I won’t bother re-iterating everything that was said at this year’s ‘State of the Anime Industry’ panel, especially since Toon Zone did such a bang-up job of summarizing it, but I would be remiss in not mentioning some of the high points.

Overall, the anime biz is not headed over a waterfall, but there is still much work to be done to re-vamp the business model in order to bring the industry back to pre-crash levels. Online access (read: ‘piracy’) has definitely had an effect, but as has been stated many times before, this level of fan interest can be harnessed to the distributor’s advantage if they’re clever and open to re-assessing old business models.

Here’s a snippet:

It’s no secret that CD and DVD sales in the United States have been dropping of late, and Kelts pointed out that anime has been especially hard-hit by the loss in sales. However, anime’s popularity has been rising, with conventions breaking attendance records almost every weekend — a fact reinforced by Sheehan, who said that 25% of the attendees of the FUNimation panel said it was their first anime convention. Kelts began the panel by asking the participants what they were doing in response to the loss of home video sales. Iyadomi pointed out that anime companies spent years developing a market for selling anime TV series on single-volume DVDs, only to be undermined when American companies started selling entire seasons of TV shows on DVD. This left them caught between a market that was rejecting single-volume discs for season sets and licensors who are still highly resistant to the idea of selling entire seasons of TV at once. Bandai has been trying to balance between price point and content that can still be profitable, like shipping 13-episode products in 2 disc sets.

Read the whole shebang here.

Normally I’m not too thrilled with live-action versions of anime (while Death Note wasn’t too bad, Tokyo Babylon 1999 was pretty wretched…still haven’t watched my live-action Dororo but I’ll get around to it soon). But I’m a huge fan of Mushishi, and I’m curious to see the live-action version (also, it’s directed by Katsuhiro Otomo!) and how it compares to the manga and anime. Luckily, our friends at Funimation have made it that much easier for me to see it!

Here!

Funimation did a fantastic job with releasing the anime, so I expect the live-action film will get a lot of attention from them as well. 2009 is going to be an interesting year!

FUNimation is gobbling up anime properties left and right, which honestly I don’t have a problem with as they have been putting out some seriously kick-ass releases lately. The latest toon to disappear into FUNimation’s gaping maw is Gonzo’s Kaze no Stigma, directed by Cardcaptor Sakura director Jun’ichi Sakata. Here’s the synopsis straight from FUNimation’s announcement.

Kazuma is a descendent of an ancient clan skilled in the magical Fire Arts. Unfortunately for him, the gift seems to have skipped a generation. Defeated by his younger, female cousin, Ayano, in a battle to become the clan’s successor, Kazuma is exiled with only the smoldering burn of failure to keep him company. But now he’s back, risen from the ashes and armed with a powerful new mojo that’s sure to fan the flames of the family rivalry. The cooler he gets – the hotter she burns, and when Wind and Fire collide, Tokyo is caught in the eye of the storm.

…and if you act quick you might be able to check out a few episodes at YouTube before the IP police start issuing takedown orders.

Rating:  

Before you read this review, in the interest of full disclosure, I should point out that I am not a vampire person. I think they’re way overdone these days. However, there are lots of vampire fans out there, which is why I’m a little surprised that Black Blood Brothers has slipped under the radar in America.

In Black Blood Brothers there are two kinds of vampires: the regular kind (think Anne Rice) and the Kowloon Children. The Kowloon Children are a recently-emerged bloodline; their point of origin is the now-deceased Kowloon King. Kowloon children differ from regular vampires in two significant ways: they can convert humans and other vampires to their bloodline simply by biting them (regular vampires have to convert people the old-fashioned way: by feeding them some of their own blood, and they can’t convert other vampires) and they exert mind-control powers over their ‘children’. Also, while the earliest generations of Kowloon Children (direct descendants of the Kowloon King) seem relatively reasonable, later generations are raving lunatics with one impulse: to chomp whoever is in sight and turn them to Kowloon Children as well.

Read the rest of this entry »

When Geneon went belly-up last year, one of the more prominent titles drawn into the vortex of license dissolution was Black Lagoon, the nutty-violent mercenary series adapted from Rei Hiroe’s manga of the same name. Well, thanks to U.S. distribution powerhouse Funimation, Black Lagoon is back in action, and I for one couldn’t be happier. In a market starving for good product, Black Lagoon is definitely a bright spot.

Season One is apparently already on tap, with Season Two - dubbed ‘The Second Barrage’ - on the way. Can’t wait…oh, and by the way, VIZ is releasing the Black Lagoon manga next week, so keep an eye out for that too…

Hey, Geneon…how you doing? Haven’t heard from you in a while. You know, ever since you shut down Stateside distribution of all your product. Sorry that didn’t work out. I’ve been wondering if someone else would pick up that ball and run with it, and it looks like someone finally did…I hear Funimation’s pretty cool. Anyway, L8r - I gotta skate. Oh - you’ve got a press release for me to post? Well, I’ll post the juicy bits - nobody reads all that extraneous crap anyway.

Under the terms of the agreement, FUNimation Entertainment obtains the exclusive rights in North America to the manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution of established Geneon titles, including Ergo Proxy, Hellsing Ultimate and Black Lagoon.

“Geneon is a strong producer, known for excellent production and quality of its anime series,” said Gen Fukunaga, president and CEO of FUNimation Entertainment. “We are pleased to partner with them and we are committed to the successful release of these series.”

“FUNimation’s momentum as the leading anime distributor continues to build,” said Yushin Soga, president and CEO of Geneon. “We are sure this partnership will only grow the prominence of our portfolio.”