Is the US anime market crashing?

[shinesman_cobalt]

Well, as many of you have probably heard, Geneon has annouced that they will be shutting down their US branch, effectivly putting all of their domestic DVDs out of print and cancelling any unfinished series, such as Hellsing Ultimate and Fate/stay night. My feelings is that this is only the begining. Things are jsut gonna snowball from this point until the entire US anime market crashes and no one releases DVDs anymore.

Since the fansub community what is, I'm not afraid very of not being able to get my anime fix. However I am a little annoyed at this, as collecting anime DVDs is one of my hobbies. It also annoys me that some of the series Geneon was releasing will get cut short. I mean, it was an announcment made with no warning to those purchasing their products and Geneon showed no sign of closing before now. They even annouced some titles they had licneced jsut before this announcment, such as Zero no Tsukaima. What will happen to this and other titles they hadn't even started releasing yet is still unknown. I am also a little concirned about the future. What does this mean for the domestic anime market? Will other companies follow suit and up and shut down? Will more series be cancelled half way through production?

Anyone who buys anime dvds is welcome to discuss this.

You can read more about Geneon's announcment here: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-09-26/geneon-usa-to-cancel-dvd-sales-distribution-by-friday

[ThroneofDravaris]

Wow, guess I had better go out and buy what I can of Hellsing Ultimate while it's still around.

This news couldn't be more depressing.

[Mr. Tines]

That there was something adrift with Geneon USA was apparent when they announced a distribution deal with ADV, then backpedalled.

Looking at their prices, and comparing them with other distributors (like the insanely good prices for Media Blasters' upcoming release of Simoun), I suspect that they had paid over the odds for licenses that weren't repaying the investment and weren't getting the margins they needed to cover the financing.

I guess it would be wishful thinking to hope that MB would pick up Nanoha for their Yuri Fan line -- I suspect that it is a much more expensive property than Simoun.

[shinesman_cobalt]

Geneon was the most expensive distrubutor, since they had very few thinpaks and a lot of their stuff clocked in at over $150

[BrikHaus]

Geneon sucked. For years I've said that their terrible business practices would eventually cause their own demise. It looks like it finally happened. I can't see the same thing happening to the other companies, though. It really seems more like an isolated incident.

[CitizenGeek]

Well, I'm in Ireland and Geneon don't have a UK/Ireland wing, so the company's demise doesn't directly affect me. A lot of people on ANN are making a big fuss over this, but it's hard for me to see why. In any case, the only Geneon anime I owned was the awesome Heat Guy J and that was released by Manga Ent. over here.

I think profits for the likes of ADV and FUNimation and Manga Ent. are only going up, so I can't see the rest of 'em following in Geneon's footsteps.

[THE Hal E. Burton 9000]

What Brik-kun said!

I'm sure people are pissed about Hellsing Ultimate being left "up in the air" like that. I'm sure either Mangle, FUNnimation or ADV will pick up the North American distribution rights to whatever Geneon left in its wake, which is a whole lot apparently.

Here's one list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneon#Anime_licensed_by_Geneon_for_North_American_distribution

The bidding war for all that will be very bloody.

[BobBQ]

Screw Hellsing Ultimate, what's going to happen to Black Lagoon?

[CorporalChaos]

Or Higurashi...

Dammit, that was the next show I was going to start getting on DVD.

[shinesman_cobalt]

Or Higurashi...

Dammit, that was the next show I was going to start getting on DVD.

That show was forged in the darkest recesses of the human soul. XD

The bidding war for all that will be very bloody.

Yeah, I was hoping some other companies would pick up the rights to some of those dropped series. We'll just have to see if that happens.

[THE Hal E. Burton 9000]

<snip> Yeah, I was hoping some other companies would pick up the rights to some of those dropped series. We'll just have to see if that happens.

There are some pretty big titles that are/were under the Geneon banner. So I would be willing to bet there will be some major cash thrown around over them.

[chee]

The industry as a whole isn't going anywhere. It's just one company that went down.

When Carolco Pictures went out of business, it didn't mean the whole American movie industry was going to go "poof".

All the people that are freaking out and spouting "OMG TEH NORHT AMARICAN AMINOO INUDSTREE R DIEING!!" need to chill out.

[THE Hal E. Burton 9000]

I blame the Federal Reserve for this mess.

Kidding!

[chee]

Screw Hellsing Ultimate, what's going to happen to Black Lagoon?

I hear you. Sure, I watched it on fansubs, which makes me Evil Anti-Capitalist Infant-Soul-Devouring Devil Bastard Scum, but it's an awesome show, therefore I definitely hear you.

[BrikHaus]

The bidding war for all that will be very bloody.

I don't think all of it will be relicensed by other companies. Sure, some big name titles like: Akira, Ai Yori Aoshi, Black Lagoon, Ergo Proxy, Gankutsuou, Hellsing Ultimate, Last Exile, Mahoromatic, R.O.D., Lain, Tenchi, Trigun, and Samurai Champloo will get picked up pretty fast. Most of their other titles are niche, though, and niche titles inside an already niche market isn't necessarily a good thing. Some of those may never see the light of day again.

[shinesman_cobalt]

The bidding war for all that will be very bloody.

I don't think all of it will be relicensed by other companies. Sure, some big name titles like: Akira, Ai Yori Aoshi, Black Lagoon, Ergo Proxy, Gankutsuou, Hellsing Ultimate, Last Exile, Mahoromatic, R.O.D., Lain, Tenchi, Trigun, and Samurai Champloo will get picked up pretty fast. Most of their other titles are niche, though, and niche titles inside an already niche market isn't necessarily a good thing. Some of those may never see the light of day again.

I'm jsut worried about the stuff that didnt get finished. All their older stuff is already done and one the market. One could easily find a lot of it used on the interwebs.

[CorporalChaos]

The bidding war for all that will be very bloody.

I don't think all of it will be relicensed by other companies. Sure, some big name titles like: Akira, Ai Yori Aoshi, Black Lagoon, Ergo Proxy, Gankutsuou, Hellsing Ultimate, Last Exile, Mahoromatic, R.O.D., Lain, Tenchi, Trigun, and Samurai Champloo will get picked up pretty fast. Most of their other titles are niche, though, and niche titles inside an already niche market isn't necessarily a good thing. Some of those may never see the light of day again.

Not seeing Higurashi on that list makes me :(

[chee]

That's right; Geneon had Akira!

(Weeps for Akira virgins everywhere)

[Timesplitter 01]

What's going to happen to Hellsing Ultimate :cry:

[EvaCub]

That's right; Geneon had Akira!

(Weeps for Akira virgins everywhere)

Akira, FTW
i saw that when I was ten
love that movie
CLASSIC AWESOMENESS
plus that is resposible foe keeping me intrested long enough to run into eva