Geneon USA “Exits” Stage…Wrong
Dated: 26 Sep 2007
Isn’t it amazing how everyone is suddenly saying that Geneon is “exiting” the U.S. anime industry, and then saying that they’re going to be like Kadokawa Pictures U.S.A in that they’ll license series and outsource the rest (a comparison I made last week, I might add)?
Now, look at this logically. If Geneon USA is “exiting” the U.S. anime industry by taking on the role of just-licensor, then doesn’t that make Kadokawa Pictures U.S.A. not in the U.S. anime industry at all, since that’s all they’ve ever done?
Really, people. Geneon USA is scaling back their role, admittedly a LOT. They aren’t disappearing into oblivion just now, however. Calm down.
Tags: geneon-usa, kadokawa-pictures-usa
September 26th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Yeah, a lot of the forums are going apocalyptic at the moment regarding this. I have to admit that I have gone out and ordered most the old or unpopular catalogue titles I’ve been delaying picking up (and by that I mostly mean hangovers from the Pioneer days), as a lot of those are likely to disappear regardless, but ultimately this earth-shattering news we’ve had today doesn’t even tell us anything we didn’t know last week.
It’s still a wait and see situation as regards to what’s happening with Geneon, ultimately. Press releases rarely tell you anything, and it’s clear that their plans have at least taken a few knocks recently. We probably won’t really know what form they’ll be taking in the future for at least another month or so either. It’s no use getting worked up about it until we have some actual facts on the matter.
September 26th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
It’s probably not a bad bet to pick up stuff– especially older and/or less popular items. Even if they stick around, and even if they continue to have new copies of some titles printed by other companies, odds are good it’ll only be for their most popular series.
But I’m certainly not ready to write them off entirely just yet.
September 26th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
I used the “Geneon Exiting the American Anime Industry” on my blog mostly to get people to read my blog. The first time I saw the news was from AnimeNation and that is how they titled it.