After Bandai Entertainment's recent revelation of layoffs and downsizing, we expected more schedule changes, and Friday we got them. In their April solicitation mailer they anounced that they are bumping the
Gundam Seed Destiny DVD Collection #2 Box from Feb 24 to April 21st, and has also bumped the
Wolf's Rain Perfect Collection DVD Boxed Set from Feb 24th to April 7th. This sets up fully half of their planned April releases. The good news is that we will finally be getting a regular edition standard
DVD boxed set of Freedom for a good price ($39.98 MSRP), and I for one am damn glad to see that title come down to earth after all the pain it's caused fans, first getting messed around on the ultra expensive HDDVD release, and then getting that overpriced BluRay re-release.
In a very suprising move, they have 'indefinately delayed' the
Limited Edition version of Lucky Star #6, and also the planned Gurren Lagann Best CD. 'Indefinately delayed' is just Bandai speak for 'canceled', or at least that's what we're assuming at this time. This was a surprise to us because the limitd version of Lucky Star 5 sold so well through direct retailers like our store, and is actually one of the few upcoming Bandai titles that still had the potential to sell in volume - but hey, what do I know.
Anyway, please note the regular edition of
Lucky Star #6 will be released on schedule. Phew! :-) If you have the Limited version on pre-order, probably a good idea to
drop us a line and let us know you'd like us to switch the order to the regular version.
4 comments:
I don't think it's surprising at all that Bandai canceled Luck Star vol. 6 LE. Sure it may have been a great seller for you and other on-line retailers. However, all anime companies are cutting back these days. Any title that sells very poorly via brick & mortar stores is in jeopardy of being delayed / canceled.
Some studios count on B&M sales more than others... :-) I've already heard for quite a few people disappointed there will be no LE version of Lucky Star 6, but Bandai is in survial mode and the move makes sense.
I was getting regular L*S from the start, fortunately.
I still stand by my belief that Bandai is on it's last legs, at least here in America. (All the remaining companies are.)
They've completely screwed over the customer base (what little there is -- and this _on top of_ that they basically exposed they have no real money to make a working product) with their replicator issues, and they've been under a sense of reorganization for the last year and a half!
What makes anyone believe that, even before this next set of releases, Bandai doesn't just announce they're pulling the plug on the American anime market entirely?? (Which, frankly, is about a year too late... They should've done _that_ when they yanked BVUSA...)
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