Media Blasters sent us a note today to let us know that the MSRP of $29.98 for the Kanokon: The Girl Who Cried Wolf, Vol #1, Sexy Like a Fox DVD (Eps #1-4) was incorrect - the correct MSRP was actually supposed to be $19.98 - a full ten dollars lower!
Funimation reduced the MSRP today on several Anime DVD's and Boxed sets:
We got the final word today from Toranoana that the Bamboo Blade: Tamaki Kawazoe 1/7 Scale PVC Figure AF-BB(151649) that was originally due to ship in January has been formally canceled for North America. Toranoana said they were not able to obtain the necessary license clearances.
Viz Video has updated their their May & June 2010 release schedule and we've got it posted to the store site! Here's what's coming:
With the new dubbed release of the first season of Clannad coming on June 15th, RACS will be participating in Section 23's CLANNAD upgrade program.
Media Blasters updated the release date on a few more releases today, citing production delays with the packaging material.
Funimation has rescheduled the street date for the Darker Than Black Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Eps # 1-26) to May 4th ,2010.
The new R1 Anime publisher NIS America has finalized their plans for two new titles, so we now have Toradora and Persona ~Trinity Soul~ available for Pre-Order!
Section 23 has sent out their June 2010 release schedule and we've got it posted to the store site! Here's what's coming:
I imagine that, one way or another, they are going to pass this monumentally flawed health care entitlement legislation in the next few days making it against the law not to buy a health insurance policy but providing no not for profit alternative. The insurance companies must have the bottles of 1966 Dom Perignon ready to go while the execs there laugh their asses off. Personally, I think if our president really wanted to do the right thing, he would veto the bill and send it back to congress and let them know that he won't sign anything into law until it makes sense and can be passed in congress with more approval than just skating by on a couple of bought votes or some procedural effort of dubious constitutionality. It just seems too big, too important, too permanent, to do this way - and doesn't seem to address any of the core problems of cost controls outside of some wing and a prayer hope assuming "the Yen does this, the Dollar does that, and the Infrastructure does the other thing" (from OPM and the rubuttal here).
For those of you that have been a little worried that Bandai might end up bumping the date again for the Code Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 DVD Bundle #4 (Eps #20-25), I'm please to announce that our copies of both the regular and limited edition are now in route to us from Bandai's warehouse in sunny California and will be arriving on our dock shortly depending on the trucking company.
Press release:In conjunction with several customer complaints that we recently received and reported, Funimation has just announced a retailer recall for the recently shipped Darker Than Black DVD Boxed Set. All of the boxes in the first pressing have a defective disk #3. Funimation is going to fix the problems and re-release the box set at a later date to be determined.
The Aria The Origination (Season 3) + Arietta OVA DVD Collection, which was delayed by 'Brand X' from Mar 2 to Mar 16th, will be in stock a couple of days later than that. The folks over at 'Brand X' told me this morning that a 'rock slide' (???) had delayed their delivery truck, but the copies have arrived and are on the way to us now. A rock slide? I thought they were in the mid west were everything is flat as a pancake? This is what happens when the replicator with the lowest bid is located in outer Mongolia and has to bring the stuff through the Mohan pass on the backs of donkey's and pack horses... Oddly enough, if true, this would NOT be one of the stranger mishaps to occur in our supply chain over the years. Anime is a VERY interesting business to be sure.
If you are crazy for really expensive but super cool Anime items, we have managed to lay our hands on several of the Evangelion Movie 1.01: You Are Not Alone EVA Unit 01 1/80 Scale Vinyl Statue from Medicom.
Media Blasters has sent out their June 2010 release schedule, and while it had a lot of titles coming out in their live action lines, there were only two releases in the Anime category:
In a follow up to my previous post regarding Funimation editing Dance in the Vampire Bund, Jackie Smith told ANN today that:In the days since we announced the acquisition of the anime "Dance in the Vampire Bund," we have been following the varied responses from within the anime community to our decision to edit specific scenes from its streaming and later home entertainment release.
First, out of concern for our distribution partners and advertisers, we will continue to make minor edits to the episodes which are available via free streaming and television broadcast due to the readily accessible nature of these platforms. We will be careful to keep such edits to a minimum.
However, FUNimation is — as always — committed to bringing the best anime content to the United States in its unedited form on home video. Therefore, we are evaluating the release of the series in unedited and uncensored form for home video. Since only 7 episodes have broadcast in Japan, final determination must be reserved until all episodes can be reviewed to ensure compliance with current U.S. law.
We would like to thank everyone in the anime community for the feedback provided to us on this matter — your opinions count.
Funimation reduced the MSRP today on three Anime DVD's boxed sets:
Media Blasters sent over a pretty big list of schedule changes yesterday, about a page and a half's worth. Sorry I didn't post on it yesterday, but it was a lot to go through. Dates have been changes for their releases across all four of their labels (Anime Works, Kitty, Tokyo Shock, and Exploitation Digital), however, these are the delays that effected us directly:
Sorry folks, there was no regular Friday e-newsletter for March 5th. Jamie and I were out of town for several days and due to the circumstances of the trip (family funeral for Jamie's cousin) I just didn't have time to put it together.
Funi announced on Friday that they will be slightly editing both the streaming and home video releases of Dance in the Vampire Bund due to some "controversial elements which, when taken out of context, could be objectionable to some audiences". Here's the entire statement:FUNimation Entertainment is known for releasing the titles we license in their original, uncut form, as their creators intended. However, after viewing the unedited as well as the Japanese broadcast edit of the series Dance in the Vampire Bund, we have determined the series contains controversial elements which, when taken out of context, could be objectionable to some audiences.Now, anyone who has seen it knows what we're talking about here (i.e lots of half-naked Lolicon Vampires), though the question that begs an answer is why Funi decided to edit Vampire Bund, but will still be releasing Strike Witches uncut? Granted, Strike Witches is a 'pantsu' fetish show, and Vampire Bund is all 'lolicon', but from the point of view of an outsider I don't think there is much in Vampire Bund that could be taken 'out of context' that Strike Witches is not also guilty of. Perhaps we are finally seeing some indirect fallout from the Handley case, which is still fresh in everyone's mind (especially those of us in the industry), and the producers at Funi want to play it safe for now. I know that a lot of you are going to complain (I'm not happy about it either), but given the current environment Funi really probably has to do this, and frankly should have probably edited Strike Witches too as I wrote last year (not that I want them to, I'm just being pragmatic). For the past couple of years the industry in Japan, for better or worse, has pretty much kept itself afloat by making more and more lolicon and hard fetish type Anime series, and as those shows finally start to filter their way over here the studios will have to tread carefully in order to ensure the material doesn't get anyone sued (or worse yet, indicted). Don't forget, other countries (like Canada) have actually proposed or passed laws calling out 'lolicon' themes specifically as child pornography, and Canada in particular falls within the boundary of Funi's R1 license and release target.
With this in mind and with approval of the licensor, we will edit select scenes from the series in streaming and home entertainment release. These are scenes which are inappropriate for U.S. viewing and are not essential to the storyline.
Dance in the Vampire Bund is a complex and dark drama cited by press and fans as one of the best anime series out of Japan this season. Its strong story is what brought the series to our attention and why we are bringing it to the U.S.
FUNimation has picked up the rights to two anime series from Media Factory: Baka to Test to Shokanju (Baka and Test Summon the Beasts), and Dance in the Vampire Bund.
