Funimation had been seriously hyping up their New Year’s “New Show A-Go-Go” licensing announcement spree. They left clues hidden around their website for us to decipher, and promised a new show announcement every day for 10 days up until New Year’s Eve (starting on 12/22).
Turned out there were 12 series announced, but only 5 were actual new licenses. Naturally, even us math geeks are a bit bamboozled by that. Let’s practice our counting, kids~
‘Rescued’ Shows (previously owned by Geneon)
Ikki Tousen
Gad Guard
Vandread
Last Exile
Count of Monte Cristo
Gungrave
Samurai Champloo
New Licenses
Nabari no Ou
Oh! Edo Rocket
Slayers Revolution
Soul Eater
Evangelion 1.0 (movie)
Funimation sort of led us to believe that there would be 10 new, fresh-from-Japan series licensed during the past 10 days, so obviously some fans were disappointed (including me). However, I have to admit that bringing back so many Geneon shows is a somewhat daring move for Funi. Since some of the shows were older and had already been fully released, it’s safe to assume that anyone who cared about those shows had already picked them up. Hopefully the re-releases will satisfy the fans, though, as I know many people were meaning to pick up the newer series when Geneon closed its doors.
Anyway, Soul Eater and Evangelion fans were really certain that their respective shows were going to be licensed (C&Ds and leaked promo images, anyone?) but some of the series are surprises. Slayers Revolution was somewhat unexpected, though Funimation does have the rights to the previous series. Nabari no Ou and Oh! Edo Rocket were complete surprises aside from the vague clues provided.
And while I’m fairly happy with the licenses, there’s still a bunch of unlicensed series that need good homes. People were hoping for Kannagi, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Toradora, Shakugan no Shana II and countless others. I was personally hoping for Shion no Ou and Toshokan Sensou, but a Natsume Yuujinchou license would’ve been nice too. (Though it turns out Crunchyroll got some sort of distro deal for that one, more on that here.)
I’m glad I didn’t place any bets on a Fullmetal Alchemist 2 pre-license. ^_^;; That would’ve been fabulous, but I guess we can still keep our hopes up as its air date grows closer.
~CJ
Last Exile is a brillant move, the show was very popular, and there are many fans(myself included) wanting the boxset. Count of Monte Cristo is nice too, fabulous series, though I wonder how much success can really happen with that. However, I’m a little disappointed too. Someone rescue Haibane Reimei please.
The whole “new show” deal on the part of FUNimation is something I never once believed meant “all previously unlicensed announcements.” Now that FUNimation is in the license rescue market combined with the clues that indicated that there would be at least several rescues, I figured a 5 and 5 kind of deal, but all would be new to FUNimation.
Now, of the seven titles that weren’t new to the R1 market, the thing that most interested me is that only two of them are distribution deals for FUNimation whereas the rest are free and clear of Geneon. That means that IF FUNimation wanted, they could make new subtitles, new dubs, etc. for those five titles (though I don’t expect any of that). I like it that FUNimation is not just performing distribution for Geneon, but getting complete licenses removed from Geneon’s control.
I speculated on my blog about Evangelion 1.0 being held by FUNimation — assuming the title does well for FUNimation (which I think is a safe bet), would FUNimation be interested in trying to help get the live-action title up and running?
Well, I guess my view on shows they missed are…they can’t get everything at once. While I certainly had a priority level for certain shows (particularly SnSII), I’m sure they’ll still have plenty of announcements through the year.
I guess I am confused why Funimation hasn’t rescued titles like Chobits, Ai yori Aoshi, and Haibane Renmei (among others), though perhaps there are complications we don’t know about in regards to those titles *shrugs*
Don’t forget that there are new fans every year. When I first became an anime fan, one of the things I did was read review sites and seek out older series that sounded interesting. With things like Haibane Renmei, Serial Experiments Lain and Trigun out of print, that’s hard to do. For Funimation, there’s little down-side to rescuing a Geneon title — the trickle of mail-orders over the course of several years will pay for the rebranding.
I think Funimation got about the right mix of old and new shows with their end-of-year annoucement spree. Don’t forget, there’s a whole year of cons in which to make really big annoucements.
The only thing I’m really surprised here was the fact that FUNimation managed to get a hold of the Evangelion 1.0 movie licence when I felt that ADV was more likely to obtain it given how they got the series.
What I was really hoping for was a rescue of Rozen Maiden so I could finally get the series on disc. As long as it had good subs I’d even be find with importing it from the US.
Rozen Maiden has been rescued.
I own the Funimation boxset and they’re releasing season 2.