We talked to Pioneer's Chad Kime at Anime Expo last weekend and got news of a number of upcoming releases, including a new series based on a manga by Ken Akamatsu, creator of Love Hina.  Mao-chan is a series of 15-minute episodes which Pioneer plans to begin releasing on DVD beginning in October.  The stories, produced in Japan by Xebec, feature first graders that are part of an Earth Defense Force fighting cute aliens.

 

L/R, short for  'Licensed by Royalty, is a thirteen episode series that Pioneer will begin releasing on DVD in the U.S. in November.  It's a 'James Bond-ish' story set in an alternate world England.  Animation was done by J.C. Staff, which also did animation for Strawberry Eggs. Music for the series was contributed by Billy Preston. 

 

Texhnolyze is a 13-episode series from the creators of Serial Experiments Lain, including character designer Yoshitoshi Abe, producer Yasuyaki Ueda, and writer Chiaki Konaka. The series is on TV in Japan now, and will be released in the U.S. in 04.  Kime described it as having the 'dark creepiness of Lain and the violence of something harder.'  The story features a fighter whose hand is cut off by the Yakuza (and replaced by a robot hand) after he refuses to throw a fight.   

 

Someday's Dreamers is a 13-episode shoujo series that will launch in the U.S. in November.  According to Kime, it could hit the Fushigi Yugi audience.

 

Last Exile is a new series by Gonzo, the animation house responsible for Blue Submarine 6 (which had many of the same personnel associated with it), Gatekeepers, Vandread, and Hellsing.  Like a number of Pioneer's new series, the release schedule will be one disc every other month, except between the first and second, when the gap will be longer.  This is to give the first volume more time to find its audience, especially in the large chains, before the second is released.