Rachel
I knew the Geneon/ADV deal was bad medicine when it was first announced in September. When Geneon laid off some employees a short time after the announcement, I wasn’t surprised, nor was I too taken aback by the two anime distribution companies’ decision not to merge.
When it was announced that Geneon was no longer distributing DVDs, it was a confirmation of that initial bad feeling I had. I had no idea what was going on behind Geneon’s closed doors to lead up to this series of events, but like a divorce or break-up that seems to come outta nowhere, this sad event probably was some time in the making.
When I asked Mochi about the Geneon issue the other day, here’s what our top news contributor had to say:
Mochi
As for Geneon, they are definitely out of the DVD business. However, it really depends on what Dentsu wants to do with Geneon USA. They will be posting a loss for the first half of this fiscal year (Oct. 2007 - Mar. 2008) due to downsizing their Geneon USA operation. Since they preferred to take a loss means that Geneon USA was probably operating at a loss with little chance of turning a profit for the foreseeable future. If they decide that it’s not worth staying in the North American market, then they will probably close shop once they have fulfilled all (or most) of their outstanding obligations. If they want to continue in North America, then they may turn to the Kadokawa model.
Kadokawa Pictures USA is essentially a licensing company. They license productions (both animated and live action) and sub-contract other companies to dub, distribute, and market. For example; they licensed The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, then contracted Bang Zoom! Entertainment for dubbing and Bandai Entertainment for distribution and marketing. Similarly,with Full Metal Panic! TSR, they contracted ADV for dubbing and FUNimation for distribution and marketing. As you can see, Kadokawa is not tied to one company for these functions and they don’t have to do this in-house either. This gives them flexibility to work out a deal with a decent chance for profit without the overhead of an in-house staff.
Speculaton by AnimeOnDVD.com and Robert’s Anime Corner Store seems to see this as a likely scenario for Geneon- unfortunate for former staff- but things can be cold in the world of business. If they decide to go this route, then Geneon can contract other companies to dub, distribute, and market the licenses which they still hold…otherwise these licenses will be in limbo for a while.
Rachel
Well, now that Geneon is down and Bandai is in a sorry state as well, it looks like we fans may feel the ripple effects before too long. One of the major impacts Geneon’s absence will have is the lack of Hellsing OVAs. Who’s going to distribute them now? Who else is going to feel the effects of this giant’s take down? Are any of you going to feel the pain or does this not impact at you all?
February 8th, 2008 at 6:11 am
[...] Geneon’s US demise this past October left a bad taste in my mouth. I figured a monopoly was the worse that could happen, but also that other unsavory outcomes were possible. Some fans had the opinion Geneon’s tanking was no biggie, while others who’ve seen this sort of thing before took a “wait and see” approach to the episode. [...]
January 14th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
@ Richard
Yes it can be frustrating. But to be fair, Geneon USA was just the North American distributor for the parent company, Geneon Entertainment, which is located in Japan. Two things happened at around the same time which lead to the current situation…Dentsu became the sole owner of Geneon (Japan) after Mitsubishi divested and the ADV/Geneon USA deal collapsed. Apparently, Dentsu wanted to streamline Geneon and made the decision to concentrate on the Japanese side of the equation. We shall see if they have any plans about the licenses still up in the air in the US.
As for Ergo Proxy, Geneon USA did complete that series. Last I saw, RightStuf!, Robert’s Anime Corner Store, and Amazon have all 6 volumes available.
Sorry for the delay with the reply…the new year has been quite busy for me.
January 8th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
It’s January 8, 2008 and I still can’t believe Geneon isn’t! I’m trying to fill out the anime series before they’re gone. ( sure, wouldn’t you know I just discovered Ergo PRoxy) Lets see if I have this right. There’s a business out there, where people stand in line to buy the products, some pre-order the stuff months before release, they have some of the best products and talent in the world and hold the licensing for viewing them. Yeah, now I see why they’re out of business. Now it makes sense????
January 8th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
It’s January 8, 2008 and I still can’t believe Geneon isn’t! I’m trying to fill out the anime series before they’re gone. ( sure, wouldn’t you know I just discovered Ergo PRoxy) Lets see if I have this right. There’s a business out there, where people stand in line to buy the products, some pre-order the stuff months before release, they have some of the best products and talent in the world and hold the licensing for viewing them. Yeah, now I see why they’re out of business. Now it makes sense????
December 12th, 2007 at 8:12 am
@ Gret
I believe you will find that AnimeNetwork.com and Vuze.com offer better quality videos. You may also want to look at ImaginAsianTV, since they stream some of their anime in subbed form…navigating their site is not as easy as the other two. I would suggest using their scheduling grid (Mondays and Fridays, I believe, are nights when they show anime).
December 11th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
@ Mochi
I will be sure to look at AnimeNetwork.com then. I have also noticed that Funimation, ADVfilms, and some Japanese companies have been using YouTude for advertising new titles. Thank you for the all the information. It`s been very educational for me in a lot of ways. Again, thank you.
December 11th, 2007 at 11:12 am
@ Mandy & Gret
As ICv2’s CEO has said, the current business model for DVD sales is breaking down. He has also said that, while the release of sets will reduce the per DVD cost, they will never be as inexpensive as the season sets for US TV series due to “the inherent costs of licensing, producing, and dubbing anime”.
The costs of sub-only sets will be less than the dubbed versions and some companies have released sub-only sets on lesser known titles. Perhaps they will expand this practice to other series, offering a “budget” line of releases and have the dubbed version as the premium line (value added, perhaps, with some extras). Using fansub translations should also help keep the cost down. Of course, there is a downside for the people/companies which provide the translation and dubbing services.
With the increase in high speed/broadband connectivity, an interesting alternative has started to appear. BOST TV, a Japanese company, is offering sub-only streaming (for rent and free) of lesser known series. Their goal:
“We want to bring you anime more quickly than before and titles that see little chance of a DVD release.”
Similarly, Vuze (formerly Azureus) is offering free, for rent, and for sale anime.
ADV is using its AnimeNetwork.com to stream some of their dubbed series for free (with ads).
It might be a good idea for companies like FUNimation (and, yes, ADV too) to partner with BOST TV and/or Vuze to offer sub-only versions of the titles which they license. They can split the licensing cost with the online service and offer lower cost DVDs to the public.
From what I’ve been reading, the next sticking point are with licensing fees. Apparently, the Japanese companies are unwilling to change their current business model and thus want to keep the current licensing scheme. This will limit how low US companies can price their titles…also, this will limit the number of titles they are willing to license.