Posts Tagged “Licenses”

Yesterday afternoon, Bandai Entertainment held a special “Black Sunday” in Los Angeles’ Downtown Independent Theater (formerly the ImaginAsian Center) in order to reveal a “very unique” license…winter 2009 anime Kurokami (Black God), which will air simultaneously in Japan, Korea, and the US.

Well, not literally at the same time but close enough. And not on a basic cable American channel nor a widely-available digital cable American channel but ImaginAsian TV (iaTV), which is only available in select markets - namely, New York, NY; Los Angeles, CA; Princeton, NJ; Houston, TX; Dallas, TX; Fairfax County, VA; and Hawaii. Sorry, Midwest and Northwest…and the majority of America - you’re left out for now.

Here’s the rundown of regional airtimes for the collective “world historic first” broadcast premiere, culled from Bandai’s landing page* :

Japan (TV asahi): Fri Jan. 9th at 2:40am [Thurs. Jan 8th 1740 UTC]
Korea (AniBOX): Fri. Jan 9th at 10pm [Fri. Jan 9th 1300 UTC]
US-Eastern (iaTV): Thurs. Jan 8th at 8pm [Fri. Jan 9th 0100 UTC]
US-Pacific (iaTV): Thurs. Jan 8th at 8pm [Fri. Jan 9th 0400 UTC]

* The press release Bandai put out (one such copy) has what may or may not be a typo, stating the series’ Japanese debut will happen a day earlier on the 8th at 2:40am. cal.syoboi.jp says it debuts “2009-01-08(Thu) 26:40-27:10″, which agrees with the date given on the landing page, while both Sunrise’s site and the anime’s official website seem to agree with the press release. One thing is certain: it will premiere during the first full week of January 2009, barring a large broadcast interruption.

The two main beefs that Region 1 residents have expressed about this announcement are “Why the hell did Bandai Entertainment license this unknown series instead of already well-received series like Macross Frontier or Spice and Wolf?” and “Why the hell did they decide to put the dubbed version on a limited-reach cable channel and not include an online component?”

My response to the first question is because they wanted to appear progressive by using an untested show, similar to FUNimation with Shikabane Hime in October, except FUNi put it on four different online sites including their own. To the second one: I don’t know why since they could, and still may, make a subtitled version to be streamed online and should be able to functionally do so. I’m guessing its current absence has something to do with the arrangement among the partners involved and perhaps one or more of them is/are as willing to risks as Gonzo GDH (Tower of Druaga, Blassreiter) is and are still resistant to engage in legal streaming of their content over the Internet.

This announcement still remains a small step forward in terms of accelerating domestic DVD releases. Assuming the series is indeed 11 episodes as I’ve read in various places, the dubbing is guaranteed to be done by March because of weekly US airdates and an accompanying set of matching subtitles should be done if the translators doing their work at the same time, meaning the first volume (or even better, a box set) could be out on shelves by late summer or fall 2009. It is also a case of international cooperation in quickly adapting a new anime - dubbing off pencil test footage, for example - rather than working together on the actual production of a series, e.g. Afro Samurai, IGPX. I don’t believe it’s the first time but it is surely one of the first.

P.S. According to AnimeNews.biz, the anime has “its own story direction with major differences from the manga verison [sic] for the sake of adaptability”. Hmm. Guess I am more inclined to read the manga now in order to determine how far the anime strays from it.

The confirmation that ADV will distribute Clannad in North America as well as some previously unrescued Geneon titles in Tsukihime and Mahoromatic hit late Sunday night and is a big news item to begin the week with, but don’t forget that it was CEO John Ledford’s interview with ICv2 that spawned said news.

Long-time readers might remember that Ledford mentioned ranking titles as A, B, and C in a May 2007 interview with ANN and said that “most people buy their A titles and they download their B’s and C’s” due to the prevalence of fansubs. Now 17 months later and after overseeing his company’s strategy shift, he calls the high-profile content ‘anime events’ that still sell well and the former C’s are now classified as ’super-niche’ titles that are reliable due to their core fanbases, their low upfront licensing cost, and the cumulative ‘long tail’ sales. Nozomi has been keen on with putting out sub-only sets of fan favorites including Marimite and Aria in recent months and doing well at it while Media Blasters has been producing hybrid releases with slightly broader appeal (e.g. Rurouni Kenshin, Berserk, Genshiken) for years. By the way, Chris Anderson’s original Wired article is four years old this month.

Unfortunately, the middle of the road titles (formerly in the B range) remain financial gambles for R1 licensors, according to Ledford:

Where things get tricky is in between the big hits and the smaller niche titles. Series that are strong but may not be world-beaters. Viewership is larger than ever, thanks to the Internet, but fans just aren’t buying DVDs like they used to. And when the costs stay the same, you’ve got a lot of solid, quality productions that end up running in the red.

That’s why right now the best business to be in are the hits and the ‘super-niche’ titles. Anything in between can kill you.

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ICv2 is reporting that 4Kids has let its Pretty Cure license lapse and revert back to Toei 31 months after they gained the US rights and did absolutely bupkis with it, despite planning to debut it on their TV block in fall 2006. Now the series sits in a zone where it has not been officially released yet but has lost a lot of momentum that it had when the initial license was announced. I’m not sure who is waiting for a DVD release but in the meantime, you can try out the first two episodes via Direct2Drive - something I did a few months ago and found them to be entertaining but not fantastic.

In its February 2006 story about its 4Kids license, ICv2 said that the series “has a chance to become the first magical girl anime series since Sailor Moon to achieve popularity here in the States” (did Cardcaptors flop?) and I suppose it still could if it’s marketed the right way. By the way, if you want some recommendations of other mahou shoujo series, Chris Fritz at the Pink Sylphide wrote a post about his favorites earlier this week.

Amidst the flurry of distribution acquisitions by Funimation a weekend ago, there were a number of series that did not show up on those lengthy lists. The focus of the partnership with Geneon was to continue releases that were halted during initial single-by-single release (e.g. The Story of Saiunkoku, When They Cry); begin putting out series that were licensed but had yet to be released (The Familiar of Zero, Lyrical Nanoha); and furnish complete collection releases for series that had finished their singles run but lacked an all-in-one box set (Ergo Proxy, Fate stay night, Shana season 1). The same seemed to be the case with most of the Sojitz-managed titles with the exception of Comic Party Revolution and possibly Nerima Daikon Brothers.
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FACT: There are still six months left in 2008. FACT: Still no Keroro.

The last six months have seemed like doom-and-gloom for ADV Films with their glossy magazine folding (and the rebirthed version also shutting down) and a license financing dispute that forced them to presumably sell Gurren Lagann to Bandai. But they are still releasing shiny discs and their Kanon releases have been getting praise like volume 3 sweeping AOD’s ADR awards for March 2008 and each release regularly getting voted Pick of the Week by the AOD forumites. Pretty much the only undeveloped titles they have are Kiba and Sgt. Frog, and I think the latter has the capability to bolster the company if it is publicized the right way…and if ADV still has the rights.
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Funimation announced their license of Ookiku Furikabutte today but they changed the name to ‘Big Windup!’ WHAT!?! I can understand changing an anime’s name to make it more accessible to American audiences as ADV did with The Ugly and Beautiful World (Kono Minikuku mo Utsukushii Sekai) and even Rumbling Hearts (instead of The Eternity You Desire/Wish For) is something fans would be able to get used to over time. But renaming can also make things confusing, like what I thought happened with Shattered Angels (instead of Kyoshiro and the Eternal Sky), which actually isn’t as bad as I first thought. I credit part of my frustration to being a baseball fan and when I see ‘Big Windup!’, I think of an announcer saying the title of a baseball video game marketed toward kids that could have broader appeal (e.g. MLB Power Pros, very good game but not so good announcer) or a in-game powerup that also sounds cheesy when spoken. I am NOT looking for the trailer Funimation puts together whenever this gets released in late 2009 (self-speculation) but am sort of anticipating its actual release.

In the meantime, I will be watching fansubs of the show to see if it’s good. (I saw the first episode a few weeks back and, though it was slow, I saw some potential in it so, like a minor league scout, I’m going to give it a chance and hope it improves.)

*sigh* OK, I did find it clever that they parodied the MLB logo to make the series’ logo but I’m still not pleased about the name. I would have been fine with Pitch Like You Mean It! or a less cheesy name I can’t think of right now.

This week Funimation has been announcing licenses and so far all of them have involved 13-episode sets. On Monday, it was Save Me, Lollipop (aka Mamotte! Lollipop) that will come out as a 13-episode set in December and Tuesday they announced plans to release the first 26 episodes of Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple in two 13-episode box sets in 2009 without specification on the second set of twenty-six (meaning they may not have those yet). The latest was Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino-, the second anime season of the female cyborg assassin series, and those 13 episodes are going to be released as, you guessed it, a box set sometime in 2009. (Funi had put out the first season as singles in 2005 and repackaged it into a complete collection in 2006.)

It seems that they are certainly living up their plan toward more initial season sets but they are still releasing single volumes for new series like Shuffle! and xxxHOLiC, likely due to agreements with the Japanese owners. I wish I had access to sales numbers to see if this bulk packaging is actually working…

Just to give you an update on some of their previous announcements, Darker Than Black is listed as simply “2008″, Ghost Hunt’s site says Fall 2008, Ouran’s has no date but it was announced as 2008 at Otakon ‘07, and Negima!? and Planet of the Beast King (Jyu-Oh-Sei) don’t have their own sites yet but AnimeSuki lists both as 2008. So I guess we can expect some substantive details in the months ahead, maybe.

P.S. A user on the AoD forums predicts that Soukou no Strain will be announced tomorrow based on the silhouetted teaser on Funimation’s front page. And guess what, that has 13 episodes to its name as well.

With the industry panels beginning tomorrow at Anime Expo and Otakon taking place in just three weeks, many big-name licenses are sure to be announced by the major US distributors. There will be confirmations of previously discovered domain names, logical steps and sequels based on previous licenses, and a few out of the left left field” announcements. The slam dunks and the relative unknowns share the stage of their respective industry panels. It’s the perfect time for fans to play prognosticator and predict how the chips will fall regarding the R1 fates of their favorite titles. [AOD has a topic on this for their AX forum.] Below the jump are those that will probably be locks along with many other less substantiated possibilities.
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Most of the Bandai Entertainment panel was spent showing trailers about its existing titles including Eureka Seven, Zegapain, FLAG, and My Otome. There was one announcement that was revealed through a guessing game, though. The crucial hint was that CLAMP was involved in it. The first two guesses -xxxHolic and Code Geass - fell short but the third - CLAMP Detectives - was a winner. They had previously released it on VHS and are now going to re-release it on DVD. Here is a review of the first subbed video on ANN.

And hey, Spiritsnare, you know that poster you got at the Bandai booth this afternoon when you bought the Haruhi limited edition box. Well, I got the same poster for answering the last trivia question during the Bandai Entertainment panel. Not to brag, just flaunting my luck I suppose. Thanks for your help on the panel, by the way!

ADV made it known during their panel at Anime Central and through a press release on Friday that they have licensed four GONZO titles: Red Garden, Welcome to the NHK!, Pumpkin Scissors, and Magikano. Most of those sound like they would be good fits with ADV’s marketing but I am a little concerned about NHK, probably because I’ve watched the most of that one out of the bunch.

Here’s the release breakdown from the press release:

• Red Garden: 24 episodes over 6 discs
  Volume 1 due 9/18/2007
• Welcome to the NHK!: 24 episodes over 6 discs
  Volume 1 due 10/2/2007
• Pumpkin Scissors: 24 episodes over 6 discs
  Volume 1 due out 10/23/2007
• Magikano: 13 episodes over 3 discs
  Volume 1 due out 12/4/2007