Media Blasters Delays Ikki Tousen Great Guardians into 2012

Yes my fellow programs, the rumors are true, Media Blasters has announced that the release of Ikki Tousen Great Guardians is going to be delayed until March 2012.

The previously solicited 2 part Great Guardians DVD release that was originally scheduled to street August 31st (part 1) and Oct 25th (part 2) has been canceled. Media Blasters now plans to release all 12 episodes as a complete collection on March 31st, 2012 with an MSRP of $59.98.

So, I already know your next question? If the two DVD's were just about ready to street anyway, and the new collected version contains the same disks at the same MSRP as the old two DVD's together, why not just repackage them and get it out on street this fall? Is there some other reason behind the really long delay? Could it be the current economy? Why yes, in fact, that's an entirely plausible explanation... -_^

We will automatically be canceling all existing pre-orders for the previous 2 part version, and any of you that would like to replace a pre-order for the complete collection can do so here on our updated Great Guardians page.

Sorry folks, again, I'm just the messenger. Please stop pelting me with rotten vegetables.

Queen's Blade II The Evil Eye Series, Collection #2 - On the Way!

We all know by now that when it comes to new releases from Media Blasters, street dates are optional. The thing is, some are estimated better than others.

The Queen's Blade II (Evil Eye Series) Collection #2 DVD was supposed to street yesterday. Even though it didn't release 'on schedule', we did get a shipping confirmation today from Media Blasters so our copies are now in route to our warehouse and will arrive early next week.

Just giving you folks a head up that are waiting for it that it won't be delayed by 4 or 6 weeks like happens with some of these. This one will only be about a week late. We'll start shipping your pre-orders as soon our copies arrive.

USPS Temporarily Stops Accepting Mail to Canada

Just an Update for our Canadian customers regarding postal shipments to Canada (airmail and EMS). Due the length of the Canadian postal strike, the US Postal Service is going to temporarily stop accepting mail to Canada for a short period of time.

All of our Canadian customers need to be aware that as of Monday (June 20th) we will have to hold all out going postal shipments to Canada in our facility until the USPS starts accepting Canadian mail again. All parcels currently in transit to Canada via Airmail or EMS will likely incur very long delivery delays and may not be delivered at all until the postal strike is resolved.

Keep in mind that even after the strike is resolved, there will likely be mail delivery delays for some time as the USPS and Canadian postal service works through the huge backlog of mail to be delivered.

This strike does NOT effect our FexEx International service to Canada, and parcels being shipped via FedEx are still being delivered on time (about 2-3 days on average). We recommend that all of our Canadian customers choose FedEx for shipment for their orders from RACS until the strike is resolved.

Here is a copy of the service bulletin we got a couple days ago:

Canada Post has suspended mail service across the country as of June 14, 2011. The suspension of service will impact the delivery of shipments sent by Canada Post. If you have recently shipped orders to Canada via US Postal Service, we encourage you to contact the buyers to let them know that delivery might be delayed. For orders you have not yet shipped, we recommend using a shipping method other than US Postal Service during the labor dispute. Updates on the labor dispute can be found on the Canada Post website here.

There are some locations, including PO boxes and certain remote areas, which are only serviced by Canada Post. Shipments to these postal codes will be delayed until Canada Post’s delivery service resumes.  A list of affected postal codes can be found here.

From the USPS International Mail Service Update today:

USPS DELIVERY OF MAIL TO CANADA STILL SUSPENDED, WILL STOP ACCEPTING MAIL EFFECTIVE CLOSE OF BUSINESS. SATURDAY, JUNE 18.

Canada Post has informed USPS its suspension of services would last until at least next week. With this notification, USPS will stop accepting all services destined to Canada with the exception of Global Express Guaranteed (GXG) Shipments at 11:59 p.m., CST, Saturday, June 18.

Customers sending letters and packages to Canada can avoid service delays by using GXG, which is available online at usps.com and at participating retail locations throughout the U.S.

Giselle Valera, vice president of Global Business at the USPS said in a statement today:

"As a convenience to our customers and to minimize service disruptions, we arranged to accept mail destined for Canada as long as possible," said Giselle Valera, vice president, Global Business. "We will continue to closely monitor the strike situation, and once Canada Post resumes operations, the U.S. Postal Service will again begin accepting mail for Canada. We also will then resume processing any Canadian-destined mail currently held in our network."

Funimation Bumps Dates for DBZ, Baka & Test, and Shin-Chan

Funimation has sent over a few date changes for releases scheduled this summer.

Here's what we've got so far:

Baka and Test Complete DVD/BLURAY Combo Set (Eps #1-13) (LE) - Jul 12 to Aug 2
Dragon Ball Z Dragonbox DVD Set #6 - Jul 5 to Jul 19
Shin-Chan (Crayon Shinchan) Season 3 Part #2 DVD (Eps #65-77) - Aug 30 to Sep 27

That's it for now, but stay tuned - there may be more coming.

Canada Post Strike - Expect Delays for all Canadian Mail Shipments

Just a heads up to all our Canadian customers.

As of June 03, 2011 Canadian postalworkers are on strike. The strike will impact the delivery of all mail shipments into Canada. If you have recently placed an order shipping to Canada via any postal method, please expect the delivery of your order to be delayed. We don't know for how long.

For new Canadian orders, we recommend using our FedEx International shipping method during the strike period to avoid unnecessarily long leads time for delivery of your orders. FedEx is more expensive, but the delivery will be so fast you'll probably never go back anyway.

And please don't blame me folks, I'm just the messenger. -_^

TokyoPop Shutting Down All North American Publishing Operations

Here, sadly, is a big one today from the Anime Economatrix, posted a couple hours ago:

Tokyopop Senior Vice President Mike Kiley has confirmed that the company will shutter its Los Angeles-based North American publishing operations on May 31.

In a post on the website for Tokyopop's America's Greatest Otaku reality web series, the company's CEO, Stu Levy, announced that he will spend the next year in the Japanese prefecture of Miyagi, making a documentary about the effects of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake disaster of March 11. The proceeds of the documentary will go to support the victims. He also posted a farewell message on the official Tokyopop website.

The company's film and European operations will be unaffected by this closure, and its office in Hamburg, Germany will continue to handle global rights sales for the company.

May 31 is less than three weeks after the first major feature film based on a Tokyopop property, Priest, will open in American theaters.

Last month, Levy commented that the February bankruptcy of the Borders bookstore chain had played a significant role in its decision to lay off a number of the company's employees.

The bankruptcy of Borders, a key retailer of manga, and the associated disruption of cash flow and likely losses, was undoubtedly a final nail in the company's coffin.

Not much I can say here. So that's the end of TokyoPop manga (and BLU). It's not like we didn't know it was coming, and I think making movies is a much better endeavour for Stu than publishing manga. He's a creative person but he never really did know what he was doing in the manga business. His business ideas for Digital? DOA. Print on demand? DOA. Concentrating on bookstore channels and alienating your directs? DOA. Selling direct from TP's website and alienating ALL your channels? DOA. On and on and on. From what we've seen going on in the supply chain for over a year, we're surprised they lasted this long. Stu "fought the good fight", but in the end, he lost - and now so do we.

So I'm sure everyone will be wondering what will happen to TP's licenses and what previously announced upcoming manga will be published and won't be published. Don't know yet, but I'm sure there won't be much good news if any - only 2,000 headaches. I'll post more info when we have it.

UPDATE: Well, it's official. All TokyoPop and BLU titles scheduled for release after May 4, 2011 will be canceled and not published. We'll begin removing these books from the site shortly, and all pre-orders for them will automatically be canceled. Sorry folks, I'm just the messenger.

Viz Media Put's the Ki·bosh on Inubaka Crazy for Dogs (いぬばか) at Vol #17

Just FYI everyone. Viz Media has confirmed on that Yukiya Sakuragi's manga Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs is currently on hiatus in North America and that Vol #18 (which was set to release this month) has been canceled.

According to a statement from a Viz Media representative, no new volumes are currently on the company's release schedule. The manga ended in Japan last April, and the 22nd and final volume shipped there last May.

Man, only 5 volumes short of the end too. Screwed again! And how sad, I really loved this series! Damn.

Funimation Changes Date (Again) for Rosario / YuYu Hakusho BD

Ugggg, what can I say? Today we heard that Funi is moving Rosario out even further on the release schedule. Here are the date changes they announced today:

Rosario+Vampire Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Eps #1-13) - Jul 19th to Aug 30th
Rosario+Vampire Capu2 (Season 2) Complete DVD Boxed Set (Eps #14-26) - Jul 19th to Aug 30th
Yu Yu Hakusho Season 1 Box (Eps #1-28) (BLURAY) (Classic Collection) - Apr 26th to May 30th

It seems like the release date for Rosario has become the ultimate moving target. In the last 45 days it has moved from Mar 29th to May 19th to Jul 19th and now to Aug 30th. Seriously folks, I hope this is the last change because if it moves out any further the light from it alone will take millions of years to reach us...

IDA Posts English Cat Shit One Trailer

IDA has finally posted the long promised English trailer for the Cat Shit One. The director of the war anime, Kazuya Sasahara, also announced on Saturday that the previously announced free English stream of the anime has been rescheduled for February 5.

In addition he said the planned DVD and Blu-ray Disc release has also been rescheduled for the same date on Amazon, but as of today Amazon still shows both as 'unavailable' for order.

~sigh~ This one had so much potential too. Those guys at IDA could F$#& up a cup of coffee. :-) Anyway, here's the trailer (comes after the ads):


I love Botasky's EBR... do want!

UPDATE: OK, just for fun, lets take a look at Packy & Botasky's kit:

Botasky has a pretty straight forward EBR setup, the enhanced 7.62x51 (.308) M14 build that Smith Enterprise (and Fulton Armory I think) puts together for the Military using their parts and a special stock designed by Sage International. The Smith Enterprise three point scope mount for the M14 is about the best you can get - I have one on my M1A. He also is setup with a suppressor and a laser designator (probably an AN/PEQ of some type) for night operations. His optics are probably a variable Leopold Mark 4 with a mil dot reticle, and he has a diffuser cover on the front lens to prevent reflected light from giving away his position. On top the scope he has an Aimpoint reflex site for close in work should it become necessary. Finally, he is using some sort of Harris style bi-pod, which is very common. I think his backup piece is a custom 1911 of some sort judging by the backstrap safety.

Packy's weapon is definately an AR style flat top, but it's not an M4. His rifle has a vertical grip with a pressure switch for a laser mounted under the quad rail hand guard. He has flip up sights and also an Aimpoint red dot or reflex sight (maybe an M68?), and also a Voltor style adjustable stock. These are all features you'd expect to see on a regular M4, but Packy's weapon is clearly chambered for 7.62x39 which is the cartridge the AK uses. While unusual, there are a lot of AR makers that produce versions chambered for this round. This is a good choice for Packy, because as they operate deep behind enemy lines cut off from re-supply, he would want his battle rifle to run the same ammunition and magazines the enemy uses. An interesting choice by the film producers that is a credit to their attention to detail. I believe Packy's backup gun is also a highly customized 1911. This also makes sense, as the two could easily exchange magazines.

Anyone have any other thoughts?

Update on the Ikki Tousen Dragon Destiny Complete Collection

Yesterday we made a little mistake by prematurely announcing the new Ikki Tousen Dragon Destiny Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Eps #1-12) had arrived and was now in stock. This was not quite correct.

You see, it did in fact arrive, but it is 'not' in stock.

I've been told by our rep at Allegro that the first shipment of the Dragon Destiny box was allocated to retailers because it was under ordered at replication. In other words, they had to ship everyone less than they ordered the first time around, so we got about half of our copies. We are using what we have to fill pre-orders, and I'm pretty sure we have just enough to get all of your pre-orders out for it today.

In the mean time we've gone ahead and put the title back on pre-order status until the rest of our copies are delivered, and I'm told those should arrive before the street date. Sorry folks, we jumped the gun on this one a little yesterday - I had just figured UPS hadn't brought us all the boxes of it they owed us (they split shipments to us all the time), but after checking in with Allegro, I found out that was not the case.

Welcome to the Anime business... :-)

The Hypocrisy of Marketing

I've been working on preparing a post about our switch to the more 'eco-friendly' corn starch bio-degradable loose fill for order packaging. Having switched over to them over a month ago, I'm in no hurry though. I wanted enough of you to start getting orders packaged with them so that when I do post about it, you'll be able to give us some reliable feedback about their effectiveness. See, I'm mostly concerned with this material's usefulness as a package protection, with the environmental aspects being a necessary, but secondary perk.

Anyway, this got me to thinking. We do a lot of stuff to help protect the environment in the course of our business. We recycle all of our cardboard and chipboard waste (we have a special dumpster for it), we recycle our paper waste, we use a very efficient natural gas based HVAC system (we paid extra for the highest efficiency rating), we use recycled materials whenever possible in our order processing and packaging processes (and we try to use vendors that do the same) - hell, we even keep the thermostats set low in the winter and bundle up, and turn the light off in parts of the warehouse we are not using during certain parts of the day to save energy. Jamie and I commute back and forth to the office (most of our driving) in a fuel efficient little Kia Soul. The Bimmer mostly stays parked at home. Lots of other little things.

We do this stuff out of a simple common sense approach that any responsible company should take in their attitude toward environmental concerns. But it has never really occurred to me to make a big deal about it as some sort of 'marketing point' to promote our company - like printing that we do it on our boxes. Making folks aware of what you are doing is good, but making it a point of contention in your marketing propaganda, as if to say - "see, my company is better than yours because we recycle" - well, seems a bit adolescent to me. I really don't think smart people can be bought off by those sorts of concerns - I mean it's 2011 - people should EXPECT companies to do whatever is economically feasible to be environmentally friendly. Why wouldn't we. Anything else would just be irresponsible.

So it also occurs to me that in this digital age, when you already consume plenty of electricity to spin the hard drives that make your digital catalog/online store available 24/7, don't you think it's a little hypocritical to sell people on what a green company you are, but still mail out tens of thousands of tree killing paper product catalogs every quarter? Can you imagine the extra fossil fuel burned by the delivery trucks as they carry thousands of pounds of these paper catalogs? And the energy and resources consumed in making the paper for and printing those catalogs? Even if you use recycled materials, you know the endgame of these is to just become landfill fodder after their usefulness is over.

Frankly, while I think they are completely unnecessary for an online e-tailer, if you feel like having a printed catalog is an essential part of your online business, so be it. You gotta do what you gotta do. But if you do, don't turn around and start making a marketing pitch about how environmentally friendly your company is. If you don't mind, please sell stupid somewhere else.

Some Kitty Stuff Trickling In Again

After several months of backorders, Kitty stuff is finally starting to trickle in again. Remember that while Media blasters has turned over their Anime Works and Tokyo Shock stuff to the distributor Allegro, they have kept their adult line (and most profitable line I might add) Kitty in house.

Notable recent restocks of Kitty adult items that previously spent weeks on semi-permanent backorder include:

Body Transfer
Cleavage
Learning the Hard Way
Bible Black New Testament 3
Sexual Pursuit
Kite/Mezzo Double Pack

There are still plenty of Kitty stuff on backorder though. Titles that remain AWOL with no apparent ETA include Viper GTS, Booby Life, Discode, Hills Have Size, and Cantaloupe Collector. Our backorder log is full of these, and I'm hoping we will be able to ship them again soon.

Kitty has also started feeding us new release info again, and they have a few new things coming up in February and March, but we're not going to offer them for pre-order - we'll post them once they actually arrive. I'm tired of taking Kitty backorders and then making excuses for them when stuff doesn't ship on time. They are using poor Brand X for retailer fulfillment after all...

So with regards to Kitty the light is at the end of the tunnel, we're just still in the tunnel. We really appreciate everyones patience who has been waiting for any of these.

We Never Get a Break Do We? [UPDATED]

Well, we were all set and caught up and ready to break for Christmas today, and then a truck showed up around 3pm with 3 pallets of new import figures. This shipment wasn't supposed to get here for another week, but I guess they expedited it out to us so they could get it off their books before year end - but dumping so much new stuff on us the day before Christmas Eve is really not cool. Yeah, they do it every year, but still...

Anyway, we're cutting off holiday shipping now since the UPS and FedEx trucks have now come and gone. We've done everything we could to get everyones stuff to them on time. We're all pretty tired, but still I think we'll probably work late into the night to try to get this shipment sorted out so we can take tomorrow off.

Now I better get some dinner ordered for everyone. Welcome to the Anime business! :-)

UPDATE (9 Hours Later): Post complete - I think it was worth it! That's it for us, Merry Christmas everyone, have a great holiday weekend and we'll see you on Monday!

Slight SNAFU With Postal Tracking for Holiday Shipments

I just want to make everyone aware of a problem with postal tracking that isn't really a problem, but has been a cause of concern for folks that are getting nervous about the shipping of their holiday orders.

The postal folks at our local sort center here in Winchester, VA are so busy (or so under staffed) this year that some of our parcels are coming off our truck and going right into local sort and loaded into outgoing trailers without getting scanned. Since the post office really only offers 'delivery confirmation' anyway instead of real tracking, it's OK for them to skip this step to save time when they have to, but it does mean that some of our tracking numbers for priority mail and standard mail shipments will come up as 'invalid' online even though we've shipped them out. I expect this to continue through next week, so don't be too concerned if you get a shipping confirmation from us and the postal tracker shows 'invalid' for a couple of days.

Don't worry, we really did ship it (every shipment here goes on the truck the day the tracking number is generated), it's on the way, and it will pop up in the Postal Service's tracking system the first time it gets scanned somewhere in route - or when it gets delivered, which ever comes first.

Cat Shit One - If RACS can't ship it, you should skip it!

Production company IDA Entertainment (another brilliantly run Japanese managed Anime firm) has announced that they intend to release Cat Shit One - at least the single episode that has actually been produced - on DVD and BD here in the US in December.

The big downer? It will only be available from Amazon. IDA says because they wanted to handle international distribution for this video on their own:

"that unfortunately means we are currently not interested in collaborating with other television, Internet distribution, DVD, or Blu-ray distribution related companies."

In other words, they're not really interested in market penetration, just turning a fast buck on the small amount of series content they've already produced.

Well IDA, for that (just like AniPlex) YOU CAN SUCK IT!

Actually, the problem with IDA's production of Cat Shit One seems to be a chronic lack of funding or investment interest in the project. It has taken them a year to produce one episode of the originally promised full TV series, and while they gave it away for free to Japanese audiences on YouTube, they initially blocked the video for viewing by North American fans - but will now be making it available (with the dub) in November. All hail IDA.

I suspect they are going through Amazon for distribution so they can utilize Amazon's 'press on demand' service, in which the DVD or BD is not actually produced until it's ordered. It's the ultimate poor mans video production service, but it would allow them to offer the existing episode on DVD without having to invest a lot of money in replication. If not, I bet the R1 version will be close the Japanese price, and if it is - well, epic fail.

IDA says they are still working towards a full 12-episode series, but considering their track record so far I'm not too hopeful they will be able to pull it off.

As for the 'Amazon only' DVD release? For this one, I recommend you catch it on YouTube and skip buying it on DVD until a complete series is produced. I think it's really time to stop rewarding companies for these stupid distribution decisions.

Hey, I just had a thought about what out new mantra should be:

If RACS can't ship it, you should skip it! :-)

HEH, I like that. Maybe we should start putting that in our advertising...

Funimation Recalls Birdy the Mighty: Decode Part 1

Funimation, due to the wrong content being on one of the disks, hit us with a letter this afternoon announcing that they are recalling the new Birdy the Mighty: Decode Part 1 DVD Box (Eps #1-13) (Part # FN-06720) - you know, the one that just arrived a couple days ago. Ugggg.

Funi will be remaking a batch of new Birdy boxes, and they will ship them to us together with the 2nd half boxed set which is due to street on November 30th.

We have suspended all in process shipments of Birdy (they will automatically become pre-orders for the fixed box), and will be pulling our remaining inventory for return to Funi tomorrow. For you the folks that already have it, just e-mail us to request a replacement ticket. We will setup an automatic shipment to you for a fixed box once they arrive next month.

AniPlex USA Comments?

Based on the number of e-mails that came in over the weekend, it seems that a lot of RACS customers are expecting me to say something regarding the way AniplexUSA has decided to approach the R1 market with their releases (specifically Durarara and R.O.D.) and, as one customer put it:

" ...the utter contempt they are showing for US Anime fans based on both their pricing and distribution policy..."

(not my words folks)

I do in fact have some 'thoughts' on the subject, but I'm not ready to make them public. Maybe in a few days...

Until then, please enjoy this movie clip that is totally and completely unrelated to the subject of this post:

Media Blasters Changes Queens Blade Dates... Again...

Well, no sooner had Media Blasters sent out their revised December schedule and assured us that their new dates were now good, they have sent us another sheet of revisions, this time in regards to Queens Blade.

First, Queens Blade volume #2 has been moved again, this time from Oct 26 to Dec 14:

Queen's Blade: Wandering Warrior, Vol #2, The Beaten Path DVD (Eps #5-8) - Moved from Oct 26 to Dec 14

Vol #3, and the regular and BD boxed sets have all been moved off the schedule and will now street sometime during the 1st quarter of 2011, so we're probably looking at late February or March:

Queen's Blade: The Exiled Virgin, Vol #3, Journey's End DVD (Eps #9-12) - Moved to 1st Quarter 2011
Queen's Blade Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Eps #1-12) - Moved to 1st Quarter 2011
Queen's Blade Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Eps #1-12) (BLURAY) - Moved to 1st Quarter 2011

In addition to the date change on the BLURAY set, Media Blasters has also changed the item number from AWBD-1050 to AWBD-1051, and has increased the MSRP from $49.98 to $59.98. This means we've had to increase our pre-order price by $5, and all existing pre-orders will be modified to reflect the new price and SKU #.

Sorry folks, I'm just the messenger.

UPDATE: From the comments:

Real Driving

I know that some of you out there greatly admire the skills it takes to drive a car at 200mph in a circle...

... but for me, THIS IS REAL DRIVING:



It's Initial D for real.

I'm dreaming of that being me driving all over some Anime studios good intentions to help their retail partners in the living room with kitchy little incentive ideas while screwing us over royally just outside the front door by favoring some companies with better pricing, and giving competitors control over our inventory. It's easy to run great sales on products sitting in your warehouse you didn't ever have to pay for. The rest of us have to work for a living.

HEH.

Media Blasters Update

With all the date pushes and missed street dates recently,a lot of you have been writing in asking me about what's going on at Media Blasters. Well, the rumors floating around of their demise (like those of mine) are grossly exaggerated.

What is actually going on is that they have outsourced their warehouse operations, and moving their huge inventory plus ramping operations at the new facility is taking longer than they expected. Not only is this the reason for the recent date pushes, it's the reason for the late arrivals of several titles. Moves like this are supposed to be transparent to the customer base, but I can tell you (having done them) they NEVER work out that way.

I know this has been very frustrating for some of you, but I talked to the folks at MB in length yesterday and got a pretty good idea of where they are at with the move and what's going on with some of the titles you have been asking about. The two current late titles Genshiken DX and Ikki Tousen Dragon Destiny, Vol #3 are both scheduled to start shipping late next week. Also, titles that haven't been available for awhile like the Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-Chan Special Edition and the Ah My Buddha Complete Boxed Set are finally back in replication and should all be back in stock by the end of the month. Considering the difficulties they have experienced changing over their warehouse operations it's probably a good thing they did it mid-year so that everything will be back up and running before the holiday season kicks off next month (that's around mid-October for us).

So please continue to be patient a little longer while they get their schedule back on track.