Sentai also announced licenses for Polyphonica, Special A, Tears to Tiara, and the second season to You’re Under Arrest.

Blue Drop is a 13 episode yuri/sci-fi series which aired between October and December 2007 (see my episode reviews).  Polyphonica is a 12 episode adventure/comedy series that aired between April and June 2007.  Special A is a 24 episode romance/comedy series that aired between April and August 2008 (see my episode reviews).  Tears of Tiara is a 26 episode fantasy/adventure series which started airing this past April and is still in progress.  Finally, You’re Under Arrest Season 2 continues the action/comedy series for an additional 26 episodes, which aired between April and August 2001.

You’re Under Arrest Season 2 Collection 1 has a street date of November 3rd, and includes the first 13 episodes.

Special A Collection 1 has a street date of November 10th, and includes the first 12 episodes.

The Blue Drop and Polyphonica box sets have a street date of November 17th, and contain the entire series.

Tears to Tiara Collection 1 has a street date of November 24th, and includes the first 13 episodes, a mere 5 to 7 months after they aired in Japan.

As is the case with all the new licenses from Sentai, these are all sub-only releases.

Now, the first big question now is what are we going to get on Christmas Day? Is Funimation just going to keep announcing their Geneon rescues first, or are they going to give us a special title tomorrow? If people are right on the Funimation clues, we’re going to get Soul Eater and Evangelion, and perhaps Oh! Edo Rocket as new licenses, with 2 shows unknown. My feeling is that we’ll either get Soul Eater or Evangelion (my bet is actually on this) tomorrow with the other being kept for last, but we’ll find out.

Count Thus Far:

Geneon Rescues: 3
Actual New Shows: 0

As a result, episode 2 will be available August 17th, episode 3 on August 24th, episode 4 on August 31st, etc. Each episode is available for four weeks, so you’ll actually have four episodes available at a time to watch.

Of course It’s sad that I watched an episode of an Anime on video on demand despite the fact that I own it, but I kind of see it this way: it’s uncut and commercial free when it’s on demand anyway, so I don’t really lose anything, and there just seems to be something about watching an anime you like coming across your TV cable than coming out of your DVD player. Perhaps its the feeling of relief that you’re not the only person who knows about or likes that series (even though Angelic Layer is moderately popular anyway).

Of course, Angelic Layer may be the only series that I’ve completed before that I’ll see on Anime Network VOD just because it’s one of the few ADV series I’ve seen (despite the fact that they’re the largest anime licenser. Geneon/Pioneer wins hands down as the company I’ve viewed the most products from).

Other ADV products I’ve seen are The Place Promised in our Early Days and Neon Genesis Evangelion (so basically 3 out of 32 series I’ve completed). However, I have started renting Kaleido Star, which is also ADV and which is also on anime network VOD. I just haven’t caught up to it yet. I am also starting to watch This Ugly Yet Beautiful World on Anime Network VOD, though I’m not sure when episode 3 is coming, since it’s not on the release schedule for August.

The only issue I have with VOD is that, since I only got it starting a couple months ago, most series are still in the middile – there are very few series which have actually started since I’ve gotten it, and most of the ones I’ve seen the first episode of, I’ve either disliked or are lukewarm on it.