From Anime New Corporation - z6q4w
Geneon Abruptly Exits Anime Industry
Today (Sept. 26) Geneon Entertainment notified retail customers of their decision to cease “the sales of DVDs and all related distribution and marketing operations as of 5 p.m. on Friday, September 28, 2007.” That marks the deadline for orders from their previously announced releases up through November 6. Anything after that date is expected to be canceled. This effectively marks the end of Geneon’s DVD distribution in North America.
Ray’s Take: no mockery from me this time. In some sense I feel a little guilty, because yeah, I bought anime titles but not a lot, and I think Mike gave me a legit copy of Castle of Cagliostro. I’m pretty sure I’ve never purchased anything from Geneon. Now it’s gone down for the count, the repercussion may very well be that the Japanese companies (animation studios, distributors, marketers and so son), will start trying to prosecute anime ers/ers. I doubt it’ll be effective against anyone outside of Japan. In any case, I really don’t think it should be a happy day for anime lovers in the US, because a nicer and less aggressive company who definitely helped the anime industry in US to grow, has gone down.
I am sad to see the ing of Geneon USA. This is despite the fact that the majority of my DVDs are from ADV and Bandai, the two remaining big boys left along with Funimation–a company which barely existed when Geneon, aka Pioneer, was at its height. But that’s only because the shows I happen to like are released by those companies, though I’ve owned a good number of Geneon/Pioneer titles in my time too. Now the company that brought Americans Serial Experiments: Lain, Tenchi Muyo, Akira, Ai Yori Aoshi and more recently Higurashi is no more.
Here is, for what it’s worth, a tribute. (Apologies for the photo quality–these are all pictures I took myself or grabbed from my own video diary.)
[Ray’s Edit: Click here for a Geneon Satisfaction Survey, hosted by ANN ]
From Kurogane’s anime blog -
A devastated Sekai wakes up the next morning, to a message from Makoto, telling her to go abort the baby (You bloody bastard). Makoto arrives at school and is relieved to see Sekai absent and shortly after receives a message from her saying she’s going to the hospital. Makoto and Kotonoha then have lunch at the roof like they did before and exchange niceties.
After school, Sekai meets Makoto at home and he asks her how was the visit to the hospital. Sekai remains silent, prompting Makoto to go make some tea for her, but Sekai takes up the job. Makoto’s handphone receives a message and he checks it in his bedroom. He’s surprised to see it’s from Sekai, containing only a lot of white spaces, with a single phrase, “さよなろ” at the end.
Ray’s take: move over, Hitchcock! There are two new psychos in town! Let’s play this drinking game - take a big swig when you see blood, and drink the whole glass with each stab! Also, here’s something appropriate - a slash sound effect with the murder theme music from Psycho playing in the background!
Claymore is a show that’s hard to define. The manga is easier to define. The manga is intelligent through and through. Its emotional impact is consistent and the plots are always good.
In my opinion the anime doesn’t lose to the manga in these departments. But because some kind of closure is necessary for a TV show, it kind of hurried itself a little bit and almost takes the easy way out.
It starts out as a simple show about demons eating people and warriors paid to destroy them. But it grows into something deep and thoughtful that explores human weakness and things that people do to act strong despite the inherent weakness in human beings.
All the pain, suffering, and disappoints are necessary for growth in a world filled with evil, and these things are the essential fuel to fight against the cause of evil. The demons are just allegories of evils in the world that cause people to do things to others in order to feel better, or to have the feeling of resolution. One evil causes another, one destroyed family in term, causes the death of a loved one, a destruction of another family, a trip for a person to the insanity of soldiers’ dark side, and then finally it leads to a squire’s receiving of a precious gift.
At its best, this show even echoes themes in Lord of the Rings, at its worst, at least this show doesn’t provide an easy way out of everything, pain, hate, suffering, and all that’s wrong with its world.
Warriors come and go, but some of them leave deep marks in our hearts by their loyalty and a sense of debt and duty. These warriors never die, they just fade away into the distant underworld.
We can only hope they shall reach the Elysian Fields reserved for those who are honorable, and have fallen in battle against the dark forces so foul and strong that normal humans fall hopelessly under their flesh tearing appendixes.
The living warriors walk on, learning from their mistakes, surviving under the policy that their cruel masters make while disregarding their lives. The decisions of the organization have sent many warriors to their needless deaths.
These warriors - Claymores, fighting under extraneous circumstances, misunderstood and sometimes hurt by the very people they risk their lives to protect, and being overused and thrown away by their masters, still walk upright and proud, attacking demons encountered, ing one another when the pain of growth and transformation frightens their tender, caring and ionate souls, and mourn over the gravestone made hastily with the large sword over the body of their fallen comrades - some of which are loved by others, and definitely will be missed by the observers (us).
But others will not be ed at all. They will truly fade into the recesses of the dark world that we the viewers are fortunate enough to get glimpses of.
I gasped at Teresa’s death; I bit my lower lip when Ophelia finally understood her brother’s last wish; I screamed and mourned at Jeane’s sacrificial last act for Clare.
I applauded at Clare’s strength in her heart; I ired Teresa for her ease and elegance at slaying the evil ones; I saluted Irene for her offering of friendship and her remaining arm.
Although this show doesn’t have the intricacies of Lord of the Rings, but it has certainly played the chords of my emotional strings delicately and yet shockingly.
I shall be in a certain kind of despair at missing the show but also a certain kind of satisfaction as I look on with the Claymores to the future - in which they shall encounter many more trials and troubles, and fight through it all, being the better humans with stout hearts beating inside their chests and hot blood running through their veins.
“If it were possible, let not one warrior here perish.” Amen.
99% recommended for your daily anime diet because I’m biased. So sue me.
From The Diet 3 Daily -
Sept 29, 2007. Immediately after the last episode of “School Days” was played, fans gathered in front of the station and celebrated the death of Makoto.
“Nice death.” A chubby man with glasses gushed, then he immediately corrected himself: “I mean, geez, this is more bloody than the game. But at least we got to see him die without having to buy another copy of the game.”
“Waa! Sekai sama!” Another chubby man with thick-rimmed glasses said with tears: “I loved you! I loved you! I still love you! Damn that psycho bitch for killing my Sekai-sama!”
Immediately, another chubby man with thick rimmed glasses approached him from behind and started beating him on the head with a paper fan. The two began to fight desperately.
“Kill them all, baby!” A woman with wearing a shirt that said in katakana: “Makoto must die” was frantically swinging a wooden kitchen knive wearing the uniform of the school that the females characters goes to. “I cried tears of relief when Sekai-san sliced and diced him like sashimi. Hmm…Delicious!”
Incredibly, she was attacked by some men and women wearing the shirt that says: “the Makoto-sama fan club” with foam bats, but she fought back valiantly with her wooden kitchen knive.
As far as our reporter had seen, no injuries had occured.
The station personnel seemed slightly startled but didn’t react. Nobody even picked up the phone and called the police.
“They’re just dumb otakus…I mean fans. These people can’t do any harm.” said an employee refused to be named. “Besides, it’s actually late and I’m going to the bar to drink with my friends. If the security guards aren’t going to do anything, then what do I care? These are just stupid people having nothing better to do.”
A female employee identified as “Sekai” said: “These people are probably drunk and they need to go home and sleep and don’t take a stupid anime seriously.” She paused, then added: “Japan is becoming more and more unsafe these days.”
Our reporter received no bodily harm.
From ANN -
Italian Police Confiscate 80,000 Pirated Anime DVDs
Italian police charged six people in the central region of Ancona and other areas for copyright violations in mass-producing and selling pirated DVDs and videos of Japanese animation. About 80,000 DVDs and one million euros ($1.4 million) were confiscated.The suspect allegedly produced the pirated DVDs at three plants in the northern city of Bologna and elsewhere, for sale nationwide since 2005. An estimated 300,000 units were sold for three million euros (US$4 million).
Ray’s take: so the some of the family are watching anime. How nice! Maybe they were watching Gungrave? Damn the police has the balls to bust up a anime mafia operation…Wow, I didn’t know there are anime mafias out there. Instead of using Tommy guns they’ll just hit the police with Neros Gundam…