks at things from the point of view of the Black Gema guys. It also is being directed by Sakurai.
The rep didn't think that either of these would come out in R1 in 2003.
o They haven't licensed the original TV series at this time. The Sync-point rep said that the rights for the original series are held jointly by many different companies in Japan, all of which would have to agree, and thus licensing it is problematic. The titles they did license are owned solely by Broccoli (of which Sync-point is a subsidiary.)
o They're not looking at 'Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat' or the new TV series coming out now. Somebody asked if they were interested in licensing the 4 DiGi Charat *novels*. She was surprised that anybody had even heard of them - but definitely no plans. She recommended the FLCL novels instead for people who can read Japanese.
(FLCL *novels*?!)
o She mentioned that 'Pita-Ten' had been offered to them, but they didn't really have the capacity to handle it at this time, and the CEO in Japan wanted to push DiGi Charat instead.
o She didn't know anything at all about 'Tree of Palme' or Digital Manga. Sync-point definitely does *not* have 'Tree of Palme'.
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