Upcoming Figure Update - More New Figures Now Available for Pre-Order!

Even more upcoming figures are now available for Pre-Order. Here's what we've added over the last couple of days:

Amaha Collection: Rafale The Goddess of Wind 1/6 Scale PVC Statue
Beat Blades Haruka Haruka Takamori 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Fantasy Figure Gallery: The Touch of Ice (Luis Royo) PVC Statue
Final Fantasy XIII Play Arts ~Kai~ Action Figures - Shiva Bike Set
Final Fantasy XIII Play Arts ~Kai~ Action Figure - Lighting
Final Fantasy XIII Play Arts ~Kai~ Action Figure - Snow
Final Fantasy XIII Play Arts ~Kai~ Action Figure - Vanille
K-On! Ritsu Tainaka Nendoroid Action Figure
K-On! Ritsu Tainaka Mobip Action Figure
Lyrical Nanoha Striker S: Shamal & Zafila Puppy 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Polyphonica: Corticarte Apa Lagranges 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Shion no Yakata: Christmas (Xmas) Figure Twin Pack 1/7 Scale PVC Figures
Sister Princess: Kaho 1/7 Scale Ani-Statue
Tetsuwan Birdy: Decode - Birdy Cephon Altera 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Vocaloid: Luka Megurine Nendoroid Figure
White Album: Rina Ogata 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
White Album: Yuki Morikawa 1/8 Scale PVC Figure

Where is my Ah My Buddha Vol #5??!!

Media Blasters has a history of shipping releases late during the 4th quarter, and this year is no exception. The replicator they use always bogs down during the holiday season trying to get all their studio orders filled, and thus we get a lot of late releases. It's not really their fault except in not setting their Q4 street dates a bit later in anticipation of the delays. This happens at the other studios too, for one reason or another.

Right now Ah My Buddha (Amaenaideyo!!) Vol #5, The Five Bare Aggregates DVD is about a week and a half late, and Genshiken 2 - The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture, Vol #2 is now a couple of days late. The folks at MB told me earlier today that AMB 5 shipped to retailers on 10/27, so we'll probably have copies of that one in tomorrow. GEN2 2 has not yet arrived from the replicator, so expect that one to be at least maybe, another week or so before it's available to start shipping out. Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit DVD #7 (Eps #21-23) streeting next Tuesday will probably be a little late also.

Just a little heads up if you've been wondering when these releases were going to ship (or possibly how we suck because you don't have these yet)... -_^

More Upcoming Figures - Now Available for Pre-Order!

Even more upcoming figures are now available for Pre-Order. Here's what we've added over the last couple of days:

Chaos Head: Orgel Seira 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Creators Collection: Collet 'Bad Santa' 1/6 Scale PVC Figure
Genso Senki Rulilura: Izulha Golden Diva Another Color Figure Excellent Model Core Figure
Hyakka Ryouran: Hanzo Abe 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Ikki Tousen: Great Guardian Ryofu Housen China Dress 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Ikki Tousen: Dragon Destiny Kanu Unchou 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Ikki Tousen Dragon Destiny: Sonsaku Hakufu School Swimsuit 1/6 Scale PVC Figure (Clear Version)
Kobato Hanato Ani Statue Figure
Rosario + Vampire: Moka 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Rosario + Vampire: Kurumu 1/8 Scale PVC Figure

Viz and Media Blasters January Anime Releases - Now Available for Pre-Order!

Viz and Media Blasters have announced their January new release schedules, and we've got the following now available on the store site for pre-order:

Viz (January 2010)

Bleach, Vol #24 DVD
Naruto: Shippuden , Vol#5 DVD (Eps #17-20)(Uncut)
Naruto: Shippuden Collection #1 DVD Boxed Set
(Eps #1-16) (Uncut)
Naruto: Shippuden Collection #1 Special Edition DVD Boxed Set (Eps #1-16) (Uncut)

Media Blasters (January 2010)

Blade of the Immortal, Vol#3 DVD (Eps #11-14)
Genshiken 2 - The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture, Vol#3 + ART BOX
Huntik, Vol#3 DVD
Ikki Tousen Dragon Destiny, Vol#2
Nighthead Genesis Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set(Lite Box)

Funimation Lowers MSRP on DBZ Set #6 & My Santa DVD

Funimation has announced they have reduced the MSRP by 30% on the DragonBall Z Season 6 DVD Boxed Set (Eps #166-194) (Re-Mastered) (Item # FN-02248) from $49.98 to $34.98 and also on the My Santa Special DVD (Item # FN-10535) from $14.98 to $9.98.

We have reduced our discounted price accordingly from $34.98 to $24.98 for the DBZ set and from $12.98 to $7.98 on the My Santa DVD.

Both items are in stock now and ready to ship. :-)

RACS - Columbus Day Holiday Hours

The Anime Corner Store fulfillment center and HQ will be closed on Monday October 12th for the Columbus Day holiday.

We'll be back on Tuesday the 13th to start processing the backlog, so please be a little more patient with us next week while we catch up.

Have a great holiday weekend everyone, and enjoy your Anime! :-)

Bandai January 2010 Releases Now Available for Pre-Order:

We have received the January 2010 release schedule from Bandai, and we now have those releases posted to the store site for pre-order:

Hayate the Combat Butler DVD Bundle #4 (2 Disks) (Eps #22-26)

In addition to the one pre-release, Bandai has also bumped the dates on the following releases (please don't blame me, I'm just the messenger):

Code Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 DVD Bundle #2 (DVD #3-4) - Bumped 10/20 to 11/17
Code Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 DVD Bundle #2 (Limited Edition) - 10/20 to 11/17
Gundam 00 , Vol #3 DVD (Eps #18-26) - Bumped from Nov 3 to Nov 17
Gundam 00 , Vol #3 DVD Special Edition (Eps #18-26) - Bumped from Nov 3 to Nov 17
Hayate the Combat Butler DVD Bundle #3 (2 Disks) (Eps #15-21) - Bumped from Nov 3 to Nov 17
My-Otome Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Eps #1-26) (Anime Legends) - Bumped from Oct 20 to Nov 17
Toward the Terra Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Anime Legends) - Bumped from Oct 6 to Nov 17

Bandai did not mention any changes for the release of Code Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 DVD Bundle #3 which is still scheduled for Dec 1st (and it their only December release), but lets face it, considering how far #2 got pushed back the prospects for a pre-holiday release of the 3rd bundle is highly unlikely, so we've changed the date from Dec 1st to TBA as I'm fairly certain (meaning almost positive) this one will get bumped into next year.

I'm not going to make any comments regarding Bandai's business beyond that the release schedule speaks for itself. Bandai USA either has some brilliant master plan tucked away for their R1 Anime releases or they have decided they are not much interested in participating in the US market anymore in a meaningful way, but maybe that's just a sign of the times. One release a month is better than none.

More Upcoming Figures - Now Available for Pre-Order!

Even more upcoming figures are now available for Pre-Order. Here's what we've added this past week:

Fate/Unlimited Codes: Saber Lily 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Hellsing Ultimate: Seras Victoria Kaitendoh Collection Resin Statue
Hellsing Ultimate: Seras Victoria 'Crimson Version' Kaitendoh Collection Resin Statue
Ikki Tousen: Kanu Unchou China Dress Sukesuke Damage 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Ikki Tousen: Ryomou Shimei China Dress Sukesuke Damage 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Little Busters: Kudryavka Noumi 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Little Busters: Haruka Saigusa 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Project Dynamite #002: Naked Star Baby Blue Version 1/5 Scale PVC Figure
Queen's Blade: Ekidona (Echidna) Veteran Mercenary 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Shana: Flame Haze Shana Sweet Yellow Version 1/7 Scale PVC Figure

Proceed with Caution - There Be Dragons Here...

Earlier this week Funimation started streaming unedited episodes of Strike Witches, the notorious Pantsu Anime that I've talked about quite a few times this year on the blog (see my post Strike Witches Coming to America - Oh My!) and in our regular newsletter.

Strike Witches, however else you look at it, is essentially an Anime dedicated to lavishing attention on the naughty bits of 12 year old girls:



Just licensing this series was a pretty gutsy move on their part because unlike even straight up 'H' titles, there is just no way to get around how young the girls are vs. the situations they are portrayed in, so I've mostly wondered what levels of 'editing' Funimation would deem necessary to release this series here in R1. It clearly surprised me that Funi would stream uncut episodes right out of the gate. Monday when I read about it, I remarked around the office that Funi had a lot of balls to even try it, because they were clearly pushing the envelope (so to speak). Well, after 1 day they have backed off. ANN reports:

"The North American anime distributor Funimation has confirmed on Tuesday that it will release the Strike Witches anime series in its uncut form on DVD "

Earlier this week, Funimation had streamed the unedited version of anime episodes 3 and 4 on its website as well. However, Funimation said that "due to the mature content contained within the series Strike Witches and the feedback we received from some of our fans following its streaming launch, we have replaced the originally posted unedited episodes with their edited versions."

Funi is really towing a fine line with this one, and some of that feedback came from me. I would like to see an uncut DVD release of Strike Witches available to Anime fans, and I felt that the uncut streaming episodes would create too much controversy around the title and possibly hurt the prospects for a fully uncut and unedited home video version. Looks like Funi taken a second look as well, and I think they made a wise decision.

Note: Since the Iowa and Virginia cases, these sort of issues have been on my mind, thus, my train of thought here. Plus, I've been reading more and more things like this, so I think the implications of how some Anime material might be interpreted (if unfairly) by outsiders (non Anime fans) is worth discussing.

Section 23 Films and Viz December Releases - Now Available for Pre-Order!

Section 23 Films, Viz, and Manga Video have announced their December new release schedules, and we've got the following now available on the store site for pre-order:

Section 23 Films (Dec 2009):

Clannad After Story DVD Collection #2 (Eps #13-24)
Ghost Hound DVD Collection #2 (Eps #12-22)
To Love Ru Collection #1 DVD (Eps #1-13)

Viz (Dec 2009):

Bleach, Vol #23 DVD
Honey and Clover DVD Boxed Set #2 (Eps #13-24 + Bonus 'F' Eps)
Hunter x Hunter DVD Boxed Set #4 (Eps #46-57)
Monster (Naoki Urasawa) DVD Box Set #1 (Eps #1-15)
Naruto: Shippuden , Vol #4 DVD (Eps #13-16) (Uncut)

Manga Video (Dec 2009):

Ghost in the Shell Moive #1 2.0 Edition (BLURAY)

New Series Synopsis:

To Love-Ru (TV)
The story is about Yuuki Rito, a high-school boy who cannot confess to the girl of his dreams, Sairenji Haruna. One day when coming home and sulking in the bath-tub a mysterious, nude girl, appears out of nowhere. Her name is Lala and she comes from the planet Deviluke, where she is the heir to the throne. Her father wants her to return to her home planet so she can marry one of the husband candidates, but she decides that she wants to marry Rito in order to stay on Earth.


Monster (TV)
Kenzou Tenma, a Japanese brain surgeon in Germany, had it all: incredible skill at his work, a rich and beautiful fiancee, and a promising career at his hospital. However, after becoming disenchanted by hospital politics, he chose to save the life of a young boy who got shot in the head over the life of the mayor. As a result he lost the support of the hospital director, as well as his position in the hospital and his fiance. A short time later, the hospital director and the doctors that replaced him were murdered, and once again he was catapulted back onto the top. But as the chief suspect of the murders, Tenma did not get a easy life. As a matter of fact, it seems that the boy he saved was much more than he had appeared to be... Now to clear his name and to correct his past mistake, Tenma must get to the bottom of these and other murders, and investigate the truth of the Monster who is behind all of this.

Funimation Lowers MSRP on Peach Girl (Viridian) Box

As of Oct 6th, 2009 Funimation has reduced the MSRP by 40% on the Peach Girl Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Item # FN-05207) from $49.98 to $29.98.

We have reduced our discounted price accordingly from $36.98 to $21.98, and have the sets in stock and ready to ship. :-)

Synopsis: Being the new girl at school is never easy - just ask Momo Adachi. With her golden hair and tan, toned body, you would think she'd have a pretty easy time of it. But when your "best friend" spends most of her day trying to show you up, going after anything you want, you can't be too careful... What will happen if Sae finds out about Momo's long-time crush on a boy named Toji? Will she have to have him as well? And when a lecherous playboy from Momo's past shows a new found interest in her, things get even more confusing.

Funimation January Releases - Now Available for Pre-Order

Funimation has announced their January new release schedule, and it's a good one. The following January DVD releases are now available on the store site for pre-order:

Bamboo Blade TV Series Collection Part #2 DVD Boxed Set (Eps # 13-24)
Black Blood Brothers Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Viridian Collection)
Case Closed Movie #5 Countdown to Heaven DVD
D.Gray-man Season #2 Part #2 DVD Boxed Set (Eps #40-51)
D.Gray-man Season #1 Part #1 DVD Boxed Set (Eps #1-13) (BLURAY)
Heroic Age Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Eps #1-26) (BLURAY)
Linebarrels of Iron Collection #1 DVD Boxed Set (Eps #1-12)
One Piece Season 2 Part 5 DVD Boxed Set (Eps #105-116) (Uncut)
Rin: Daughter of Mnemosyne DVD Complete Series DVD Boxed Set (Eps 1-6)
Sands of Destruction DVD Complete Series DVD Boxed Set (Eps #1-13)
Sgt Frog (Keroro Gunso) Season 2 Part 1 DVD Boxed Set (Eps #25-35)
Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE Complete Collection DVD Box Set (Seasons 1-2 + Movie)
Xenosaga Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Eps #1-12) (Viridian Collection)

New Series Synopsis:

Linebarrels of Iron (Kurogane no Linebarrels)
An artificial satellite falls to Earth in 2013, seriously injuring Hayase Kouichi. He awakens six months later with strange powers. Three years later, a giant robot called Linebarrel appears and Kouichi joins him to fight for Juda, the largest medical equipment supplier in the world.

RIN: Daughters of Mnemosyne (Mnemosyne no Musume-tachi)
Rin Asogi may look like an ordinary office lady on the outside but she is actually a private investigator taking on any jobs, from finding a stray cat to infiltrating a high-security corporate lab. What's more, she appears literally indestructible, supernaturally healing any injuries and mutilations. Together with her partner Mimi, Rin delves into the darkest secrets of the society but the ones she hides herself are by far more sinister...

Sands of Destruction (Sekai Bokumetsu no Rokunin)
In a world where humans serve as livestock for the ruling beastman, and where sand fills the roles of water and fire. Kyrie is recruited by the "World Destruction Committee" to assist in putting an end to their world. Kyrie alone holds the power needed to do it. In a world where humans serve as livestock for the ruling beastman, and where sand fills the roles of water and fire. Morte Ashela , A member (or the only member) of the so called World Destruction Committee is wanted and hiding. She goes to a beastman bar to eat lunch where she meets Kyrie , A young human boy working at a beastman bar concealing his true identity as a human. When her enemies The World Salvation Committee found her she used Kyrie as a hostage only to know that he's a human , disposable to the enemy , together they run from the WSC to complete their goal of destroying the world to save humans from slavery. Kyrie ends up traveling with her and unwillingly joins the committee. Little does Morte know that Kyrie is the key to their goal.

The Transition to A 'Rare Book Model' as a Manga Dealer

This may be happening under the radar for many of you, but the US manga market is quickly transitioning into a 'rare' books model similar to what regular US Comic book dealers have been for decades. Hundreds of older manga issues have already gone out of print, and this year the process has been accelerated by a truly awful consumer economy. And a lot of this has been happening under the radar because past print runs were too large and the overhang of book inventory has remained in the supply chain for a long time, even after the decision as been made not to re-print them, at least until now. We, on the other hand, see the process in real time as every week manga volumes sell down and when we go to re-order some copies, that might have been available last week, are now sold out and listed as no longer in print. The manga publishers, for the most part, don't usually give us official lists of what's going 'out of print' either, they just decide not to reprint and once existing stocks dry up the books are no longer available for 're-order'. Tough luck Mr. Retailer if you didn't buy enough copies to begin with. Tough luck Mr. Customer if you didn't buy it when it first came out.

Now before you manga collectors out there start going crazy over this, let me remind you that there have probably been around 8,000 or 9,000 manga volumes published in the US over the last 10 years, and those back issues could not stay in print forever, so it was inevitable that the manga companies would eventually reach a point where they just start letting series go off the market en-mass as their sales cycles wind down. The process has really accelerated in 2009 though, and I'd guess that by years end there will probably be at least 1,500 older manga volumes that are no longer in print, and I would estimate by the end of 2010 fully half of the previously released catalog of English language manga will be out of print. Think most anything TokyoPop pressed before 2007, or anything published by DMP that is older than 8 or 9 months, for example. To complicate matters further, many of the smaller manga publishers are responding to current economic conditions by doing very short print runs of new releases and then not reprinting volumes that didn't sell very well to begin with. This is creating a 'shorter window of opportunity' situation for marginal titles (and that category is growing) in which any particular new volume may only be available on the market now for a few months before it's out of print forever. This goes for ongoing series as well and answers the frequent question we get via e-mail asking (for example) how vol #15 of a particular series is not longer available when Vol #17 just came out this month. Well, Vol #15 is the one where X,Y, and Z finally got naked together and sold out really quick. Hey, it's a rich tapestry. -_^

To counter these supply problems, we've setup an extensive network of manga vendors and distributors over and above the publishers themselves so we can check stock at multiple vendors for a particular volume before finally resigning ourselves that we can no longer get 'that one' anymore, and this is a process that we are now going through daily. We check all these retailer sources each time we need restocks on any particular issue, and for some niche titles (good examples would be certain issues of Basara or Red River or Let Dai or....etc. etc.) we even are going into the rare book market in an attempt to keep certain out of print volumes in stock for as long as possible - though once we do this the prices usually start to escalate as the rare book dealers might make us pay $20 or $30 or $40 or more for a particular issue and we have to price those accordingly on the store site. In fact, we've seen a disturbing trend this year of people doing a lot of 'fishing' for our inventory of rarer volumes. Some of these folks are clearly running a little side business trying to pickup out of print volumes we still have in stock at retail and arbitrage them into rare book circles (even on E-Bay) for 10x the original price. I have to admit, I've declined filling a few of those orders this past year so that we can keep these books in stock longer at the regular price for our regular customers. It's a bit disconcerting, but we remain vigilant.

This is all prompting the joke around the office that we are rapidly transitioning from a premier manga dealer to a 'rare books' model, but if that's what it takes for us to keep as many manga issues as possible in stock for as long as possible, that's fine with me. :-)

RACS 2009 FALL SALES EVENT! - EXTENDED (BUMP)

OK, an awful lot of you wrote in about the big fall sale telling me that while you think the discounts are great, a lot of people aren't prepared to come up with any serious Anime scratch with just one weeks notice and that the coupon period was way too short. OK, I hear you, so I'm extending the fall sale coupons for two more weeks - all the way out until Oct 15th. That should give everyone a chance to get in on the savings. Hey, I really do read those e-mails you folks send in! :-)

It's that time of year, and we've decided to run our fall sales event a little early this year! From now until midnight (EST) on Thursday, October 1st you can save up to an additional 10% off any combination of items listed on the store - including in stock and pre-order items!

To save 5% off any order totally over $100 just use the following coupon during checkout:
FALLSALE09-SAVE5

To save 10% off any order totally over $250 just use the following coupon during checkout:
FALLSALE09-SAVE10

Be sure to take advantage of this great opportunity to load up on some of the Anime stuff you've been wanting! US customers can combine this offer with our super saver shipping option to save even more scratch on your favorite in stock Anime series, Manga, Figure, or Character Items!

Note: Valid for new orders only. Coupon code expires at midnight EST on October 1st so get your orders in today!

2010 Japanese Anime Calendars - Now Available for Pre-Order!

I've finally decided which 2010 Japanese Import Anime Calendars that we'll be carrying this year, and we've just completed adding them to the store site for pre-order.

These calendars will be delivered either with our mid-November or mid-December shipments from Tokyo, and of course, there will be the inevitable handful that are published late and will not be in our hands until early January. We never know exactly when these are coming until they are ready to ship to us, so keep this in mind before ordering one to be given as a holiday gift (we may or may not be have it in time). OK, nuff said, here's what we've got for you:

Studio Ghibli Works 2010 Calendar (Japanese Import)
One Piece 2010 Calendar (Japanese Import)
Sgt. Frog (Keroro Gunso) 2010 Calendar (Japanese Import)
Naruto Shippuden (A) 2010 Calendar (Japanese Import)
Naruto Shippuden (B) 2010 Calendar (Japanese Import)
Bleach (A) 2010 Calendar (Japanese Import)
Bleach (B) 2010 Calendar (Japanese Import)
Fullmetal Alchemist (Hagane no Renkin Jutsushi) (A) 2010 Calendar (Japanese Import)
Fullmetal Alchemist (Hagane no Renkin Jutsushi) (B) 2010 Calendar (Japanese Import)
Mobile Suit Gundam 2010 Calendar (Japanese Import)
Mobile Suit Gundam 00 2010 Calendar (Japanese Import)
Saiyuki Gaiden 2010 Calendar (Japanese Import)
D.Gray-man 2010 Calendar (Japanese Import)
Gintama 2010 Calendar (Japanese Import)
Rebuild of Evangelion 2010 Calendar (Japanese Import)
Macross Frontier 2010 Calendar (Japanese Import)
Detective Conan (Meitantei Conan) 2010 Calendar (Japanese Import)
Prince of Tennis 2010 Calendar (Japanese Import)
Sora Kake Girl 2010 Calendar (Japanese Import)
Queen's Blade 2010 Calendar (Japanese Import)
Wolf and Spice 2010 Calendar (Japanese Import)
Tora Dora 2010 Calendar (Japanese Import)
When They Cry 2010 Calendar (Japanese Import)
Gokujo! Mechamote Iincho 2010 Calendar (Japanese Import)

More Upcoming Figures - Now Available for Pre-Order!

Even more upcoming figures are now available for Pre-Order. Here's what we've added this past week:

Angel's Kiss & Demon's Bride Alp 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Evangelion 2.0 Asuka in Plug-In Suit 1/6 Scale Ani-Figure
Evangelion: You Can Not Advance Rei Ayanami Emotion Style 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Evangelion: You Can Not Advance Asuka Langley Emotion Style 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Lineage II: Light Elf 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Ikki Tousen Dragon Destiny Sonsaku Hakufu Nurse 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Ikki Tousen Dragon Destiny: Ryomou Shimei Nurse Series 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Ikki Tousen: Dragon Destiny Kanu Nurse 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Ikki Tousen: Dragon Destiny Ryomou Maid Battle (w/ Bunny Outfit) 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Ikki Tousen: Great Guardian Kanu Pink Ribbon 1/8 Scale PVC Figure