Several Layers of: Wait - What?

Apparently Battle Royale is getting a 3D make-over for it's 10th anniversary, and it's finally being licensed for the US.

It hadn't been released already? Even the book came out here.

3D? Really? How is after-market 3D going to be anything other than an excuse for a re-release?

And holy shit, it's been 10 years already? Insane. I still remember how excited we all were when we first saw the original movie. It really was incredible...

Now I just feel old.

Twitch Film

Ghost Hound licensed by Sentai Filmworks (Cough *ADV Cough)

ANN link

I'm not pleased it's ADV (probably no Blu-Ray), so I wont use an emphatic "FUCK YES!", but this is very very good news nonetheless for something I'd never thought would see the light of day here. Buy this mofo when it comes out in October. Awesome, enjoyable series.

Fastest license-to-available turnaround ever?

Apparently Bandai not only just announced that it licensed the anime Kannagi, but the episodes are streaming and the DVDs are available to purchase now/this weekend. What's more, it's apparently going to be exclusive to Right Stuf and Amazon.

This is rather interesting for a few different reasons, but really just leaves me puzzled.

Speedy to Market

Bandai's messed around with quick anime releases in the past (like the infamous Blue Submarine No. 6 release format of an expensive one episode a disc so they could match the Japanese release schedule) but I can't recall such a short period between license announcement and availability before.

Why would they delay the license announcement for so long? Are they hoping that the surprise alone will generate enough buzz to hype up the property?

Exclusive to Online Retailers

While the speed may be puzzling, the exclusivity for online retailers (outside of potential convention sales) is a bit puzzling and worrying. What is the benefit to Bandai for limiting sales? Unless Right Stuf and Amazon paid for the exclusivity (which would be another puzzling surprise), it doesn't seem like it would help anyone - even if Best Buy is pulling back from retail presence for anime, there are plenty of other brick & mortar stores that are struggling along.

Online retailers are great, but they are better suited for buyers who already know what they want. Is Bandai not expecting any casual fans to pick up the series and instead focusing on hardcore fans who already know about everything before it comes out?

Interesting Indeed

It's clearly an indication of a new direction or business model for anime sales. The continued commitment to streaming is welcome news, but the rest of the announcement suggests that something is changing.

via Anime on DVD

ADV picks up a mixed bag from CPM's corpse

So CPM's official dead now (as opposed to just in a coma, like they've been for the past few years) and the looting as begun. Apparently ADV has announced that they're picking up four of CPM's classic titles:

• Grave of the Fireflies
• Now and Then, Here and There
• World of Narue
• MD Geist

It's great to see Grave of the Fireflies and Now and Then, Here and There (the latter being an oft-overlooked gem of the unrelentingly depressing take on the typical alternate world story - a Disney or Miyazaki movie gone bad, in a sense) but the other choices are a little more confusing.

World of Narue looked nice for its time, but ultimately never amounted to anything. And MD Geist published by anyone other than CPM will be not only surreal but inexplicable. That's something CPM could have just taken with it to the afterlife.

some concerning trends/tidbits

Apparently FUNimation's share of the anime market is even bigger than I had thought:

The market share info, provided by FUNimation from VideoScan data, showed FUNImation at 32.7% in the first half of 2008. It’s worth noting that VideoScan numbers do not include Wal-Mart, which may sell as much as 30-40% of all anime in the U.S. If Wal-Mart were included, it’s likely that FUNImation's market share would be larger than the number provided here due to the company's significant presence in the country's largest retailer.

While I'm happy for FUNimation's success, I don't actually think that's a good thing. It would be much better to have several mid-sized companies than one big guy and then everyone else. For a wonderful example of how screwed up an industry can be when you have one company that's just orders of magnitude larger than everyone else, look at the hobby game industry.

I also worry that FUNimation will have a repeat of the ADV choking-on-their-own-success story. That's another danger when so much of the market hangs on one company - when it falters, everyone's start crying "ADVpocalypse!"


And then we also have the Big Guys from Hollywood still stepping in to kick some anime shit around:

Sony has acquired the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Australia, and New Zealand rights to Production I.G. anime feature The Sky Crawlers.

I suppose that's a bit dramatic, but I find it kind of annoying when a "real" studio steps in and licenses some anime.

Why? Because they don't really do anything special with it (it's not in more theateres or doesn't really get more exposure or anything) and they're a giant, impossible, pain-in-the-ass to work with to get screening permissions or do anything special with. They come with all the baggage of a giant studio with none of the benefits.