1) The Wolf's Rain Perfect Collection DVD Boxed Set (Anime Legends) has been bumped from April 7th to May 5th.
2) The Gundam Seed Destiny DVD Collection #2 Boxed Set (Anime Legends) has been bumped from April 21st to May 19th.
3) Both versions of the first bundle of the Gundam 00 (Eps #1-9) have been pushed from May 19th to June 16th.
4) The Flag Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Anime Legends) and the Zegapain Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Anime Legends) which were both scheduled for May 5th have been CANCELED.
Certain volumes of Flag and Zegapain have been out of stock and unavailable from Bandai for awhile now, and we've had all the old volumes left in stock on closeout for a couple months as Bandai told us they did not intend to reprint them. With the AL sets canceled, that leaves the future availability of these titles hanging, and I'm going to try to get some clarification on this today. You know, are they REALLY canceled, or just delayed or will the original volumes be repressed now or should we just forget the whole thing. I'll post an update here if I get anymore info.
UPDATE: For the time being we are going to go ahead and try to restock all the single DVD's in both Zegapain and Flag until such time that Bandai decides what they are going to do with these series. They will be back up on the store site shortly.
5 comments:
Now that my LS is complete, I only want them to live long enough to print true tears.
I want Code Geass R2....
I'm not sure they're long, at least their Anime Division.
I am really beginning to wonder if this is not the end of R1 for Bandai, except for Gundam (which now has their own separate division of Bandai)...
They've been farting around with stuff for almost two years now, and can't have that much good will left in the anime fanbase.
Robert, what are your thoughts on the future of Bandai?
Robert, what are your thoughts on the future of Bandai?
It certainly would have been a lot better if they had shipped more Code Geass disks that worked.
Things are very tough right now for everyone, and I imagine there is a lot of 'soul searching' going on by people in the business (both studio and retail). That said, Bandai R1 has been a Bandai R2 subsidy for years, so I don't think they need make money as much as maintain a presence, and their future will be tied more into what happens in Japan than here. The plug won't be pulled on this side of the pond. Bandai has the advantage of having an extensive back catalog they can generate revenue from, assuming they can find the will to keep the stuff in print. We still sell a surprising number of Gundam DVD's, and these days they are easier to sell than they are to get.
And everything else I know I'm not talking about here right now.
The US Anime industry is now sobering up to the post 'Best Buy' economy it was so addicted to for so long, so many of the US studios are soon going to find their roots and discover that they can only be a viable company by returning to the way they were in 1998: having 4 employees, outsourcing everything, and publishing 3 or 4 decent titles a year on home video. There aren't enough good new shows coming out of Japan to support more than that anymore anyway.
Of course back in 1998 Anime products actually had some sort of profit margin, but anyone who got into this business for the money should have gone to dental school instead.
FYI, dentists have the highest suicide ratio among all occupations. Anime distribution may be better for you even with this market.
As for the fanbase, I was wondering about that. I bought almost exclusively Bandai titles for about a year or more: Gurren-Lagann, L*S, Rocket Girls. The "almost" comes from Midori Days that was irresistible at $20 for the WHOLE SEASON, a Media Blasters title. That's the money vote. Meanwhile, nothing that Funi posted interested me in the slightest.
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