Nigorimasen! Blog

I have been thinking of doing a weekly feature like this for a month or so and decided to kick it off this week when three series are slated to debut in Region 1 - Black Blood Brothers, Gurren Lagann, and Shuffle!. Future installments will likely go up Sunday night/early Monday and may eventually replace This Week in Akiba since I’m too lazy to wade through tens of posts on Akibablog or its recently debuted English version, despite its moments of Engrish.
Read the rest of this entry »

I was looking through the old Animerica issues I bought at Sac-Anime and found a short focus piece in the August 1999 issue: “Be An Anime Missionary”. Some of the advice Tom Root gives for bringing your friends into the fray may be dated with Battle Chasers and FFVII references but other elements are still viable such as the diversity in convention attendees. Reading this and the other issues I got give me a sense of where the fan community was nine years ago; actually I have one from December 1996 when laserdiscs were being sold at $45 a pop alongside VHS sub or dub releases. For some reason, I enjoy reading about the American market before it really began to grow. Anyway, I also found a couple neatly worded ads, which I put after the cut.
Read the rest of this entry »

Lucky Star Vol. 1 regular edition cover (Japanese Vol. 2 LE cover)

Anime on DVD spotted new listings on Right Stuf for Lucky Star Volume 1 (episodes 1-4) with the release date currently scheduled for May 6th. It looks like Kadokawa Pictures USA is going down the same release path that they did with Haruhi by releasing a $29.98 standard edition and a $64.98 limited edition plus box. The extras in the limited edition aren’t known right now - the pics on TRSI only show the outside of the box - but I’m guessing there will probably be some pack-in items. LE pics after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »

Last night, I drove home from San Francisco tired from AOD 2008. I seemed to do more stuff outside the convention than inside, such as walking 10 minutes to Japantown or getting lost on the other side of town, taking Muni halfway back before jumping off at Chinatown and eventually making my way back to the Cathedral Hall Hotel. The latter is part of a long story that I could tell on the up-and-down draining experience of the convention (something I might flesh out tomorrow on AOR) but for now, I’ll hit the important stuff and punctuate those with pictures after the jump.

I DID learn two easy lessons that I try to abide by the next time I plan to attend a convention: don’t attend a convention alone because you’ll get bored sooner and, more importantly, figure out where you’ll stay overnight well before the event. Otherwise, you’ll end up in a Redwood City inn near the railroad tracks.

Read the rest of this entry »

Something that has irritated me lately has been the increasing trend of DVD volumes coming with the disc inside the case and that’s it. Recent examples in my buying experience have been the regular edition of Haruhi vol. 1, Red Garden vol. 1 and Pumpkin Scissors vol. 1. Seeing the empty space on the inside left side of the case when I open it for the first time triggers a sense of disappointment because I have an expectation that there was some sense of effort put into the packaging including the inserts.
Read the rest of this entry »

This weekend I shall be attending the Animation on Display convention at the Cathedral Hill Hotel in San Francisco and planning to hand out my new Moo minicards around the dealers’ hall and general con space as well as recording some short video segments inside and outside the hall. Even though I’m not going as press, I have been told I can interview people so long as they sign a waiver so I’m currently putting the finishing touches on that document. Although there are no guests I am looking forward to seeing, there are some events I want to check out…
Read the rest of this entry »

ICv2 reported in its Guide #51: Anime/Manga that sales of anime DVDs in North America fell more than 20% in 2007 and that the estimated market size in retail dollars is $275-300 million. That drop of a fifth might seem shocking at first but once you also take into consideration a corresponding 21% drop in anime releases, the number doesn’t seem to be too much cause for alarm. The amount of releases decreased in 2006 as well to the tune of 19% so I believe the market is still consolidating through more calculated and fewer licenses. The guide writers are nevertheless optimistic about the future of anime in America based on signs we’ve heard before including a “growing awareness” among US audiences, the eagerness of US companies to shorten the gap between Japanese airings and DVD release, and those companies’ willingness to try new methods of digital distribution and lower-cost packaging.

On the manga front, it appears that 2007 was another strong year but its growth rate is beginning to taper. The profileration of new titles is still the major problem facing publishers and retailers, something that I think might become an issue for some publishers in the near future. The manga section at the Borders here in Davis almost takes up two full aisles and forced the fantasy books into another set of shelves. I personally think that the US manga market might become a bit oversaturated in the near future when I look at the projection in the ICv2 article of 33 volumes of manga being released a week but it’s just a small thought right now.

[via ANN]

Earlier this week, ANN reported that listings for recent ADV Films titles including Kanon, Gurren Lagann, and Sgt. Frog have been removed from the company’s website and store. Soon after, a spokesman for the company told them that they are “working through a few short-term challenges and fully intends to continue our releases”. However, further information has come out in the form of a canceled ICv2 article that was posted on a couple forums and subsequently Robert’s Anime Corner Blog and, at least for me, puts a new light to the breaking down of negotiations with Geneon late last year. It’s not as horrible as Geneon - the reason why it’s a canceled article is that something got worked out - but it’s still something I’m concerned about as this industry continues to traverse a rough patch.
Read the rest of this entry »