Animatsu Details Revealed

[black1blade]

I don't mind as long as they release it on blu ray. I think a collectors edition thing is optimistic.

 

[Mangaranga]

Good to have some familiar faces back so soon. Can't say any of their licenses are terribly exciting to me - Mangaka-san is probably the only one I'm interested in. I take it this will allow for Jerome to get around the issues he faced when was working for Manga - such as being unable to do NTSC DVDs or licensing certain titles (e.g. Geneon titles). I'm all for a new fresh take on things and I'm interested to see where it goes but the following quote is a bit worrying to me:

Manga will provide Animatsu with key backend services including sales and distribution

I bloody well hope this doesn't mean that Manga will be the one authoring the discs. If that's the case then it's game over from me already going by Manga's recent track record.

 

[black1blade]

Why don't they just take the AUS blu rays.

 

[robot monkey]

Interesting move and it is always good to see another player in the market. Wouldn't surprise me if longer term we see Manga fade into the background of this relationship.

 

[ConanThe3rd]

All this is sounding to me is that there will be one extra logo at the start of Manga's crap frisbees.

At the end of the day, Manga is Stars and Stars is the that guy of UK anime distro.

 

[Joshawott]

They paid money for Blade & Soul? I was given money by a site to review that and I felt ripped off.

 

[GolGotha]

Perhaps it was one of those cases when less desired licences are bundled in?

 

[Rui]

I found Blade & Soul absolutely terrible too, but I also think it's the kind of thing that would sell reasonably well here - MMORPGish elements plus sexy women make it very marketable. And since the singles days are over, they only need to tempt people into buying it once

Anyone dare to speculate on what the other two titles could be? They seem to be deftly avoiding anything I like (which is, in truth, probably wise given their target market) so perhaps something like OreShura or Mondaiji? Apologies if any of those are already spoken for as I don't follow those shows and just Googled to check.

R

 

[NormanicGrav]

Anyone dare to speculate on what the other two titles could be? They seem to be deftly avoiding anything I like (which is, in truth, probably wise given their target market) so perhaps something like OreShura or Mondaiji? Apologies if any of those are already spoken for as I don't follow those shows and just Googled to check.

R

I was thinking the rest are probably more Sentai Filmworks titles. Not to mention Blade & Soul, Comic Artists and Chaika Season 1 are from the Spring 2014 line-up.

My guesses are going to be based on the Spring & Summer 2014 line-ups:
- Akame ga Kill!
- Black Bullet
- Captain Earth
- Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun
- The Ambition of Oda Nobuna

Outside of Sentai there's also Knights of Sidonia which I think Jerome wants.

 

[Jon O Fun]

Interesting first licences for a new company. I honestly thought they'd go for a more well known series for their first release like Anime Limited did with Cowboy Bebop.

A couple of things do spring to mind tho: Maybe one of those two unannounced titles are their 'killer app'? We can all cross our fingers for Raildex (Animatsu are obviously in the best position to get around the Geneon BS) but something tells me it'll be another Sentai title (probably Akame ga Kill or even Knights of Sidonia). Speaking of which, where does this Sentai exclusive deal leave MVM as they normally pick up the Sentai releases for the UK market.

Another thing is have Sentai announced dubs for these series yet? something tells me at least one of those won't get a dub. They didn't even dub YuSibu, HENNAKO, or My Mental Choices which you would think would be much better options than any of those three. Which brings up the question of will Animatsu be doing some Sub only releases? Manga UK tried it with 'The Princess & The Pilot' which could have been a Jerome idea but I don't know how well that sold (i'd guess not well tho )

Edit: and on the Manga + Animatsu 'relationship'... could be a good thing. Could be a bad thing. only time will tell, we'll just have to wait and see.

 

[GolGotha]

My guesses are going to be based on the Spring & Summer 2014 line-ups:
- Akame ga Kill!
- Black Bullet
- Captain Earth
- Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun
- The Ambition of Oda Nobuna

I imagine Black Bullet and Akame ga Kill! would do fairly well in the UK.

As much as I would love to see a release of Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, I'm sure if it would sell that well to be honest...

 

[Shiroi Hane]

Re: Animatsu launches in the UK today!

It sounds as though Manga Entertainment might just fade into the background publishing content for people like Animatsu (and Kaze) unless they start announcing their own acquisitions again soon.

Given that the press release makes no mention of FUNimation I'm guessing that Manga will hold onto that relationship, so their licenses will remain a lock with Manga on PAL discs.

I remember the folk at Manga floating ideas like Blu Ray editions of GITS: SAC and Soul Eater a while back, would be interesting to see if Animatsu served as an outlet for stuff like that like how Anime Ltd are doing with Baccano.

Manga isn't losing any of their existing licenses; Baccano was a special case (FUNimation, and by extension Manga, only have DVD rights - it was Aniplex who released it on BD in the US).

I bloody well hope this doesn't mean that Manga will be the one authoring the discs. If that's the case then it's game over from me already going by Manga's recent track record.

Manga themselves never license discs, they outsource (used to be to to Dubbs/Eyeframe and probably still is). The main reason for them to do this was lack of a PAL master which I'm assuming won't be an issue for Animatsu - they can just region clone the NTSC discs.

Anyone dare to speculate on what the other two titles could be? They seem to be deftly avoiding anything I like (which is, in truth, probably wise given their target market) so perhaps something like OreShura or Mondaiji? Apologies if any of those are already spoken for as I don't follow those shows and just Googled to check.

Mondaiji was streamed by Kaze on AoD and is still is being streamed by Animax so it is probable that Sentai don't have the UK rights to it.

 

[kuuderes_shadow]

They didn't even dub YuSibu, HENNAKO, or My Mental Choices which you would think would be much better options than any of those three.

What makes you think YuuShibu would be a better choice for a dub than the far more popular, more widely discussed and more widely praised (at least up to the final episode of season 2 which was just "lets get all the details that we've been given of how the series ends in here") Chaika?

I don't follow dubs so I'm not sure how they work but would have thought that they would want to dub the shows that would sell better, right?

 

[Lutga]

I found Blade & Soul absolutely terrible too, but I also think it's the kind of thing that would sell reasonably well here - MMORPGish elements plus sexy women make it very marketable. And since the singles days are over, they only need to tempt people into buying it once

Anyone dare to speculate on what the other two titles could be? They seem to be deftly avoiding anything I like (which is, in truth, probably wise given their target market) so perhaps something like OreShura or Mondaiji? Apologies if any of those are already spoken for as I don't follow those shows and just Googled to check.

R

Blade & Soul will probably do well - those 'tit' shows became Manga's bread and butter last year, going by the strong sales on stuff like High School DxD and Aesthetica of a Rogue.

Akame Ga Kill would be a big seller - I'd imagine all the UK distributors are gunning for that one, likewise with Monthly Girls Nozaki-Kun - I don't think I've stopped reading positive reviews of it since it started airing.

In terms of Sentai stuff - can definitely see things like Golden Time and Dog & Scissors making their way over from the US.

 

[Joshawott]

The thing with Bade & Soul is, is that it's far more restrained than say, Queen's Blade. So it's a bad titty show because it doesn't really have any fanservice and outside of that genre, it's just a bad show. Bad all over.

Now, if they could license To Love Ru....

 

[Rui]

I think people actually like that kind of soft, pointless fan service though. Queen's Blade is amazing but there's surprisingly little enthusiasm about it on more forums; series which just mess around teasing the viewer with sexy warrior women without crossing any lines seem to be consistent sellers with the young male audience that Jerome-era Manga UK was courting most often.

The fact that most of the women of Blade and Soul are quite well developed probably also makes it more appealing from a UK perspective.

R

 

[ConanThe3rd]

If only they would develop the plot...

 

[Joshawott]

If only they would develop the plot...

Development of either plot would have made it a vastly more enjoyable series.

 

[Agent-347]

Not sure why OP not just quoted the press release and mentioned the source. However ... I'll quote the PR and colour notable elements and comment on it.
I definitely noticed some parts that seem to be overlooked by some to most of you all. (At least, that's my impression.)

The future of anime lives at Animatsu Entertainment Ltd, a new specialist UK distribution and production company primarily focusing on Japanese anime films and TV series. Spearheaded by Jerome Mazandarani as COO and Andrew Hewson as Marketing Manager, they both bring considerable experience with them as the two key players behind the last 10 years of success at Manga Entertainment’s UK operation.

Okay, this is our regular introduction of whatever and a great way to tell fans they actually know the guys.
Basically whoever has bought Manga Ent. DVDs the last 10 years can write off these two as responsible for it all.

“Animatsu combines our experience in marketing anime and other cult film and television brands with our enthusiasm for the modern popculture fan scene. Animatsu really is a fandriven enterprise.”, comments COO Jerome Mazandarani.

Here's the first question, "fandriven" as in Anime Ltd-fandriven whereas Jerome only picks up stuff he or Andrew actually likes?
Or is it more "fandriven" as in "the fans make us exist, without their support and money we wouldn't be here"? (which tells their holy angel who funded Animatsu looked at the success of Manga to greenlight the project.)

(1)Building upon Jerome’s expertise in anime licensing, Animatsu will be acquiring all rights for the UK and Ireland.
(2)In addition Animatsu will also explore acquiring distribution rights on a wider European basis, working with other experienced distributors in the territory.
(3)Moreover, Animatsu will assist Japanese and International anime filmmakers to develop and produce new films and TV series for the international market. In this context Animatsu has secured industry investment and acquisition funding.

This is a hefty piece of text!

1: We have first and foremost confirmation Jerome will be handling all licensing for Animatsu.

2: We have a confirmation they are going to pick up the rights for non-UK/ROI countries. Maybe there's some hope for Belgium and Netherlands now? Anime Ltd does have some BE/NL rights not doing anything with them, so yeah.
It would definitely be nice if Animatsu would invest in Dutch, French, German etc subtitles and then providing the discs to whoever wants to "distribute" it in the respective countries.

3: The third part surprised me a bit, doesn't this basically mean they're going to be part of the production committee for some upcoming anime series and movies?

Marketing Manager Andrew Hewson adds, “We can’t exist without anime fans and in an age where there’s so much content readily available on so many different platforms, we have to cut through all of that and justify why people should invest in one of our titles. We’ll be handpicking and curating a collection that we hope fans will be proud to own.”

There may be a lot available, but most of it on the wrong format! Where's my K-On, Clannad, ... Blu-ray releases?!?!

I hope that last bit means they'll be investing in chipboard artboxes. They might actually have Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai and Beyond the Boundary if they're doing that.
I say that because Sentai Filmworks is giving these premium releases. Could this also mean we'll see some more region AB coded anime-releases by Sentai Filmworks?
Sentai Filmworks did the Another discs for MVM as well, so it's not impossible to think Sentai will be authoring some or all of the 8 acquired titles. I'll get back to this.

Nota bene: While some believe Kaze have the rights to the above, we don't really know, do we? For all we know they picked up the DVD/BD rights afterwards and just got the French ones then.

Animatsu will release its new titles from March 2015 on Digital, DVD and Blu-ray with the first home video launch of the highly anticipated liveaction film Halo: Nightfall the sequel to last year’s smash hit Halo: Forward Unto Dawn. Nightfall is from Executive Producer Ridley Scott and the director of Battlestar Galactica which tells the dramatic story of legendary manhunter Jameson Locke and his team as they are caught in a horrific biological attack. Halo: Nightfall will be released through a joint partnership between Animatsu and Anchor Bay Entertainment on March 16.

So nobody noticed the Animatsu logo on the spine of Halo Nightfall?
This brings something interesting to the table though: Would Animatsu be willing to NOT put their logo on the front cover? The Halo Nightfall cover definitely looks great.

In other news, spines won't match up. Hope if Animatsu "steals" High School DxD New they provide an artbox or something to make a better spine for my and other people's collections.

“We know that what’s burning anime fans up right now is information on what our plans are”, comments Jerome, “but they can rest assured that we’ve been dying to tell them but couldn’t so here’s some of the good stuff!”

Before someone asks "who was actually 'burning up' to know their plans?", I was.
It's not necessarily just Animatsu, but the fact there has been so little (and even less good) animenews in the whole second part of 2014 really annoyed me.

(1)Animatsu has recently closed a UK license deal with Sentai Filmworks for 8 brand new anime licenses including Blade And Soul, Comic Artist and His Assistants and Coffin Princess
(2)and is in advanced negotiations on a number of other high profile licenses.
(3)Two more key titles acquired will be announced in forthcoming issues of Neo and MyM magazines both out on store shelves 22nd Jan.

Another hefty piece of text. "I'll get back to this" is here now.

1: SSSSEEENNNNTAAIIIIIII! - Does this mean Jerome "convinced" Sentai to dub these 8 titles or is Animatsu going to be into sub-only anime releases next to your regular dual audio ones?
And whether it's the one or the other, especially the latter would indicate Sentai could be doing Blu-ray authoring for "both" companies, making titles like Soul & Blade way more viable for both parties!
Thinking about it then, weren't there a few A+B coded sub-only releases by Sentai Filmworks that never got released on Blu-ray in a region B territory? (Yes, Tari Tari is one of them!) Interesting.

2: They're still talking about Sentai Filmworks I presume, which might leave us all the question what will happen with MVM because Animatsu have 8 already and are in negotiations for at least 2 (and presumably way) more titles.
I mean, MVM is less opposed to sub-only releases, but does them on DVD-only then in most cases, so we could see MVM turn into more of a sub-only releasing company?
Or maybe MVM will switch sides again and start releasing more Funimation titles later this/next year. Would be handier for MVM, really, given Funimation titles more often get a Blu-ray in Australia.

3: "key titles", if this was Andrew Partridge I'd have been fairly convinced it'd have been a hint at "KEY titles", thus both Little Busters and Little Busters Refrain. (Not impossible to be the case, though!)
There are quite a few interesting Sentai titles that deserve a dub and UK (premium) Blu-ray release. Let's just hope Animatsu will also give us some premium stuff.

Animatsu has entered into an exclusive sales and marketing partnership with Manga Entertainment. Manga will provide Animatsu with key backend services including sales and distribution while Animatsu will handle all marketing and brand management for both companies.

I wonder in which way this exclusivity actually works. It's hard to tell without some more details.
But doesn't this essentially mean Animatsu is the one handling Manga's social media from now on? So we've been complaining about the direction Manga has taken to the ones who handled Manga before?
Not sure. This all is still very confusing I find. Things will probably clear up over the course of the next weeks and months.

"Distribution" might indicate my thoughts about Sentai authoring Manga's discs for the 8 titles being correct, given as indicated by some other people in this thread distribution was also what Manga did for Kaze. Kaze authored, Manga distributed.
And as said, it'd make a lot of titles more viable for both companies if this is the case. Of course, Sentai would then be responsible for quality control and fixing any problems. *dramatic jump-scare music commences*

All in all, as said, I hope to see some clarifications on this all in the coming few weeks/months.

“Animatsu is the realisation of all of the exciting things I’ve wanted to do with anime and special interest licensing over the years including developing a successful digital sales model for anime brands. I am delighted that in addition to launching our own label we will also be able to continue working with our friends at Manga and help them to consolidate their position as the largest anime distributor in the United Kingdom”, comments COO Jerome Mazandarani.

Things that come to mind:
- NTSC DVD discs? (He always said Starz didn't allow it, let's hope he does do them now for the sake of dvd-only titles.)
- Chipboard artboxes? (He did say in June on the Manga UK Twitter he was looking into chipboard artboxes, maybe Animatsu was why!)
- Licensing RailDex and some others.

What is interesting is the "special interest licensing", wonder what that might be? Things like RWBY? Classic cartoons?

Another interesting part is that about helping Manga to consolidate their position...
In fact it's not that hard to do if Jerome makes sure One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, Fairy Tail, Yu-Gi-Oh! and a few other high figure titles keep flowing through Manga.
Jerome has often indicated the success of some of these titles helped funding the lesser popular anime releases, cut away these at Manga's side and Manga's position is "consolidated".

“If you like what we did while we were at Manga Entertainment you will love what we are going to do with Animatsu. That includes a huge presence at UK comic cons, an evolution of our social media activity and much more.” adds Jerome. “On that point we strongly recommend people start to follow the @AnimatsuEnt Twitter and /AnimatsuEnt Facebook accounts, which in time are going to start coming to life with all sorts of exciting news.”

Yeah, I liked what Jerome did at Manga. Not all of it, but nobody can like everything, even a fan.
As said before there are some things I hope to see coming from them that aren't just standard Amaray cases.

 

[Jon O Fun]

I've gotta say it may be because of the Anchor Bay involvement but that Halo: Nightfall 'Collector's Edition' looks like your standard Manga Uk Collector's Edition just without the Manga logo....