While researching a long post a few months back, I came across an advertisement inside the final issue of Newtype USA for Gurren Lagann volume 1 from ADV Films carrying the now phantom release date February 26, 2008. Twelve pages later was a four-page feature and fifty pages after that was a review of vol. 1, which had been declared “DVD of the Month”.
TTGL was intended to be ADV’s next big action success and the initial dub cast had already been revealed in January (as well as a loud announcer trailer) but it got caught up in the Sojitz licensing fiasco and fell into licensing limbo. Bandai snapped up the rights a few months later and has proceeded to handle it very well, swiftly putting out sub-only nine-episode sets to please the big fans and hybrid volumes in double-single bundles just like how they began releasing Code Geass on DVD.
In this episode of Reading Out Loud, I read the featured article and the review (along with the sidebar to the review) as well attempt to project how the rest of ADV’s roll out might have gone in contrast to Bandai’s current effort (while repeating some of the background info I gave above). After the jump is a timeline of the series’ development and some tangentially related stories. Also: a chart of the voice actors I listed off during the final segment.
Music Used:
“Ookami ga Kita!!” (from Gurren Lagann BEST SOUND)
“Mawatte Mawatte Mawatte Mawatte Tetete…” (BEST SOUND)
“Douda! Ore no Trumpet wa Sugoi Darou!!” (BEST SOUND) Giant Gorg opening theme (YouTube link)
“Nessa no Areno wo Nukete dai Gurren Dan ga Iku no da” (BEST SOUND) Read the rest of this entry »
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.
I promise this will be the last notebook photo for a long while.
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. Read the rest of this entry »
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. Read the rest of this entry »
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 »
Before this week, the downloadable episodes that ADV Films was selling through its website were priced at $4.99 each, much higher than anime on iTunes albeit ADV’s stuff was at a much higher bitrate as well. Now the company has announced that it has begun offering downloads of “over 500 episodes” from 32 series for $1.99. Sounds good, right? Well, maybe not if you look at what you’re getting for your two bucks. Read the rest of this entry »
It was rumored that ADV would likely get the license for Kanon (2006) when they announced AIR TV and that was strengthened when there was news the company had snapped up the domain “kanontv.com”. Now, there is this teaser trailer appeared in ADV’s trailer directory last Friday. No dialogue yet but I think a formal announcement could happen within the next month or two.
Tags: adv films, kanon, teaser, trailer
ADV released some new trailers this week for 5 Centimeters per Second (December), Pumpkin Scissors (Oct. 23 - tentative), Red Garden (Sept. 18), Welcome to the NHK (Oct. 2 - tentative), and Xenosaga (Sept. 11). They are the usual no-dialogue teasers with either the opening and ending song as music and narrative trailers with some footage that overlapped with the teasers. If I had only seen the trailers and not any episodes, I would be interested in watching Red Garden (zombie hit by a truck!), kind of like to see Pumpkin Scissors (”In a country ravaged by war…”), and not care for Welcome to the NHK (”porn” is said three times…) and Xenosaga (never played the games). I don’t believe that Red Garden is the “most anticipated horror thriller of the year”, though. Videos after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
Remember John Ledford’s mention of “B” titles a month ago? I had kind of forgotten about it until I came upon two things recently that mentioned it. This week’s edition of the AnimeNation News Podcast released on Thursday covered the topic and an ICv2 interview with Mike Balliff, ADV Senior VP of Sales, mentioned the phrase in a question about whether popularity in Japan is a good indicator of success in America.
Every week on the AnimeNation News Podcast, the hosts cover the news of the past week as well as two or three Ask John questions. The question from June 22nd, “Why Don’t ‘B’ Titles Sell in America Anymore?”, was the first of two to be discussed and below is the audio from the June 28th episode:
Yesterday, ANN posted a two-page interview with John Ledford in which topics spanning the revival of their manga department, licensing, and the anime market in general. One thing I took note of when reading it was Ledford’s reference to A, B, and C ranked titles. First, he used the term referring to buying habits:
If there are 20 titles or a hundred, you’re only going to have 10 percent or 15 percent be considered marketable. A lot of stuff might be very oriented to the Japanese domestic market; other things might simply be just B or C grade titles in today’s market. They may have sold 5 years ago, but thanks to the download business, most people buy their A titles and they download their Bs and Cs. There is no market for B and C titles anymore.
A question later, he used it in discussing retail shelf space:
Five years ago, three years ago you could buy anything and almost anything would sell, not everything but almost. Now you have to be a sniper. You have to snipe the good titles, that’s all that will sell. Everything else, the stores don’t want it, the fans will download it.
…
There’s simply not enough shelf space and the product doesn’t turn fast enough. So I think that’s what you’re going to see. A much lower quantity of titles but you’ll see a better quality. Perhaps some silly company will put some Bs or Cs out there, but that’ll come back to them.
So, don’t be surprised if certain anime with little or no profit potential in America stays unlicensed for many years even though you REALLY want it to appear on Region 1 DVD.
When I win the lottery, I’ll put some of the money toward starting my own anime licensing business and form the “silly company” that Ledford referred to that produces B or C titles. Hopefully, the quality will be better than what Illumitoon first put out and maybe it’ll start out subbed-only with lower MSRPs to get people to buy the titles with less buzz. Oh well, it’s just a idea at the moment - I don’t even know what I’d call this fake business!
FACT: There are still six months left in 2008. FACT: Still no Keroro.
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