Funimation announced this morning that they have signed a deal with Geneon to distribute a cherry picked selection of Geneon's licenses, but the titles they are picking up are the ones we needed:
FUNimation Entertainment obtains the exclusive rights to the manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution of established Geneon titles, including international successes "Ergo Proxy", "Hellsing Ultimate" and "Black Lagoon". Among the first titles to be released includes the special edition of "Hellsing Ultimate". Follow up releases include "Black Lagoon Second Barrage", “Karin”, "Kyo kara Maoh! Season 2", and "Lyrical Nanoha".
Additional titles include: “Black Lagoon”, “Elemental Gelade”, “Fate/stay night”, “Kamichu”, “Ninja Vixens”, “Paradise Kiss”, “Rozen Maiden”, “Rozen Maiden - Träumend”, “Shana”, “Shonen Onmyouji”, “The Familiar of Zero”, “The Story of Saiunkoku”, “When They Cry”, and “The Law of Ueki”.
Dentsu had been in serious talks with Genius Entertainment a couple months ago about picking up the whole catalog, but Genius backed out because of a couple of key deal points. One of them was that many retailers, including us, refused to sign off on certain lousy contract arrangements related to prior invoices and credits, and stock rotation terms. The folks in Japan finally relented, and went back to Funimation with their tail between their legs. Any revenue stream from a small selection of titles is better than no revenue at all. You know if they got Law of Ueki, the deal was a giveaway, and all I can say is good for Funimation! I couldn't have worked out better for us, we have the best relationship possible with Fun.
You can read the entire press release here on ANN.
I've got a conference call scheduled with our gal at Fun this afternoon. We'll see what info they have, and any release info will be updated on the site as it comes in. We'll all be doing a little happy dance this afternoon...
We're still following up on the ADV situation, anything going on there will be added to this post.
UPDATE: Just got off the phone with our gal at Funimation. They are expecting to have some initial release information to us on Monday next week. She told me that they are expecting certain Geneon catalog titles to become available for order in August, and new titles should be in the pipeline to begin release in September.
UPDATE 2: As promised Funimation provided us with their plans today for the first batch of Geneon releases and re-releases for August and September, and the best part is that the first DVD's are less than six weeks away. The following titles are now available for pre-order:
Geneon / Funimation New Releases:
Black Lagoon Second Barrage, Vol #1 DVD
Black Lagoon Second Barrage, Vol #1 Limited Edition DVD
Black Lagoon Second Barrage, Vol #2 DVD
Fate/Stay Night Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set
Hellsing Ultimate, Vol #4 DVD
Hellsing Ultimate, Vol #4 DVD Limited Edition
Karin, Vol #4 DVD
Kyo Kara Maoh!, Season 2, Vol #7 DVD
Paradise Kiss Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set
Rozen Maiden Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set
Shana (Shakugan no Shana) Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set
When They Cry: Higurashi, Vol #4 DVD
Geneon / Funimation Re-Releases:
Black Lagoon, Vol #1 DVD
Black Lagoon, Vol #2 DVD
Black Lagoon, Vol #3 DVD
Black Lagoon, Vol #1 Limited Edition DVD
Black Lagoon, Vol #2 Limited Edition DVD
Black Lagoon, Vol #3 Limited Edition DVD
Hellsing Ultimate, Vol #1 DVD
Hellsing Ultimate, Vol #2 DVD
Hellsing Ultimate, Vol #3 DVD
Hellsing Ultimate, Vol #1 DVD Limited Edition
Hellsing Ultimate, Vol #2 DVD Limited Edition
Hellsing Ultimate, Vol #3 DVD Limited Edition
Kamichu Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set
Karin, Vol #1 DVD
Karin, Vol #1 DVD w/ Limited Art Box
Karin, Vol #2 DVD
Karin, Vol #3 DVD
Kyo Kara Maoh!, Season 2, Vol #1 DVD
Kyo Kara Maoh!, Season 2, Vol #1 DVD Limited Edition
Kyo Kara Maoh!, Season 2, Vol #2 DVD
Kyo Kara Maoh!, Season 2, Vol #3 DVD
Kyo Kara Maoh!, Season 2, Vol #4 DVD
Kyo Kara Maoh!, Season 2, Vol #5 DVD
Kyo Kara Maoh!, Season 2, Vol #6 DVD
When They Cry: Higurashi, Vol #1 DVD w/ Collectors Art Box
When They Cry: Higurashi, Vol #1 DVD
When They Cry: Higurashi, Vol #2 DVD
When They Cry: Higurashi, Vol #3 DVD
