Joseph Riggs wrote:
> 
> 
> --- On Mon, 7/6/09, Gregory Himes <gdhimes@yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
>> From: Gregory Himes <gdhimes@yahoo.com>
>> Does anybody know
>> if Funimation staked claims on the series...?=A0 If so,
>> they probably went pr
>> eemptive with the C&D letters.=A0 They did that with
>> a few of the spring TV s
>> eries.=3D0A=3D0A=3D0A=A0 =A0 =A0
> 
> My brief search last night didn't turn anything up (a similar thought had o
> ccurred to me), though I didn't look that hard.  On the other hand if a com
> pany (such as Funi) did make an announcement regarding it, then I suspect t
> hat the announcement would have been made at Anime Expo just this past week
> end (did anyone attend?) and news might be just trickling out about it now.

I attended AX, though I didn't catch all the industry panels. However, 
no such license was announced, according to what I saw and the ANN panel 
summaries. Frankly, I can't say I'm surprised - the US anime industry 
has had its ass thoroughly kicked these last few years. To recap, for 
those who haven't kept up on the news:

1. Central Park Media has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy - that's not 
reorganization of debt (chapter 11), but liquidation, which means 
they're dead. They had a "so long, and thanks for all the fish" type 
farewell statement in the AX program guide; their remaining assets are 
actually up for sale.

2. ADV went their 2nd year without an official booth in the exhibit 
hall. Last year their space in the front row went to a retailer 
associated with ADV. This year there was a company clearly associated 
with ADV (Mofc Ltd.) - all they sold were ADV discs - but it was located 
in a standard-size booth pretty far back and off to the side in the 
exhibit hall. There were no ADV panels at AX. Which isn't too 
surprising, considering that I can't actually get ADV to return phone 
calls...

3. Bandai didn't have a booth this year. At all. Last year they were the 
final big-booth holdout. They did have a panel, though, in contrast to:

4. Media Blasters, who had their usual exhibit hall booth but no panel. 
Not too surprising, really - John Sirabella has made it clear that MB's 
release schedule is largely dictated by the retailers who are willing to 
carry their stuff, and since that largely means Best Buy, MB has to wait 
for Best Buy to finish retooling their anime retail strategy. They also 
have to cut the number of SKUs/show, just like everybody else.

5. Funimation had a booth AND panels. In this they were unique among US 
anime companies.

6. Rightstuf/Nozomi held a couple of panels, but had no booth. Which 
actually makes sense, I suppose.

7. Viz held a panel, but had no booth. That's actually an improvement 
over last year, when they ditched AX entirely in favor of Comic-con.

8. MIA: Manga, Animeigo, Tokyopop, Del Rey, Dark Horse. Of course, 
Geneon/Pioneer no longer really exist as a company that would have an AX 
presence any more than, say, Enoki Films USA would.

9. The biggest exhibitor on the floor was Crunchyroll, a video-streaming 
site that a mere 18 months ago was 100% copyright infringement (they 
weren't even producing their own fansubs!), and which is now 100% 
legitimate. Neat turnaround. They actually had a stage with singer or a 
host to whip up the crowd into chants of the company name. They hadn't 
yet gone as far as throwing T-shirts to the mob, or construction of an 
ADV-style Tower of Babel complete with drums, so maybe they'll be spared?

10. Japanese companies are getting more directly involved in the US 
market, though they're still going through some American companies. Toei 
provided a bunch of the shows for video rooms (they're working with 
Crunchyroll), and Aniplex held their own panel (they showed a dubbed 
episode 1 of Guin Saga, and it looks like they're trying to build to a 
release of Kannagi; I don't see that as doing much better than Lucky 
Star, which sold poorly enough that the Limited Edition of volume 6 had 
to be cancelled...) Anyway, I get the impression that Aniplex is 
inclined to partner with Bandai for the time being, if only because 
Bandai's release of Gurren Lagann seems to have gone well enough.

To give you an idea of the scale of announcements: Nozomi's new licenses 
were Antique Bakery and Junjou Romantica. And that's it from them. 
Funimation - who now constitute 40% of the US anime market by sales 
volume, IIRC - announced Sengoku Basara, and a re-release of the 
original Dragon Ball (which I count as a new license only because they 
got the first 13 episodes, previously in license limbo). Don't get me 
wrong - I think that the convention itself was in pretty good shape (the 
video rooms could've used a little more variety), and the fan energy was 
great. But the industry was barely present. Given that, and given the 
fansub I saw of episode 1 of Saint Knight, I don't intend to hold my 
breath on it getting licensed in the US. I mean, much stronger series 
haven't even been touched yet (Zetsubou-sensei, Moyashimon, Dennou 
Coil...), and I don't think that indicates a lack of interest from the 
Region 1 companies so much as a lack of cash on hand. Hell, Funimation's 
now the only company that basically dubs everything they license. Maybe 
Manga still does, when they get around to licensing something.

On a lighter note, I arrived at the anime club a few minutes late a 
couple weeks back, and it took me a minute to realize they were showing 
Saint Knight. Not that I'd seen it, but it isn't that hard to recognize 
Kajishima-inspired character designs. I'm glad to see that Tenchi's 
half-brother knows how to handle himself in a battle, though I wonder if 
that's the influence of Tenchi and Yosho, or if that comes from Tokimi's 
blessing.

Alan Zabaro