Having changed its location from Anaheim, CA previously, Anime Expo's organizers have actively sought to take advantage of supplementary venues in the Long Beach area to act as a well-qualified buffer for an extended list of concerts and appearances. But with the change in location and reorganization of events, as often occurs from year-to-year, came an anticipated change in booth traffic and rumors of lower sales from select retailers. Anime Expo has regardless been a great exhibit for anime distributors to once again strut their stuff and show consumers just what lies on the horizon. One of the more robust Anime Expo presentations from licensors/distributors in recent years, in terms of licensing announcements and consumer expectations, the culture of Japanese animation in North America appears rather healthy.
Announcements this year came from all over the Japanese animation industry, including a good amount of new/recent animation licenses and more interestingly, acquisitions of titles whose distributive license had run out some years ago. Many companies have capitalized on waning series licenses and have found it relevant and of great interest to anime consumers to re-release forgotten titles, gems to some, with a higher quality release.
The following information concerns the major updates and announcements made by the leading western producers and distributors of Japanese animation; these announcements will usually be in effect as of late 2007-year and early to mid 2008-year respectfully. Stay tuned to Animation Insider for more details as the domestic release of the proceeding titles nears. (Assorted Sources: AnimeNation.com, AnimeNewsNetwork.com, AnimeNfo.com, AnimeOnDVD.Com, & ICv2.com)
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TRSI, Inc. {Official Website}
Right Stuf International is gearing up for their 20th Anniversary and is keen on cluing in all of its dedicated consumers on the excitement. The largest and significant announcement from the company at this year's AX, and perhaps out of all companies at AX, was that Right Stuf will be officially creating a production division called Nozomi Entertainment. So as to differentiate the store/retail functions of TRSI from its licensing and distributive functions (of anime such as Piano, Ninja Nonsense, To Heart, Boys Be… &c.), Nozomi Entertainment will be the brand name for all future Right Stuf releases. The goal of Nozomi Ent. is to license lesser known anime properties of great quality that are often passed over by larger distributors… a goal that Right Stuf has fulfilled rather well in its history. The company's first license following this news is the acquisition of the historical drama Victorian Romance Emma, both seasons of which have been acquired for western distribution. The anime follows a hard-working maid named Emma and a man of gentry named William who fall for one another and the consequences of their relationship. A genuine love story about transcending class lines set in 19th Century England, Victorian Romance Emma, whose second season is in production, will reportedly be released subtitled only.
Nozomi Entertainment has also acquired the rights to distribute Lost Universe, a comedic science fiction tale which as veteran otaku may know, was previously under license by ADV Films many years ago. This anime comes from the same director, character designer and novelist that brought anime fans the classic, hilarious adventure of Slayers. Lost Universe, through Nozomi Entertainment, will reportedly be available on DVD for the very first time as a DVD Collection.