I first read about the news on Winterheim HDD three or four days ago. Since I'm not genuinely into Code Geass, I decided to keep a close watch on it before writing anything on my blog. Should it be anything to do with the world of Gundam, it would have been a different story. XD
So what happened? As reported on Winterheim HDD, the last six minutes of Code Geass Episode 3 scheduled to be aired this week (today actually!) was leaked onto Youtube, and all Hell broke loose. Later a staff member (not sure if he/she is a member from the production team of the anime) was reportedly being arrested, and there was a meeting being rumored, with agendas including the suspension of Episode 3, or even to skip to Episode 4 immediately (in a shortened version).
This is also being reported on Q's Random Journal and Random Curiosity as well.
Luckily for all Code Geass fans, the official site announced on 16 April that Episode 3 will air as scheduled, and the reason for the leak was also being mentioned. Apparently a staff at Bandai Channel accidentally uploaded the footage during a system test against illegal video posts.
The announcement from the official site (view in Japanese).
If you ask me, it's really quite unfortunate for everyone related to the anime. Had they not go on as planned, fans might not get to watch Code Geass this week, or maybe a shortened Episode 4 instead, which is in either way, undesirable. Even the entire story may need to be rewritten so that it will not be similar to the footages leaked. Talk about the time pressure on the production team.
Not to mention all the panic generated from the possible economical losses as well ^^;
With the announcement that Episode 3 will go on as usual this week, I believe that would mean that there won't be much changes to cater for the footages leaked. Whoever owns the footages basically got hold of the 'confirmed spoiler'. ^^;
Personally, I strongly go against the distribution of such footages. Although that particular staff member at Bandai Channel is partially blamable for the carelessness in handling the footages, the person(s) who took hold of the leaked materials should feel responsible enough NOT to circulate it on the Internet. So much uncertainties and troubles in the future episodes of Code Geass just to take a peek at the 6 minutes leaked is really not worthwhile in my opinion.
Images above are from the official site.
On a completely separate note, good news for Gundam fans in America and Canada: Bandai Entertainment announced two days ago that they had acquired the license for Gundam Double O. According to the press release on Gundam Official, the series will be released with an English dub on DVD and a North American television broadcast is in the planning stages.
The logo of Gundam Double O has been changed for the North American audience ^^
