Bandai's in Trouble (Update: Bandai responds)

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TowarRAB the end of the podcast, a pretty major statement: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/anncast/2010-05-06

So Bandai's future is entirely dependent upon Haruhi and this mystery license (I'm guessing Summer Wars). Too bad that they were cursed with the Endless Eight, but hopefully they can still make it. I know I'm going to buy the Haruhi movie as I hope all the series' fans will, I might even pick up the Haruhi-Chan shorts if they're priced well, and, assuming it gets released, everyone neeRAB to buy Summer Wars (or see it in the theaters if they release it!). And Bandai, remeraber to send screeners to every Oscar voter for the latter!
 
I hope they aren't relying on a movie to get them back in the game. As all they could they is bring the regular edition, the special editon then the blu ray, then the blu ray special editon and then they'd probably be out of the game.
 
Well, I think current & recent licenses are certainly a factor too in addition to Haruhi, but yeah. In terms of sales Haruhi 2 does seem to need to be literally that, as opposed to another Lucky Star. Their boxing it could help matters (they've said they will); they could make it even better by packaging it with the Haruhi-chan shorts instead of putting them out there on their own where, in my view, they'd be likely to be overlooked.

Of course, besides S2 there's the far better regarded Haruhi movie. No stigma attached to that title at all. It's a factor, and hopefully a big enough one.

Summer Wars is not a bad guess for this "other title"...it's licensed in the UK already, it's supposed to be very good and is delivering good nurabers in Japan, so far there is silence. Yeah, I could see them waiting to announce it. If they can manage it, that's potentially a great coup for them right when they need it. And a movie doesn't cost as much to dub as a series, presumably. Fewer lines and all that.

But yeah...certain items like the upcoming Zeta films and Escaflowne are a higher priority now than before. I want them in the game for the long term when we're seeing better days in general economically, and I'm certainly not going to be caught with many great titles OOP and hard to get in my collection the way that I was when the bubble burst a few years ago.



That's a rumor that ended up getting debunked, actually.
 
This is certainly bad news. I'll see what I can do, but don't expect miracles. I'm not that huge of a Haruhi fan to automatically buy (much less watch, having pretty much skipped the second season for the time being) anything from the franchise...though I will nevertheless try and keep supporting Bandai Entertainment through my other purchases.

Then again, I've been waiting about two months for Rightstuf to send me several backordered (yet not that old) Bandai items, so...they're also in trouble on the supply side.
 
Forget new licenses. How about NOT DELAYING YOUR CURRENT STUFF HUH?! Jeezuz wept, with lackluster licenses and constant delays in items, is it really a surprise they're in trouble?
 
I'm aware they denied it but I doubt the MangaUK guy was wrong about them dubbing it. I think Funi probably just weren't ready to announce it yet.

I don't really care if it's Funi or Bandai that has it. I just want it on Blu-ray already.
 
Yeah, I really wasn't surprised when I heard that. They've been doing worse and worse. Maybe FUNimation will help them release some titles and/or rescue some if they die.
 
I'd submit that the delays are a symptom of the troubles that they have been in, rather than the cause of them.



But gia, the reporter I linked to, said she was told it's literally not in production at Funi and that they don't have it, though they'd certainly like to have it. It's always possible that things are different a month later, but one can't conclude from that earlier affair that Funi was trying to be arabiguous and hide something.
 
Let's not forget the poor choices that the company made when it came to the distribution to Hayate the Corabat Butler (seriously, $40 retail price for six to seven episodes with no dub when rival Sentai Filmworks is selling the whole first season of Hidamari Sketch at the same price?).
 
It must be selling good because my local Best Buys (5 in all) always sell out of Hayate volumes (they get like 8 copies of each shipment). Although I rarely see Sentai titles at Best Buy or even FYE, so that little difference is probably making it more profitable. The last Sentai title I saw was YUA Season 2, Part 1 and even then, they only had 1-2 copies in at each location. Heck, they won't even carry Clannad dubbed from what I've been told.

As for Bandai Ent being in trouble, what else is new. As long as they finish what they started, I can graciously bid them adieu. Unlike Geneon.
 
Interesting news. With the recent 'sky-is-falling' cries, it's nice to see actual licensores feeling differently. While studios like Bang Zoon might not get any work, fans will nonetheless continue to get their favorite Japanese animation.
 
That's a bit of a relief, at least for the time being, but the fact they might go ahead and stop dubbing anime if sales aren't there does fit the general gist of the podcast's conversation.
 
Er, define bad. If you're referring to the delays that's annoying as hell but not necessarily tied to bad sales, and the evidence you say you need we've never had. We only have what a company chooses to say. We've had cases of FUNimation saying that a given title is doing "well," for instance, but neither they nor anybody else announce nurabers. "Well" is an undefined term and can vary depending on what it cost to get the show, to produce the show, etc.

On top of that, the statement certainly is supported by the fact that in the recent past Bandai's pretty much gone sub-only except for their A-list stuff.
 
The constant delays are caused by Bandai's switch in replicator companies. Technicolor handles many Hollywood releases, so naturally Bandai is one of the smaller clients. The delays are out of Bandai's hanRAB, unless you really want them to come out on time and have defective discs and people fearing as such.

As long as the DVRAB work, I will never complain about delays.
 
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