Looking through my FUNimation flash drive (which contains their press releases for the con), I spot a title: “Geneon and FUNimation Sign Exclusive Distribution Agreement.”
Under the terms of the agreement, FUNimation Entertainment obtains the exclusive rights to the manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution of established Geneon titles, including international successes “Ergo Proxy”, “Hellsing Ultimate” and “Black Lagoon”.
The first titles due out are Hellsing Ultimate and (finally!) Black Lagoon: Second Barrage, plus Karin, Kyo Kara Maoh season 2, and Nanoha.
It sounds like they’re using Geneon’s productions of the series and FUNimation is just handling the distro– so what remains to be seen is whether FUNimation will do work for Geneon in the future– i.e. is this a rescue of Geneon’s current series, or is there hope for more work from Geneon in the future?
You can bet I’ll be asking Gen Fukunaga tomorrow. And if you have any questions on the deal, leave them here. The full press release is under the jump.
First Titles Scheduled for Release in Late Summer
FLOWER MOUND, July 03, 2008 — FUNimation Entertainment, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Navarre Corporation, and Geneon Entertainment (USA) Inc., a leading producer of Japanese animation, announced today their partnership to distribute select DVD titles in North America.
Under the terms of the agreement, FUNimation Entertainment obtains the exclusive rights to the manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution of established Geneon titles, including international successes “Ergo Proxy”, “Hellsing Ultimate” and “Black Lagoon”.
Among the first titles to be released includes the special edition of “Hellsing Ultimate”, directed by Tomokazu Tokoro and produced by Satelight (“Aquarion” and “Baldr Force EXE Resolution”).
Follow up releases include “Black Lagoon Second Barrage”, “Karin”, “Kyo Kara Maoh Season 2″, and “Lyrical Nanoha”.
“Geneon is a strong producer, known for excellent production and quality of its anime series,“ said Gen Fukunaga, president and CEO of FUNimation Entertainment. “We are pleased to partner with them and we are committed to the successful release of these series.”
“FUNimation’s momentum as the leading anime distributor continues to build,” said Yushin Soga, president and CEO of Geneon. “We are sure this partnership will only grow the prominence of our portfolio.”
Additional titles include: “Black Lagoon”, “Elemental Gelade”, “Fate Stay Night”, “Kamichu”, “Ninja Vixens”, “Paradise Kiss”, “Rozen Maiden”, “Rozen Maiden Traumend”, “Shana”, “Shonen Onmyouji”, “The Familiar of Zero”, “The Story of Saiunkoku” and “When They Cry”.
About FUNimation Entertainment
FUNimation® Entertainment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Navarre Corporation, is the leading company for Japanese animation in the United States. FUNimation is known for acquiring top-rated anime series from Japan and for being the market share leader for home video sales of anime in the United States. The company has a proven formula for launching and advancing brands, and manages a full spectrum of rights for most of its brands including broadcasting, licensing, production, internet, and home video sales and distribution.
About Navarre Corporation
The Navarre Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVR) is a publisher and distributor of physical and digital home entertainment and multimedia products, including PC software, DVD video, video games and accessories. Additional information is available at www.navarre.com.
About Geneon Entertainment A leading supplier of Japanese animation in North America, and the recipient of the 2006 “Best Anime Company” by the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation, GENEON ENTERTAINMENT (USA) INC., is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based advertising giant Dentsu, Inc. Geneon Entertainment primarily develops animation properties for release in North America on DVD and new media.
About Dentsu Inc.
Dentsu Inc., founded in 1901, is the largest advertising agency brand and the fifth largest marketing and communications organization in the world. Based in Tokyo, Dentsu offers national, multinational and global clients the most comprehensive range of advertising and marketing services through its unique “Total Communications Services” approach. Dentsu has pioneered and set global standards for integrated communications, which in latter years have been adopted by a number of major international networks. The group has more than 6,000 clients and 14,447 full-time employees in both Japan and in its offices overseas. Consolidated revenues for fiscal term 03/04 were recorded at $2,679,705 billion. Dentsu is publicly quoted on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (Code 4324).Geneon is a leading distributor of music and video content, including anime, Japanese and Hollywood films. It is part of the Dentsu group, Japan’s advertising powerhouse.
Tags: FUNimation, geneon
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:33 am
May the blog swarm begin!
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:43 am
My only question regarding this awesomeness is ‘WHEN? When will we start seeing these releases from the hands of the creators of milk and honey and cotton candy :D”
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:51 am
I think the most surprising title on that list has got to be The Story of Saiunkoku. Even though the show is awesome, nobody bought it when it came out here.
Here’s hoping that people spread the word and support these releases. It’d suck if everyone just decided to hold onto their fansubs because all these Geneon properties are now “old news” or whatever.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:52 am
Oh Joy! Finally, Rozen Maiden will be finally concluded. I’m so happy :3 Now I can pick up the dvd’s and put them in the box lol XD.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:57 am
CJ - I think the release said “Late Summer” Which I read to mean August or September.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:59 am
I’m wondering if Funimation is only going to be finishing the titles Geneon was stopped short of, or will they also dig into Geneon’s back library and distribute some of those titles.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:05 am
Oh, by the way gia…if ADV has their panel at AX…ask them what the #$%# their latest “suspended indefinitely” thing is about? I don’t wanna wait another 3 months on Kanon 6.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:07 am
@Niko: the press release lists series in Geneon’s back-catalog (e.g., Kamichu! as well as series that Geneon hadn’t finished Higurashi, Saiunkoku.
It does say “select” titles, so it doesn’t sound like they’ll revive everything. But I would think that the costs of keeping in print any title that Geneon had completed work on (e.g., Lain, Haibane Renmei) would be minimal, and they’d probably bring in a trickle of revenue.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:08 am
So are you gonna be doing your reporting mainly here then and not on animevice?
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:21 am
@dm: Thanks. Guess I should have paid attention more. Paradise Kiss is finished as well.
I guess I was meaning older titles. Specifically in my mind, I was thinking Tenchi Muyo, but since Funimation did the third Ryo-Ohki ova, I’m guessing a box set might be possible in the future.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:22 am
AnimeVice hasn’t launched yet, so it’d be a waste for her to not blog here.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:31 am
@jpmeyer: I’ve got Internets, so I’ll be posting here and not on Twitter. DMV’s right; AnimeVice hasn’t launched yet. :)
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:28 pm
@Josh: Well, thank you for pointing out something that was RIGHT IN THE TITLE, LOL. I completely fail yet again :razz:
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Some questions I have are…
1. Will Funimation work to acquire perhaps a Shakugan no Shana 2, the movie, or the ova licenses?
2. When will they potentially start releasing boxsets of anime that Geneon completed that Geneon didn’t release a set for?(fate/stay night is what I’m really wondering)
3. Will Funimation start work on the dubbing and releasing of Familiar of Zero or will Geneon?
4. Has Geneon started anything of Familiar of Zero to their knowledge?
5. Will future volumes of When They Cry begin to be released in the near future?
Hopefully you can answer some of these in one form or another. ^_^
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:01 pm
According to Rob’s Anime Corner, the American home video distribution company that was in talks with Geneon awhile back was Genius Entertainment. But when things went sour, FUNi entered the picture.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Flamehaze - #1 question is interesting since Geneon, I believe, already licensed the OVA, but never released it (I think the box of the series was supposed to come with it. Damn having no box!). So yeah, I’m interested if Funimation got that too AND if we’re getting an art box for it.
As for the movie and the second series - also interesting question since Geneon still holds the actual license for the first series.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Naturally I really want to know if they will release a box for the Shana dvds that I lovingly have and with the OVA hopefully.
July 4th, 2008 at 10:28 am
[...] is now talking about FUNi’s major coup d’etats: the 10+ Geneon titles and the 32 ADV titles (Gen says 34– are there more to hear about? [...]
July 5th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
[...] then there’s the new Geneon acquisitions, which you can get the list of here and no doubt next he’ll be listing the ADV [...]
July 7th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
[...] FUNimation/Geneon [...]