Tag Archives: Kadokawa Pictures USA

Anime Expo Round-up

Monday, July 7, 2008 – 6:09 pm

So, who scored big and who lost big (if that’s the best way to put it) at Anime Expo?

Well, it looks like the convention itself scored big once again with 43,000 paid attendees, which is up from 41,500 last year, a 3.6% increase.

Now, here is the licensing round-up from the convention:

ADV Films

While none of this technically took place at Anime Expo, obviously the big loser of the weekend was ADV Films who had Sojitz leaving their agreement with ADV, taking 32 anime licenses with them.  ADV said they had a new partner in Japan and were negotiating to get 23 new licenses, but nothing new was announced at AX.

Bandai Entertainment

Bandai Enterainment announced that they have licensed the Hayate the Combat Butler anime and the Girl Who Leapt Through Time manga.

Bandai also announced the dub cast for Gurren Lagann, as well as announced details regarding their new Honneamise label, which is where most of Bandai Visual’s titles are going.

Dark Horse

Dark Horse announced the license for the Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Shinji Ikari Raising Project manga by Osamu Takahashi.

Digital Manga

Digital Manga picked up more titles than God at AX, including:

  • Utahime - Princess Song by Aki
  • Overclock: Once in a Blue Moon by Riya Hozumi and Ryouko Seki
  • Ghost Hunt Scramble by Ototachibana
  • Tale of a White Night by Tooko Miyagi
  • 1 Sakura Hill by Fujiko Kosumi
  • Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS by Maki Tsuzuki and Kōji Hasegawa
  • RH Plus by Ayako Suwa
  • Time for Magic by Morehe Yoshida
  • Princess Princess+ By Mikiyo Tsuda
  • Happy Boys By Makoto Tateno
  • Wolf God by Ai Tenkawa
  • Otodama By Youka Nitta
  • Crimson Cross By Kyoko Negishi and Sakae Maeda
  • Millennium Prime Minister By Eiki Eiki
  • Hey Class President by Kaori Monchi
  • Dog x Cat by Yoshimi Amasaki
  • Desire-Dangerous Feelings by Shinobu Gotoh
  • Moonlit Promises by Souya Himawari
  • Tricky Prince by Yukari Hashida
  • Double Trouble by Takashi Kanzaki
  • Where has Love Gone? by Ryou Tsunoda
  • Then Comes Love by Riyu Yamakami
  • Pure Heart by Hyouta Fujiyama
  • The Way to Heaven by Yamimaru Enjin
  • Clan of the Nakagamis Volume 2 by Homerun Ken
  • The Object of my Affection by Nanao Okuda
  • Love/Knot by Hiroko Ishimaru
  • The Longest Time by Tohko Tateno
  • Live for Love by Jun Mayama and Itsuki Sato
  • Eat or Be Eaten by Jinko Fuyuno and Yamimaru Enjin
  • The Spiral of Sand by Yuna Aoi
  • Honey/Chocolate by Nanao Okuda
  • Manhatten Love Story by Monoko Tenzen
  • Planet of Earthquake by Miou Takaya
  • Cut by Toko Kawai
  • The Lonely Egoist by Hikaru Masaki and Masara Minase
  • When the Heavens Smile by Aki Senoo
  • Suggestive Eyes by Momoko Tenzen
  • Hey, Sensei by Yaya Sakuragi
  • Love Syndrome by Yura Miyazawa
  • Love Potion by Sakuya Fujii

Funimation

If ADV was the big loser this weekend, then Funimation was the big winner.  Again, while none of this technically was announced at Anime Expo itself, Funimation both picked up the right to distribute 18 Geneon titles, as well as picking up the rights to the 32 Sojitz titles that used to belong to ADV, giving then the rights to distribute 50 new anime titles, some of which hadn’t been complted or even started yet.

Out of the Sojitz announcement came the news that the OVA Murder Princess has been licensed.

Funimation also announced the dub cast for Ouran High School Host Club.

Go! Comi

Go! Comi licensed:

  • Angel’s Coffin By You Higuri
  • CROWN By You Higuri and Shinji Wada
  • Bound Beauty By Mick Takeuchi

CMX

CMX licensed The Name of the Flower by Ken Saito

Kadokawa Pictures USA

Kadokawa announced licenses for:

  • Coo ~ Our Guardian
  • H2O ~Footprints in the Sand~
  • Junjou Romantica
  • My Heartfelt Sympathy, Ninomiya-kun
  • Rental Magica
  • Spice and Wolf

Right Stuf/Nozomi

Right Stuf International announced new licenses for the Gakuen Alice anime series as well as DVD rights 1980 Toward the Terra movie (they had originally released it on VHS and Laserdisc).

TokyoPop

TokyoPop announced the following new licenses, among other things:

  • Phantom Dream By Natsuki Takaya
  • Tsubasa: Those with Wings By Natsuki Takaya
  • .hack//G.U. (novel) By Tatsuya Hamasaki
  • Peacemaker Kurogane (formerly released by ADV Manga) By Nanae Chrono
  • Momo Tama By Nanae Chrono
  • Castle of Dreams By Masami Tsuda
  • NG Life by Mizuho Kusanagi
  • This Ugly Yet Beautiful World By Ashita Morimi
  • Maid-sama! by Hiro Fujiwara
  • Demon Sacred by Natsumi Itsuki

Viz

Viz announced new licenses for:

  • Honey Hunt by Miki Aihara
  • Gestalt by Yun Kouga
  • Magic Touch by Izumi Tsubaki
  • Otomen by Aya Kanno
By Josh | Posted in Anime Expo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Kadokawa Pictures USA licenses H2O, Ninomiya-kun, Rental Magica, others

Saturday, July 5, 2008 – 8:54 pm

I’m following at gia’s and japanator’s.

Kadokawa has licensed the 12 episode H2O: Footprints in the sand, Good Luck! Ninomiya-kun (aka Goshūshō-sama Ninomiya-kun) which is also 12 episodes, and Rental Magica, which is 24 episodes.

No word on who is doing the producing or distributing yet.

Update: They picked up Coo ~Our Guardian~ (aka Wagaya no Oinarisama) too (also 24 eps).

Update 2: Wow. On a spree.  They got Junjou Romantica as well (releasing it as Romantica ~Pure Love~) which is a 12 episode boy’s love series which just finished airing.

Update 3: To round it out they pick up Spice and Wolf too!  Good grief they’re going crazy! Who do they think they are? Funimation?

Update 4: Apparently we won’t get any word who producers and distributors are tonight, but should "very soon"

By Josh | Posted in Anime Expo | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (3)

Lucky License

Tuesday, October 30, 2007 – 11:57 am

Lucky Star gets licensed.

It’s the same combo as Haruhi: Kadokawa USA licenses, Bandai Entertainment to distribute.

Here is a link to the teaser trailer on the 4th Haruhi DVD.

Added Note:

If you’re gonna license an anime series, perhaps you should go register the domain before you announce it, even if it’s 15 minutes before you send out the press release (it ain’t that hard). LuckyStar.com has already been sat on since something like 1997, but luckystaranime.com was registered just today apparently - and not by Bandai Entertainment or Kadokawa USA as far as I can tell. Oops.

Added Note 2:

I should have thought of this earlier, but I should note that this announcement hasn’t been independently verified. What that means is that I haven’t seen a reputable news service independently confirm that the trailer exists, nor has Bandai officially announced (nor have I gotten DVD 4 to see for myself). All there is to verify that it’s been licensed is the trailer on YouTube.

While it certainly looks authentic (it has different subs from at least the afk release, the font type and color is consistent with a DVD sub, and it would certainly make sense to include the Haruhi scene in a trailer on the Haruhi DVD), one can’t absolutely rule out it being a hoax.

By Josh | Posted in 2007 Anime | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

Official Haruhi Suzumiya Announcement

Friday, December 22, 2006 – 3:15 am

Watch a video to see the announcement:

http://asosbrigade.com/

As expected, it was licensed by Kadokawa Pictures USA
It will be distributed by Bandai entertainment

By Josh | Posted in 2006 Anime | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

It’s confirmed: Kadokawa USA is the licensor of Haruhi Suzumiya

Wednesday, December 20, 2006 – 4:56 pm

From the Anime News Network Forum Topic about the release, someone posted that by adding an extra slash to the end of the address (http://asosbrigade.com//), one can trigger an error in the counter which gives the server directory path.

In that path, one can see that the account that the webpage is being stored under is named “kadousa.” This should confirm beyond any reasonable doubt that it is Kadokawa USA which has licensed The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

UPDATE: Short Circuited is the genius blogger who discovered this. Congratulations!

UPDATE 2: As the official announcement approaches on Friday, there are 2 and possibly 3 answers that will be officially answersed: What, Who, and How. Two of those we already know, and know we’re going to get: The “what” is the fact that the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya has been licensed. The “who” we have now learned is Kadokawa Pictures USA.

The question we don’t know the answer to yet is “how,” as in who is going to produce the series and who is going to distribute it. The more we learn about this announcement, the more it sounds like Kadokawa USA’s licensing of Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid. I have now begun to think that The Second Raid project was essentially meant to be a test run before their big project: Haruhi Suzumiya. If that’s the case, it is probably likely that Melancholy will get the same arrangement as The Second Raid did, and that is that ADV will produce the series and Funimation will Distribute it.

We may or may not find this out on Friday, though the non-answer I just got from a Funimation representative in the anime news network forum suggests that they know more about whats going on than they’re letting on.

UPDATE 3: The website has now fixed their database error and now works correctly even when extra slashes are added.

UPDATE 4: Here is a screenshot of the error before they fixed it:
Kadokawa Counter Error Screenshot

By Josh | Posted in 2006 Anime | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Haruhi Suzumiya apprently licensed (really!)

Monday, December 18, 2006 – 10:20 pm

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - HaruhiismThe webpage http://asosbrigade.com/ appears to be a new website for the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, saying that “The World As You Know It Is About to End” on December 22nd (apparently the date that the official announcement of who has licenced the series will be made).

No information can be gleamed from the domain’s whois registration about who licensed the series, though the rumor making the rounds is that it is Kadokawa Pictures USA who is the winner.

Their only other US anime license is Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid, which is another Kyoto Animation project. Kadokawa Shoten is also the Japanese distributor of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (as well as for Full Metal Panic TSR)

By Josh | Posted in 2006 Anime | Tagged , | Comments (0)