Now before I begin there may be a question you are all wondering…. what series is that cutesy image to the left from? While it has been out of print for a fair while now it is from perhaps one of my personal favorite childrens anime series Magical Meow Meow Taruto which was released by Bandai Entertainment all the way back in 2005-2006ish. Of course if you were not curious then I am sure you would have already skipped ahead to the second paragraph by now.
I am not going to profess to be an expert in the inner workings on an anime company or have any qualifications in business whatsoever (Honestly I don’t think I could sit through the classes to do so) but I would like to share my thoughts on Bandai Entertainment. As you may be aware, Bandai Entertainment is no longer distributing anime or manga releases and instead shifting to other endeavours which means a number of their titles in North America have been dropped. While this will have no affect on the Australian anime market as confirmed several times through Madman Entertainments Facebook Page and Forums, it might just have an effect on the titles we see in the future released in English.
I respect Bandai Entertainment as a publisher of anime and I think most fans of anime and manga could in a way. While over the last year or so they may not have matched the number of titles that other companies did, they did have a great line-up of highly regarded series including The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, the first season of K-ON!, 5 Centimeters Per Second, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Hayate the Combat Butler to name a few. Perhaps the biggest issue that some had with their distribution of anime is their volumatic releases which most companies seemed to have dropped over the last year or two (Unless you count some of the major anime releases from Aniplex USA which come either cheap or with Special Editions). Price-wise, volumatic releases were a tad on the pricey side and collections took a fair while to come out while most companies now go straight into the half-series / full-season collections.
I will admit some bias as when shopping for North American anime releases (Which have low chances of being released in Australia) – I usually do usually choose to purchase cheaper releases instead of a 175 minute Hayate the Combat Butler Volume going at a SRP of $39.98. So while you were guaranteed a brilliant release (As evidenced by their dubbed titles that Madman Entertainment released over here receiving high scores) – the volumes came a tad costly for some series initially and would have been better condensed in my opinion. These issues and many more are brought up in an AnimeNewsNetwork interview with Ken Iyadomi which I strongly recommend you reading HERE in which he discusses the demand for reasonable price sets, strategy differences with Japanese licensors and the state of the anime market.
Now lets look at the issues facing the fans of the anime series Bandai Entertainment held license to. Unless you are directly affected by a series being cut short there should be no short-term complications arising. Looking at the stock held by Rightstuf of Bandai Entertainment DVD’s, while they have some occasional missing volumes – they still have a large quantity of stock available meaning if you need it in the next few months at the very least – you have a considerable chance of finding it provided Bandai Entertainment held the license at the time of closing (If not, there is still a chance but of course there is no ability for them to re-order stock). Rightstuf itself making this announcement on their website:
As officially announced yesterday and detailed today at Anime News Network, Bandai Entertainment announced they will no longer be licensing or actively distributing titles in DVD, Blu-ray or print formats to the United States and Canada market. However, they do plan to keep titles in print until individual licenses expire. What does this mean, practically speaking, to fans who shop at RightStuf.com?
- As long we can acquire units for individual titles on the wholesale level, we will continue to offer, sell and ship them via RightStuf.com. That said, we can not guarantee future availability of any of these titles, and we suggest you place orders for must-have titles earlier, rather than later.
- At this moment, we are expecting to receive Bandai Entertainment’s previously announced January and February 2012 DVD, Blu-ray and manga titles.
- However, Bandai Entertainment has outright cancelled the following manga releases: Code Geass: Renya, Gurren Lagann Graphic Novel 7, Kannagi Graphic Novels 4-7, future Lucky Star graphic novels, Mobile Suit Gundam 00I, Tales of the Abyss: Jade’s Secret Memories Graphic Novels 1 and2.
- We know there is a sizeable contingent of fans who are interested in the upcoming Japanese Blu-ray releases Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, and we will keep you posted on that front, as we have more information.
This is a developing situation, and more information will be provided, as it is provided to us. Please keep an eye on the RightStuf.com news, Facebook and Twitter feeds for future updates.
Now I hate to mention this a third time, but outside of North America, unless a company outright states something different then there is no need to panic about item availability and should be more concerned about their own licenses expiring. It is most common for companies outside of North America and Japan to obtain licenses directly from the Japanese company behind the orders. Therefore Madman Entertainments license of Nichijou will not be put at threat because of this. This will however affect potential English dubs possibly not being made. Licenses not used at all by Bandai Entertainment will revert back to the original publishers which can then be acquired by another company which may choose to do another English dub or do a subtitled release. Either way, the anime distributor regardless of where they live would have had to sink significant sums of money to acquire the license, so one company dropping off the map would have no affect. It is like if I bought a car and the car yard that sold it to me went out of business… I wouldn’t have to give the keys back to the company that produced the car would I?
Of course, the possiblity of K-ON! Season 2 having an English release sometime in the future may have dropped considerably unless another company would be willing to pick it up. But no use losing sleep over something that cannot be helped right? Either way this is a disappointing event and my condolences goes to everyone who worked at Bandai Entertainment who have made it was it was over the many years it was working with anime.
Related posts:
- Bandai Entertainment Shifts Focus, Stops Releasing New Titles
- Madman Entertainment on Bandai Entertainment Releases They Hold Australian Licences To
- Nippon Ichi Software America Releases Trailers for Newly Announced Anime Series + My thoughts on another anime….
- The 5 Ways the Australian Anime Market Improved in 2011
- In Regards to My Previous Article on Madman Entertainment and the Bandai Entertainment Releases They Hold Australian Licences To
