FUNimation Now Owns Every Anime Ever
…Sure seems like it, anyway. ADV may have said they weren’t sure what was going to happen to their Sojitz titles, but FUNimation sure does– I just got a press release (after the jump) announcing that FUNi has been “awarded” the rights to 32 former ADV titles like Kanon, Welcome to the NHK, and The Wallflower.
Yes, I’ll be asking for more details in my interview with Gen, like whether for unfinished series like Kanon and Wallflower they’ll keep the same cast and start releasing where ADV left off or not. (I’d presume so, because frankly it’d be a lot of work to do anything differently, but ya never know.)
But once again– don’t go jumping onto the “ADV is dead!” bandwagon; these are the losses from their deal with Sojitz. They mentioned have 23 licenses that could still happen, and they’re still hoping to push forward with their manga. So: omedetou, FUNi, and ganbatte, ADV!
And of course, feel free to leave even more questions about the whole thing and I’ll do what I can to get them answered. Here’s the full press release, which includes the full list of titles.
Sojitz’s ARM Corporation Transfers Rights to More Than 30 Titles
FLOWER MOUND, TX, July 4, 2008 — FUNimation Entertainment, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Navarre Corporation, and the ARM Corporation, announced today their agreement to transfer ARM’s interest in select series to FUNimation. FUNimation Entertainment will distribute and release these DVD titles in North America and other territories around the world.
Under the terms of the deal, FUNimation Entertainment obtains varied rights to these titles including home video, broadcast, digital and merchandise to such international successes as “Devil May Cry” and “Guyver: The Bioboosted Armor TV”. The complete list of acquired titles follows below:
009-1
Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy
Air Gear
Air movie
Air TV
Blade of the Phantom Master
Comic Party Revolution
Coyote Ragtime Show
Devil May Cry
Guyver: The Bioboosted Armor TV
Jing, King of Bandits: Seventh Heaven
Jinki:Extend
Kanon
Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora
Le Chevalier D’Eon
Magikano
Moeyo Ken TV
Moonlight Mile
Murder Princess
Nerima Daikon Brothers
Pani Poni Dash!
Project Blue Earth SOS
Pumpkin Scissors
Red Garden
Sgt. Keroro 1st & 2nd
Tokyo Majin
UFO Princess Valkyrie
Utawarerumono
Venus Versus Virus
The Wallflower
Welcome to the NHK
Xenosaga
“We are very enthusiastic about these titles,” said Gen Fukunaga, president and CEO of FUNimation Entertainment. “Not only are these excellent series, but they also fuel FUNimation’s major initiatives in social networking, the FUNimation Channel and internet VOD. These new titles cement FUNimation as the leading anime provider for television broadcast and legitimate online content. These shows allow us to increasingly provide the best anime to our fans on their own terms.”
FUNimation Entertainment will begin releasing ARM titles later this year.
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 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 http://www.navarre.com.
About ARM Corporation
The ARM Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japanese Contents Investment LPC (JCI) and formed by the Sojitz Corporation and other partners, was established to support the overseas licensing and distribution of Japanese anime.
Sojitz is engaged in the investment of content creation, with a focus on Japanese animation, and its export and sale in overseas markets. The company currently handles over 100 anime titles in more than 30 markets worldwide.
I guarantee the status of those 23 titles ADV wants are simply ADV begging if they can have them for free. If the Japanese deign to reply, it will be to say “no.”
Hmmmm… If you get a chance, can you ask if ADV’s looking at licensing Shion no Ou, Sky Girls or Clannad? Of course, they might not be allowed to say, ne? ^_^; But it’d be worth a shot. Thanks~!
Holy smokes! THey even got Sgt Frog! Hopefully Funi will finally release this ASAP! Woot
Funimation is really cleaning up this week. I guess those assumptions that Funimation might buy ADV weren’t that far off.
[...] 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? [...]
I wonder if ADV tried to keep as many of their good selling series as they could (5 Centimeters per Second, Kurau, Innocent Venus) just so they could get SOME amount of income.
I guess also, if there is an ADV series that you want to buy, and they’ve released a thinkpack for it, buy it now since both 1) one doesn’t know how long ADV will be around (regardless of their statements of health), and 2) that’s about their only stream of income for the time being.
*giggles incessantly at headline*
Whoa. Funimation really does have everything now. At least everything I’m interested in…except a few things that belong to Bandai, but seriously. Wow.
I feel bad for ADV, but as long as my anime is still getting released I am a happy camper.
[...] acquisitions, which you can get the list of here and no doubt next he’ll be listing the ADV titles…yup. He also gave us a full list, which ended in “the cake is a lie,” and then [...]
[...] FUNimation/ADV [...]
Any new news about Kanon dvd 6? I mean, it was so close to being done! It was supposed to be release on the first!