UK Anime Distributor Anime Limited Discussion Thread

Space Dandy S.2, Tokyo Ghoul, and SAO are up to pre-order on Anime Limited's site.

I've just cancelled my Amazon orders and ordered there instead. Hopefully like Honneamise I may get them just before release :) Plus, would rather give them the whole amount instead of Amazon getting a cut.
 
Just listened to the Anime Ltd. podcast, lots of updates here, especially for Escaflowne. (I first posted this on another forum, but figured it might helpful to somebody here. It's based on what I heard, some stuff may have been inferred rather than explicitly stated, apologies to AL if I've misrepresented them in any way)

  • Somebody has mentioned a Space Dandy film. Andrew mentions it as a joke, but suggests somebody in Japan was/is considering it.
  • Sword Art Online II moving ahead quickly, AL have just recieved a perfect white sample, just waiting on design grids, will be submitted to the BBFC this week, copies may be availiable for MCM Manchester but don't hold them to it
  • There may be a Japanese Space Dandy related guest at MCM Manchester
  • Scotland Loves Anime has just soft-launched in France as Paris Loves Anime, with Attack on Titan's first film selling four screens compared to the one it was originally booked for
  • Scotland related news for Scotland Loves Anime coming soon
  • Prisma Illya and Fuse are currently being worked on, Prisma Illya is likely to be close to Japanese artwork.
  • One or two secret projects are currently being worked on by their project manager
Ask Anime Limited:

  • AL are looking into the commentaries for Bacanno! - It's not impossible, Andrew seems optimistic, but it hasn't been completely signed off yet
  • Full Metal Panic is advancing, but they are waiting for a JP HD master sample, to compare with and see if they can piggyback off FUNimation's master and are waiting for packaging materials - TL;DR moving forward, in line for Q4
  • Escaflowne - shooting for the end of the year, but there are intense challenges in creating the director's cuts, subs need to retimed and potentially translated to match the newly discovered director's cuts. Justin Sevakis will handling the discs. Retailing requires titles to be listed one quarter in advance, Escaflowne will probably not be listed until Andrew knows everything is in production, so there won't be delays and so the team aren't pressured to meet schedule. He lists Gurren Lagann's CE as an example as where this may have happened. It is implied the discs will contain both director's and standard cuts.
  • Andrew doesn't neccesarily think titles going out of print has hamstrung anime in the UK, except in certain circumstances like Neon Genesis Evangelion, where rights are completely unavailable at any price.
  • AL and everyone else is interested in Neon Genesis Evangelion, but as previously mentioned rights are completely unavailable, but if he was in charge Andrew would prioritise FUNimation.
  • Andrew thinks FUNimation and Manga should be cut some slack, as they are really trying with Rebuild of Evangelion 3.33.
  • AL does not currently have the rights to Fate/Kalied Liner PRISMA ILLYA 2wei!, and they don't know who (if anyone) has them...
  • Making your own discs is a bit more work, but everyone should be QCing them anyway, so it's not too much work. It is a trial by fire, but AL feel that they are now on top of it.
  • More UK/US/AU collector's editions do allow distributors to share costs, but Andrew finds it boring and would much rather build his own for his audience. He's not opposed to sharing costs, where smart savings can be made, such as sharing good masters, but shipping stuff between continents and taxes, doesn't make much sense. It may make it harder to do returns or reissue should anything go wrong.
  • Gundam: The Origin, Part 2 - Watch this space, that and more Gundam stuff coming from AL
  • A bunch of licenses still to be announced this summer and autumn, include two that have very recently been agreed.


TL;DR - everything's going well, more stuff is coming including one or two Gundam related titles, but not Fate/Kalied Liner PRISMA ILLYA 2wei! (which is a spectacularly dumb title)
 
Very excited about the prospect of more Gundam stuff. It sounds like Escaflowne could very well slip into next year though.
 
I imagine it's not as bad as the Macross situation though - as frustrating as it is that a title as big as Eva has been out of print for ages, it feels like as soon as they release the assets, it will get snapped up pretty quickly.
 
It would be nice if a Nichijou Blu-ray release was in there as a "secret project". I'm probably going to be saying that all the time until it actually happens.
 
Smeelia said:
It would be nice if a Nichijou Blu-ray release was in there as a "secret project". I'm probably going to be saying that all the time until it actually happens.
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There wasn't anything in this podcast to support this, but given the way Andrew has previously mentioned his love for Blood Blockade Battlefront quite a bit, I wouldn't be too surprised to see that pop up on AL's schedule. FUNi has US rights though, so they probably can't release that even if they wanted to.

They did ignore questions asking about whether they would licence JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and When They Cry, so maybe you could infer something from that. (Mostly likely, that they don't want to answer questions about whether they would licence a series or not...)
 
IncendiaryLemon said:
Goddamn you can't get my hopes up like that. Besides, I'm pretty sure Manga tried about WB wouldn't let them or something.
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It was Jerome from Animatsu commenting on Manga UK's Facebook page, and he said "they" had asked (could be either Animatsu or Manga UK, he didn't specify) and Warner Japan weren't licensing the UK market at that time. I think that was before the US deal was announced, so maybe things have changed now.

Andrew has said that he, like seemingly every other UK licensor, was interested in JoJo's on the last podcast (or maybe the one before that), but the tone he used implied he wasn't pursuing it too hard.

I personally think it's a long shot. It'll almost certainly get picked up here by somebody, but maybe not for a while, and given the various theories going around, maybe it'll be Warner Bros. UK that picks it up.
 
Thanks for that write up for the podcast, I'm super tired from work, phasing in and out while listening so it was great to read it back and gain full understanding.

In regards to the podcast:
- Blood Blockade & Death Parade maybe some of those titles mentioned, unless someone else nabbed them before A/L could. Or..some could be titles that are airing soon?
- http://www.parislovesanime.com/ - I see Project Itoh , I know screening films within their French market doesn't mean we'll get them screened in the UK (or a physical release) but I'm mega interested in seeing all three....
- I'd be sad it Fate/Kalied Liner PRISMA ILLYA 2wei! was licensed by someone else, I'd prefer A/L picked up all three seasons for consistency. I guess it does boil down to how well the first season does & if its worth it. I'm sure MVM would get a hold of the second and third season if A/L passed which means we could still have a physical release :)
- Neon Genesis Evangelion. If Funi get the rights, would that mean Manga/Animatsu have first dibs?
 
It's strange that the two seasons of Prisma Illya weren't bundled together - were they handled by different production committees?

It sounds like the second season is coming out from Sentai, so imagine it'll eventually go to either Animatsu, or MVM (as they have the bulk of the Fate stuff)
 
Buzz201 said:
IncendiaryLemon said:
Goddamn you can't get my hopes up like that. Besides, I'm pretty sure Manga tried about WB wouldn't let them or something.
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It was Jerome from Animatsu commenting on Manga UK's Facebook page, and he said "they" had asked (could be either Animatsu or Manga UK, he didn't specify) and Warner Japan weren't licensing the UK market at that time. I think that was before the US deal was announced, so maybe things have changed now.

Andrew has said that he, like seemingly every other UK licensor, was interested in JoJo's on the last podcast (or maybe the one before that), but the tone he used implied he wasn't pursuing it too hard.

I personally think it's a long shot. It'll almost certainly get picked up here by somebody, but maybe not for a while, and given the various theories going around, maybe it'll be Warner Bros. UK that picks it up.
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Anime Limited would be my preferred licensor due to how nice their sets are (JoJo is definitely a show I love enough to want to splash out on a CE) but at this point, I'm not bothered who picks it up so long as they don't botch it.
 
Lutga said:
It's strange that the two seasons of Prisma Illya weren't bundled together - were they handled by different production committees?

It sounds like the second season is coming out from Sentai, so imagine it'll eventually go to either Animatsu, or MVM (as they have the bulk of the Fate stuff)
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Well Sentai also did S1 so that doesn't mean it'll auto goto Animatsu or MvM, if anything the fact AL have season 1 should mean that the other UK companies respect that and don't poach later seasons.
 
Dannielle said:
Thanks for that write up for the podcast, I'm super tired from work, phasing in and out while listening so it was great to read it back and gain full understanding.

In regards to the podcast:
- Blood Blockade & Death Parade maybe some of those titles mentioned, unless someone else nabbed them before A/L could. Or..some could be titles that are airing soon?
- http://www.parislovesanime.com/ - I see Project Itoh , I know screening films within their French market doesn't mean we'll get them screened in the UK (or a physical release) but I'm mega interested in seeing all three....
- I'd be sad it Fate/Kalied Liner PRISMA ILLYA 2wei! was licensed by someone else, I'd prefer A/L picked up all three seasons for consistency. I guess it does boil down to how well the first season does & if its worth it. I'm sure MVM would get a hold of the second and third season if A/L passed which means we could still have a physical release :)
- Neon Genesis Evangelion. If Funi get the rights, would that mean Manga/Animatsu have first dibs?
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FUNimation has streaming rights for Death Parade in the UK (it's currently on Viewster for anybody interested), so unless they didn't buy home media rights or have broken off their deal with Manga UK, it won't be that...

Looking at the summer season, it seems to mostly be sequels and generic crap. The only new shows I've heard any really excitement for are Prison School and Charlotte. I don't know much about either, but neither sounds like an AL title (and from a personal perspective, the former looks quite alarming).

They didn't say somebody else has Fate/Kaleid 2, they just said they didn't have it and thought it had passed them by. They tried to work out who had it and then couldn't, maybe nobody has it. It's possible that Sentai went after UK rights for the second season, but didn't for the first. So it will probably go to one of their partners.
 
I figure this is the best place to ask, has anyone said anything about where SAO II is going to be available pay streaming wise and if it will be as ludicrous as the first season (IE: £50 for the lot)?
 
It could be the second and third Prism Illya series were picked up by Animatsu through the Sentai deal after AL picked up the first season. Who knows.

I don't believe Animatsu/Manga get "dibs" on anything as Anime Limited seem to go direct to the Japanese licensors from what I can tell. Looks like this is the case with Seraph of the End and Arslan.
I believe if a title isn't directly picked up, then the UK rights COULD go to Sentai/Funi and then they can sublicense to MVM/Animatsu.

I would very much like AL to get Evangelion, but I have a feeling a larger company may pick the series up. I hope the licensors are more interested in providing a quality release that the series deserves then getting it in the biggest companies hands.

I'd like one of the secret series to be Planetes. Probably a long shot though.
 
Elaniel said:
It could be the second and third Prism Illya series were picked up by Animatsu through the Sentai deal after AL picked up the first season. Who knows.

I don't believe Animatsu/Manga get "dibs" on anything as Anime Limited seem to go direct to the Japanese licensors from what I can tell. Looks like this is the case with Seraph of the End and Arslan.
I believe if a title isn't directly picked up, then the UK rights COULD go to Sentai/Funi and then they can sublicense to MVM/Animatsu.

I would very much like AL to get Evangelion, but I have a feeling a larger company may pick the series up. I hope the licensors are more interested in providing a quality release that the series deserves then getting it in the biggest companies hands.

I'd like one of the secret series to be Planetes. Probably a long shot though.
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I believe if it's a second production cycle not linked to the first, second series are generally treated as a separate entity from the first, and consequently the Japanese publishers may not consider it inappropriate to sell to another licensor behind the first's back. (Which is, I'm guessing, what happened with Sword Art Online II, although Andrew said on one of the podcasts in relation a different title that he didn't want to snipe from Manga UK, so perhaps something more went on there.)

Seraph of the End and Arslan both hail from NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan, and if you look at the proposed A Certain Magical Index cover, that only includes the Universal and Animatsu logos, so I'm guessing they won't give the US companies package deals.

Thinking back, Jerome said with absolutely certainty in the post-MCM podcast that AL had some non-Aniplex titles in the pipeline, unless he was just talking about Gundam, they haven't been announced/hinted at yet.
 
I'm definitely interested to hear about the potential Gundam releases - I mean, seeing that Turn A seems to be a given, will it be a straight up mirror of the RightStuff sub-only/DVD only release?

And going forward, what Gundam stuff would follow next? Quick and easy re-releases of the out of print Beez stuff like Wing and SEED, or something more comprehensive?
 
ConanThe3rd said:
I figure this is the best place to ask, has anyone said anything about where SAO II is going to be available pay streaming wise and if it will be as ludicrous as the first season (IE: £50 for the lot)?
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If you mean DTO, I have no idea. Starz puts loads of stuff on iTunes etc but it's usually no cheaper than the discs and with no extras or language options.
The first season of SAO is available for the price of a months subscription to Netflix or Crunchyroll. I would expect that AL will put SAO II up somewhere as well, hopefully Netflix to complete the set there.
 
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