ADV - officially announces Clannad, Mahoromatic, Tsukihime, Pet Shop of Horrors, Jewel Bem Hunter Lime

[einhorn303]

ADV has radically reformatted its business model. Rather than continuing to concentrate on licensing new anime series, ADV is now localizing and distributing anime for its new partner Sentai Filmworks (see “Interview With John Ledford, Part I”). Under its new agreement with Sentai, ADV has announced a slate of anime releases for 2009, a list that includes a number of titles originally released by other companies, but also some new series led by Clannad, an eagerly-awaited 24-episode series from Kyoto Animation that aired in Japan from October of 2007 until March of 2008. Directed by Tatsuya Ishihara (Kanon, Air, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) and based on a visual novel (basically an interactive fiction game) created by the software company Key, the same company that produced Kanon and Air). Kyoto Animation is currently one of the hottest anime studios in Japan thanks to the success of such series as Lucky Star, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Kanon, and Air.

ADV plans to release the first volume of the Clannad anime series on April 21, 2009. The first volume will include 4 episodes of the series (ADV will release a total of 6 volumes of the Clannad anime). The Clannad property has been hugely successful in Japan where it has inspired no fewer than four manga series as well as drama CDs and a feature film from Toei that debuted in 2007. A second season of the Kyoto Animation Clannad anime has already been announced in Japan.

The other new series announced by ADV is the Indian Summer OVA Collection, which will be released on March 10th, 2009. The three-episode Indian Summer OVA Collection, which is chock full of fan service, is based on a manga series by Takehito Mizuki (ComicsOne released one volume of the manga here in 2005—see “ADV Announces Indian Summer”).

ADV is also releasing a number of Sentai titles that have been distributed here in the U.S. by other companies. The harem/maid comedy Mahoromatic, which was originally released here by Geneon, is coming out in a complete set (MSRP $44.98) on January 13th followed by the sequel, Mahormatic: Something More Beautiful Complete Set (MSRP $44.98) on February 17th. Also due out in January (on the 20th) is the 12-episode Tsukihime anime series that was also previously released in North America by Geneon.

Other reissues include a collection of the four long out-of-print Pet Shop of Horrors OVAs, which are based on the popular shojo horror manga series by Matsuri Akino (published here by Tokyopop). The Pet Shop of Horrors OVAs were released on DVD back in 2001 by Urban Vision. Mint condition copies of the Special Edition of the original Pet Shop of Horrors DVD are currently selling for quite a premium (well over $100).

Also announced as part of the Sentai releases is the ecchi comedy Jewel Bem Hunter Lime, a sexy series of 3 OVAs (rated 16+), that Media Blasters released here in 2001.

http://icv2.com/articles/news/13554.html

There's also a two-part interview.

[nakimushi]

This makes sense, so ADV won't be holding the licenses after all - they will just be doing the production work and the distribution.

Which would explain the delay, in the announcement of the details - they had to wait until their "partner" was ready.


Hmm, this is interesting:

32037842310,"SENTAI FILMWORKS, LLC ","1005 S SHEPHERD DR APT 408 ","HOUSTON ","TX",77019,101,"CL"," ","U",20080827,0801023066,20080827,20080827, ,"JOHN R LEDFORD II ","1005 S SHEPHARD DRIVE, SUITE 408 ","HOUSTON ","TX",77019,

source

Better formatting can be seen here.

1005 S Shepherd Dr, Houston, Texas 77019 appears to be a residential condominium complex - so I think the Apt 408 is probably more correct than the "Suite 408" that follows later with the misspelled street name.


So is this Sentai Filmworks more than just a Limited Liability Corporation set up by John Ledford to hold the licenses, or is this listing just an entity set up in co-operation with a company or person who actually has some money?

[ObiKenobi]

Wow the Pet Shop of Horrors release would be nice. I really enjoyed the OVA but it wasn't worth the premium you'd find on used copies being sold around.

[HitokiriShadow]

I'm glad to see an official press release regarding Clannad, along with a release date.

And ADV/Sentai will be re-releasing titles previously released by other companies. Interesting. It looks like we will be seeing a lot of re-releases from ADV. Of course, this is a good thing for newer fans or anyone who missed some of these titles the first time for other reasons (like the price). I don't have any need for their currently announced batch of re-releases, but maybe they will announce something I have an interest in at some point.

At any rate, this is certainly some interesting news. Edit: *sees the info on "Sentai"* yeaaaaah, I kind of suspected something like that was the case. Whatever, if they can get their titles out and do a good job on them, I don't really care about that corporate structure BS.

[J-Syxx]

I'll probably buy Pet Shop of Horrors. I hope this means some re-releases of other older titles too, preferably with remastered video.

[Fencedude]

Well, that certainly is some...interesting phrasing.

Regardless, ZOMG CLANNAD *dies*

[ObiKenobi]

Originally Posted by J-Syxx

I hope this means some re-releases of other older titles too, preferably with remastered video.

Don't hold your breath.

[Suika Ibuki]

I'm not sure what to read into this in terms of the change of structure. So instead I'll concentrate on what matters most. The fact that April 21st will now officially be an awesome day. Now I have even more reason to relegate more series to collection status. I'll need the extra money for the Clannad singles. Wait that sounds odd. Getting one series a collection just so I can get another as singles? Well whatever works in the long run.

[ArcticMech]

A detailed writeup and interview in ICv2 is about as official as can be IMO, so I guess we can once and for all move on from debating whether ADV actually has Clannad or not (well they'll be distributing so that's close enough) and instead talk about the upcoming release(s) and/or ADV's new business model/relationship.

I'm very happy about the arrangement as it plays to ADV's strengths. We can only hope that this new relationship remains in good standing (and Sentai Filmworks remains in good financial shape of course).

As much as I loathe singles, I'm going to show my support for both the awesomeness that is Clannad and ADV reborn by pre-ordering the singles. Can we declare April 2009 Clannad month (at least in R1 land)?

[stfram]

Wow...great news on Clannad (I wanted it in singles format because of that damned beautiful art).

The news on the former Geneon properties was a surprise as well. Now we know why Funi/Geneon were silent on the subject.

And finally, we now know what the hell John Sirabella was talking about when he mentioned "Sentai"...