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NEWS: Bandai Entertainment to Stop Releasing New DVDs, BDs, Manga


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EmperorBrandon
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Joined: 04 Oct 2002
Posts: 2209
Location: Springfield, MO
PostPosted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 7:00 pm Reply with quote
StormSky92 wrote:
I wonder how long until the K-ON! license with Bandai ends? Should I get it now while it still exists for sure?

I would say go ahead and get it while you can, as there's no telling. I doubt K-ON! is one of their best-selling titles, and they have always tend to let niche stuff go OOP rather quickly in the past.
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EmperorBrandon
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Joined: 04 Oct 2002
Posts: 2209
Location: Springfield, MO
PostPosted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 7:06 pm Reply with quote
ArsenicSteel wrote:

It's an online thing. I think "cours" was said at a convention a year or so back and all of a sudden started popping up online as the cool guys decided to adopt it.
People rarely use it in casual conversation because it comes off a little pompous.


I like it, and I think others like it, because it unambiguously means a 12-13 episode unit. When people say "season", it could be that length or it could be something longer, like an uninterrupted "two cour" series of 24-26 episodes.
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RyanSaotome



Joined: 29 Mar 2011
Posts: 4210
Location: Towson, Maryland
PostPosted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 7:09 pm Reply with quote
ArsenicSteel wrote:

It's an online thing. I think "cours" was said at a convention a year or so back and all of a sudden started popping up online as the cool guys decided to adopt it.
People rarely use it in casual conversation because it comes off a little pompous.


Well, whats the alternative? Seasons? That can easily be confused when a show has multiple seasons airing at different times, but only 26 episodes airing in one season.

Its best to just have cour meaning each block, and season for when shows air at different times.
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StormSky92





PostPosted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 7:14 pm Reply with quote
EmperorBrandon wrote:
StormSky92 wrote:
I wonder how long until the K-ON! license with Bandai ends? Should I get it now while it still exists for sure?

I would say go ahead and get it while you can, as there's no telling. I doubt K-ON! is one of their best-selling titles, and they have always tend to let niche stuff go OOP rather quickly in the past.

That's what I figured. I was surprised when I saw that the K-ON! US sales weren't all that great. I had seen the series before online, and I really liked it for some reason. I was hoping to wait until a box set came out of the whole first season, but that seems unlikely now.
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ArsenicSteel



Joined: 12 Jan 2010
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 7:15 pm Reply with quote
I don't know what an alternative would be or what's *better*. I was just talking about how "cours" started popping up in English anime talk fairly recently.
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st_owly



Joined: 20 May 2008
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Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
PostPosted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 7:21 pm Reply with quote
I quite like it. "2-cour" sort of makes me think of a 2 course meal, which is kind of what a longer show is like. Or is that just my stupid imagination? Laughing
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GracieLizzy



Joined: 26 Sep 2006
Posts: 551
Location: Sunderland, England, UK
PostPosted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 7:29 pm Reply with quote
ArsenicSteel wrote:
I don't know what an alternative would be or what's *better*. I was just talking about how "cours" started popping up in English anime talk fairly recently.


Dozen, two dozen, bakers dozen, and.... bakers delight! Laughing Wink
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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 2530
Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey
PostPosted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 7:36 pm Reply with quote
I don't know what's worse: Bandai regressing like this or the people who are actually cheering what's happening to Bandai.

Granted, Turn-A Gundam was the only unscheduled title that interested me, but at least I will be able to get the second Gundam 0079 collection. It is a shame to see this happening to Bandai, though, as they did have some really good titles. With this regression, though, the R1 anime industry interestingly has become filled with independtly-owned companies or Japanese companies doing stuff themselves, i.e. no more companies that have "Japanese Overlords" behind them. In a sense, the Japanese seemed to have decided that it's better to try releasing anime themselves over here instead of simply putting money into a seperate entity that they don't have 100% control over. If a North American company wants to license and release anime then they'll license stuff out, but they're no longer willing to put their faith into something they can't fully control.

Also, there does seem to be some simple-minded business logic used. While Jerry Chu was more than likely wrong about Bandai's condition, in all honesty Bandai could make a profit yet still be suffering in the minds of Namco Bandai Holdings; Bandai could have made a profit, but it might not have been enough of a profit to please the Japanese. There's a distinct difference between simply earning enough & making big money. Considering how the Japanese do act at times, I wouldn't be surprised if Bandai was making a slight profit last year, but NBH felt that it wasn't good enough to make them worth putting money towards.

Honestly, wasn't ADV in a similar situation with Sojitz? Wasn't ADV actually doing pretty good due to some of their titles, but because not enough of them were big sellers Sojitz left them and took those licenses with them? The Japanese probably look at these companies like they're loans; they may make enough to pay back the loan, but if they still can't pay back the interest earned on the loan then it's still a bad deal for them.

As for the whole "Singles vs. Sets" thing, singles still earn more money on the whole than sets per release. For example, 13 episodes released on one set costs about, let's say, $50 while the same amount of episodes released across three singles costs about $90, or $30 per single (which is the usual pricing singles have received); these prices correspond to the overall costs the company has to make up. Effectively, for every set that sells, the corresponding amount of singles can earn double what sets earn. In other words, 13-episode sets have to sell double what the corresponding amount of singles would have to sell to make them even... And no one can honestly say that every title can make up that difference. Therefore, singles still have their uses.

And for those who honestly think that Media Blasters will be going under, you have to remember that anime is actually the secondary focus of MB. Tokyo Shock, MB's live-action label, is the real money earner for the company, with Anime Works, the animated label, being the secondary seller. Since foreign live-action films have normally sold better than anime, MB will pretty much be around for a while; hell, MB is releasing two Godzilla films, one of which hasn't had a DVD or BD release here before and another getting it's first-ever dual-audio release, and those two films will easily sell better than most of MB's anime. Also, it's live-action films that allows a company like AnimEigo to still exist, even when they're anime licenses are slowly expiring.

Finally, while Media Blasters also does singles, they're pricing singles at prices that effectively equal what it would cost to buy a set. For example, Bakuman & Squid Girl have MSRP's of $24.99, which total to roughly $50 when two sets, equaling 12-13 episodes, are released. That's roughly the same price as buying a 12-13 episode box set. But even if that doesn't work out as well as they hope, Tokyo Shock will still be bringing in the money.
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ikillchicken



Joined: 12 Feb 2007
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Location: Vancouver
PostPosted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 7:43 pm Reply with quote
XXghostface wrote:
Oh no it geneon all over again.


I'm gonna go ahead and single out this comment because it makes for a good jumping off point.

This is most definitely not "geneon all over again". When Geneon went under they were one of the biggest companies out there. For such a company to collapse was huge.

Let's be honest though, Bandai hasn't been a major player in the R1 anime industry in years. They absolutely were at one point but not any more. These days you see all of a few shows from them a year. Obviously it's still sad to see them go. You're never happy to lose a company in such a small industry. However, is this going to have any major repercussions for the industry? No, not really.

And really, did people not see this coming? The perpetual delays, the total failure to adapt to a modern model, the general downward spiral they've been in for the last couple years? It was only a matter of time.

Too bad about Turn A Gundam though.
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TnKtRk



Joined: 17 Mar 2011
Posts: 183
PostPosted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 8:24 pm Reply with quote
So Prophet Eric P. Sherman turned out to be right?

And everyone thought he was just being chicken little and crying

"The sky is falling, the sky is falling!"

I guess this time it did fall. Twisted Evil
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PetrifiedJello



Joined: 11 Mar 2009
Posts: 3782
PostPosted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 8:28 pm Reply with quote
Lord Geo wrote:
I don't know what's worse: Bandai regressing like this or the people who are actually cheering what's happening to Bandai.

Perhaps it'll help when you realize the latter was the result of the former.

TnKtRk wrote:
So Prophet Eric P. Sherman turned out to be right?

Uh, no. Eric's comments were similar to someone on the Titanic screaming "The ship is sinking" when its bow was clearly underwater.


Last edited by PetrifiedJello on Mon Jan 02, 2012 8:37 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Mune



Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Minnesota
PostPosted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 8:33 pm Reply with quote
Thinking more and more about this, I am happy and upset at this news.

I'm happy because a company that I didn't buy much from is going through a restructure. Their downfall, in my opinion, was when they released subbed only releases. I was still wishing for a dubbed release of My-Otome S.ifr. I gritted my teeth and bought the subbed only release, but had hoped that it would get the dub nevertheless. Special edition individual disc releases also might have been their downfall. $50 for 3-4 episodes, with 4-8 discs, it added up to over $200 for a single series easily.

I'm sad, because their won't be any more physical releases from Bandai. This being the case, they still might license anime for digital distribution, which I'm not too fond of. I like physical copies of anime rather than trying to watch it stream or by digital download. That way, I don't have to struggle with bandwidth. Internet speeds are not uniform and are restricted where I live.

As for the titles that I'll have to pick up before too long:
Scrapped Princess
Cowboy Bebop and movie
Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
Banner of The Stars I and II
Gurren Lagann movies
Infinite Ryvius
Digi Charat and Nyo
Arjuna
Kurokami
S-cry-ed

Nichijou is on my list, but as it sounds, I'll have to wait.

These are hard times, and I do hope something good comes out of this.
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Cecilthedarkknight_234



Joined: 02 Apr 2011
Posts: 3819
Location: Louisville, KY
PostPosted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 8:39 pm Reply with quote
Mune wrote:
Thinking more and more about this, I am happy and upset at this news.

I'm happy because a company that I didn't buy much from is going through a restructure. Their downfall, in my opinion, was when they released subbed only releases. I was still wishing for a dubbed release of My-Otome S.ifr. I gritted my teeth and bought the subbed only release, but had hoped that it would get the dub nevertheless. Special edition individual disc releases also might have been their downfall. $50 for 3-4 episodes, with 4-8 discs, it added up to over $200 for a single series easily.

I'm sad, because their won't be any more physical releases from Bandai. This being the case, they still might license anime for digital distribution, which I'm not too fond of. I like physical copies of anime rather than trying to watch it stream or by digital download. That way, I don't have to struggle with bandwidth. Internet speeds are not uniform and are restricted where I live.

As for the titles that I'll have to pick up before too long:
Scrapped Princess
Cowboy Bebop and movie
Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
Banner of The Stars I and II
Gurren Lagann movies
Infinite Ryvius
Digi Charat and Nyo
Arjuna
Kurokami
S-cry-ed

Nichijou is on my list, but as it sounds, I'll have to wait.

These are hard times, and I do hope something good comes out of this.


Same here bro I will need to pick those up, but lack of funds is pain in the ass "paying car payment, insurance etc or some anime" but I will find a way to get most of these series if I have to collect cheap online singles or box-sets.
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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 2530
Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey
PostPosted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 8:43 pm Reply with quote
Mune wrote:
Their downfall, in my opinion, was when they released subbed only releases.


Bandai releasing sub-only releases shouldn't really be a factor in their regression, since sub-only releases haven't actually killed a company. Instead, sub-only has let companies survive and even eventually flourish; for example, Sentai started off doing nothing but sub-only releases outside of their license rescues, but those titles doing well enough allowed them to eventually make dual-audio releases a larger focus.

There are numerous factors behind what's happened to Bandai, but I would think that them doing sub-only releases is one of the least-important factors.
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Guren Alchemist4



Joined: 22 Aug 2010
Posts: 347
PostPosted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 8:44 pm Reply with quote
Mune wrote:


As for the titles that I'll have to pick up before too long:
Scrapped Princess
Cowboy Bebop and movie
Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
Banner of The Stars I and II
Gurren Lagann movies
Infinite Ryvius
Digi Charat and Nyo
Arjuna
Kurokami
S-cry-ed

Nichijou is on my list, but as it sounds, I'll have to wait.

These are hard times, and I do hope something good comes out of this.


I believe the Gurren Lagann movies were released by Aniplex, but yeah, I'm going to have to move up the purchase of some Bandai titles as well. I still need to get the Haruhi movie and I've had the temptation of picking up Wolf's Rain for years now but never acted on it. I guess the time is about right to final add them to my collection.
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