Updates 

I'm recently told that in Japan it's considered rude to arrive at cosplay events in cosplay. It isn't considered proper. See, even at my age I can learn something new. 

We caught wind of something exciting this week. Funimation is planning to release the first half of Attack on Titan early next year in a DVD/BD combo box, and we got enough information about the release to go ahead and post it for pre-order. We don't have a release date for it yet, but we'll post it as soon as we know something solid.  

And speaking of, Funimation sent over their February Schedule yesterday, and now I think we can forgive them for such a thin January! Here's what's coming: 

Fairy Tail Season #2 Collection 4 (Box #8) DVD/BD Combo Set (Eps #85-96) - Feb 4
Fruits Basket Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Classic Collection) - Feb 4
Kamisama Kiss Complete Collection DVD/BD Combo Set - Feb 11
Strike Witches TV Series (Season 1) DVD/BD Combo Box (S.A.V.E. Edition) - Feb 11
Strike Witches TV Series (Season 2) DVD/BD Combo Box (S.A.V.E. Edition) - Feb 11
Dragon Ball Z Season 2 (BLURAY) - Feb 18
Neon Genesis Evangelion 3.33 You Can [Not] Redo Movie DVD - Feb 18
Neon Genesis Evangelion 3.33 You Can [Not] Redo Movie BLURAY - Feb 18
Jormungand Season 1 Collection DVD/BD Combo Set - Feb 18
Jormungand Season 2 Collection DVD/BD Combo Set - Feb 18
Robotic;Notes Part #1 Collection DVD/BD Combo Set (Limited Edition) - Feb 18
Robotic;Notes Part #1 Collection DVD/BD Combo Set (Standard Edition) - Feb 18
Appleseed XIII Tartaros & Ouranos DVD/BD Combo Set - Feb 25

Eva 3.33 no longer speculation - coming Feb 18th!

In additions to Funi's stuff, we added some other upcoming releases to the site this week. From AniPlex is coming:

Blast of Tempest Season 2 Complete Collection DVD (Eps #13-24) - Feb 25

And from Eastern Star Blue Sub 6 gets BD treatment, which is exciting because BS6 was a pretty groundbreaking release back in the early days of computer generated Anime:

Blue Submarine 6 Complete Collection BLURAY - Jan 21
Unico Double Feature (Fantastic Adventures/Island of Magic) BLURAY - Jan 14  

Also from Nozomi: 

Space Adventure Cobra the Original TV Series Part #1 DVD Boxed Set (Eps #1-15) - Mar 4
Aria The Animation Season 2 DVD Collection (Eps #14-26) (Lite-Box) - Mar 4

On a side note, if I start to wander a bit in my thought process, it's because I'm watching Girls und Panzer in the background as I bang this out on my laptop. This is my second time through, and man I'm just loving this show! I hardly ever can make the time to watch something twice anymore. 

New license announcements this week came from both Diskotek and Sentai, who seem to be content dividing up what still remains of ADV's old catalog. Diskotek (in great danger of becoming a real Anime company) picked up the old but hilarious Dragon Half OVA plus the old Fatal Fury Specials. They also picked up the old DNA2 series and the Lupin III: Bye Bye Liberty Crisis TV special. Sentai picked up Nadia Secret of the Blue Water for a re-re-re-re-re-release, and their Maiden Japan (get it? sounds like 'Made in Japan' HaHa!) picked up the Myself/Yourself TV series. Nadia's going to get bilingual DVD & BD treatment, and Myself/Yourself will be out next year subtitled on DVD.

I also thought I would mention that we got the January sheets from their distributor and there are no January releases scheduled from Media Blasters.

Immortallium recently posted his rant on Anime piracy, and watching it reminded me that there are still a few people out there who do legitimately want to support the industry. It also reminded me of the sort of arguments that were relevant 3 or 4 years ago when there was still chance to do something about it.

There was an internal industry survey a couple of years ago that showed that outside of Japan only about 4% of Anime consumed worldwide is actually monetized by the industry in some way (hard media, subscription or paid streams, or free streams that are ad supported). You can argue about the relative quality of the content currently produced overall, but I think it's pretty clear that Anime as a whole has been in decline for several years now as the product has become more and more difficult to make profitable. We like to attend cons out of uniform, and informal surveys of other fans are very revealing. It's amazing how many fans who have clearly seen hundreds of shows will readily admit to never having actually bought a single Anime title - not a TV series, not a manga, and not any peripheral items like figurines or character merchandise. Here in the states the largest Anime conventions can easily attract more than 50,000 attendees, yet the total nationwide sell through for a marginally successful N/A Anime BluRay release can be as little at 3,000 or 4,000 units - some only sell in the hundreds - while torrent streams of mainstream series like One Piece episodes can get half a million downloads (outside of Japan) in a single week. Fans are impatient, and certainly do feel they have a right to watch when and where they please, but there is also a lot of community peer pressure to pirate. We know that. Participation is difficult when everyone else in the group has seen and wants to discuss something that you haven't seen yet, and social media has exponentially increased the presser to be on the bleeding edge of what's being released. The R1 industry's initial answer to the problem was free simulcasts on the Japanese schedule, but that has only served to undermine their retailer base (us) here in the US. This isn't a rant on my part by any means, I gave up worrying about it a long time ago because it's completely beyond our control. Anyway, we are way beyond ever being able to change it, and what the industry needs to focus on is giving fans what they want in a way that will make the business work for everyone. What that is, if we can play a part in it, or if it's even possible - frankly - I just don't know.

And finally, my shiny new launch day Battlefield 4 / PS4 bundle arrived today - sorry folks, don't expect me to be around to answer any e-mails sent in this weekend until Monday - I'll be busy until then... :-)