Monday, January 30, 2012
Plans for Season 3
Well, we have less than one week left before the premiere of Season 3 so I thought I would give you a heads up on what my plans are for this year. First, is that I am currently working on redesigning the website. The new version of the website will be optimized for 1920x1080 displays, but video presentations will still be displayed in 854x480 widescreen resolution and I am currently trying to find a way to display videos on my site at 1080x720 resolution for higher resolution displays. Secondly, I plan to work on more extra material to the site such as shorts and skits as well as audio commentaries, voice actor interviews, and much more so look forward to seeing more of those. Third, is the topic of video game reviews. As much as I would love to do reviews on anime based video games, I haven't figured out how to rip video game footage onto my computer yet. I heard that I need a capture card in order to do so, but I am holding off on one until I can find a good video capture card for a reasonable price. I plan to start reviewing anime based video games in the future and hopefully we will start seeing those sometime in Season 3. Finally, a convention announcement as I will be returning to Anime Conji in San Diego from March 16th through the 18th so I hope to see you there if you are in the area. Well that's everything I have to say for now about what I have planned for this year. Hang on tight because the start of Season 3 is right around the corner!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
It's Official! The American Anime Market Is In Danger!
I decided to write this blog entry upon hearing the terrible news that Bandai Entertainment will no longer be releasing their anime titles in a physical format and give my honest thoughts on the subject. Granted, I would of loved to see this happen to 4Kids Entertainment in which eventually came to pass. Hallelujah! However, Bandai Entertainment was the last anime distributor in the U.S. I wanted to see quit and I never expected they would go. We now have four anime distributors that have gone belly up or quit in the U.S. anime market: Central Park Media, Geneon Entertainment, Bandai Entertainment and the only company to make it through restructuring: ADV Films aka Sentai Filmworks.This of course leaves us with only Sentai Filmworks, Funimation, Media Blasters and Viz Entertainment, the latter two more focus on manga then with anime.
So where does this lead for us anime fans? Well first off, expect much less choices for anime fans in the U.S. For example, if you were hoping for a Blu-Ray re-release of Cowboy Bebop or Gurren Laggan or perhaps a complete series box set of K-On, well, now you can write that off! This also leads to many new anime releases in Japan that may never see the light of day in the U.S. anime market. Poor Nichijo, I was looking forward to that anime! I was also praying for the day the Idolm@ster anime was going to be announced, but alas, it looks increasingly obvious it may never be brought over!
Also, less competition in the U.S. anime market naturally means that anime in the U.S. is going to become more expensive. Expect complete series box sets to go from the forty to fifty dollar range to sixty to seventy dollars or even more! In one extreme example, the Blu-Ray box set for Fate/ Zero has been announced to cost a whopping $500! Like hell I'm going to pay that much money for a thirteen episode box set! Pardon my language but, f*** that! I could buy a brand new TV for that much money!
And sadly, what this all comes down to is that it opens the door for more internet piracy of anime. Which of course means less money for the show's creators, less work for anime voice actors and much less for aspiring anime voice actors like me. It also means more lay offs and downsizing, and of course, may also lead to more anime distributors going bankrupt or quitting the U.S. anime business entirely and ultimately, less choices for anime fans in the U.S.; a continuing downward spiral.
What it all comes down to is that the U.S. anime industry has become a mere shadow of what it once was in the late 90's to the early 2000's and from what I have seen in these past few years, it may never fully recover. Bottom line, what a terrible, terrible way to start the year off!
So where does this lead for us anime fans? Well first off, expect much less choices for anime fans in the U.S. For example, if you were hoping for a Blu-Ray re-release of Cowboy Bebop or Gurren Laggan or perhaps a complete series box set of K-On, well, now you can write that off! This also leads to many new anime releases in Japan that may never see the light of day in the U.S. anime market. Poor Nichijo, I was looking forward to that anime! I was also praying for the day the Idolm@ster anime was going to be announced, but alas, it looks increasingly obvious it may never be brought over!
Also, less competition in the U.S. anime market naturally means that anime in the U.S. is going to become more expensive. Expect complete series box sets to go from the forty to fifty dollar range to sixty to seventy dollars or even more! In one extreme example, the Blu-Ray box set for Fate/ Zero has been announced to cost a whopping $500! Like hell I'm going to pay that much money for a thirteen episode box set! Pardon my language but, f*** that! I could buy a brand new TV for that much money!
And sadly, what this all comes down to is that it opens the door for more internet piracy of anime. Which of course means less money for the show's creators, less work for anime voice actors and much less for aspiring anime voice actors like me. It also means more lay offs and downsizing, and of course, may also lead to more anime distributors going bankrupt or quitting the U.S. anime business entirely and ultimately, less choices for anime fans in the U.S.; a continuing downward spiral.
What it all comes down to is that the U.S. anime industry has become a mere shadow of what it once was in the late 90's to the early 2000's and from what I have seen in these past few years, it may never fully recover. Bottom line, what a terrible, terrible way to start the year off!
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