ADV just announced a bunch of shows available via Anime Network’s Video On Demand service. There’s some good stuff in here, including Boogiepop Phantom and the U.S. debut of the Gravitation OVA. ‘Read more…’ for the press release.

Read the rest of this entry »

Just read at Aint-It-Cool-News that ADV has ‘discontinued’ its Robotech lineup, as well as Best Student Council, Five Centimeters Per Second, and Innocent Venus. I’m a little stunned, seeing as ADV has held the Robotech license for about - I dunno - forever.

What with Funimation’s recent release of Shadow Chronicles and (presumably) whatever followup the folk at Harmony Gold come up with, one wonders if they’ll pick up distribution of Robotech.

We’ll keep you posted if anything develops.

UPDATE (4:12 PM EST) - Anime News Network reports that ADV’s de-listing of Robotech was a mistake; the Protoculture Box Set (containing all 85 episodes of the original series) remains in-print, although the single-disc and smaller box-sets are still discontinued. However, Five Centimeters Per Second, and Innocent Venus are still apparently kaput.

Damn, three obits in one day. That’s some sort of record, for sure. Thankfully, however, this one is for a magazine, not a person - the magazine in question being PiQ, which was supposed to carry the torch for the late, lamented Newtype USA.

A recent post on PIQ’s website sadly proclaims that the July issue (presumably available now) is to be the last.

It’s unfortunate that we’ll never get a chance to see how successful PiQ could have been, but a combination of low advertising revenue, poor business management and a lack of proper marketing and promotion all hamstrung the magazine from the start. We, the editorial/creative/production staff, did the best we could to put together a quality publication, but as we’ve discovered, without a good financial backing, it’s all an exercise in futility.

For those readers that were just starting to get behind the magazine, the staff of PiQ gives a hearty “thank you” to all of you for your support. To those of you who subscribed (or were formerly subscribed to NTUSA), more details will be coming soon.

To be completely frank, PIQ was fine for what it was, but it was a really odd move to try and fill Newtype’s shoes by catapulting off in some completely tangential direction. Newtype filled a very narrow, albeit deep, niche and PiQ was not in any way a panacea for those who mourned its’ passing.

ADV and Crunchyroll have teamed up to distribute Welcome to the N.H.K. to eager anime fans via the internets, free to anyone with a magic electronic pipeline and some free time. I haven’t seen the series myself, but at a cost of nothing what’s there to lose?

Full press release follows…

Read the rest of this entry »