UK Anime Distributor Anime Limited Discussion Thread


This just adds fuel to the fire that Sunrise might move the Gundam license to Crunchyroll. Utterly fascinated as to what happened here that this isn't an AL release here.

It's hard not to get the feeling that after 7 years of barely priority releases questions are being asked.
Well bye bye white spine boxsets
 
I know it was traditionally thought that Gundam wasn't popular in the UK prior to AL getting the license for the franchise, but all their collectors editions seem to sell through pretty quickly, so its weird that the releases have become quite sporadic and it makes me wonder if its more an issue on the Sunrise/Bandai end than with AL.

I guess AL will have got a bit sheepish after the issues with the Seed Ultimate Edition and so they'd want to make sure Destiny was
absolutely perfect, but why that'd make them hesistant to just do a collectors edition of a different part of Gundam I don't know.
They have said that the big 'list' of Gundam stuff we were promised this year got held up by Bandai doing an internal shake up and no one getting back to them. But even prior to that (and I know, I've said this a lot) it's hardly felt like a priority for them. There was clear love for the early releases and those 40th keychains they literally gave away were not low quality at all. But for a good few years now it's never felt like a priority for them, in a way that sadly echoes when they lost the deal to do FUNIMATION titles.
 
Yeah, there was the name for Sunrise earlier this year to Bandai Namco Filmworks, and that might line up with contact becoming slower to AL.

Have still got my keychain and its still holding up on my house keys.
 
So now, what, we're gonna get Hathaway I from AL and II and III from crunchy? Ugh, annoying. Hope they had the deal for the whole thing.

@HellCat I don't think it's fair to say they were barely priority releases - in 7 years we got the original series, original movie trilogy, Wing, Wing movie, 0083, 00, 00 movie, Thunderbolt, The Origin, Unicorn, Turn A, Reconquista in G, Seed, Seed Destiny, Iron Blooded Orphans, Z and ZZ. That is a fu.ckton of Gundam. This is what comes to mind, I'm not sure I listed them all. All of them got the CE treatment at the very least.

You want it all and you want it now (kinda like the Queen song lol), and god knows I want Hathaway ASAP but they gave us a ton already (the most popular, too).

If they're not releasing faster and more it's probably out of their hands. They can't stop their other releases to concentrate exclusively on Gundam neither. (after all we all like cashmoney)

Lastly, no one can keep up with Sunrise/Bamco's insatiable appetite for selling plastic robots 🫠🫠🫠
 
So now, what, we're gonna get Hathaway I from AL and II and III from crunchy? Ugh, annoying. Hope they had the deal for the whole thing.

@HellCat I don't think it's fair to say they were barely priority releases - in 7 years we got the original series, original movie trilogy, Wing, Wing movie, 0083, 00, 00 movie, Thunderbolt, The Origin, Unicorn, Turn A, Reconquista in G, Seed, Seed Destiny, Iron Blooded Orphans, Z and ZZ. That is a fu.ckton of Gundam. This is what comes to mind, I'm not sure I listed them all. All of them got the CE treatment at the very least.

You want it all and you want it now (kinda like the Queen song lol), and god knows I want Hathaway ASAP but they gave us a ton already (the most popular, too).

If they're not releasing faster and more it's probably out of their hands. They can't stop their other releases to concentrate exclusively on Gundam neither. (after all we all like cashmoney)

Lastly, no one can keep up with Sunrise/Bamco's insatiable apetite for selling plastic robots 🫠🫠🫠
I have always understood they can't focus solely on Gundam. It doesn't change my opinion that in recent years the releases have been drawn out and in some cases lower quality. IBO was literally the Funimation discs down to trailers. NT had all the fun extras scrapped seemingly to meet a French convention date.

Stuff like that wouldn't sting so much if we didn't know what it looks like when AL push the boat out on a title. We're talking about one of the most important franchises in anime history. If you were to tell me the data says it just doesn't sell here, fine. I could well believe it. But as a fan it just feels like it doesn't have the consistency or priority it should. The US releases outpaced ours ages ago. If it were me, I'd be aiming for one full series and one OVA per year as a minimum.
 
Not sure if this has been mentioned or not but AOL have Memories listed as now releasing October 3rd though AL still have it listed as releasing September 12th so not sure if we'll get a last minute delay from AL or if it'll ship normal from them and other places will get it at a later date.
 

This just adds fuel to the fire that Sunrise might move the Gundam license to Crunchyroll. Utterly fascinated as to what happened here that this isn't an AL release here.

It's hard not to get the feeling that after 7 years of barely priority releases questions are being asked.
Hanners said on Discord each Gundam title has a separate license, so if they did try to go for it, evidently Crunchyroll outbid them.

As the main licensor for Gundam in the US (now that they have RightStuf), I wouldn't be surprised to see all Gundam titles go CR's way going forward, as it's easier for Bamco to treat the Anglophone world as one release, especially with Sony's aggro monopolisation of the industry.

Going to be weird having the franchise split over multiple distributors for home video though. As much as they haven't been perfect, I do like AL's releases for the franchise.
 
I have always understood they can't focus solely on Gundam. It doesn't change my opinion that in recent years the releases have been drawn out and in some cases lower quality. IBO was literally the Funimation discs down to trailers. NT had all the fun extras scrapped seemingly to meet a French convention date.

Stuff like that wouldn't sting so much if we didn't know what it looks like when AL push the boat out on a title. We're talking about one of the most important franchises in anime history. If you were to tell me the data says it just doesn't sell here, fine. I could well believe it. But as a fan it just feels like it doesn't have the consistency or priority it should. The US releases outpaced ours ages ago. If it were me, I'd be aiming for one full series and one OVA per year as a minimum.

I understand for a superfan that there are disappointing aspects to the whole thing, the disc contents for example.

Comparing the UK anime industry to its US counterpart will only frustrate you considering they are light years ahead (or feel that way) In terms of editions, licenses, variety, speed of release - it's a different level.

Still, maybe you'll be happier with CR handling the license!
 
Not sure if this has been mentioned or not but AOL have Memories listed as now releasing October 3rd though AL still have it listed as releasing September 12th so not sure if we'll get a last minute delay from AL or if it'll ship normal from them and other places will get it at a later date.
Yeah I would have expected pre orders for Memories to start shipping by now…
 

This just adds fuel to the fire that Sunrise might move the Gundam license to Crunchyroll. Utterly fascinated as to what happened here that this isn't an AL release here.

It's hard not to get the feeling that after 7 years of barely priority releases questions are being asked.
you know there is one way to inquire about what's going on. ask AL. i do appreciate that the last time i tried to ask a representative a question i came off badly and arrogant which i feel bad for as i really like that there are representatives from the industry on places like this as it feel's like it provides a real connection with the industry in a way you don't get with modern social media and have particularly loved AL's communication with fan's weather through here, mcm, or cloud matsuri.

it's with that i would like to politely ask any AL representative here do you have any plans to release gundam cucuruz doan island to the uk on blu-ray with crunchyroll handling the cinema release or as far as your aware are crunchyroll handling the whole thing?
 
i just realised, we really won't get our gundam seed destiny boxset's on the 19th because that's now been declared a bank holiday for the queen's funeral so royal mail won't be posting. typical.
thought i was safe from jashin getting delayed a week, now my favourite Gundam series got hit instead nooooo
 
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