Funimation has announced that they have acquired the rights to the Mamotte! Lollipop anime, which they’re retitling Save Me! Lollipop. According to Japanator, it’s been set for a single box-set release for the end of 2008.
My regular readers might be wondering, “CJ-chi, why are you blogging this? Don’t you have spring anime to be covering? Why are you talking about a shoujo anime that you don’t care about? Heck, you don’t even know anyone else who likes it.”
Precisely. Pre-freaking-cisely.
What’s up, Funimation?! You’re bothering to license a little-known shoujo series based on a fairly unpopular manga? Funimation, for those of you that don’t know, has an excellent track record in the shounen-y action department, and has handled masterpieces like Fullmetal Alchemist and Full Metal Panic! TSR. Why the heck are you bothering to bring this brightly-colored girly crap stateside?
To prove that I’m not just a biased hater who hasn’t even seen/read the dumb thing, take a look at these assorted reviews and episode coverage of the anime. Not anywhere near impressive, right? Now check out the manga’s current Amazon.com sales rankings: volume one’s at #343,574 in books, and the latest volume (#6) is at #568,854. Compare that to Getbackers #23 (the latest volume) at #133,381, and the last compiled volume of DN Angel, #11, at #329,137. That particular volume of DN Angel came out a little under 21 months ago (August 2006.) Anime series can be better or worse than their base manga, but they’re often slightly (or a lot) worse. (The only anime I can think of that ended up better than the manga are Fullmetal Alchemist and Peacemaker Kurogane, though that first one’s up for debate.)
My point? Funimation should focus on something people actually care about. They could’ve grabbed Clannad or Shion no Ou, which would work since they also handled the dub for the similarly dramatic KimiNozo (Rumbling Hearts). They got season 1 of Gunslinger Girl, so why not season 2? I could’ve gone for a sub-only release of Mokke or Sketchbook ~full color’S~, even. Those two series have a broader appeal than most shoujo, so a sub-only release would still work.
But Mamotte! Lollipop? I just hope they don’t waste their money on a dub.
~CJ
My guess is they’re shooting for the younger audiance.
(I love all the negative coverage, it’s makes me lol, I kinda want to see this now to see how bad it is. xD)
because doing market research costs too much. like dubs, lol
Well… just my two cents here, but maybe they got it on the cheap. I mean if they’re releasing it as one box set, I figure they’re probably just trying to pick up some quick sales off of people who don’t know any better.
Plus considering they’ve got 27 percent of the market share right now, they could afford to make one mistake.
Three of the five “assorted” assessments you linked to were the same blog, CJ. That’s hardly searching high and low. Also, none of the blogs you linked are run by people in the show’s target demographic. That doesn’t make it good—just uninteresting to a handful of people. I’m sure it could be cool for a different handful.
>_>
Also, I object to any statements relating Clannad and Kimi ga Nozomu Eien.
I CAN’T WAIT!!
Personally, i lov this manga. Everyone is different, since im not a big fan of the ones you mentioned. But i dont diss them. U should take more opionins than the ones online written by a handful of people.