I’m Strangely Concerned (But Hopeful) About ADV Films
Posted on February 3rd, 2008 by CalAggie in EditorialEarlier 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.
The article named 37 properties that make up practically every titles ADV has licensed since its financing deal with Sojitz Corp. in June 2006 and that were all licensed through the ARM Corporation, an investor group who funded the acquisitions of the titles with which ADV has suspended certain elements of their alliance. Add this to the PiQ rebranding and other hiccups and you can see that the company has a bigger problem than glitches in their online catalog. Example: A couple weeks ago, ADV announced they were indefinitely suspending their Anime ADVocates program that gave free screening material to almost three thousand active clubs and said that they couldn’t afford the manpower and resources for so many clubs.
Although I don’t believe that the ARM situation will affect their immediate releases, I do think it may affect their attempts to license titles in the coming months. That is, it might become a bit more difficult to snag high-buzz titles such as Gurren Lagann. The dropped listings from their website also impact their ability to promote and sell some titles on their own site. However, the changes they have made over the past couple months could lead to better well-being in the long term by freeing up money from ditching the Newtype brand that could be used for advertising or licensing.
For instance, dropping their linear Anime Network channel to focus on VOD and streaming content was actually a smart idea not only because the cut saves them from putting resources toward a barely-watched property - I personally only used the on-demand portion - but also because the consumers now have come to expect the ability to time-shift their media consumption and be able to watch what they want when they want.
I feel a bit strange writing this post because ADV has a small place in my heart although I don’t particularly prefer the company over Funimation, Bandai, or Geneon since they are all more or less faceless to me. I also roll my eyes whenever I see another fanservice-y or cheesy comedy title released from them. But many of the titles that I have on DVD have been from them, especially Noir, Madlax and Pani Poni Dash. In fact, Noir was the first series I began collecting after finding the first volume in perfect condition in a Blockbuster, a rarity if you are familiar with BB’s used DVD packaging. I admired their willingness to try new things (i.e. AniMinis) and will deeply miss Newtype USA’s large glossy pages and some of the columns just as I still miss the regular-sized monthly issues of Animerica. On the other hand, I still hate the outrageous shipping costs from their online store.
To close this out, I suppose I should comment on ADV siding with Blu-Ray. I think it’s a good move and could give them an edge over Funimation if they put out titles such as Five Centimeters Per Second and Air: The Movie along with some future licenses out on high-def. As the pool of HDTV owners continues to grow as well as the number of PS3 owners, it’s wise for them to expand into that market. The company still has a healthy 12-13% of the market (based on the aforementioned non-article) so they certainly aren’t going away anytime soon. It simply looks like they are going through a slimming-down phase that will put them on a more stable path in the future.
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Personally, I hate ADV’s attitude on trying to get torrents of their licensed shows shut down, but I’m a little concerned as well. Hell, come on, it’s ADV! They’ve been around since practically the beginning. They can’t go down too.