Anime Limited Acquired by Plaion Pictures

I'm gonna make one of those weirdly specific obscure licensing-themed comments that anime fans love to make when news like this hits:

Does this mean we could get a release of The Legend of Prince Valiant in the UK as I seem to remember Koch Media released the whole thing in Germany? (Though having done a bit of research just now I might have remembered wrong?)

But yeah anyway this is pretty big news I guess? I hope it means good rather than bad things for the UK anime industry and also wonder if it could lead to some European animated films being released under the AL label, though I do not know which titles this company has the rights to at this time :)
 
I also imagine this won't be a good thing in the long run but I don't like to be optimistic :p tbh I'd have cared a lot more about this few years ago, now I'm just kinda "Eh, okay" about the whole thing.
 
I was promised a lot more “punk” in my cyberpunk dystopia where megacorporations own everything.

Personally, I just hope Andrew has done this because he wanted to and not because he had to. Like I’m not going to begrudge him retiring to Barbados, but the fact Anime Limited was an independent local distributor was quite important to me.
 
ayase said:
I was promised a lot more “punk” in my cyberpunk dystopia where megacorporations own everything.

Personally, I just hope Andrew has done this because he wanted to and not because he had to. Like I’m not going to begrudge him retiring to Barbados, but the fact Anime Limited was an independent local distributor was quite important to me.
Click to expand...
I can’t fault Andrew for wanting to take a step back and focus on his personal life, just didn’t expect it quite so soon after the wedding.
 
Jaysgba said:
I can’t fault Andrew for wanting to take a step back and focus on his personal life, just didn’t expect it quite so soon after the wedding.
Click to expand...

Did he get married or are you using "wedding" as a jokey euphemism for the merger/acquisition? Cuz if he ever reads this forum and he did get married I would like to give him and his new spouse my congratulations and best wishes :)
 
At the risk of putting my usual cynicism on the shelf for a moment, this is potentially not terrible. While I haven't been observing them in detail, what I've seen of Embracer's approach to the companies they acquire seems to lean towards enhancing their strengths rather than asset-stripping. For example, within weeks of acquisition, Crystal Dynamics were circulating a survey on what people would want from a new Legacy of Kain game, a franchise kept dormant while they were owned by Square Enix.

Of course, going from independent to subsidiary is a very different scenario, but there's the potential that the backing of a larger group could give AL more pull in the supply chain, and maybe reduce the frequent and storied headaches they've suffered in that area.

I don't know what came over me there. I'll now resume normal service. We're all doomed, etc.
 
Honestly no idea what to make of this and it seems to have come from nowhere!

I actually thought Funi did a better job than Manga. We got more Ltd Eds and a touch more variety in titles which I appreciated. Whereas the Crunchy merger seemed a step too far.

Who knows I guess. I reckon it'll take a while for the dust to settle and see where AL really lie in their new company.
 
There's concerns I'd have based on some of what the German companies are like under that umbrella but of course that would have to be an active change from where they are now. Not especially keen on Embracer getting bigger in general and for companies falling under the umbrella, just a different large media group (and not sure they are 'better' either), and attracting investments that I would question, of which any subsidiary has no say in (the Saudi Public Investment Fund invested $1 billion in Embracer just 4 months ago and holds around 8% of the shares, for example). Will have to see how this goes going forward.
 
^ That's not really how investments work, Embracer can't just turn them away because they don't like them.

edit: Not to mention its only a fund so nothing of interest actually happened.
 
Last edited:
I've almost stopped buying Anime over the last 2 years so this news doesnt hugely effect me. Will be a shame loosing Anime Limited as an independant company though

At least they weren't purchased by Crunchymation so we will still (hopefully) have the Anime Limited brand

Do we know if operations will continue like normal in Glasgow or will they do a Crunchymation and close the office?

Edit: Seems like not much / anything will change
 
Last edited:
Its quite alot to get my head around at the moment for what exactly it'll mean for AL going forward but my biggest take away is, AL and the Lord of the Rings IP are owned by the same company... every year we're like 'well next year will be less crazy'...
I'm genuinely scared for what 2023 will throw at us! 😂
 
There's something sinister about the name "Embracer". Sounds like a monster from a horror film. Reassuring.

This is probably not going to be a good thing. I hope it doesn't mean that AL pass over titles because they're not marketable enough for their corporate overlords, though tbh independent AL abandoned more than one franchise after releasing a first season.

Mneh. At least we still have Discotek... for now.
 
Back
Top