How's ADVFilms doing?

[X-Calibar]

Well it's probably nothing, but I was wondering how buisness was fairing for ADVfilms?

I was searching to buy Utawarerumono, and I keep getting item not found; and when I went to report a problem, I got Unhandled Error [something about it being full?].
Rightstuf is having a 10 ADVFilms DVDs sale for 50$ or 25 for 100$ on select DVDs [not Utawarerumono :(].
And ADVfilms website has been full of large ads lately.

With the buisness of the failed Geneon deal last year I was just curious on how they have been doing, and if anyone knows anything? If they are just cleaning their website or what...

[boggart]

Didn't they release it as "Shadow Warrior Chronicles" or something ridiculous like that?

[fireshark]

They released it somewhere; I was bored and walked to my nearest anime store and it was there.
________
Yamaha zuma 125

[Nameraka]

Rightstuf is, from what I've heard, clearing out stuff that already have thinpaks, so it's only those titles to which the sale applies.

Originally, Utawarerumono was to be released as 'Shadow Warrior Chronicles' until they changed their minds. The public outcry probably had something to do with that...

[rg4619]

I was just curious on how they have been doing, and if anyone knows anything?

Naturally, ADV isn't talking about their financial condition. However, they've been in a rush to downsize, streamline operations, and discontinue useless programs/services, which rarely happens when business goes well.

Anyway, Funimation thinks that ADV is in big trouble, although no one knows how they've come to that conclusion (either conjecture or inside gossip).

Another thing to think about is that ADV may have gambled a bit when It licensed AIR and Kanon, knowing these shows do have a fair amount of popularity, and with their Ad trying to sell them as shows by the makers of Harahi, It's likely they were trying to rake in some big sales with those shows, which I think someone mentioned earlier that they didn't fare too much better than breaking even on them.

Edit: This is just what I found out on ANN, but yes, ADV has eliminated many of their European branches, Newtype USA, their club membership and even Anime Network it seems. Basically, ADV is clearly not running a nice profit, and as such has cut off its biggest losses for the moment. So yes, It's quite possible that ADV may end up disappearing as well, though only ADV knows since they're not talking.

As far as my opinion is concerned, I wouldn't mind seeing the R1 industry shift into the direction that it did with Haruhi (And I believe their doing it for Lucky Star as well) Where the Japanese company essentially runs the licensing and release of the DVDs in America through the aid of companies like Bandai, or possible Geneon, since Geneon is and has been a sort of sister company to the Japanese Geneon.

Originally Posted by kouryuu

As far as my opinion is concerned, I wouldn't mind seeing the R1 industry shift into the direction that it did with Haruhi (And I believe their doing it for Lucky Star as well) Where the Japanese company essentially runs the licensing and release of the DVDs in America through the aid of companies like Bandai, or possible Geneon, since Geneon is and has been a sort of sister company to the Japanese Geneon.

That is what I believe to be the route that VN companies should follow. It is the only way for them to _hope_ to double their market, since the US companies can't afford the risk of licensing the newer and more expansive titles.

[rg4619]

It is the only way for them to _hope_ to double their market, since the US companies can't afford the risk of licensing the newer and more expansive titles.

VN licenses are only too expensive when the original company has little interest in expanding its market. Those who desire overseas releases would cooperate to make it happen (by drastically reducing or even eliminating the initial advance. That's what anime licensors are doing now that the American market is in trouble).

Secondly, most American publishers would probably pass on visual novels even if licensing costs were reduced to nothing. If they can't secure a solid retail presence (and enough interest from the public), they won't bite. It takes a naive upstart like Hirameki, and everyone now knows how that went.

[zalas]

Originally Posted by kouryuu

Edit: This is just what I found out on ANN, but yes, ADV has eliminated many of their European branches, Newtype USA, their club membership and even Anime Network it seems. Basically, ADV is clearly not running a nice profit, and as such has cut off its biggest losses for the moment. So yes, It's quite possible that ADV may end up disappearing as well, though only ADV knows since they're not talking.

And apparently they have no "authority" to authorize anime clubs' showings of Utawarerumono. Hrm...

[Nameraka]

News from ANN suggests that ADV might be doing some cleaning up on their website...

ADV Films Removes Titles from Website

ADV still isn't talking, though.

[Kuyukly]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

advfilms.com seems to have reverted to an old backup, evident by the presence of the 15th Anniversary logo (that was last year) and the 2007 copyright in the bottom right. I'm guessing a critical error occurred somewhere, which would explain why only recent licenses were pulled.

[boggart]

Maybe they were hit by a DDoS... :p

[rg4619]

advfilms.com seems to have reverted to an old backup, evident by the presence of the 15th Anniversary logo (that was last year) and the 2007 copyright in the bottom right. I'm guessing a critical error occurred somewhere, which would explain why only recent licenses were pulled.

It isn't as simple as that. Something's definitely up......

Reverting to an older backup was probably the easiest way of removing all recent titles from their site. However, they've actually added new boxsets of older series, and these definitely weren't announced until well after the releases of some missing titles (Air Gear, Pani Poni Dash), which began shipping in late 2006. The Princess Tutu set was announced in Summer 2007, iirc.

Newer shows must be dead in the water. Some guess that ADV has lost rights to all products licensed after the Soljitz investment..........

http://209.85.207.104/search?q=cache...ient=firefox-a

This got pulled real fast after posting.

EDIT: Correction, the cache got pulled as well. I'll have a screenshot up shortly.

Here you go:



Here's the text for those who don't want to click:

ADV Cancels 37 Titles
Anime Offerings on 'Indefinite Hiatus'
Canceled
January 28, 2008

In a letter to retailers ADV Films has identified 37 anime properties including Devil May Cry, Gurren Lagann, and Pumpkin Scissors that are "on indefinite hiatus, effective immediately." The list includes virtually all of the properties that ADV has announced since its financing deal with the Sojitz Corporation (see "Japanese Investment Bulks Up ADV") in late June of 2006. The properties that ADV has announced (and released) since then are from a variety of anime studios but they were all licensed through the ARM Corporation, a subsidiary of Japan Contents Investment, an investor group that included the Sojitz Corporation, the Development Bank of Japan and KlockWorx. In its letter to retailers ADV explained: "ADV has suspended certain elements of its former alliance with ARM Corporation, which financed the acquisition of these titles. ADV is working closely with various constituencies with the goal of restoring most if not all of these properties to our release schedule at a later date to the extent possible."



The list includes properties that have already been released in their entirety such as Nerima Daikon Brothers, Guyver, and 009-1, series such as Pumpkin Scissors, Kurau Phantom Memory, and Red Garden that have only been partially released, and eagerly awaited anime such as Devil May Cry, Gurren Lagann and 5 Centimeters per Second that have been announced for later this year. The complete list of ADV anime properties on hiatus is:



009-01
5cm Per Second
Ah! My Goddess: Flights of
Fancy
Air Gear
Air Movie
Air TV series
Best Student Council
Blade of the Phantom Master
Comic Party Revolution
Coyote Ragtime
Devil May Cry
Ghost Train
Gurren Lagann
Guyver
Innocent Venus
Jinki: Extend
Kanon TV Series
King of Bandit Jing: 7th Heaven
Kurau Phantom Memory
Le Chevalier D'Eon
Magikano
Moeyo Ken TV Series
Moonlight Mile
Nerima Daikon Brothers
Pani Pani Dash!
Project Blue
Pumpkin Scissors
Red Garden
Synethesia
The Wallflower
Tokyo Majin
UFO Princess Valkyrie - Third
and Fourth Seasons
Utawarerumono
Venus vs. Virus
Welcome to the NHK
Xenosaga



Coming on the heels of Geneon's departure (see "Geneon Ankles American Anime Scene") the ADV announcement is more bad news for the reeling North American Anime Industry. For the past few years ADV has been the number two anime company in the North America, with a solid 12-13% share of the anime DVD market. Recently though ADV has been showing signs of stress. It has pulled its support from its industry-leading collection of anime clubs and two weeks ago announced that it would cease publication of Newtype USA (see "Newtype USA Ending"). The collapse of ADV's deal with ARM does not necessarily mean the end of one of the trailblazing American anime companies, which was founded in 1992. ADV still has an extensive library of titles including the ever-popular Neon Genesis Evangelion. Still the fate of ADV subsidiaries such as The Anime Network, the Newtype successor PiQ (see "Newtype Successor Broadens Focus"), and the ADV manga publishing program that includes the bestselling Yotsuba&! manga remains in the balance as does the future of one of the pioneering powerhouses of the American anime market.

sweet, less dubs and no NHK fanboys in the NA, I fully support this notion.