According to ANN, a new US anime licensor named Illumitoon Entertainment Ltd has announced its acquisition of fantasy adventure series Beet The Vandel Buster and Beet The Vandel Buster Excellion. Illumitoon (which is founded by former Funimation executives) stated in it's press release "Already Illumitoon has acquired some serious titles, and is looking forward to launching DVD releases as early as January 2007".
New US anime licensors make a start
- Thread starter Mangaminx
- Start date
I'm not sure what to make of this company as yet. They sound a bit like another 4Kids but with at least some inkling of the anime industry and fandom. They have practically stated outright that they plan to "regionalize" (read butcher) the anime but they do promise to release Japanese versions. One of their statements posted on Anime on DVD seemed very defensive.
It could be very interesting to see how this turns out and if their plans to get more airtime for anime works out in the long run.
It could be very interesting to see how this turns out and if their plans to get more airtime for anime works out in the long run.
I agree with Gawyn in that they come across as a very business oriented, money money money organisation. Of course, fundamentally buisness is about income but still, its nice when you know a company (like say MVM) is actually run by anime fans.
Without wanting to completely rule Illumitoon out, I wouldn't be surprised if they were indeed closer to the older style of FUNimation; after all, once upon a time FUNi did do a "One Piece" on DBZ and a lot of these employees seem related to that era.
Without wanting to completely rule Illumitoon out, I wouldn't be surprised if they were indeed closer to the older style of FUNimation; after all, once upon a time FUNi did do a "One Piece" on DBZ and a lot of these employees seem related to that era.