Raijin-Oh Released in the U.S.



Anime Midstream, based out of St. Louis, Missouri, is now offering the first disk (5 eps.) of Zettai Muteki Raijin-Oh for $19.99 + shipping. Looks like they also want to finish the Eldran series that Raijin-Oh is part of (Genki Bakuhatsu Ganbaruger and Nekketsu Saikyō Go-Saurer). Not bad for a company that was asking for donations a year ago to pull this off. Let's see if they can carry this through.

7 comments:

Creginald Vandercleve said...

A weird/Quixotic choice, and will be surprising to see how long this lasts (Orguss went over really well, huh HUH?!?)

If they really wanted to clean house they'd buy the old molds and reproduce the freakin' TOYS! Kids just love them Transformers, y'know.

On a (barely) similar note, 'Ninja Senshi Tobikage', a lesser anime from the 1980s, received English language adaptation and worldwide distribution in the 1990s, yet somehow managed to skip the U.S.

The interesting thing here is the fact that the semi-pro ADR English voiceover and production of "Ninja Robots" originated in a studio in Florida, U.S.A. The original opening theme was "covered" and re-recorded (badly) with totally LAME lyrics; feel free to torture yourself as I did*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YueBIRXG1MY

* I _liked_ Tobikage when I was 17, but twenty years does a lot to break the hold it had on me. And yes, I still want the Bandai toys...

Steve Harrison said...

I really don't want to be 'Nick Naysayer' here but man, I really feel bad for these folks.

Wrong product in the wrong format at the wrong time. If they sell 500 units I would be shocked.

This is going to be 10 (or maybe 11-surely not 12!) discs, of a SUPER OBSCURE kid's show.

I give them props for doing an English dub. It's the only hope for any sales to the AmeriOtaku. I'm SURE they have these faint hopes of selling the show to Cartoon Network but we all know that ain't gonna happen.

(I wonder how much of this was driven by the recent appearance of new bootlegs of various 'Brave' series toys that have been showing up?)

It's a very odd choice, this show. The days of "this is cheap, so let's get it and sell it' are long over.

Oh, DVC, there's a new Tobikage toy coming from Bandai, part of the 'Soul Spec' line like their Dragonar figures. Also looks like they're going to bone collectors and have Japan-only web exclusives and accessories. Dammit.

Unknown said...

If this was on Cartoon Network I'd watch. Hell, if they'd put it in syndication for the local HDTV or even something like THIS early morning or after school I'd watch.

Anonymous said...

This just in: U.S. distribution rights to Raijin-Oh secured for $3000 (Sunrise executive needed a root canal).

More wacky hijinx to come!

-DVC
(Can't afford a $600 Tobikage SPEC)

Bruce Lewis said...

What's next? The complete J9 series on 16mm color film?

Creginald Vandercleve said...

Bruce that cracked me up! Now my girlfriend thinks I'm nuts for even knowing anything that obscure :/

Bruce Lewis said...

"Sa-su-rai-ga... Sa-su-rai-ga, yeah..."