E3 may be the biggest gaming show on the planet, but what does it offer those looking for their anime fix? Not a hell of a lot unfortunately, but the show wasn't without an anime presence, not to mention plenty of stuff to keep a drooling fanboy occupied, be it anime related or simply of the gaming bliss variety.

The first major anime stop on the expo floor was the Bandai booth for an interview with Jerry Chu. While the booth itself served primarily as a showcase for a collection of Bandai's upcoming games (two PSX Digimon games, and two PS2 Gundam games), our interview with Jerry focused on the anime side of the equation. Little new information was revealed, as details on more recent acquisitions like Love Hina will have to wait till conventions like Anime Expo in July. The interview went well, however, and you can expect a full transcript shortly, as well as further details on Bandai's upcoming games in a future update.

Later, having found myself ditched (surprise, surprise), I managed to stumble across another Bandai game. Although not scheduled for domestic distribution, and thus missing from their official booth, I found a PSOne over in Kentia Hall featuring From TV Animation: One Piece Grand Battle, which was recently released in Japan and has continued to sell extremely well for over a month now. The fighting / action game played much like Capcom's Power Stone series, complete with the added flair of all your favorite One Piece characters, like the elastic Monkey D. Rufi.

Also relegated to the depths of Kentia Hall was Pioneer's diminutive booth. The center piece of the booth was a pair of widescreen TVs showing the remastered Akira, soon to be re-released on VHS and DVD July 24th and currently enjoying limited theatrical screenings. Some interesting news, if only rumored at the moment, is Pioneer's acquisition of Gatekeepers. More information on that will be posted as it becomes available.

Other areas of interest included the Infogrames booth, where I stood for a good 5 minutes soaking up the DBZ wretchedness... err, goodness. Yes, I meant goodness... definitely goodness. I had hoped to grab a media CD or press kit that might reveal a little more than the extremely limited footage from the PS2 DBZ game they had playing at their booth, but was chased away by a scary guy in a Goku suit before I could ask many questions. He had this unsettling yearning in his eyes, and I wasn't about to stick around to find out it was me he wanted. The only booth mascot I'd run away with is big, round, yellow and cuddly. If only that sexy Pacman wasn't taken... **sniff** ...damn that Gabe and his mascot magnetism!

TDK, whose booth sported some of the goofiest looking reps I've ever seen (especially that odd little man mumbling something or other about not being complete without his luchadore mask), announced plans for a line of games across multiple platforms featuring the Robotech property. No game specific details were available as of yet, but details should be forthcoming as development on these projects get underway.

TOKYOPOP pleased soundtrack fans by handing free OSTs on the closing day of the expo, but also made a number of soundtrack related announcements. Plans for domestic distribution of a number of anime OSTs, including Trigun, were unveiled in addition to news of the distribution for a number of video game OSTs. Look for further details on this announcement in an upcoming update.

Perhaps the most impressive presentation of the show was at the Square booth, where a glitzy audio / video extravaganza showcased footage from their upcoming games, including Final Fantasy X, as well as the theatrical trailer for Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. The Final Fantasy movie looked pretty damn slick actually - much more so than I'd previously given it credit for. Cutting to the front of the line for the presentation made the whole thing that much sweeter. Being press has it advantages evidently.

Postponed till the final day of E3 thanks to a scheduling snafu, the expo came to a close with our Synch Point interview, a hungover Sumi reluctantly in tow. Details on the release of FLCL and Tenshi ni Narumon (I'm Gonna Be An Angel) were sketchy, but FLCL is shaping up to be at least 2 eps per DVD upon its release, while Tenshi ni Narumon's DVD release won't hit retail shelves till after its VHS counterpart. No specific date could be given for either series at this point, since Synch Point wants to make sure they get their debut releases right, making hard release dates difficult to settle on. Look for a full transcript of the interview soon, with further details on the domestication of these two shows and Synch Point itself.

More E3 impressions are on the way, so check back soon for further details on the games and anime mentioned above, as well as general rantings and ravings from an otaku driven insane by the craziness that is LA.