{"id":570,"date":"2006-07-04T01:06:54","date_gmt":"2006-07-03T15:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/anime\/?p=570"},"modified":"2006-07-04T01:15:23","modified_gmt":"2006-07-03T15:15:23","slug":"aim-for-the-top-licencing-strikes-twice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/anime\/?p=570","title":{"rendered":"Aim for the top!? Licencing strikes twice!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nothing says “licencing” quite like an orange box full of abandoned cat girls.<\/font size><\/center><\/p>\n

Licences have been remarkably thin on the ground these past two years, but at Anime Expo the licensors have decided that it’s time to bring new titles to the market. The notable titles, that I am even vaguely qualified to comment on, are as follows:<\/p>\n

Gunbuster, Bandai Visual<\/b>: After years in licence hell, Gunbuster<\/I> finally is going to get the wide English language release that it deserves. Gunbuster<\/i> is one of my favourite shows and, despite its rough start, it offers quite possibly the single greatest ending to any medium ever. I know I was on the verge of tears. I know that my friend, who has no emotion ever, was also on the edge.
\nPossibly because of the expert application of physics present in the series, but the principle remains the same: Gunbuster<\/i> is excellence, no matter which way you slice it. It’s also notable for a cameo by Totoro, and I can’t wait for it to break into the world.
\nLast year, when I attended a convention panel for Madman Entertainment<\/a> at Manifest<\/a>, I asked president Tim Anderson if Gunbuster<\/i> was a series the company was interested in, or if the licencing issues made it untouchable. Tim said that it was one of their dream series, so I’m looking forward to seeing if Gunbuster<\/I> will bust loose on Australia and fulfill all of our hyper space relativity dreams.<\/p>\n

(By the way, if you loved the themes in Gunbuster<\/I>, read Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War<\/a><\/i>. It is a similarly stirring exploration of many of the same concepts.)<\/p>\n

Black Lagoon<\/a>, Geneon:<\/b> So this one isn’t a surprise at all: Geneon sponsored the show and they’re in the credits. I think that this has “blockbuster” written all over it, and I hope that the audience will realise fast enough that they should patronise the program and recognise it for what it is: taut action with fun characters and virtually no cause for complaint. Something can be entertaining without its intellectual fibre being called into question.<\/p>\n

Paradise Kiss<\/a>, Geneon:<\/b> All of the shows of the past two years, and they choose this one. I understand the appeal of the title, based on the success of the manga in the US, but Paradise Kiss<\/i> as an anime has the effect of making me want to stab my brain out for having to deal with such idiotic characters who have few endearing qualities.
\nFor all of his faults, Kobayashi Osamu’s Beck<\/I> is a much more entertaining and compelling program, but that’s the subject of another article that I chose not to publish a month back. For Paradise Kiss<\/i>, I pity Geneon and I pity those who will buy it in the expectation of it being quality.<\/p>\n

And still more licencing announcements to come! Well, at least one. Time was I was always excited by licences. That’s the sad thing about the current state of the industry: licencing sure has died down. Buy more anime, people!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nothing says “licencing” quite like an orange box full of abandoned cat girls. Licences have been remarkably thin on the ground these past two years, but at Anime Expo the licensors have decided that it’s time to bring new titles to the market. The notable titles, that I am even vaguely qualified to comment on, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[148],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anime-industry-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/anime\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/anime\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/anime\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/anime\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/anime\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/anime\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/anime\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/anime\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/anime\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}