Last week was full of appetizing announcements regarding licenses and release dates but now that I think about it, I realize I’ve written some interesting posts about some of the anime involved in those press releases and that I have certain obligations to buy each of them (Tsubasa, Haruhi, Solid State Society) — or at least the first volumes of ‘em. Come along with me and look back at what I now slightly regret writing.

Back in September, I wrote a post where I tried to work out why Funimation hadn’t yet set a release date for Tsubasa Chronicle. Possible justifications I formulated included:

• Funi waiting for the second season to finish
  
  The second series ended on November 4th in Japan so I was technically right but I think it’s a stretch to give me credit for this one.
• Funi not having the footage yet
  
  This is possible because sometimes a company doesn’t have the footage to dub to and/or scripts to adapt. Case in point, Right Stuf delayed their release of To Heart vol. 1 until March 27th because they had to restore the animation that was in somewhat bad condition.
• Funi being too busy with their other titles From July to December 2006, Funimation released the first volumes of seven different series: Speed Grapher, Negima, Basilisk, Trinity Blood, Moon Phase, Black Cat, and Rumbling Hearts. Along with two Lupin Movie Packs (1-5, 6-10), finishing up FMA and Desert Punk, and plugging along with Baki the Grappler, Kodocha, and Case Closed, the company was definitely preoccupied.
• Funi forgetting about the license

Yeah, this was a totally silly reason. Oh, and in the meantime, ADV solicited Kurau Vol. 1 for release on April 10th. Just wanted to rectify that…

Then in November, the New York Times had an article (backup pic) about the four-woman manga troupe CLAMP and the caption of the lead picture stated that it would be released “early next year”. This was the first indication I had that my prediction (from reason #2) would be correct:

My guess is that the first volume will be released sometime between April and June 2007 and definitive information will probably come out by the time an early-year con, like Ohayocon (January) or Katsucon (February).

It was announced Thursday that the first volume will come out on May 22nd with the first four episodes. I feel obligated to buy it because “Tsubasa” was a series I watched in anime club last year and enjoyed very much and although I only watched the first four episodes of the second season, I still would like to catch up when I have time. Also, my curiousity about how dubs of newer anime will sound might get the best of me on this one.

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Next on my list of titles I will force myself to buy out of honor is Solid State Society. I dissected the anti-fansubber press release Bandai issued in late August. That particular post being linked to on some forums creeped me out a little but eventually I got over it. Since the movie’s Japanese TV airing and R2 DVD release, only a couple raw versions and a subtitle file have been torrented but no hardsubbed version has surfaced so far. I guess the scare tactics worked. Anyway, at the end of that initial post, I promised Bandai that I would buy it when it comes out, which turns out to be July 3rd. Well…if all goes as planned, I’ll be studying abroad in Japan during that time so I’m reluctant to pre-order it and have it sit at home for 3 weeks. Maybe after the trip.

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Haruhi announced through her ASOS Brigade site that the first of four volumes would be out on May 29th. So, assuming 4 episodes on the first disc, episode ordering would be like 4-4-3-3, 4-3-4-3, or 4-3-3-4? Will they be released Kyon-chronologically or Haruhi-chronologically? Anyway, since I want to help Suzumiya-san “spread excitement all over the world” by doing my part here in America and because I want to see how the online VA polls worked out for dub casting, I kind of have to get the first disc.

The lesson learned from all this: don’t make promises before you know all the details.

Related posts based on tags:

• Solid State Society Review and Case Photos (1)
• The Week of Anticipated Packages (5)
• Pricing Provokes Me Out Of My Dry Spell (4)
• Potluck: AAA Errata, Haruhi DVD Ordering, Show Suggestions (2)
• I’m Waffling on the FLCL Ultimate Edition Set! Please Help! (12)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 30th, 2007 at 8:10 pm and is filed under Anime, Commentary, Licenses. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.