Ikki Tousen Great Guardians - Back On For Dec 31st!

After much vacillation, Funimation has (as of this morning) put Ikki Tousen Great Guardians back on the official release schedule - for Dec 31st.

Ikki Tousen Great Guardians Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set

The saga of getting Great Guardians to release has been quite a ride. Media Blasters picked it up four or five years back, but after several release delays they finally found that they we're not in a financial position to hold onto it. Then after a long dead period, Funi picked it up in the Spring of 2012. After announcing that the dub was completed last fall, we've all been patiently waiting for the release to be announced, but month after month has past with no such announcement and we were all sure it was not going to come out this year - again.

But then, a few weeks ago a proposed release date got accidentally leaked to the folks at Diamond Distributors who put both an LE and Regular version of it in their Oct retailer catalog for a Dec 31st release date. Amazon picked up on this and also listed it for that date, and then a couple of the other stores picked up on that and ran with it too. Soon all the Anime news wires were abuzz with details of something that didn't yet exist. Somewhere along the line Funi decided not to publish an LE version and issue it only in standard packaging, which prompted a bunch of pressers from stores canceling pre-orders they had taken for the Limited Edition version that had never actually been announced in the first place. For myself, I was told last week by our inside rep at Funi that the release had not been scheduled at all (for Dec or any other date) and was not planned to come out until AT LEAST the later in the first quarter of 2014.

But today Funi changed their mind, and issued a statement putting the Standard Edition release of Great Guardians on the official schedule - for the first time mind you -and for Dec 31st. Ay ya! A great example of brand manager shenanigans from a studio, or worse, a case of one hand not knowing what the other is doing.

In any case, whether the Dec 31st date holds remains to be seen - you know how these things go - but we're keeping our fingers crossed!

Media Blasters Delays Release of Rio: Rainbow Gate into 2014

We finally got an official update from Media Blaster's distributor on the DVD release of Rio: Rainbow Gate. Looks like they are going to have to push it into 2014:

"Rio: Rainbow Gate was delayed due to manufacturing...originally a Sept street.  The title will be moved to '14 street tbd...but probably in 1st qtr."

So just FYI everyone, we're looking at an early 2014 release date now - probably sometime in the 1st quarter - to be announced at a later date. If any of you have a copy on pre-order with us and want to make a change in that order, just drop us a line.

Funimation to Replace Edited Sankarea Discs on Request

Ahhh, a little SNAFU to report this fine Monday morning...

Apparently all of the Sankarea: Undying Love DVD/BD sets were done from masters that contained the Japanese edited broadcast version instead of the uncensored home video release version. This applies to both the DVD and BD disks in both the Limited and Standard edition boxes.

Funimation will replace the disks for any customers who want the uncensored home video version - which I imagine will be around 100% of us:

In regard to the release of the Sankarea DVD and Blu-ray content, FUNimation had originally released this set with the materials provided to us. We will be receiving additional home video masters. Customers who wish to receive the unedited version may do so by emailing sankareareturns@funimation.com along with a copy of your original receipt, and a physical mailing address (no PO Boxes please). Once the replacement discs are authored we will begin to process your request. Thank You.

Please don't ask me how something like this can happen. I assume the masters they got from Japan were the edited versions and no one at Funi noticed during the mastering process for the English release. Truly a face/palm moment for them I think.Also, at this point it looks as if we are supposed to continue to ship the version we have, and that anyone who wants the other will have to request it. I'm on with them now for clarification on that.

I'm not sure how long it will take for them to start shipping replacements , but if you have bought a set go ahead and shoot them your info so they can get you new disks out once they are ready.

UPDATE: As of Oct 1st, Funimation has officially recalled all remaining retailer copies of the Sankarea: Undying Love DVD/BD sets. We have pulled the title and it will be unavailable for order until further notice. If you have already gotten a set, please use the email above to request replacement disks from Funimation directly.

UPDATE 2: OK, today (Oct 2nd) our rep at Funi sent me an e-mail telling us that Funi is NOT handling the replacements for Sankarea: Undying Love DVD/BD sets directly and that customers will need to go to the retailer they purchased the set from to obtain replacement disks. So, if you already have a set from RACS and want your disks replaced, PLEASE E-MAIL US directly. We do not know at this point when the new disks will be available, only that a fixed version of Sankarea will be rescheduled for release later this year.

And yes, I think them laying off the time, effort, and customer service overhead onto the retailers for doing the replacements is pretty crappy, even if they do reimburse us for the costs. ~sigh~

You Won't Like It, and We Made Sure There is No Other Option...

This could just as easily be a commercial about 'our favorite Anime company' - you know the one...


"Looking for a better deal? You can olig-gobble down our balls..." - priceless.

Umbrellas...

Yep, been there, done that.

Do Your DVD and BD Releases Get Along?

Note: Explicit language. Don't say I didn't warn you.


After 15 years in this industry, I do have to admit, some people really do complain about the dumbest shit. -_^

Media Blasters Confirms Several License Expirations

John Sirabella of Media Blasters has made a statement updating us on the state of several of their licenses. As of now, Media Blasters no longer has the rights to:

Bakuman
Rurouni Kenshin
Berserk

He also confirmed that while Media Blasters once had optioned to rights to Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei, Squid Girl Season 2, and Moyashimon, they no longer have any planes to release those titles and they are open to be licensed by other companies. Sirabella also said many other licenses they previously had have expired, but did not mention any others by name. We can pretty much guess what those are by what has gone on 'out of produiction' status with their distributor.

Going forward AnimeWorks, Tokyo Shock, and Kitty are the only Media Blasters labels that will continue operations, and that they are going to specifically focus on new Kitty (Adult Only) releases this year. Aside from that they are going to focus on producing and releasing original productions through Fever Dreams, which they have established a studio for in Belleville, New Jersey. He said that previously a "major back accident in Media Blasters warehouse" (WTF is he talking about there?) slowed down the company (oh yeah, that was what it was...), and did admit that he was planning on letting Media Blasters end as a company (umm, we knew that John) to pursue original productions through Fever Dreams, but has now decided to 'rebuild' Media Blasters (apparently around mostly the Kitty label).

Honestly, no surprises here folks. I'm not sure what sort of 'back accident' he's talking about regarding their warehouse, which has been closed for almost 2 years after they sold the distribution operation end of their business to Allegro and outsourced distribution of all the Kitty stuff to the third party warehouse. Since then everytime their active stuff has gone out of stock it has pretty much stayed on the backlist for months at a time. I just figured they were too broke to continue to replicate everything on a regular basis. Last week when we started getting updates on their inventory through Allegro, I thought that might mean some big change was in the works - or a 'going out of business' announcement was going to be forth coming. Apparently not yet. While he does say that they are going to continue to 'aquire and release new titles' I'm not sure what that will add up to outside of Kitty. So as always, we'll have to wait and see what happens.

You know what we say in the biz - Anime studios never die, they just fade away...

Lather, Rinse, Repeat...

From time to time I like to post a customer comment, good or bad, to give everyone a glimpse of what it's like from our side of the screen. Now obviously I don't analyze every customer comment in depth like this, but sometimes one stands out for whatever reason. So on Dec 30th, Meg messaged us the following:

"Hello ANime Corner. You were at the AMKE2012 Convention last year and I wanted to tell you about the poor service on how I was treated when I bought a Shaymin at the vendor booth. I lost my shaymin by accident and the seller did not have a replacement NOR DID he give me a receipt for my payment so to give it to him AND had poor lack of storage supply on doubles. I wanted to tell you that if your attending AMKE 2013 this year please be sure your employees provide receipts for customers and have plenty of items in stock should one lose an item or replace due to being broken or rip..."

First off, I want to make sure everyone knows that no one from RACS has ever set foot within 100 miles of one of the AMKE shows, so clearly she just had us mistaken us for someone else (you know Anime this, Anime that - we all probably look alike to some customers), and later she messaged us again to apologize and let us know that she had sent the message to us by mistake, which I appreciated, so no harm done there. Also, to Megs credit, she PM'd this to us rather than stupidly posting in public on FB, Twitter, or a Forum like some people doubtlessly would have.

Frankly, I was glad to actually not be the target of some fans retailer angst this time around, but I got to thinking about her complaint and a couple of things occurred to me:

1) Anime Milwaukee is a February show, so she is sending this complaint to the vendor a full ten months after her experience at the show? What took so long? I can only assume that with the 2013 show coming up, she was sitting around on a Sunday thinking about it and decided that she needed to let the vendors from last years show know how they can do things better for her this time around - well, at least as she sees it.

OK, fair enough, but it does get me to wondering what the statute of limitations on customer angst is. For myself, no matter how bad of an experience I have with someone, I can almost guarantee that six months after the fact I have long forgotten about it.

2) If I read it correctly, she's upset because she lost the item she bought (Shaymin is a Pokemon character, so I assume she bought a plushy or some other piece of character merchandise) and when she returned to the vendors booth to get another one he either did not have one to replace it or would not replace it for free (or offer her a refund?) because she didn't have a receipt. Frankly, neither of which would have been the vendors responsibility, but the incident made Meg so upset that she's taking her precious time to post about it 10 months after it happened. I assume the guy working the booth was a  little gruff with her, failing in his duty to be the expected Anime Retailer version of Mr. Roboto at all times.

I've fielded my fair share of customer angst over the years for things that I myself thought were fairly insignificant or more often 'mis-directed', and while this incident had nothing to do with RACS directly, it still ended up costing me a couple of minutes out of my life long after the fact that I'll never be able to get back, and it makes me wonder if it's just like this in all retail, or if Anime fans can be a particularly prickly group of consumers?

What say you? :-)

Funimation Recalls / Postpones Release for Baka and Test Season 2 LE

Today our copies of the Baka and Test Season 2 Complete Collection DVD/BLURAY Combo Set (Limited Edition) arrived from Funimation. Just as we were getting ready to print out the pre-order tickets to send them out to the floor to be filled (and in what is probably the first case of impeccable timing since I started in this business 14 years ago) a message from Funimation flashed up on my computer warning us that a defect had been discovered in the set and that Funi was recalling all the sets that had already shipped out.

Apparently the sets shipped with the wrong art printed on the DVD disks. We will be returning our copies to FUni as requested, and they have pushed back the street date by two weeks to January 29th to facilitate the repressing and shipment of corrected sets.

Media Blasters Changes / Cancelations

Well, we've gotten yet another update from Media Blasters and I wanted to pass it on to everyone. Looks like some of those titles that have been bumping now for several cycles are finally being canceled outright:

Gao-Gai-Gar Complete DVD Boxed Set (Eps #1-49) - CANCELED
Fushigi Yugi, the Mysterious Play OVA DVD Boxed Set - CANCELED
Kite BLURAY (Remastered) - CANCELED
Squid Girl Season 2 Collection #1 DVD - CANCELED

The following titles have had their dates changed:

Queen's Blade/Queens Blade 2 Complete DVD Boxed Set - Nov 13 to Mar 22
Ai no Kusabi (OVA) DVD - Mar 12 to Apr 23

Along with these Anime titles they also canceled 8 previously announced live action releases and postponed 5 others way out into March and April. About 3 weeks ago, along with several previous date changes, we got a confirmation from Media Blasters letting us know that Ah My Buddha, Queens Blade, and Gao-Gai-Gar were 'in replication' and we should expect them by the end of November. So based on that I've been telling everyone these three are just about ready and will be arriving shortly - well, not so much I guess. We did get a shipping confirmation on Ah My Buddha today, but it looks like that's the last new release we'll be getting from them until at least January.

I know a lot of folks have been waiting for some of these, especially Queens Blade. If you have an order in with us that has been holding for any of these and want to make a change, just let us know.

My final thought is that I really wish Sirabella would just own up to what going on there and try to publish a release schedule that reflects the reality of the condition of his company and not just the schedule he 'wishes' they could publish. Look, we know the R1 Anime market is bad and is slowly fading away. The fans know the Anime market is bad. The other studio execs know the Anime market is bad. There is no shame in admitting that and being honest about what you can and can't do. All these announcements, schedulings, changes, and then cancellations are just creating a situation were nothing you say can be relied on. Eventually people will just stop listening.

Funimation Date Changes Roundup for Nov-Jan

Funimation has made quite a few date changes to their Nov, Dec, and Jan schedules pushing several titles into next year. Here's our roundup of the changes so far:


Black Lagoon Season 1 & 2 Complete DVD/BD Combo Set (Eps #1-24) - Nov 6 to Dec 4
Serial Experiments Lain Complete Series DVD/BD Combo Set - Nov 13 to Nov 27
Tenchi Muyo Movie Collection BD/DVD Combo Set (All 3 Movies) - Dec 4 to Dec 18
Tenchi Muyo! OVA Series Collection BD/DVD Combo Set - Dec 4 to Dec 18
Tenchi in Tokyo Complete Collection DVD Box - Nov 13 to Nov 20
Level E Complete Collection BD/DVD Combo Set (Eps #1-13) - Dec 4 to Dec 11
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt Complete Collection BLURAY - Dec 4 to Jan 15
Shana (Shakugan no Shana) the Movie BD/DVD Combo Set - Dec 4 to Jan 22
Shana (Shakugan no Shana) OVA BD/DVD Combo Set - Dec 4 to Jan 22
Baka and Test Season 2 Complete Collection DVD/BLURAY Combo Set (Limited Edition) - Dec 11 to Jan 15
SteinsGate Collection Part #2 DVD/BD Combo Set (Eps #13-24) - Dec 11 to Dec 18

Obviously some of these are going to cause pre-order folks a few headaches that wanted us to hold an order for one or more of these titles. If you have any of these titles on pre-order and want to make any changes, just let us know.

Funimation Bumps Shana Season 2 - Yet Again

Funimation always seems to have one or two totally schizophrenic scheduling fiasco's going on at any one time.

This years top candidate for the most rescheduled title is apparently going to be Shana 2. After just being bumped up last week from Sep to Oct, they have now bumped it again from Oct to Dec:

Shana (Shakugan no Shana) Season 2 Part 1 Complete DVD/BD Box - Oct 16 to Dec 11
Shana (Shakugan no Shana) Season 2 Part 2 Complete DVD/BD Box - Oct 16 to Dec 11

Patience is an Anime Fan.

UPDATE: A rep at Funimation told me today that they have a 'good reason' for the delay, and they will be making that reason public in a few weeks.

Persona 4 BD Succumbs to Irrational Japanese Re-importation Fears

We learned today that Sentai's September BD release of Persona 4 is the latest North American release to succumb to paranoid Japanese re-importation fears:

Sentai Filmworks has announced that its upcoming Blu-ray Disc release of the Persona 4 The Animation television anime series will include an English language dub but will not include the original Japanese language track. The company noted that the Japanese licensor required the change. The DVD release will still contain both English and Japanese audio tracks, and it will also include Japanese episode commentaries.

Sentai Filmworks has repriced the Blu-ray Disc release of Persona 4 Collection 1 to US$59.98 from the original price of US$69.98 to reflect the change. The price for the DVD release is unchanged.

Sentai Filmworks also noted that its release of the series is licensed for sale and use in the United States and Canada only; exportation of the release is prohibited. The company is using the original English voice cast from the Persona 4 PlayStation 2 video game for the English dub of the anime.

So in exchange for losing the Japanese track, the BD was reduced in price by $10 bucks and is now the same price as the DVD version which will still have both language tracks. ~sigh~

We have reduced our regular pre-order price of the BD to $39.98, and all existing pre-orders will automatically reflect this price reduction. If you already have this title on pre-order and want to make a change, just let us know.

Media Blasters Delays Ikki Tousen Great Guardians into 2012

Yes my fellow programs, the rumors are true, Media Blasters has announced that the release of Ikki Tousen Great Guardians is going to be delayed until March 2012.

The previously solicited 2 part Great Guardians DVD release that was originally scheduled to street August 31st (part 1) and Oct 25th (part 2) has been canceled. Media Blasters now plans to release all 12 episodes as a complete collection on March 31st, 2012 with an MSRP of $59.98.

So, I already know your next question? If the two DVD's were just about ready to street anyway, and the new collected version contains the same disks at the same MSRP as the old two DVD's together, why not just repackage them and get it out on street this fall? Is there some other reason behind the really long delay? Could it be the current economy? Why yes, in fact, that's an entirely plausible explanation... -_^

We will automatically be canceling all existing pre-orders for the previous 2 part version, and any of you that would like to replace a pre-order for the complete collection can do so here on our updated Great Guardians page.

Sorry folks, again, I'm just the messenger. Please stop pelting me with rotten vegetables.

Queen's Blade II The Evil Eye Series, Collection #2 - On the Way!

We all know by now that when it comes to new releases from Media Blasters, street dates are optional. The thing is, some are estimated better than others.

The Queen's Blade II (Evil Eye Series) Collection #2 DVD was supposed to street yesterday. Even though it didn't release 'on schedule', we did get a shipping confirmation today from Media Blasters so our copies are now in route to our warehouse and will arrive early next week.

Just giving you folks a head up that are waiting for it that it won't be delayed by 4 or 6 weeks like happens with some of these. This one will only be about a week late. We'll start shipping your pre-orders as soon our copies arrive.

USPS Temporarily Stops Accepting Mail to Canada

Just an Update for our Canadian customers regarding postal shipments to Canada (airmail and EMS). Due the length of the Canadian postal strike, the US Postal Service is going to temporarily stop accepting mail to Canada for a short period of time.

All of our Canadian customers need to be aware that as of Monday (June 20th) we will have to hold all out going postal shipments to Canada in our facility until the USPS starts accepting Canadian mail again. All parcels currently in transit to Canada via Airmail or EMS will likely incur very long delivery delays and may not be delivered at all until the postal strike is resolved.

Keep in mind that even after the strike is resolved, there will likely be mail delivery delays for some time as the USPS and Canadian postal service works through the huge backlog of mail to be delivered.

This strike does NOT effect our FexEx International service to Canada, and parcels being shipped via FedEx are still being delivered on time (about 2-3 days on average). We recommend that all of our Canadian customers choose FedEx for shipment for their orders from RACS until the strike is resolved.

Here is a copy of the service bulletin we got a couple days ago:

Canada Post has suspended mail service across the country as of June 14, 2011. The suspension of service will impact the delivery of shipments sent by Canada Post. If you have recently shipped orders to Canada via US Postal Service, we encourage you to contact the buyers to let them know that delivery might be delayed. For orders you have not yet shipped, we recommend using a shipping method other than US Postal Service during the labor dispute. Updates on the labor dispute can be found on the Canada Post website here.

There are some locations, including PO boxes and certain remote areas, which are only serviced by Canada Post. Shipments to these postal codes will be delayed until Canada Post’s delivery service resumes.  A list of affected postal codes can be found here.

From the USPS International Mail Service Update today:

USPS DELIVERY OF MAIL TO CANADA STILL SUSPENDED, WILL STOP ACCEPTING MAIL EFFECTIVE CLOSE OF BUSINESS. SATURDAY, JUNE 18.

Canada Post has informed USPS its suspension of services would last until at least next week. With this notification, USPS will stop accepting all services destined to Canada with the exception of Global Express Guaranteed (GXG) Shipments at 11:59 p.m., CST, Saturday, June 18.

Customers sending letters and packages to Canada can avoid service delays by using GXG, which is available online at usps.com and at participating retail locations throughout the U.S.

Giselle Valera, vice president of Global Business at the USPS said in a statement today:

"As a convenience to our customers and to minimize service disruptions, we arranged to accept mail destined for Canada as long as possible," said Giselle Valera, vice president, Global Business. "We will continue to closely monitor the strike situation, and once Canada Post resumes operations, the U.S. Postal Service will again begin accepting mail for Canada. We also will then resume processing any Canadian-destined mail currently held in our network."

Funimation Bumps Dates for DBZ, Baka & Test, and Shin-Chan

Funimation has sent over a few date changes for releases scheduled this summer.

Here's what we've got so far:

Baka and Test Complete DVD/BLURAY Combo Set (Eps #1-13) (LE) - Jul 12 to Aug 2
Dragon Ball Z Dragonbox DVD Set #6 - Jul 5 to Jul 19
Shin-Chan (Crayon Shinchan) Season 3 Part #2 DVD (Eps #65-77) - Aug 30 to Sep 27

That's it for now, but stay tuned - there may be more coming.

Canada Post Strike - Expect Delays for all Canadian Mail Shipments

Just a heads up to all our Canadian customers.

As of June 03, 2011 Canadian postalworkers are on strike. The strike will impact the delivery of all mail shipments into Canada. If you have recently placed an order shipping to Canada via any postal method, please expect the delivery of your order to be delayed. We don't know for how long.

For new Canadian orders, we recommend using our FedEx International shipping method during the strike period to avoid unnecessarily long leads time for delivery of your orders. FedEx is more expensive, but the delivery will be so fast you'll probably never go back anyway.

And please don't blame me folks, I'm just the messenger. -_^

TokyoPop Shutting Down All North American Publishing Operations

Here, sadly, is a big one today from the Anime Economatrix, posted a couple hours ago:

Tokyopop Senior Vice President Mike Kiley has confirmed that the company will shutter its Los Angeles-based North American publishing operations on May 31.

In a post on the website for Tokyopop's America's Greatest Otaku reality web series, the company's CEO, Stu Levy, announced that he will spend the next year in the Japanese prefecture of Miyagi, making a documentary about the effects of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake disaster of March 11. The proceeds of the documentary will go to support the victims. He also posted a farewell message on the official Tokyopop website.

The company's film and European operations will be unaffected by this closure, and its office in Hamburg, Germany will continue to handle global rights sales for the company.

May 31 is less than three weeks after the first major feature film based on a Tokyopop property, Priest, will open in American theaters.

Last month, Levy commented that the February bankruptcy of the Borders bookstore chain had played a significant role in its decision to lay off a number of the company's employees.

The bankruptcy of Borders, a key retailer of manga, and the associated disruption of cash flow and likely losses, was undoubtedly a final nail in the company's coffin.

Not much I can say here. So that's the end of TokyoPop manga (and BLU). It's not like we didn't know it was coming, and I think making movies is a much better endeavour for Stu than publishing manga. He's a creative person but he never really did know what he was doing in the manga business. His business ideas for Digital? DOA. Print on demand? DOA. Concentrating on bookstore channels and alienating your directs? DOA. Selling direct from TP's website and alienating ALL your channels? DOA. On and on and on. From what we've seen going on in the supply chain for over a year, we're surprised they lasted this long. Stu "fought the good fight", but in the end, he lost - and now so do we.

So I'm sure everyone will be wondering what will happen to TP's licenses and what previously announced upcoming manga will be published and won't be published. Don't know yet, but I'm sure there won't be much good news if any - only 2,000 headaches. I'll post more info when we have it.

UPDATE: Well, it's official. All TokyoPop and BLU titles scheduled for release after May 4, 2011 will be canceled and not published. We'll begin removing these books from the site shortly, and all pre-orders for them will automatically be canceled. Sorry folks, I'm just the messenger.

Viz Media Put's the Ki·bosh on Inubaka Crazy for Dogs (いぬばか) at Vol #17

Just FYI everyone. Viz Media has confirmed on that Yukiya Sakuragi's manga Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs is currently on hiatus in North America and that Vol #18 (which was set to release this month) has been canceled.

According to a statement from a Viz Media representative, no new volumes are currently on the company's release schedule. The manga ended in Japan last April, and the 22nd and final volume shipped there last May.

Man, only 5 volumes short of the end too. Screwed again! And how sad, I really loved this series! Damn.