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

[NormanicGrav]

Zavvi have jumped the gun on some unannounced upcoming MVM titles (these probably would have been announced at MCM Expo):
> [DVD only] (SRP DVD: £29.99) 18 August 2014: MYSTERIOUS GIRLFRIEND X
> [DVD only] (SRP DVD: £29.99) 01 September 2014: KOKORO CONNECT

What I don't get is that Mysterious Girlfriend X and Kokoro Connect could have gotten Blu-ray releases here (Australia did, but it's probably because of Sentai Filmwork's AB discs). I know someone is going to pissed that Kokoro isn't given a Blu-ray release from what I've seen on the Facebook page.

Whatever their big announcement is at MCM Expo (presumably either "Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai" or "Garden of Sinners"), it's probably meant for Q4 release.

I would say Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions may end up being a Kaze title (because of Animax) but I wouldn't be surprised if MVM's surprise title was indeed that. Garden of Sinners is a movie series and MVM mentioned they're way too expensive to handle (despite the hints on Facebook).

 

[NormanicGrav]

(Info moved to post below)

 

[kuuderes_shadow]

Anime Central 2014 news:
- Crunchyroll has Princess and the Pilot, the movie that later spawned the Pilot's Love Song series. Territories and availability are TBC.

No it didn't - both series are adapted from light novels, and Koiuta was already completed before Tsuioku got adapted into a film. Tsuioku was the first one, though, but they're not really spin-offs of one another or anything like that either.

 

[NormanicGrav]

Anime Central 2014 news:

Crunchyroll Panel:
- Princess and the Pilot is coming to CR. Territories and availability are TBC.
- Karmen Rider and Super Sentai shows are "really hard to license"
- Crunchyroll for Chromecast has been announced.
- Ichi I: Origin (which I'm guessing is Ichi the Killer: Episode 0) is coming to CR tonight, territories TBA

Funimation Panel:
- Cast announcements for Senran Kagura and HAL have been revealed.. before the actual Anime Central panel announcement.

HAL English Cast:

CHARACTER – ACTOR
HAL – Chris Burnett
(Romeo x Juliet’s Romeo, Shiki’s Toru Muto)
KURUMI – Bryn Apprill
(Attack on Titan’s Christa Renz, Date A Live’s Kotori Itsuka, Red Data Girl’s Izumiko Suzuhara)
RYU – Todd Haberkorn
(Fairy Tail’s Natsu Dragneel, Hetalia’s Italy, Ouran Host Club’s Hikaru Hitachiin)

ADR DIRECTOR – Mike McFarland
ADR ENGINEER – Kenneth Thompson

Senran Kagura: Ninja Flash English Cast:

CHARACTER – ACTOR
ASUKA – Felecia Angella
KATSURAGI – Brittney Karbowski
IKARUGA – Alexis Tipton
HIBARI – Megan Shipman
YAGYU – Bryn Apprill
HOMURA – Monica Rial
HARUKA – Teri Rogers
MIRAI – Lara Woodhull
HIKAGE – Kara Edwards
YOMI – Trina Nishimura

ADR DIRECTOR – Jerry Jewell
ADR ENGINEER – Cris George

- HELLSING ULTIMATE IX AND X HAVE BEEN LICENSED AND IS COMING THIS FALL (for North America)

The news that Hellsing fans have been waiting for is finally here! Just announced at Anime Central, FUNimation has acquired the home video and digital rights to Hellsing Ultimate Volumes IX & X! The volumes are set to release in Fall 2014. Stay tuned for more exciting information!

 

[jonno394]

About time for hellsing Ultimate 9&10. I've long since watched them but can't wait to own them and watch them again.

 

[NormanicGrav]

Anime Central 2014 news:

Aniplex of America Panel:
- New announcement to occur that 'isn't Sailor Moon'
- At 21:32 (UK Time), they have started.
- Kill la Kill physical release and English cast will be revealed on the 28th May via Aniplex Live Show.
- At 21:43 (UK Time), now moving on to physical releases.
- At 22:02 (UK Time), they finally getting to the new stuff.
- Magi: Kingdom of Magic English dub is now in the works
- That's it. Probably saving it for the Aniplex Live Show.

(Updating as news follows)

 

[GolGotha]

Added Toradora to the calender. Will pick up Kokoro Connect for my brother as it looks like it's the sort of thing he'd like.

Also very very pleased with the announcement of Hellsing Ultimate. Hope Manga UK provide us with a artbox, hopefully with the old placeholder image as the cover, that was gorgeous.

 

[Joshawott]

The real question, is whether Kokoro Connect's UK release will include the OVAs, or if they will be released separately like in North America.

I am niggled about the lack of a blu-ray release, but it wasn't really a visual-heavy series anyway. I'll forgive them if they include the OVAs with the series .

 

[Animefreak17]

About f****** time hellsings final two came out

 

[GolGotha]

Thought some people may be interested in backing this

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/anim ... start-ups/

 

[Peachy]

Zavvi have jumped the gun on some unannounced upcoming MVM titles (these probably would have been announced at MCM Expo):
> [DVD only] (SRP DVD: £29.99) 18 August 2014: MYSTERIOUS GIRLFRIEND X
> [DVD only] (SRP DVD: £29.99) 01 September 2014: KOKORO CONNECT

And there are some street dates for some other interesting properties:
> [DVD & BD] (SRP BD: £29.99 ; SRP DVD: £24.99) 15 September 2014: FROM THE NEW WORLD - Part 2
> [DVD & BD] (SRP BD: £49.99 ; SRP DVD: £39.99) 22 September 2014: BODACIOUS SPACE PIRATES - Complete Collection
> [DVD & BD] (SRP BD: £49.99 ; SRP DVD: £39.99) 29 September 2014: TORADORA - Complete Collection

The Bodacious Space Pirates BD release is presumably the same as the Australian 1080i release as it'll be over 4 discs.
The ToraDora UK BD release is over 3 discs, as is the Australian release. No collector's edition for the UK, sadly enough.

I really hope the MVM representative asks his boss and the designer to rid all Q3 covers of:
- disc count labels on the spine (really important)
- and where possible also the BBFC logo where the box is going to be less than 2 cm wide.
And either way it'd be great to see clean reversible covers with Blu-Ray releases.

Also, my apologies to MVM Entertainment for firing the news-gun (but inevitably somebody else would have noticed before MCM Expo if I had shut my mouth).

For who's wondering, it looks like all of MVM's Q3 schedule has been revealed now. Given they usually only release one title per week.
Whatever their big announcement is at MCM Expo (presumably either "Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai" or "Garden of Sinners"), it's probably meant for Q4 release.

Interesting that Bodacious is getting a BD release, will be picking that up.
Kokoro Connect, I will get, would of liked a BD release but oh well.
Toradora on BD for sure.

Mysterious Girlfriend X ..didn't really expect that, all things considered :S Thought they'd pick up Little Busters over it.

---

Has it been revealed when the industry panel at MCM will be yet?

 

[Emulsion]

Good news about Hellsing. Hope they stick with the same English voice cast.

Kokoro Connect, I will get, would of liked a BD release but oh well.

If you want it on Blu-ray, why not get the US release, seen as it's A/B.

 

[NormanicGrav]

Some more details on Sailor Moon Viz release:
- Season 1 Part 1 includes episodes 1-23
- Available in Limited Edition Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack and Standard DVD, similarly to K's release

 

[Peachy]

Good news about Hellsing. Hope they stick with the same English voice cast.

Kokoro Connect, I will get, would of liked a BD release but oh well.

If you want it on Blu-ray, why not get the US release, seen as it's A/B.

Its the price difference, the UK DVD release will be half of what up1 are charging for the BD. Not sure if I can justify 40 quid for the show.

Though it's good to know it's A/B, if I happen to find it cheaper elsewhere so thanks!

 

[Emulsion]

Its the price difference, the UK DVD release will be half of what up1 are charging for the BD. Not sure if I can justify 40 quid for the show.

Fair enough.

 

[Agent-347]

I only realized earlier today, but the 8 September 2014 slot hasn't been filled by MVM yet. So there's still 1 slot in the Q3 schedule that's TBC from MVM.
I'll comment on anything Q3 later. It depends on how quickly I wrap up some other stuff I have to do and/or comment on.
Here are a few of my long overdue comments on certain "topics".

Kill la Kill's dub will premiere at Anime Expo in July

A tick in favor of Anime Limited. This news raises the bar of how much money I want to spend on Kill La Kill.
It'll be interesting for me to see whether I'll actually be going through the pain of collecting 3 parts of a series.
I didn't consider it worth it for Persona 4, Tiger & Bunny or Sword Art Online. No artbox, expensive for what they were and dvd-sized or ugly banner.

In the UK anime DVDs almost always outsell BDs when released in both formats so DVD sales are still a useful indicator of potential BD sales.

Well, Jerome said on a podcast earlier in the year if they took all their sales the split currently is 60/40 for dvd versus Blu-Ray, and Blu-Ray sales are only 20% of all their sales of 2013.
But both statistics clearly include really popular (mainly) dvd-only properties like Naruto, Bleach, One Piece and Dragon Ball.
So I wondered loudly what the split would be if they took those properties out of the equation (and mentioned @MangaUK obviously).
Quoting Jerome: "Good point. If u took those brand's DVD sales out of the equation, the DVD/Blu-ray split would be closer to 50/50. > Jerome"

While it still might indicate sales, and while dvd still outsells blu-ray initially, all releases of 2014 might be subject to outsell dvd in the long term.
And by "in the long term" I mean during their whole shelf life until the license expires after 5 to 7 years.

Are you aware that on 80% of all anime licenses we acquire for UK we have to adhere to strict holdbacks allowing the US distributor up top 6 months exclusivity on their release.

It's funny how nobody notices the word "allowing" (or consider that Jerome meant "up to" given his 'typos' in the past)... xD Just saying.

Jerome, sometimes just announcing a title, even if it is 6 months further down the line, is enough to make some people halt their importing of the US release.

This is one of my problems with Andrew not announcing anything surrounding Q3 (which has been "coming soon" ever since 8 January).

I'm keeping myself from importing certain titles in the hope somebody will pick them up (for re-release/upgrade).
And in general I like to have some time to think about whether I want to pre-order a title or want to get it later etc.

Andrew really has to jump on the bandwagon of "We have licensed *TITLE* with a home video release on *formats* scheduled later this year/next year."
I believe that with every announcement he ever made he said immediately when he wanted to see it in store. (I could be wrong though)
Escaflowne has for what I can remember always been a "Q4 2014" title for example.

Heads up to anyone importing Sentai's Amnesia Blu-ray!

A whole episode missing subtitles!

*SPITS OUT SOUP* You say what now?! Usually I (tend to) defend Sentai Filmworks, but this is QC messing up big time.
Oh yeah, what QC?! It's as if they only watched the dub then. Or only watched episode 1. Or the menu. Or an amaray case. Or girlfriend/boyfriend.

Mysterious Girlfriend X ..didn't really expect that, all things considered :S Thought they'd pick up Little Busters over it.

Little Busters part 1 was only released 4 to 5 months after Mysterious Girlfriend X in America, so all hope is not lost yet.

 

[robot monkey]

Some episodes of Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero have been given a 15. I'm curious to know how the other half of We Without Wings is doing for the BBFC.

Shows you that it's pretty darn pointless trying to second guess the BBFC's ratings.

@Agent-347

About your comment about not including the BBFC logo on titles, I was talking to someone in a shop that deals with a lot of discs & they were telling me they are told now they will not handle titles that don't display the BBFC rating, so that isn't going to happen. It doesn't matter what the rules say if the retailers don't want too know.

 

[Joshawott]

Was that a "they do not handle them because they personally don't want to" or "they don't want to handle them as it clearly means they aren't authorised UK releases"?

 

[Rosencrantz]

A whole episode missing subtitles!

*SPITS OUT SOUP* You say what now?! Usually I (tend to) defend Sentai Filmworks, but this is QC messing up big time.
Oh yeah, what QC?! It's as if they only watched the dub then. Or only watched episode 1. Or the menu. Or an amaray case. Or girlfriend/boyfriend.

From what Andrew was saying it seems like QC is done by the company authoring the disc, not the company that put it together.

Though I'd argue there should be QC prior to putting something to be authored. Yes you can make the company re-author if they messed it up themselves but missing subs sounds like it was bad before it got to that stage.

 

[Shiroi Hane]

Can I just ask what is your beef with Sentai's english dubs?. IIRC they use the former ADV people right?, when were they ever bad

Well, they are consistently the worst when it comes to pronunciation of anything Japanese (names like Aoi in particular).

What about the tiny & white subtitles that funimation forces down everyones throats (you know, the same subtitles that can't be read if the background is the same colour).

FUNimation have a much better typeface for their releases. I'd say the 2 companies are equally good with the cockups with Sentai leading the way slightly.

FUNimation improved the subtitles on their BDs at one point, after complaints about them being too hard to read.

Didn't realise the DVDs for Forte were Region 2 compatible. Guess this means my theory was correct and that the original Blu-ray/DVD release was supposed to be A|B|1|2 until Kadokawa stepped in and screwed things up for their 'importation fears'. I wish Funimation could of gotten the Region B rights for the Anime Classics re-release though, rather than just re-using the same discs.

Well, FUNi definitely had UK rights for Forte, for streaming at the very least, since they had it on YouTube (albeit alongside Crunchyroll which is where I actually watched it due to better quality and no ads).
Madman's DVD release of Forte was NTSC for some reason, despite the first series being released in PAL.

i also prefer white subs than yellow

Arguments over white and yellow subs can get almost as religious as sub vs dub.

Surely if Viz have announced this for the US, than the UK/European distributed will be Kaze?

Not necessarily, especially for a Toei title since they hold tight reins on their shows. It is of course possible that they already have the UK included with their existing European licences though.
Kaze is a sister company of Viz US (same as with Beez and Bandai Entertainment); they share a Japanese parent but nothing is automatic (well, outside of ShoPro stuff where they'd at the very least get first refusal).

Don't forget he has some rescue licenses as well. So hopefully one of them is an old title that was once part of (old) Manga UK or ADV, like Royal Space Force [I'm bringing this title up a lot because all signs point to Anime Limited].

There's still some of his Beez babies out there waiting to be reclaimed.

I've not seen We Without Wings so maybe things won't go the way you might expect?

I remember two things about the first episode. One: it was very confusing. Two: the little foreign loli who thinks all Japanese men are pedos, wears very adult underwear she is happy to show off and says something along the lines of "Do you want to put your monster in my kitten?".

Or maybe, Aniplex of America and Anime Limited have formed a deal, where Anime Limited distributes AoA's Japanese import releases in the UK? There would obviously be some hurdles (such as the BBFC) but if a deal like that was ever possible, it would be pretty darn cool. [/Won'tHappen]

It can't happen, unless the law changed with regards to BBFC logos on discs. Bandai Visual did it with stuff like Gunbuster, but that was an older show so the time taken to get a BBFC rating wasn't a concern like it would be for a brand new Japanese release. They only way they could do it would be to ship them from France like beez did with Gundam Unicorn. Actually, that's not an impossible scenario since All the Anime already has a French presence.

What I don't get is that Mysterious Girlfriend X and Kokoro Connect could have gotten Blu-ray releases here (Australia did, but it's probably because of Sentai Filmwork's AB discs). I know someone is going to pissed that Kokoro isn't given a Blu-ray release from what I've seen on the Facebook page.

Most if not all of MVMs BDs seem to be printed in Australia and shipped over (they have Australian ratings and Madman or Hanabee logos and SKUs on the discs themselves). Hanabee has now joined Madman in having in-house BD facilities that makes this possible. For stuff that already exists over there it could only happen if they did another print run with a new screenprint and that's unlikely to happen for stuff that was imported from the US in the first place, which is the case for the dual region Sentai discs.

While it still might indicate sales, and while dvd still outsells blu-ray initially, all releases of 2014 might be subject to outsell dvd in the long term.

Doesn't change the fact that the sales of a BD re-release aren't likely to overtake the existing DVD sales in the current market, so if those DVDs sales aren't all that hot, a BD release isn't going to happen even if there may be a few people who passed on the DVD and didn't already import from another region.