UK Anime Distributor Anime Limited Discussion Thread

So Fedex contacted me last week asking if there was a safe space if I wasn't in. Confirmed yes and gave them authority to leave it there.

They came today when I wasn't in, ignored the instruction and now I have to rearrange it.

Swear to BLEEPING God, UK couriers are BLEEPING useless!!
 
Soooo, still radio silence as regards to the 'around the 10th' re-estimation, with the weekend long since over?... 'Tis troubling.
I had deleted a half-joking post mentioning Shoko Asahara, not wanting to put Ol' Andrew off from replying when Scrambly Valk put across how most of us feel in a perfectly reasonable way; not channeling Gut's rage despite the avatar choice. Yet here we are, with no update (unless on Twitter?). The closer we get to Christmas, the less likely we'll get anything for reasons obvious. I'd perhaps be willing to accept a delay on the grounds of a redesign but I just cannot see 2500 unique squares not even designed by AL being altered. Too much money, too much effort, hence the German 'use glue' line.

My desire to receive the set was lessened by the German release, and it's continuing to ebb away amidst silence aside from 'maybe around the 10th, haha', very much like Valk stated. Have already asked if my order could be cancelled, with the refund not going onto the payment card from months ago long since paid off (it's a CC not linked to my bank acc that I mistakenly used, and rarely use). That was a no-go, so opted to stay the course. If this lack of information continues however, and it's delayed because of COVID (feel little sympathy when delays and AL go hand-in-hand regardless) and not to edit the design, I'm gonna put my CC balance into negative by cancelling. Better to be spiteful than a doormat, I suppose. I grow weary of giving money asap and... waiting, for what I know not~ I'm perhaps more annoyed with myself than Andrew, having just ordered more obviously-going-to-be-delayed future releases from AL in the hope they'll be sent in Jan. Was sure we'd have news, good or bad, today. The silence is deafening, as they say...

Nearing my genkai, my patience is. I wish I'd stuck to my stolen policy of not ordering AL releases direct from them. It's a joke they take payment immediately, and the lack of clarity/reliability is starting to make meeeeee see red. If still nothing by Wens, done with this saga, and will cancel the orders already regret just making as well.

I fear the pattern is delay 500/1500 > delay maybe pre-xmas early birds > delay the remaining 1000. Don't expect design alteration. Just wish I hadn't ordered Eva square, honestly. Had enough.
 
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Dai said:
With all these horror stories about the media holders on the German version of the Evangelion UE not holding the media, damaging the discs or falling apart, honestly I'm dreading the release of the UK version at this point. I know we've been talking among ourselves about this, but has anyone emailed Anime Limited to ask if they're aware of these problems? @anime_andrew checks in here from time to time, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's up to his eyeballs with the sale and all the new announcements at the moment.

Personally I'd prefer it if they delay the release for a while and have the media holders remanufactured with a different solution. A plastic frame would be ideal, but even the much-maligned cardboard pockets option would be better than something that can't hold the discs properly at all. If the UK version has the same problems as the German one, surely AL will end up having to deal with a lot of returns if they ship them out as they are.
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Don't worry folks - I've been talking back and forth with LEONINE to be sure we identified what was going on.

At this stage, I'm comfortable saying the media holder issues being reported are the issue of packing - which was done at a separate facility and by a different team to the rest (the team at LEONINE coordinated that themselves). Of the issue of loose discs with the German release, only 1% of the problematic stock was due to a glue dot issue. This in turn represents a fraction of a percent of the overall German stock (>0.02% if we're precise).

The glue by-and-large is very tough to remove as standard and the cold temperatures at present only make that harder. The general error rate is well within tolerances and UK-side we'd replace these traditionally with stock reserved for this kind of situation on report to us.

The stock has actually been delayed because while it was all still in the central facility I took steps to verify the issues - these included:
  • Spot checks across existing stock prepared across individual packing sections to be sure discs were in properly and no glue dot adheisive had come out.

  • Sending several copies from mainland Europe to the UK of the English version to test long-distance courier journeys and package safety / security. None of these samples had any discs loose.

  • On receipt of my copy, I put the box back in it's mailer, sealed it, and threw it round the room like I was playing a rugby match to test just how possible well-packed discs were to come out. The answer: Extremely difficult (I didn't manage to dislodge them on my end).

  • Have copies of the German version that were returned coming over to look at and cross-examine / verify.
Ultimately this is the same format we used on Cowboy Bebop, Perfect Blue and B the Beginning in terms of holder for discs. Those releases happily did not experience any recurring issues, minor or major. While no product is without the occasional hiccup - particularly on those that require hand-packing - we're proud of our history at Anime Ltd of going above and beyond in addressing those deviations in the rare circumstances that they do occur.

There will always be small hiccups with releases - but we've done a lot on our side to check the English speaking units the minute reports arose. If we found something, we'd be holding the units to sort it too I can assure you as it's a lot smarter to delay a release than have to replace it retrospectively.

Very best,

Andrew
 
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Magillanica Lou Mayvin said:
Just wish I hadn't ordered Eva square, honestly. Had enough.
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If you drop us an email with your order number - I am more than happy to process a cancellation for you so you don't feel regret over it anymore. There's a pretty chunky list of people waiting for cancellations so it'll go to a good home :).

Andrew
 
I think more people were worried about the complete silence from AL on this one

A quick post like this last week would have been ideal just to ease the tension between German and UK releases :)

"Hey guys, we've seen reports of issues with the German Ultimate Edition of Neon Genisis Evangelion. We're still awaiting stock but we will make sure spot checks are done to make sure NGE reaches the quality you expect from an Anime Limited release

Feel free to contact us if you have any concerns at....."
 
anime_andrew said:
Don't worry folks - I've been talking back and forth with LEONINE to be sure we identified what was going on.

...

The stock has actually been delayed because while it was all still in the central facility I took steps to verify the issues - these included:

...

There will always be small hiccups with releases - but we've done a lot on our side to check the English speaking units the minute reports arose. If we found something, we'd be holding the units to sort it too I can assure you as it's a lot smarter to delay a release than have to replace it retrospectively.

Very best,

Andrew
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So by delay, does that mean the Ultimate Edition UK version won't be out until after Christmas then or is there a chance of stock appearing this week or the next?
 
anime_andrew said:
  • On receipt of my copy, I put the box back in it's mailer, sealed it, and threw it round the room like I was playing a rugby match to test just how possible well-packed discs were to come out. The answer: Extremely difficult (I didn't manage to dislodge them on my end).
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Haha, I had made a comment last week over on the blu-ray.com anime forum about the hubs on the UE sets, and it seems like Andrew has followed through with my comment quite literally!

As long as any loose discs were not scratched or damaged when they arrive - and I've never had a Blu-ray get scratched from falling of a hub in shipping - I'm not really concerned about it, because they were only jostled loose due to abuse during shipping; with them just sitting static on a media shelf in my home, the discs aren't likely to fall off the hubs again unless I decide to drop-kick the set around after pulling it off the shelf to watch it.
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Apologies for my incorrect assumption regarding the German disc authoring. I'd only skim-read some parts of the post shared by Emanon. My focus was mostly on loose discs/nobs/glue.

@anime_andrew It is most reassuring to read measures such as test-run posting and throwing the squares around like frisbees is being undertook. Such entertaining dedication is worthy of the highest praise. If this delays the release, and it was properly communicated besides saying 'on or around the 10th' shipping and nought else, few would complain. In fact, you'd get countless likes and put people's minds at ease. The issue was not attempting to communicate this until people were getting understandably irritated over silence, unsure what is going on and with monies long since taken. So, thank you for eventually posting an update. 'Twas appreciated.

As others have noted however, there was no release date mentioned. Again, given you've took such unusual steps to avoid unhappy buyers, this in itself is fine. But if it's likely going to have to be after Christmas now, say so clearly. Clarity is the order of the day. You have countless buyers willing to take up cancelled orders, after all, so why be coy? We're clearly dispensable with so many waiting in the wings~

anime_andrew said:
If you drop us an email with your order number - I am more than happy to process a cancellation for you so you don't feel regret over it anymore. There's a pretty chunky list of people waiting for cancellations so it'll go to a good home :).

Andrew
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'Tis most kind of you to show such concern over my potential regrets. I am moved by your sincerity. :) After you got around to responding, no-one can doubt your efforts, or indeed your dedication in selling to far more worthy buyers of this most magnificent of squares... at some undetermined point next year. Indeed, if you were to agree to refund my £199.99 to my bank account, rather than the credit card I foolishly used many months ago, I'd happily PM you my order number so we can both be done with this affair. How does that sound? Never would I wish to deprive someone of dealing directly with a company of such proud repute.

Danielle Antonio
 
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After Andrew's statement, I'm happy to say that I'm glad I chose to go ahead with the pre-order of the Evangelion UE.

On an entirely separate note, interesting thing about their release of Gun Gale Online. I received the Complete Collection from their 12 Days sale (as well as the standard editions of SAO II, Ordinal Scale and Alicization), and unlike the separate Collector's Edition sets, which are clones of the Aniplex of America discs, the Complete Collection uses the Madman discs.
 
@anime_andrew

Yea know Andrew those lupin origin sets Would Look Nice on my Shelf If AL were to Release them :) 😅 :eek:🤏
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Magical Senshi said:
After Andrew's statement, I'm happy to say that I'm glad I chose to go ahead with the pre-order of the Evangelion UE.

On an entirely separate note, interesting thing about their release of Gun Gale Online. I received the Complete Collection from their 12 Days sale (as well as the standard editions of SAO II, Ordinal Scale and Alicization), and unlike the separate Collector's Edition sets, which are clones of the Aniplex of America discs, the Complete Collection uses the Madman discs.
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Even Alicization is Madman. Dam. That’s the one I have and it says Anime Unlimited. I thought these were the aniplex masters. Are there any big differences in quality?
 

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