Year in Review: ADV Films in 2003

By: Chris Beveridge
Date: Sunday, January 11, 2004





The release year 2003 was a sizeable one for ADV Films. In addition to putting out nearly two hundred DVDs and collections, they revamped their music division, created and launched a new manga publishing division and laid the groundwork for their "toys" and merchandising division. 2003 has definitely been a year of expansion for the company into more markets than ever before.



On their video side however, that is where their bigges presence was known. With a sizeable catalog of new titles announced over the past couple of years, one of the focuses was to get through as much of it as possible. This was something that was unable to really be done before as there simply weren't enough studios for all the dubs to be produced in. With the completion of numerous new studios, ranging into the teens now, as well as the continuing growth of the voice actor market in the areas they're located, ADV was able to not only regroup old members together but to bring in entirely new sets of actors to help flesh out their pool even more, giving a stronger and more wide ranging set of performances.



The release schedule really showed through with this. With most series starting off with the traditional two-month window between each volume, a continuing necessity to keep retailers happy and allow them to gauge sales on the first volume while still having something of a window on the next one, they quickly ramped up in the second half of the series release to a six-week window on average. This let a lot of shows wrap up much quicker than before. Several series even managed to finish within a six month time frame through some creative release schedules. Some of the more popular series wrapped up early in the year, such as Excel Saga, Sailor Moon and Burn-Up W, the number of high profile titles following it didn't allow for any breathers. Noir, RahXephon, Full Metal Panic, Super Gals and Angelic Layer all kept people excited about just about every volume of the release. These series were rounded out with a number of solid other shows that often don't get the exposure they should, such as Wild Arms, Neoranga, Saiyuki, Mazinkaiser or Aura Battler Dunbine. The back catalog also got some titles out, but not as many as most people had hoped for. The rise of collected series, particularly the subtitle-only sets, rose considerably this year also (probably at the expense of a few translators and timers!). Genesis Climber Mospeada, Southern Cross, four seasons of City Hunter and the two original seasons of Sailor Moon landed with a huge thud as each set was packed with a lot of episodes usually at a really attractive price. Old school fans made out particularly well in this regard, with such holy grails as the subtitled original versions of shows that made up the Robotech franchise finally being fully and completely released.




The year wasn't all ups and highs though as the increase in production resulted in some problematic issues. Voices of a Distant Star suffered from the wrong audio tracks being laid down in one of the extras, Mospeada and Southern Cross both had some video issues affecting them, the Sailor Moon sets had both an audio and video issue plus the entire problem of a full episode being kept out of their hands by the original licensor, making for an incomplete set that some folks just couldn't cope with. Each of these issues caused a significant uproar amongst our readers and generated a lot of feedback to the studio. My only regret is that the majority of those sets that had trouble were ones that I had sent off to another reviewer, so I wasn't able to see it first hand or really comment on it.



One of the biggest controversies to rage regarding ADV this year is an area where I once again apologize for being a proponent of a few years ago. The boxes. This feeds into the next section nicely, but the problem that people have had with the boxes comes down to consistency. With a mix of soft boxes, thin cardboard boxes and the thick hard boxes, a number of people who would normally pre-order the minute the title is announced are finding themselves waiting until after it's been released to see if the box is worth spending the on average $10 more for. With the variety and lack of information about what kind of box is coming for a series, it's created hesitancy among people when there would normally simply be excitement over a particular title.



With the size of ADV Films now, one of the problems that they face is internal consistency among products. Right now, almost no publisher really accomplishes this but it's something that's even more visible with ADV due to the sheer amount of product coming out - plus the simple fact that I do end up seeing almost all of it. With as many directors, producers and graphics people as they have, each release seems to change how things are presented. Some will have the extremely useful grid along the bottom of the DVD release to tell you exactly what's in there. Others will be more obscure, sometimes being problematic to even find out what language is on there. Most of their shows have shied away from the inaccurate translations for the dubs that we saw earlier but there's still a few things slipping through. What seems to be the most controversial among readers here now in terms of the actual show itself is how the opening sequence logos are handled. There isn't any clear cut winner in which method is preferred by ADV as there's plenty that use the original with a subtitle translation and plenty that use the original that morphs into an English made logo. Of course, we're also starting to see some that come completely clean of a logo from Japan so there is just the English version of the logo. Agreement among fans isn't easily found either, with those who want it pure and untouched and those who don't mind or even like the morphed ones.



One area where ADV has definitely stepped up to the plate is in their press releases. Though this may not make too much impact on the average fan, many here are sharply aware of how important it is to get the right information at the start. Up until about halfway through this year, the standard press release would list a title with its audio tracks as simply, "English and Japanese languages" as well as mentioning the subtitles. After the fallout from the You're Under Arrest movie, where people were assuming that the Japanese track would be the 5.1 mix that's default on the Japanese release only to find that it was only a 2.0 mix, ADV began listing the actual encodings on their press releases. This also helped to serve another point where marketing wasn't working as well as it should as many of ADV's English dubs are mixed in 5.1, something that's definitely a selling point to many dub listeners out there but wasn't even mentioned on the packaging most of the time. With 2004 going to have more widescreen aspect ratio shows coming down the road, I'm hoping that information and more technical pieces will start becoming the norm in their packets.



The coming year looks to be a different one for ADV in some sense. A lot of the heavy production load titles are off their plate, such as the intensive Sailor Moon and City Hunter sets, leaving them more room to maneuver for other series. There are a wide number of popular titles coming out across a number of genres and plenty of interest in them. ADV has done a lot of things right in the past couple of years once they got themselves aligned after a rough entry into the DVD world. 2003 produced a lot of great discs but also a number of high profile problems. With some of the pressures of 2003 possibly lessened, the next year should prove to be much better.



2003 Release History:



01/07/2003 - Dai-Guard Vol. #3

01/07/2003 - Devil Lady Vol. #1: The Awakening

01/07/2003 - Robotech New Generation Collection

01/07/2003 - Sailor Moon Vol. #13: Time Travelers

01/07/2003 - Sailor Moon Vol. #14: Love Conquers All

01/14/2003 - Excel Saga Vol. #4

01/14/2003 - Zone of Enders Dolores i Vol. #2: Operation Escape!

01/21/2003 - Burn Up Excess Vol. #4

01/21/2003 - Medabots Vol. #07

01/28/2003 - Hello Kitty's Paradise: Fun With Friends

02/04/2003 - Wild Arms Vol. #1 (also w/box)

02/11/2003 - All-Purpose Cultural Cat-Girl Nuku Nuku Collection

02/11/2003 - Chance Pop Session Vol. #2

02/18/2003 - Dai-Guard Vol. #4

02/18/2003 - Devil Lady Vol. #2: The Becoming

02/18/2003 - Noir Vol. #1: Shades of Darkness (Regular & Special Edition)

02/25/2003 - Excel Saga Vol. #5

02/25/2003 - Hello Kitty's Paradise: Share and Care

03/04/2003 - Black Lion: Fear the Black Lion

03/04/2003 - Medabots Vol. #08

03/04/2003 - Neoranga Vol. #1 (also w/Box)

03/04/2003 - Samurai Showdown: The Motion Picture

03/11/2003 - Crying Freeman Vol. #1: Portrait of a Killer

03/11/2003 - Steel Angel Kurumi Vol. #5

03/11/2003 - Sukeban Deka

03/11/2003 - Zone of Enders Dolores i Vol. #3: A Prelude to War

03/18/2003 - Colorful

03/18/2003 - Wild Arms Vol. #2

03/25/2003 - Hello Kitty's Paradise: Learn With Love

03/25/2003 - RahXephon Vol. #1

03/25/2003 - RahXephon Vol. #1 W/Box

03/25/2003 - Rurouni Kenshin: Reflection

04/01/2003 - Dai-Guard Vol. #5

04/01/2003 - Devil Lady Vol. #3: The Strengthening

04/08/2003 - Chance Pop Session Vol. #3

04/08/2003 - City Hunter: .357 Magnum

04/08/2003 - Excel Saga Vol. #6

04/08/2003 - Noir Vol. #2: The Hit List

04/08/2003 - Rune Soldier Vol. #1: Enter the Klutz

04/15/2003 - Dirty Pair Flash Collection

04/15/2003 - Neoranga Vol. #2

04/22/2003 - Orphen: The Collection

04/22/2003 - Samurai, The

04/29/2003 - Saiyuki Vol. #1 (also w/box)

04/29/2003 - Wild Arms Vol. #3

05/06/2003 - Crying Freeman Vol. #2: A Taste of Revenge

05/06/2003 - Medabots Vol. #09

05/06/2003 - RahXephon Vol. #2

05/06/2003 - Sakura Wars OVA Collection

05/06/2003 - You're Under Arrest Vol. #1: Mini-Specials

05/06/2003 - Zone of Enders Dolores i Vol. #4: The Enemy Within

05/13/2003 - Casshan: Robot Hunter

05/13/2003 - Devil Lady Vol. #4: The Gathering

05/13/2003 - Noir Vol. #3: The Firing Chamber

05/13/2003 - Ushio & Tora: The Complete Collection

05/20/2003 - Hello Kitty's Paradise Collection

05/20/2003 - Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal Director's Cut

05/27/2003 - Dai-Guard Vol. #6

05/27/2003 - Neoranga Vol. #3

05/27/2003 - Sakura Wars TV Vol. #1: Opening Night

05/27/2003 - Sakura Wars TV Vol. #1: Opening Night W/Box

05/27/2003 - Variable Geo

06/03/2003 - City Hunter: Bay City Wars & Million Dollar Conspiracy

06/03/2003 - Eden's Bowy Vol. #1

06/03/2003 - Rune Soldier Vol. #2: Adventures for Dummies

06/03/2003 - Spectral Force

06/10/2003 - Full Metal Panic Vol. #1 (also w/box)

06/10/2003 - Saiyuki Vol. #2

06/10/2003 - Voices of a Distant Star

06/10/2003 - Wild Arms Vol. #4

06/17/2003 - Crying Freeman Vol. #3: Abduction in Chinatown

06/17/2003 - Mospeada, Genesis Climber Box Set

06/17/2003 - RahXephon Vol. #3

06/24/2003 - Devil Lady Vol. #5: The Purging

06/24/2003 - Noir Vol. #4: Death Warrant

07/01/2003 - Medabots Vol. #10

07/01/2003 - Zone of Enders Dolores i Vol. #5: Only the Strong Survive

07/08/2003 - Sakura Wars TV Vol. #2: Overture

07/08/2003 - Wild Arms Vol. #5

07/15/2003 - Aura Battler Dunbine Vol. #1 (also w/box)

07/15/2003 - Eden's Bowy Vol. #2

07/15/2003 - Sailor Moon Season 1 Box Set

07/22/2003 - Bandit King Jing Vol. #1 (also w/box)

07/22/2003 - Full Metal Panic Vol. #2

07/22/2003 - Saiyuki Vol. #3

07/29/2003 - City Hunter TV Season 1 Collection 1

07/29/2003 - City Hunter TV Season 1 Collection 2

07/29/2003 - RahXephon Vol. #4

07/29/2003 - Rune Soldier Vol. #3: A True Champion

07/29/2003 - You're Under Arrest Feature

08/05/2003 - Devil Lady Vol. #6: The Victorious

08/05/2003 - Noir Vol. #5: Terminal Velocity

08/12/2003 - Steel Angel Kurumi 2 Vol. #1

08/19/2003 - Najica Blitz Tactics Vol. #1 (also w/box)

08/19/2003 - Neoranga Vol. #4

08/19/2003 - Sakura Wars TV Vol. #3: Crescendo

08/26/2003 - Aura Battler Dunbine Vol. #2

08/26/2003 - Eden's Bowy Vol. #3

08/26/2003 - Mazinkaiser Vol. #1

08/26/2003 - Those Who Hunt Elves 2 Vol. #1

08/26/2003 - Zone of Enders Dolores i Vol. #6: Last Things Last

09/02/2003 - Bandit King Jing Vol. #2

09/02/2003 - Full Metal Panic Vol. #3

09/02/2003 - Medabots Vol. #11

09/02/2003 - Saiyuki Vol. #4

09/09/2003 - Original Dirty Pair: Project Eden

09/09/2003 - RahXephon Vol. #5

09/16/2003 - Noir Vol. #6: Cloaks & Daggers

09/16/2003 - Sorcerer Hunters Complete Collection

09/16/2003 - Super Gals Vol. #01 (also w/box)

09/23/2003 - Blue Seed: Beyond

09/23/2003 - Rune Soldier Vol. #4: Monsters & Mayhem

09/23/2003 - Sailor Moon Season 2 Box Set

09/30/2003 - Doomed Megalopolis Special Edition

09/30/2003 - Najica Blitz Tactics Vol. #2

09/30/2003 - Sakura Wars TV Vol. #4: Intermission

09/30/2003 - Zaion Vol. #1 (also w/box)

10/07/2003 - Aura Battler Dunbine Vol. #3

10/07/2003 - Eden's Bowy Vol. #4

10/07/2003 - Steel Angel Kurumi 2 Vol. #2

10/14/2003 - Angelic Layer Vol. #1 (also w/box)

10/14/2003 - Bandit King Jing Vol. #3

10/14/2003 - Full Metal Panic Vol. #4

10/14/2003 - Neoranga Vol. #5

10/14/2003 - Saiyuki Vol. #5

10/14/2003 - Super Milk-Chan Show Vol. #1

10/21/2003 - Arc the Lad Complete Collection

10/21/2003 - Power Dolls: Complete Collection

10/21/2003 - RahXephon Vol. #6

10/21/2003 - Saint Seiya Vol. #01 (also w/box)

10/21/2003 - Southern Cross Box Set

10/21/2003 - Steam Detectives Vol. #1

10/21/2003 - Those Who Hunt Elves 2 Vol. #2

10/28/2003 - City Hunter TV Season 2 Collection 1

10/28/2003 - Final Fantasy Unlimited Vol. #1 (also w/box)

10/28/2003 - Mazinkaiser Vol. #2

10/28/2003 - Noir Vol. #7: The End of the Matter

10/28/2003 - Nuku Nuku Dash Vol. #1

10/28/2003 - Super Gals Vol. #02

11/04/2003 - Medabots Vol. #12

11/04/2003 - Original Dirty Pair: Flight 005 Conspiracy

11/04/2003 - Sin Special Edition

11/11/2003 - Martian Successor Nadesico: Prince of Darkness

11/11/2003 - Najica Blitz Tactics Vol. #3

11/11/2003 - Sakura Wars TV Vol. #5: Stage Fright

11/11/2003 - Zaion Vol. #2

11/18/2003 - Aura Battler Dunbine Vol. #4

11/18/2003 - City Hunter TV Season 2 Collection 2

11/18/2003 - Eden's Bowy Vol. #5

11/18/2003 - Rune Soldier Vol. #5: Fists of Folly

11/25/2003 - Angelic Layer Vol. #2

11/25/2003 - Bandit King Jing Vol. #4

11/25/2003 - Full Metal Panic Vol. #5

11/25/2003 - Pretear Vol. #1 (also w/box)

11/25/2003 - Saiyuki Vol. #6

11/25/2003 - Slayers Return

11/25/2003 - Sorcerer Hunters: Chocolate, Springs and Other Hot Things!

12/02/2003 - City Hunter TV Season 3

12/02/2003 - Original Dirty Pair: Affair of Nolandia

12/02/2003 - RahXephon Vol. #7

12/02/2003 - Saint Seiya Vol. #02

12/02/2003 - Steam Detectives Vol. #2

12/09/2003 - Final Fantasy Unlimited Vol. #2

12/09/2003 - Neoranga Vol. #6

12/09/2003 - Nuku Nuku Dash Vol. #2

12/09/2003 - Orphen II Vol. #1

12/09/2003 - Super Gals Vol. #03

12/16/2003 - City Hunter TV Season 4

12/16/2003 - Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi Vol. #1 (also w/box)

12/23/2003 - Casshan: Robot Hunter Special Edition

12/23/2003 - Sakura Wars TV Vol. #6: Curtain Call

12/30/2003 - Aura Battler Dunbine Vol. #5

12/30/2003 - Eden's Bowy Vol. #6

12/30/2003 - Legend of the Mystical Ninja Vol. #1