Not all that surprisingly, it’s a lot easier to talk about what went wrong rather than what went right when talking about anything. With the anime industry, there’s much the same feeling, especially when so much did go wrong during 2008. But in the midst of so much wrong, there was a whole lot of right. The fact that hundreds of new releases made it out the door and into consumers hands alone is a big right, and that the majority of them actually were solid releases with no real flaws to them. That wasn’t the only thing they did right though!
New Acquisitions – Though it’s a bit deceptive, the license list does have a fair amount of new acquisitions this year. The inclusion of the license changes regarding Sojitz/ARM titles throws it off a lot, but even outside of that there was a lot to like. And even better, a lot of things made it out within this year as well. Nozomi has continues to go after a number of niche shows with some prestige feeling about them and doing them as solid box sets. Media Blasters continues to explore unusual titles and Bandai Entertainment had a stellar first half of the year with the pick-up of Gurren LAgann and Code Geass’ 2nd season. Viz Media popped in with a few titles but by and large 2008 is the year of FUNimation. They’ve picked up a very sizeable catalog before even talking about the Sojitz/ARM titles and they’re still adding more as of this writing! Though not every title will obviously appeal to every fan, if you look at the list there is actually quite a bit of diversity there.
Geneon Distribution Deal – When Geneon Entertainment suspended distribution back in the second half of 2007, they still went ahead with scheduled and planned production. But those releases never saw the light of day until an agreement was hammered out between the company and FUNimation. Once the agreement was done and made public however, FUNimation moved quickly to get some of the big titles back into the market with the new titles but also re-releases of earlier volumes. The splash was big and the fan reaction was off the charts as the chance to finish out series became a reality. Some changes did get put into place along the way though, such as Story of Saiunkoku shifting to a box set release after the third volume and other unreleased shows like Nanoha and Familiar of Zero going straight to box sets at reasonable prices. The FUNimation model of releases was slowly applied to some of the titles that Geneon had under this deal. So fans got the shows they wanted, cheaper and quicker than they would have before. Minus that year long gap of course.
Distribution of Releases – Just about every company tried to change things up in one way or another this year. There’s a greater emphasis from all of them, aided by the fact that the Japanese now seem to get it, to provide more digital distribution options. And the companies are taking advantage of that. With Viz Media essentially being a Japanese company, they’ve got their shows out through multiple services, some TV deals as well as their DVD releases. Most of them are shows they’re able to cross-promote with their manga as well. FUNimation does some good cross-promotion with Del Rey for their titles and they’re pushing a lot of digital options as well. FUNimation’s aggressive with their on demand channel as well as pushing through on iTunes, Xbox Live and a YouTube channel. There are so many different digital options it’s almost overwhelming for some with no central place to really figure out what’s available.
Shift to Season Sets – Long called for by fans, there’s a growing shift to releasing series in different kinds of configurations other than single disc form. This started to get pushed more in the last few years with Viz Media working it aggressively with Naruto and trying it out with a few other shows such as Prince of Tennis and Buso Renkin. FUNimation has been pursuing this just as aggressively this year from when they started releasing Aquarion, but they’ve taken it to a somewhat Hollywood style by releasing a twenty-six episode season in two parts. They’ve begun pushing it more and are utilizing it with their acquisition of the Sojitz/ARM titles as well. They’ve also pushed Geneon towards using it for a few of their unreleased titles. FUNimation has also indicated that they’re pushing it as a standard for most of their titles going forward outside of certain key titles that will work better for them (i.e. be more profitable) as singles. Bandai Entertainment has also dabbled in it with Rocket Girls and Nozomi is doing it for most of their new series, though more for subtitle only sets for both companies at the moment. The transition is certainly welcome for most people though it does push the need for sampling/preview avenues as people won’t want to shell out a lot more money for a set without that first.
Staying in Business – This is sort of an odd one, but by and large it is a good thing that just about everyone stayed in business this year even with all the turmoil in the industry and the economy. The only company to really suffer during all of this was Bandai Visual USA, but even then they simple got absorbed into Bandai Entertainment and some of their titles shifted over to them. Staying in business in this year wasn’t exactly something that looked possible for some companies with how the year started off and with the amount of rumors swirling around, but they all managed to weather it until the end of this year at least. And for people who like variety in their releases and for there to not be a complete monopoly in the distribution of anime in the US market, this is a Very Good Thing.
Bonus: The Blu-ray Factor – Blu-ray didn’t exactly leap into the anime world all that strongly this year in the US, but it’s getting some very solid new releases from a few companies. Bandai Visual/Bandai Entertainment were the really strong ones at first and they’ve put out some beautiful releases this year with the Freedom box set. FUNimation also made a strong move into Blu-ray this year by working through the basics with a number of Dragon Ball Z feature releases so they could get a feel for things. They took the knowledge there and applied it beautifully to the live action release of Shinobi and then to the CG release of Vexille. With plans for Samurai 7 in 2009, Shiguri and Tsubasa as well, the company is not only talking the talk, but walking it as well. With Bandai Entertainment gearing up for some releases and Media Blasters dabbling for some live action in 2009, it’s only looking better. With the format war over and the companies setting the stage, what we’ve seen in 2008 is only the beginning, but for some of the hardcore fans like myself who are interested in high quality releases, it’s been a great start with a lot of promise for the future.
Love the Season sets. Finally after all these years Anime series are becoming affordable. i remember really wanting a lot ogf anime titles only to balk at having to spend $25 for three twenty minute episodes. It was insane. Now I can finally start to seriously watch more series that I couldn't because they wouldn't come on Adult Swim or IFC. The Fullmetal Alchemist Sets are awesome and saw the Escaflowne series on Amazon Marketplace for less than thirty dollars.
LOGIN
REGISTER
RSS
HOME
The beginning of this year was the first time in four years that I actually had any funds for new anime. It was sad to go to some of the stores and find very little that appealed while the shows I missed out on the last few years were nowhere to be found. Hopefully things will continue to look good and 2009 will be better. As it is, I've founf plenty the last few months to keep my wallet empty and my eyes glued.