Anime Expo has come and gone. What got licensed?
Denno Coil?
Kaiba?
Mononoke?
Mind Game?
Uh-uh. There was no mention of anything I’ve been waiting for. The titles that were announced all look like drivel. ((Well, maybe the remainder of Aria isn’t drivel, but I’m one of the few who didn’t find Aria the Animation a life-changing experience.)) Steven has a different list, but he, too, was disappointed.
I’m particularly annoyed that Denno Coil still hasn’t been picked up for region one. Number three of my top five, ((The other four are Haibane Renmei, Serial Experiments Lain, Cardcaptor Sakura and Shingu.)) it is the outstanding first-rate series I’ve seen that remains unlicensed. There are a number of older series on my to-buy list, but there seems to be less and less to look forward to nowadays. Oh, well; I finally got a new pair of glasses and can read all evening long again. Running out of anime won’t be a disaster.
There is a bit of good news regarding licensing: Kino International will release a compilation of Osamu Tezuka’s short films later this month. These date from 1962 to 1988 and are obviously essential for anyone interested in the history of animation. I wrote a little bit about some of them here.
As much as I love Kaiba, it won’t sell if licensed. I’m surprised anything is getting licensed.
Wasn’t Rightstuf pretty much the winner of this year’s Anime Expo? ARIA the Origination getting a release date at last was a real boon and I’m pleased at being able to complete my ARIA collection.
Nozomi has given us a few treasures over the years (Aria, Shingu) but they just are not a high volume producer. Four or five titles per year is about their limit, if they even achieve that much.