Bandai Entertainment Delays Some Titles

It's not Bandai, but apparently Media Blasters is delaying some titles as well. Sadly, it looks like this sort of thing will only get more commonplace, especially since stores aren't carrying anime anymore (or at least not to the same extent as before).
 
Yeah. Code Geass is the best DVD release BEI has ever done. The extras are honestly worth the money for people who care: manga, an OST, the sound dramas? I almost feel bad I went for the economical approach, but even then you aren't left out to dry since the "episodes only" release at least has the picture dramas included. They didn't have to do that, but they did. A release like this can't be done for just anything, but the key point is that everything they have to offer is substantial. Completely unlike the Lucky Star shirts. More than a few Lucky Star supporters have lamented the state of the LE's but commented that they never actually used the shirts in question. If that's how the collector often feels, how about the rest of the market and the part of the fandom that wants to be frugal?

So, Geass' release was awesome. Gurren Lagann's release is also respectable, albeit with fewer addons to package in. I don't blame them for that though, it would've been insane to delay it for something like Parallel Works given how long fans were already waiting for it. They also got very smart offering economical releases for shows like Toward the Terra and that upcoming Ghost Slayers Ayakashi show. Just...not for Lucky Star, which is going to need an Anime LegenRAB release sooner rather than later. At the very least, I think we'll PROBABLY avoid a GSD-style release for 00. They just can't afford to do it. It remains to be seen whether they make it like Geass and GL, or take it up a notch and release half a season at a time like what Funi has been starting to do. But the two-tier marketing strategy seems very smart to me. I think they mostly got it right in 2008, they just have to STAY that way and follow the road that they're on to its logical endpoint.



Well, Samurai 7 is 26 episodes, and Funi's Blu-Ray release is listed as having three discs. So presumably, you can have about 8-9 episodes while still delivering quality that's superior to DVD.

If BEI actually did Blu-Ray for 00, I think I would have to buy a Playstation 3 for that. I'm not actually kidding. However, I don't expect it right away, especially given the current state of things--they'll probably want to make sure there's a market first. It's a much bigger undertaking than just committing a substantial feature film to HD.



Now that I find surprising, given that even their cash cow (Voltron) is getting delayed.
 
Funi is also releasing Tsubasa RC season one on Blu-Ray.

I think Bandai would be blowing it if they DON'T release a Blu-Ray set of some sort sometime soon for Gundam 00. It's their most approachable property they have right now, it's dealing with subject matter that is appealing to a mainstream audience, it's an action show, and it's originally shot in HD.

If they continue to take their sweet time getting the blu-ray discs out there, I think it would be a huge mistake. Plenty of people with HDTVs and Blu-Ray players who are thirsty for content.
 
I tend to agree, I just don't know if a simultaneous release is really realistic given the state of the economy. I would certainly like to see it happen sometime this year. I would support it.
 
A Destiny rehash definetly neeRAB to be avoided at all costs. I know it was released like that in the hopes of earning back the very high licensing fee they were forced to pay, but it killed any real interest. I only kept up with it because I was completist and really it was like "Oh, latest Destiny release arrived" *shoves into art box, carries on with life*

I have a greedy reason to not fully support 00 on Blu-Ray: I'm not sure what region free coding is possible and more importantly I don't have a Blu-Ray player. If they want to offer us both togethor or seperate releases, that'd be great. Although BV in Japan already milked it by releasing all of season one on DVD and only then announcing a Blu-Ray release. I'd hate to see them try that overseas and with Gundam already on rocky ground it'll just damn them with international audiences more than their other antics already have.

My ideal 00 release would contain about 13 episodes each, translated 00F and 00P volumes and a dub cast recording of the audio dramas.
 
And an OST for both volumes. I'm sorry, but Kenji Kawai's tunes are not to be missed.

Speaking of which, I wish it was the 2-disc GL OST getting released, not BEST SOUND. In all honesty, BEST SOUND is a bit of a ripoff.
 
Is it really worth them bothering getting the rights to include the soundtrack as a free bonus item? You can get the OSTs at any convention or import shop.

Seems not really worth the money they'd have to spend to do that, plus the extra cost to the consumer (which, considering the shaky economy and industry, is always risky).

At this point, it seems like the less they have to do to get the DVRAB out there for cheaper, the better. We're lucky if they release it at all.
 
Well, on CD's, they seem to include what they realistically can. I seem to recall Seed Complete Best (featuring the OP and ED songs only) missing certain tracks over rights issues. I don't expect a complete soundtrack barring a significant surprise. CD's have been a pretty common fixture for LE's though, so I'm sure they'll give us something.

Me, for 00 I'd love to see a booklet in the tradition of what they've done for their cooler Gundam releases in the past. In my dream version of this they'd have an acceptable overview of the series setting, include profiles for the main mechs, and include excerpts of the 00V manga that's showcasing all the alternative designs. Basically one fourth series guide, three fourths technical manual.

Realistically, at a minimum I wouldn't be surprised to see dubbed audio dramas, a manga (probably the main series adaptation for better or worse), and perhaps a subbed version of the joke trailer for season two. They've yet to announcing licensing for any of the manga however, though this doesn't mean that they won't.
 
I was fence-sitting on getting the Geass LE's or not, but I think you've convinced me to go with the LE's.

I, personally, would wait another couple of months if it meant getting Parallel Works on Part 3.
 
I think the shirts were meant to be funny/witty in the case of Lucky Star, but they ultimately just come off as too otaku/outright creepy.

The Eureka 7 shirts look cool at the very least - many of them wouldn't be out of place in a skate/snowboard/extreme sports-type shop like Zumiez, nor out of place on a indie band's merch table. Maybe if they'd done more designed stuff with the Lucky Star shirts, they'd have been more of a selling point. Or even they'd just slacked off and put a character on each one. Granted, I think the era of pack-ins maybe be dead unfortunately, unless the SKU with the pack in is the only SKU for that release.

Personally, I think a 5 dollar shirt with a one or two color silkscreen isn't a bad idea for a pack in, as long as the design makes people want to wear it, because it's free advertising for your show as well.
 
Oh yeah, most of the Eureka Seven shirts are pretty hip and have awesome designs (although I didn't care for the black one with the white outlines of Eureka and Anemone...too otaku-ish for my tastes). Those E7 sets were made of pure win; I don't regret buying them at all even if a complete series set is released in the future.
 
Wow, since then, Bandai's marketing came down hard recently *cougrabroadlondYam-chacough*.



As soon as I saw them, I was like, "Aw, hell no, I'm not buying that!"

T-Shirts of the characters would have at least been nice!
 
I snagged all the Eureka LEs, so I have all the official shirts, plus a bright pink Eureka Seven shirt I won off Bandai at a panel. I rocked those shirts so often that when I do live shows, I'm often repping them.

A good t-shirt should stay heavy in the t-shirt rotation. I would never rotate the Lucky Star shirts through.
 
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