Even two films couldn't do the manga justice. The animated film adapted just the first two books, if I recall. I read them all a few years ago.
And I definitely vote AGAINST a locale switch to New York, which has already seen plenty of disaster movies set there. A change would ruin the original character of the story.
Manga & Anime THREAD
Bandai Visual USA ceases operations...
Another anime company has bit the dust... More on this at http://www.animeondvd.com/ under the article heading "Bandai Visual ceases operations..." on Friday.
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Not too surprising to me as the titles BV USA distributed were overpriced, featured no English dubs (outside of a few feature films already previously released by different companies in the US), and had a ridiculously low episode count of 2 episodes per $40(!) DVD. This may pass for OK in Japan but is definitely the kiss of death in the R1 DVD market.
Anime is a niche of a niche (animation) in the US and most titles regularly fail to sell more than 10,000 -- some have even sold less than 1500 copies.
Fans regularly voiced concerns and complaints to BV USA at conventions and in online forums but the company just didn't listen.
BV USA's unreleased series and feature film licenses are being picked up Bandai Entertainment USA which is a separate sister entity. Both companies were domestic arms of the parent company, Bandai Entertainment International.
Fans can only hope that the Blu-Ray plans and special releases planned for by BV USA continue at a more sane pricing scheme.
What will happen to unsold product is anybody's guess as BV USA was selling from their dot.com anime website. My guess is that unsold product will probably be picked up by anime web vendors and sold at discount. I don't see any of these DVD series selling any other way as most mortar stores stopped carrying BV USA titles over a year ago.
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Not too surprising to me as the titles BV USA distributed were overpriced, featured no English dubs (outside of a few feature films already previously released by different companies in the US), and had a ridiculously low episode count of 2 episodes per $40(!) DVD. This may pass for OK in Japan but is definitely the kiss of death in the R1 DVD market.
Anime is a niche of a niche (animation) in the US and most titles regularly fail to sell more than 10,000 -- some have even sold less than 1500 copies.
Fans regularly voiced concerns and complaints to BV USA at conventions and in online forums but the company just didn't listen.
BV USA's unreleased series and feature film licenses are being picked up Bandai Entertainment USA which is a separate sister entity. Both companies were domestic arms of the parent company, Bandai Entertainment International.
Fans can only hope that the Blu-Ray plans and special releases planned for by BV USA continue at a more sane pricing scheme.
What will happen to unsold product is anybody's guess as BV USA was selling from their dot.com anime website. My guess is that unsold product will probably be picked up by anime web vendors and sold at discount. I don't see any of these DVD series selling any other way as most mortar stores stopped carrying BV USA titles over a year ago.
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Just to clarify, Bandai Entertainment USA is still in business, right? They and Funimation make up the bulk of my anime collection, so I sincerely hope that they don't bite it too. I still haven't picked up the Gundam series I've been wanting to see and I think they're about to do a budget rerelease of Cowboy Bebop (one of the best anime series period). In fact, it seems that several companies have begun the trend of rereleasing most of their older shows at a more affordable price. This may be an attempt on their part to keep from going under, which is entirely understandable, but it's good news for the fans who couldn't afford to collect an entire series before (like me). For the time being, I'm not worried about Funimation. IIRC their Dragonball Z rerelease was the best selling anime last year and One Piece looks like it's shaping up to be a big seller too. Between the two, Funi ought to be able to stay afloat for awhile yet.
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Yes,
Bandai USA is still in business. This only affects Bandai Visual, the other American arm of BEI.
The consolidation of the two companies won't be finished until early July from the last report I read. It really won't affect fans so much since very few people were buying BV USA titles.
Where Bandai USA could be affected is in their release strategy for Gurren Lagan. That show is airing on Sci-Fi starting in July but the releases for the show on DVD beginning this summer will be subtitled-only. Repeat, even though the show will air on Sci-Fi in English, the DVDs out this year in the US will be Japanese, English-subtitled only. The dubbed version of Gurren Lagan won't be on DVD until next year...
Multiple releases in such a short time could confuse some people. The reason why it's happening this way is that Bandai USA (not BV USA) got the license to Gurren Lagan late and they just now started dubbing it. Bandai still wants to get out GL this summer in season sets to minimize the dollar loss to bootlegs and illegal downloads. Of course, the show can't be dubbed fast enough with any quality to get the dubs out on the planned DVD sets for the summer.
Bandai USA is still in business. This only affects Bandai Visual, the other American arm of BEI.
The consolidation of the two companies won't be finished until early July from the last report I read. It really won't affect fans so much since very few people were buying BV USA titles.
Where Bandai USA could be affected is in their release strategy for Gurren Lagan. That show is airing on Sci-Fi starting in July but the releases for the show on DVD beginning this summer will be subtitled-only. Repeat, even though the show will air on Sci-Fi in English, the DVDs out this year in the US will be Japanese, English-subtitled only. The dubbed version of Gurren Lagan won't be on DVD until next year...
Multiple releases in such a short time could confuse some people. The reason why it's happening this way is that Bandai USA (not BV USA) got the license to Gurren Lagan late and they just now started dubbing it. Bandai still wants to get out GL this summer in season sets to minimize the dollar loss to bootlegs and illegal downloads. Of course, the show can't be dubbed fast enough with any quality to get the dubs out on the planned DVD sets for the summer.
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Among anime fans, Bandai Visual (not Entertainment) is still considered one of the biggest mistakes in the industry--
An import company that doesn't quite seem to appreciate the differences between the two markets, and still packages their stateside product in the Japanese style, with 1-2 episodes at $50...
There's a reason they've had trouble getting Visual off the ground with experienced anime fans, and it ain't got nothin' to do with "the climate of anime sales in the US".
That Bandai would be retiring their Visual arm is more widely seen as the retiring of a jumped shark, like McDonald's getting rid of their Arch Deluxe.
An import company that doesn't quite seem to appreciate the differences between the two markets, and still packages their stateside product in the Japanese style, with 1-2 episodes at $50...
There's a reason they've had trouble getting Visual off the ground with experienced anime fans, and it ain't got nothin' to do with "the climate of anime sales in the US".
That Bandai would be retiring their Visual arm is more widely seen as the retiring of a jumped shark, like McDonald's getting rid of their Arch Deluxe.
OMG! I can't believe they found this!
Once in a while, a lost film turns up in a private or museum collection...
Other times, excised/edited footage ALSO turns up.
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www.thedigitalbits.com Wednesday 2 July '08
A complete 16mm copy of Fritz Lang's original 1927 cut of Metropolis was recently found in Argentina!
Until recently, the most complete version of the film was at best 80% of what Lang intended. With this find, which is admittedly not in the best shape (but hopefully can be somewhat restored), a complete version of the film can be seen for the first time in decades!
I'm hoping Kino gets the footage and delays their next DVD/Blu-Ray release of Metropolis for a nice restoration effort. The film deserves it.
Other times, excised/edited footage ALSO turns up.
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www.thedigitalbits.com Wednesday 2 July '08
A complete 16mm copy of Fritz Lang's original 1927 cut of Metropolis was recently found in Argentina!
Until recently, the most complete version of the film was at best 80% of what Lang intended. With this find, which is admittedly not in the best shape (but hopefully can be somewhat restored), a complete version of the film can be seen for the first time in decades!
I'm hoping Kino gets the footage and delays their next DVD/Blu-Ray release of Metropolis for a nice restoration effort. The film deserves it.
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Wow - cool!
Of course the dream would be for them to be able to create a hybrid version that restores the "new" footage as best as possible, much as they did with the last DVD that presented intertitles to describe "missing" scenes.
Either that, or simply include a semi-restored version of this 16mm print in hi-def...there's no reason they can't scan that in at high resolution and present it that way.
UPDATE: wowsers - 16mm NEGS!? Even better...there's absolutely no reason this can't be restored to the point where it makes sense to put out a Blu-Ray, even if it's not the standard we might expect. Yes, I would imagine Kino know all about this and have already done some work on it, as the talk about future releases wouldn't sound so "solid" if initial testing hadn't been done to determine if the project was viable. How great is this!? I've loved this movie since I saw a previously "restored" VHS after the Moroder debacle of 1984...
Of course the dream would be for them to be able to create a hybrid version that restores the "new" footage as best as possible, much as they did with the last DVD that presented intertitles to describe "missing" scenes.
Either that, or simply include a semi-restored version of this 16mm print in hi-def...there's no reason they can't scan that in at high resolution and present it that way.
UPDATE: wowsers - 16mm NEGS!? Even better...there's absolutely no reason this can't be restored to the point where it makes sense to put out a Blu-Ray, even if it's not the standard we might expect. Yes, I would imagine Kino know all about this and have already done some work on it, as the talk about future releases wouldn't sound so "solid" if initial testing hadn't been done to determine if the project was viable. How great is this!? I've loved this movie since I saw a previously "restored" VHS after the Moroder debacle of 1984...
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Anime Industry in US set to be dominated by Funimation
http://www.animeondvd.com/news/pr.php?pr_view=1438
The latest chapter in the consolidation of the American anime industry are the recent acquisitions of previously released or unfinished Geneon and ADV Films TV/movie series releases by Funimation.
Funimation is the American licensor that became big primarily for its releases of the Dragonball/Z/GT series and later shows like Fruits Basket and Trinity Blood.
Funimation obviously has good connections in Japan to score two such big coups and make the announcements within the first two days of this year's Anime Expo!
Say goodbye to Geneon, CPM, TokyoPop, and (most likely) ADV, folks.
All that's left are Bandai, Funimation, Viz Video, and Media Blasters... Everybody else has either folded, left the field, or are keeping their options and titles close to their vests (Manga Entertainment, AnimEigo).
The latest chapter in the consolidation of the American anime industry are the recent acquisitions of previously released or unfinished Geneon and ADV Films TV/movie series releases by Funimation.
Funimation is the American licensor that became big primarily for its releases of the Dragonball/Z/GT series and later shows like Fruits Basket and Trinity Blood.
Funimation obviously has good connections in Japan to score two such big coups and make the announcements within the first two days of this year's Anime Expo!
Say goodbye to Geneon, CPM, TokyoPop, and (most likely) ADV, folks.
All that's left are Bandai, Funimation, Viz Video, and Media Blasters... Everybody else has either folded, left the field, or are keeping their options and titles close to their vests (Manga Entertainment, AnimEigo).
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Well, if any one company is to be the frontrunner, it could be worse than Funimation. I've noticed that in recent years they have held themselves to particularly high standards and as a result, their dubs are almost consistently the best in the business (their dub of Fullmetal Alchemist being a rare misfire). They even went back and redubbed the early part of DBZ because they knew they could do better than what they had already done. That kind of thing impresses me, personally. They're not perfect, but they're about as good as it gets and if you ever need to verify that, watch their version of One Piece.
The Official Lugofilm Ltd Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/bartsimpson83