Synch-Point Production Blog

Sakura Con 2007 report coming soon!

Mostly images of FLCL and Di Gi Charat cosplayers.
Stay tuned!

TAF 2007 Day 0

I’m currently in Japan attending TAF - Tokyo International Anime Fair.

GAINAX staffer Saito-san told us that director Yamaga-san’s birthday was coming up, so they invited us to dinner for a Yamaga-san mini birthday party.

So the place we headed off to is a restaurant called Opera-za no Mahoutsukai, or Mage of the Opera House.

All the waitresses were dressed up as maids, but it’s not your traditional maid cafe.
All the decor was goth-y, dungeon-y.
And they have strange & cute names for their menu items.

Director Yamaga-san said he’s been taking German classes, ever since he spent a month living in Germany.
He recently went to Egypt for production research too.
They seem to have lots of new projects on their plate, so they’re busy busy busy.

We ended the dinner w/ a sparkle-y fireworks parfait for director Yamaga-san, and the rest of us had “made at your request” parfait. Yum!

President Kaname & I headed over to Anime LA to meet up w/ Bandai Visual president Mr Konno.

We had arranged for their panel + preview screening of the first episode of Gunbuster.

I’ve only watched Gunbuster briefly before, so I burst out laughing when they showed Onee-sama running up the stairs wearing iron geta. Unnnn… I think I like that character.

We got a copy of Gunbuster DVD from Mr Konno, so stop by the Anime Gamers retail store to take a look.

AG manager Dennis really likes Gunbuster… so it’ll be playing around the clock in there. Tee hee.

Producer Dee will be hosting a Broccoli panel at Mikomi Con in Northridge, CA.

Date: October 14, 2006 (Sat)
Time: 1pm - 2pm

Maybe he’ll take a mock-up of the FLCL Ultimate Edition DVD Box art.
No photos please.
The artwork hasn’t been approved yet.

Sales manager Ardith, producer Dee & I went to Anime Vegas to check it out & say hello to vendors and industry folks.

Voice actress Jennifer Sekiguchi had a Bleach panel with voice actor Johnny Yong Bosch, so I headed over there. I shouldn’t be admitting to this, but I used to watch Power Rangers everyday in college just to watch (and record and make Black Ranger clip video tapes) of Johnny.

And I’ve been on a mission to meet him.
And possibly have him work on a Synch-Point project.
That’s my dream.

But no Johnny at the panel.
He was running late.
No worries, we have the whole weekend to track him down.

I briefly bumped into Aquarian Age the Movie director Michael Sinterniklaas, but he had to rush off to a panel.

Later in the day, a bunch of voice actors were having an autograph session. Next to Jennifer Sekiguchi was Johnny.

Chance!

Sweet Jennifer introduced me (and sales manager Ardith & producer Dee) to Johnny.

I returned the favor by taking lots of pictures of VA Jennifer with her fans. I will send the pictures to VA Jennifer, so she can post them on her website. (and promoting her new website)

But I’m not done with Johnny yet!

Next day, I was up in the green room talking to Piyoko VA Sandy Fox and VA Lex Lang. Piyoko Sandy was telling us that she voiced Flonne in Disgaea, so I promised her a copy of the Disgaea manga & Disgaea calendar.

Then walks in Johnny, so I waltz over to give him the new Trigun 2007 calendar that we just got in. Of course I should have stressed my name “I’m Shizuki. I can hook you up with merchandise. I’m Shizuki!” but that would have been crazy-stalker-ish, wouldn’t it?

Designer Chris and Online Store Manager Dennis left for Otakon tonight.
Thank goodness the Prinny hats made in time.
So they are hand-carrying it there.

Chris will be wearing the sample to the panel, so you can check it out there too.

The panel is on Saturday at 1pm in Panel Room 2.
We are making an announcement on the Broccoli Books side.

I’m at San Diego Comic Con right now.

Kaching recently got their shipment of Canti vinyl figures, so we had them bring our batch to us at Comic Con.

We have them on display and for sale at the Broccoli booth #2229.

The blue and red versions are $70 (tax included).

We don’t have any of the limited edition ones at the Broccoli booth, but I heard that the Robocon booth and Toy Tokyo booth have the limited edition ones by Toby HK (Bruce Lee one & Ghost Camo one). Of course Kaching will also have the white limited edition Canti design by MAD. It’s limited to 88 units and it’s a Comic Con exclusive. Designer Chris said he’ll be first in line to go get one.

Anyway, I’ll check out their booth tomorrow & take pictures.

Ikki Tousen Manga Author to Appear at Comic-Con

Los Angeles, CA (July 13, 2006) – Yuji Shiozaki, author and artist for the hit manga series Ikki Tousen (Battle Vixens), will be attending Comic Con International 2006 in San Diego, CA for the unveiling of his new figure collection and autograph session.

Mr Shiozaki is currently working on the Ikki Tousen manga series published by Wani Books and Battle Club manga series published by Shounen Gahosha. His past works include ZOIDS Planet Zi, Karen, Happy Man, Nikkan Tachibana, and Comesuta Seven.

Mr Shiozaki will be appearing at Comic Con International 2006 as a guest of UART.

The new figure collection and autograph sessions will be held at the joint Broccoli International and UART booth number 2229.

About UART
UART is one of the newest & most innovative names in collectible figures. Based in Hong Kong, UART creates both original and licensed character figures from anime & manga such as Hellsing, Trigun, and other popular titles.

Anime Expo 2006 reports are on the Broccoli Books blog.

I could have copy-and-pasted the information here.
Is that preferred?

I think we have more readers for the Synch-Point blog than we do for the Broccoli Books blog. So strange, since we have more to write on the Broccoli Books side.

There’s a limit to what three of us can do~

Here’s Synch-Point’s schedule at Anime Expo.

Pre-sale at the Broccoli booth:
* FLCL t-shirt Robot in Red

New at the Broccoli booth:
* Onimusha shot glass (3 types - Oni, Hideyasu, Jubei)
* Fullmetal Alchemist clear file (2 types)
* FLCL wallscroll (3 types)

Synch-Point panel
Saturday, July 1
4:00pm - 5:00pm
Live Programming 1

Koge-Donbo panel
Sunday, July 2
4:00pm - 5:00pm
Room TBA

Di Gi Charat panel
Sunday, July 2
6:30pm - 8:30pm
Live Programming 2
–> world premiere of a new Di Gi Charat anime!

Circus presents yozuca* + rino concert
Sunday, July 2
8:00pm - 10:00pm
Main Events Hall

CG Anime Mura presents TANK SWAT 01 US premiere
Monday, July 3
3:00pm - 4:00pm
Live Programming 3
–> also announcing the first annual Nipponashi International Film Festival

I hope I covered everything.
Whoo.
The room is spinning.
zzz…