@scott: yes indeedy, no dubs, as I said. Right Stuf did that with Victorian Romance Emma, too.

@scott: Oh, I agree entirely. I think that American anime companies’ insistance on dubbing everything bumps the time and cost it takes to release an anime too much. Certain series just don’t tend to appeal to dub fans. Though I thought Emma was kind of an odd choice for a sub-only release, though; since it’s set in England, it could have been a really interesting dub…if they’d picked actual British voice actors.

But MariMite? Too niche an audience to be worth spending the money, I’d think. Though it’s been out so long that the time isn’t quite as important.

For me this is a major announcement — I’ve been hoping to see this show licensed for a long time; it’s probably been at the top of my want list, though I’d just about given up hope. Though I take your point, scott and gia, that in the grand scheme of US anime licensing, MariMite is more of a niche title than an “A-lister”.

Having the first three seasons is even better news, and could be part of the major-ness (majorosity? majoracitude?) of the announcement, although part of the “major” announcement description could be due to the rabid fanbase that’s been persistently asking about it for quite some time. A dub would’ve been nice, but I’ll also agree that in this case the potential added audience probably wouldn’t be big enough to warrant Nozomi going through the expense of dubbing it. At any rate, great news to hear!

On an unrelated note — gia: did you mention in an earlier post that you’re in Portland? Do you know anything about the area around the Convention Center? I’m excited because I’m finally getting to visit Portland for a conference (hello, Powell’s!), but checking the hotel reviews, a number of people describe the neighborhood around the Center and the Rose Garden Arena as kinda iffy. Is it bad enough to warrant paying more for a hotel downtown? Sorry for the digression….