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.

Del Rey Cancels 'CLAMP in America' Book

Another former Del Rey license that won't be released. Clamp-Now is reporting that the Shaenon K. Garrity's book CLAMP in America has been cancelled by Del Rey.

The book was originally going to cover the history of the four-member manga team CLAMP and their influence throughout the world. The rights to the book have most likely reverted to Pyrotechnist, which serves as CLAMP's licensor in Japan.

Del Rey had originally announced the book for release at the 2008 Comic-Con in San Diego. ~sigh~

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.

AnimEigo Will Not Renew License for Urusei Yatsura

After nearly 20 years on the market in one iteration or another, AnimEigo will finally be retiring the Urusei Yatsura franchise, letting the license expire this fall:

Via AnimEigo:

"Urusei Yatsura to go out of print on 30-September-2011

It is with heavy hearts that we must announce that we will be unable to renew our license for Urusei Yatsura. We will be unable to accept orders after the 30th of September, 2011, and individual DVDs will almost certainly become unavailable before that date as our stocks become exhausted.

So if you've always been meaning to complete your collection of UY, now is the time."

Of course, UY has actually been out of print since about 2006, it's just that there are so many DVD's still left in the supply chain it's remained available. We've had it on 'discontinued' status for a long time, but we certainly still have plenty of them left in our warehouse, and so does AnimEigo, which I imagine is the motivation behind this big announcement. AnimEigo won't be renewing any of their old Anime licenses once they come due, and no one else is going to pick them up afterwards.

Still, the permanent retiring of the UY franchise ends an era. AnimEigo, a flagship company in the early days, no longer does Anime releases (Yawara! was the last Anime title they did), but they are still hanging around doing a Live Action flick from time to time. It's a little sad really, but the sort of titles that AnimEigo published no longer appeal to today's Anime fan. In fact, I doubt there are many younger fans that even know what 'linear notes' are as related to Anime, or care. Most everything AnimEigo did used to have those. They were truly the 'class act' of the Anime business.

Section 23 Cancels Guin Saga BD Release

Section 23 just send over their April schedule (we'll have that up in a few minutes) along with an announcement that they have CANCELED the Guin Saga Collection 1 DVD Boxed Set (Eps #1-13) (BLURAY) SFB-GS100.

Section 23 only cited 'circumstances beyond their control' as a reason for the cancellation.

The regular edition Guin Saga Collection 1 DVD Boxed Set (Eps #1-13) SF-GS100 is unchanged and will still be released as scheduled on March 29th.

All current RACS pre-orders for the BD edition will automatically be canceled, and we will need customers who pre-ordered the BD to place a new order for the regular edition if they are still interested in purchasing the title.

Media Blasters Cancels Kanokon DVD #2 & #3

Ahhh shit.

Media Blasters, in a surprise announcement via their twitter account yesterday afternoon, said that they will not release DVD volumes 2 and 3 of Kanokon. They are now planning to release the series only as a complete boxed set, probably next March.

In the statement they said that the box set will be "priced low enough so not to punish folks who picked up V1." I would assume that means it will probably carry a $30 or $40 MSRP.

I'm not sure what's going on over at MB folks, but I'm pretty concerned. We've been waiting for restocks on Ah My Buddha boxes since July - they have been out of stock so long Amazon isn't even taking backorders for them anymore. What they are telling us, and what we see happening seem to be two different things.

Anyway, all pre-orders for Kanokon #2 and #3 will be canceled, and we'll put the box set up for pre-order whenever they put it on the release schedule.

Maybe you folks should be thinking about picking up any MB titles that you have been looking at but don't yet have. I'm not suggesting anything is going to happen, I'm just sayin - you know?...

Media Blasters Cancels Some Upcoming Manga

Media Blasters sent over a notice today with some date changes and cancellations. Fortunately, none of the date changes effected any of their Anime titles, but they did cancel the release of the following manga:

Akihabara Vol. 6 Graphic Novel AWNOV-0949 (9781598835342)
Gay's Anatomy Episode 0: Graphic Novel KGNOV-0914 (9781598834604)
Drawn to Him: Graphic Novel KGNOV-0917 (9781598835083)

They didn't actually say 'canceled', but cited these as 'removed from our schedule indefinitely' and canceled all retailer pre-orders for them. We've removed them from the store site until further notice. What this portends for the future of Media Blasters manga business, if anything, I could not say.

AnimEigo Unable to Complete Yawara

AnimEigo has announced that they will not be able to complete Yawara. From ANN:

"Robert Woodhead, CEO of the North American anime distributor AnimEigo, has announced on his Twitter account on Thursday that "so far, we have not been able to secure a license to release the rest of Yawara." AnimEigo licensed the television anime adaptation of Naoki Urasawa's Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl manga in 2006. After giving away the first four-episode disc for free at Comic-Con International 2007, AnimEigo released the first 40-episode DVD set in 2008. "

Robert W. didn't cite a reason but is suspect it's financial. I said last year that the 1st Yawara box would probably be AnimEigo's last R1 Anime release, though they do continue to license and publish classic live action Samurai films.

I was hoping they would prove me wrong though. Most studios these days don't care a wink about things like linear notes and accurate honorifics like AnimEigo always did. Robert W.'s interests seem to have moved on to other things anyway (combat robots for example). ~sigh~

Figure Cancelation

We got the final word today from Toranoana that the Bamboo Blade: Tamaki Kawazoe 1/7 Scale PVC Figure AF-BB(151649) that was originally due to ship in January has been formally canceled for North America. Toranoana said they were not able to obtain the necessary license clearances.

We will begin the process of canceling pre-orders for these today, and issuing any refunds if necessary.

Two Figure Cancelations

We had suspected this for awhile, but we got the final word today from Atelier Sai that the two YUA figures that were originally due to ship in November have been formally canceled for export:

You're Under Arrest Miyuki Kobayakawa 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
You're Under Arrest Natsumi Tsujimoto 1/8 Scale PVC Figure

They would not tell us why (they never do) but there is speculation that since Section 23 licensed the Anime for US distribution Atelier was not able to obtain the proper licensing clearances authorizing these to be sold here in the US - and since we FOLLOW ALL the rules, we will not be able to sell these either. We will begin the process of canceling pre-orders for these today, and issuing any refunds if necessary.

Sorry folks, remember I'm just the messenger.