
Even though I was glad the core elements of AD Vision would still function in the form of separate corporate entities, I felt some sadness about the disappearance of the brand early last week. The clock had been ticking for a couple years and yet they’re still not completely shuttered, like Geneon or CPM ended up, partly due to acquiring & distributing new content through Sentai Filmworks & Switchblade Pictures and also having a back catalog that bolsters their Anime Network channel and VOD service.
Some of their fanservice-focused marketing was not so great – they had even trademarked “Jiggle Counter” (TM s/n 78249580) and used it on Burn Up Excess & Plastic Little – but they also put Pop Up Video style “AD Vid-Notes” (Vid-notes: TM s/n 78271566) on a few reference-heavy releases in Excel Saga & Pani Poni Dash and experimented with different methods of advertising: AniMinis (1 episode on 3-inch discs at $6.99 with a coupon inside) and using torrents to distribute promotional materials.
It’s not much of a loss at all since the core business elements remain and only the brand was abandoned but I’ll still miss it. (I’m not going to delve into their defunct manga business because I didn’t have that much experience with it and because it ended up being so mishandled.)
Here are some of the ADV-related posts I written over the past three years:
– sampling the ADV Universe content and wrote about its Windows DRM
– pointing out John Ledford’s ranking of titles in A, B, and C categories of sellability (and then something Ledford said 17 months later)
– exploiting their once-open trailer directory to post a teaser trailer of Kanon, a day before ANN (while in Germany no less!)
– posting a renewal letter from Newtype USA I received soon after the announcement that the magazine would turn into PiQ, which also folded later that year
– an expression of hopeful (and naive) concern for the company’s future after news of dropped listings and the lost Sojitz licenses
– a post wondering about the future of Keroro (Sgt. Frog). Funimation picked it up in its slew of license transfers two weeks later.
– an episode of Reading Out Loud about the phantom February 2008 release date for Gurren Lagann
– reviews of Red Garden vol. 1 and Pumpkin Scissors vol. 1
P.S. This is one of the more memorable ads I saw from ADV (scanned from Anime Insider, October 2005):


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Feedback on Thanksgiving Break Podcasts
December 6, 2009 in Commentary by Tom Langston (calaggie) | 3 comments
Coming back from a long Thanksgiving-related trip last weekend meant I had a backlog of podcasts waiting for me including some episodes of programs oriented at the fan community. I decided to write up some reactions to each along with some constructive criticism.
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Tags: ani-gamers, anime3000, anncast, Commentary, ninja consultants, podcasts