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…

Japanese ad agency Dentsu, which owns Geneon Entertainment (formerly Pioneer Entertainment / Rondo Robe), has opened a West Coast bureau with an eye towards creating US-based anime. It’s first project is to bring the anime Deltora Quest to the U.S.

Branded as DCI Los Angeles, the group will seek to capitalize on the increasing popularity of what’s called anime in the U.S. DCI will distribute and license the programming, as well as produce it.

Yuma Sakata, senior vice president for DCI-LA, said the company will look to bring together programming expertise in the U.S. with top-notch anime talent from Japan.

“Working with Western partners in pre-production and then production teams in Japan for animation, we can create content that will appeal to a wider audience,” he said.

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.”