Los Angeles born Japanese Pop singer Ai, who sings the ending theme “Utsukushikimono” for the new Berserk movie, has posted the music video for the song on her YouTube account. It gives us almost 5 full minutes of footage from the movie, which I will salivate over until I can actually see the thing myself. I hope someone licenses it soon. Someone who isn’t MediaBlasters, all things considered.
[Source: ANN]
Today Bandai Entertainment announced that it will stop offering new DVD’s BD’s and manga. From the news article on ANN
Bandai Entertainment, the subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings (USA) that handles anime and manga in North America, will stop offering new DVD, Blu-ray Disc, and manga releases next month. It will continue to distribute in its existing catalog lineup, but it will no longer produce and distribute new releases as of this February.
Instead, Bandai Entertainment will focus on licensing rights to other companies, particularly in digital distribution, broadcast, and merchandising. The company will be restructured as a result, and most of its contractors and three of its five fulltime staff members will be laid off. ANN will publish an interview with Bandai Entertainment President and CEO Ken Iyadomi on Tuesday.
Releases in Bandai Entertainment‘s current catalog will still be available after February, and Bandai Entertainment plans to produce new stock on these existing releases, if needed, until their respective licenses expire.
This really is a sad day for anime fans in North America. I love Bandai even with all of their mistakes they have made I still love them. My earliest anime DVD purchases where from Bandai. Hell for a while Bandai DVD where the only titles in my anime DVD collection before.
The closing of any anime licensing company is bad, but one such as Bandai, which has been around for a while, is especially sad. Therefore, the question that remains now is once their licenses for the rest of their shows end who will get the shows to license rescue. I am sure Funimation, Sentai and probably Media Blasters will pick up something in the future. The Gundam stuff will pretty much be a moneymaker for anyone so I think Sentai or Media Blasters will probably get them. I could see Funimation getting K-ON! in the future.
I will post tomorrow a more in depth look at Bandai and how they affect me as an anime fan over the years.
Rich Bantegui, Namco Bandai’s Community Manager, tweeted a link to the first English Tales of Graces f trailer. The game’s release date, March 13, 2012, was revealed at the end of the trailer. Tales of Graces f is a PS3 port of the original Wii game Tales of Graces, featuring new story content and improvements to the game. Namco announced the North American release of the game earlier this year.
Funimation release a trailer for its upcoming release of Princess Jellyfish, which will be out on February 28th as a DVD/BD combo pack. Along with the trailer, Funimation has revealed the full dub cast on its elite subscriber forums.
TSUKIMI – Maxey Whitehead
KURANOSUKE – Josh Grelle
BANBA – Mariela Ortiz
CHIEKO – Cynthia Cranz
JIJI – Leah Clark
MAYAYA – Monica Rial
CLARA – Lara Woodhull
SHU – Ian Sinclair
INARI – Jamie Marchi
KOIBUCHI – Charlie Campbell
NEGISHI – Jerry Russell
HANAMORI – Christopher Bevins
TSUKIMI’S MOTHER – Wendy Powell
Funimation announced theatrical dates for Oblivion Island in the Elite Subscriber section of their forum today. The film will be a part of the New York International Children’s Film Festival at the IFC Center on December 3rd, 4th, 10th, and 11th. Funimation also announced the dub cast, which is as follows:
Haruka – Christine Marie Cabanos
Teo – Cassandra Lee
Baron – Patrick Seitz
Cotton – Julie Maddalena
Mother – Julie Ann Taylor
Father – David Roach
Miho – Maki Terashima-Furuta
Elder Brother Soldier – George C. Cole
Younger Brother Soldier – Derek Stephan Prince
Vikki – Tara Platt
Decargot – Kyle Hebert
Picanta – Mark McCollum
From what I gather, this dub was produced by the Japanese producers before the film had actually been licensed, and would have been recorded at a studio in the LA area based on the cast.
