The News Thread (for news that does not need a thread)

You know, I feel like locking this thread, as I think that all news would deserve their own thread.... And when even the big stuff gets posted here, it kinda kills the proper theads.

I might lock this later.
 
Rui said:
Joshawott said:
FUNimation have the UK rights to Higurashi, but due to the parties involved, it would be difficult to license.
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I believe this is mistaken; IIRC they said that FUNimation does not have UK rights to Higurashi (if they did, they'd be able to easily sublicense it from them). The problem is that due to corporate politics with parent companies it's not currently possible for Manga to license directly from Geneon in Japan who hold the UK rights (they didn't say Geneon, but that is who they were talking about). Therefore, if you want Higurashi, nag MVM or Kaze instead. They have far more negotiating power in this unique situation, and Tony of MVM directly stated that he found fan suggestions for titles interesting and that he prefers TV series over movies.
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FUNimation actually explicitly stated that when the license for Higurashi was up they let it expire, and more than that, it sold so badly they wouldn't even consider looking at anything else remotely like it. I wonder what's up with Liberty Starz and Geneon Universal? Kaze, which is part of the ShoPro empire, doesn't seem to have any problems getting stuff from other Japanese conglomerates, same for Beez which was Bandai Namco.

I actually dug the FUNimation quote out the other day, I'll see if I can find it again...

Sophie McNutt said:
Whey They Cry has expired and is past the sell-off period. It was the only WTC series that was a part of the original distro deal with Geneon. We renewed the titles that were part of that deal that did sell well. We let expire the ones that didn't. That inludes my beloved The Familar of Zero. :tear:

The WTC sequels and Umineko were not part of that agreement. We do not have the license to any of those series. Unfortunately, because WTC series 1 sold poorly, we will never buy the license to the sequels or any other title that bears even a minor resemblance.
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Shiroi Hane said:
I wonder what's up with Liberty Starz and Geneon Universal? Kaze, which is part of the ShoPro empire, doesn't seem to have any problems getting stuff from other Japanese conglomerates, same for Beez which was Bandai Namco.
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They actually explained this in detail at the panel (well, enough detail to figure it out without the reps actually ever fingering anyone specific). Starz has a problem dealing with Universal because Universal require that they share certain sensitive corporate information before they can do business with a company - part of their corporate compliance regulations. Because Starz see Universal as a competitor they naturally don't want to do this, and would rather avoid dealing with them entirely than go through the processes and reveal too much about their business. The Manga and Geneon arms are therefore unable to deal with one another no matter how much they might individually like to.

Presumably Bandai and co are less skittish about complying with Universal's requirements.

R
 
Shiroi Hane said:
FUNimation actually explicitly stated that when the license for Higurashi was up they let it expire, and more than that, it sold so badly they wouldn't even consider looking at anything else remotely like it. I wonder what's up with Liberty Starz and Geneon Universal? Kaze, which is part of the ShoPro empire, doesn't seem to have any problems getting stuff from other Japanese conglomerates, same for Beez which was Bandai Namco.

I actually dug the FUNimation quote out the other day, I'll see if I can find it again...

Sophie McNutt said:
Whey They Cry has expired and is past the sell-off period. It was the only WTC series that was a part of the original distro deal with Geneon. We renewed the titles that were part of that deal that did sell well. We let expire the ones that didn't. That inludes my beloved The Familar of Zero. :tear:

The WTC sequels and Umineko were not part of that agreement. We do not have the license to any of those series. Unfortunately, because WTC series 1 sold poorly, we will never buy the license to the sequels or any other title that bears even a minor resemblance.
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This saddens me, quite a bit, considering Higurashi is one of my all time favourites. I'm re-watching it, and even though now there is no surprises for me, I still find it quite enjoyable.

Glad Madman released the second series and I hope they can release Umineko eventually....
 
ConanThe3rd said:
Though it was Siren who did Higurashi Kai.
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Sure was. NIS America have Umineko coming out soon on Blu too.

Joshawott said:
So basically, no Geneon titles will ever be licensed by MangaUK then? Well, most of them tend to go to MVM anyway, right?
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Pretty much. MVM confirmed that they were fine grabbing stuff from Geneon (Kaze is supposedly able to do so as well).

R
 
The SLA twitter just linked to another new trailer for Eva 3.0, this time showing off a couple of new characters in it as well as a bit of everything:

 
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Siren Visual's new licences...

Fractale (I guess Manga talking about co-authoring with them at the Expo kind of rained on their parade)

Tiger & Bunny

Princess Jellyfish.

Looking forward to their Princess Jellyfish, as hopefully it isn't as frelled in the subtitle department and as low on extras as the Kaze release was.

All due in February 2013
 
reborn said:
Sentai have announced a few new licenses:
  • Say, "I Love You" - Simulcast and home video
  • Kamisama Dolls - Confirmed for a bilingual DVD and Blu-ray release
Glad Kamisama finally got picked up. :)

http://www.animenewsnetwork.co.uk/news/ ... -you-anime
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Well, absolutely delighted Say, "I Love You" got picked up, just about to watch episode 5 just now. I would be happy about Kamisama Dolls if it actually was getting a 2nd season, not much point in buying it when it doesn't have an ending.
 
ConanThe3rd said:
Persona 4 arena is not going to be released in Europe in 2012. This is as much news as I am physically fit. (Note: I am 20'5)
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As I said on GAF, I'll hold back on ranting about region-locking. I am still trying to figure out what needs to be done for this mythical European build. Certification processes are different here I know, but Zen have already said that they're not even bothering to get different languages other than English so I'm really struggling to see what the hold up is. But hey, Atlus/Index protected their precious domestic money so it's all OK! :roll:
 
*Instantly remembers his GAF account hasn't been activated yet*

Dammit, I made an account in September and they still haven't activated it yet. How long does it take for them to activate it?
 
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