NIS America, a subsidiary of Nippon Ichi Software,Inc., has decided to enter the U.S. anime market. Mostly known for their games such as Disgea, Ar tonelico and Cross Edge, NIS America has licensed and plans a mid-year release for Toradora!, Persona - trinity soul -, Pandora Hearts, and Our Home’s Fox Deity (Japanese title Wagaya no Oinarisama).
1st OP
Pandora Hearts PV
Persona - trinity soul - OP
Wagaya no Oinarisama OP
Now the big question: Why? NIS, Inc, just reported a 97.5% drop in operating profits for the first nine months of the fiscal year. Ouch. Is this a good idea considering the market? I guess time will tell.
(via Anime News Network and Kotaku)
3 weeks ago
8 comments:
I guess they like losing money. But maybe I'm reading the market wrong...
More power to 'em for going into a market that's fizzling where it was once sizzling!
Instant fail, and this will likely bankrupt the company.
"Oh, Steve you're such a downer! can't you be happy that somebody is trying to start up instead of slamming them before they even get started?"
No, I reject that notion. I don't have to jump off a cliff to know that it's a bad idea, you CAN look at history and see that by this company FAILING to PAY ATTENTION to history, they're doomed. Different company, same old worn failure playbook.
Look. anyone with ANY sense of history of the market knows the pitfalls. Let's see what the press release doesn't address.
1. Will there be an English dub?
2. Will these be single disc, complete series boxes or 'affordable partial' sets ala Tekkaman Blade and GoLion?
3. Will there be physical media at all or will this be streaming d/l only?
See that? Three burning questions, ALL which would have to be in place in order to crunch the numbers and figure what the profit point will be. If the company has announced that they intend to product product and they HAVEN'T YET LOOKED AT THESE ASPECTS they're going to fail hard.
This would be like "hey, I got me a farm! I'm gonna grow food!" and I have done zero research as to what kinds of crops grow best in the area, what the market conditions for selling the crop are, cost of planting and harvesting, etc.
And you all know me, I'm old school, I don't even need subtitles to enjoy a show (altho of course it's better to know what's going on) but they HAVE to dub these shows, because that's about the only added value they can DO. Subtitle only? Everyone's (sic) already seen it.
(and there is not a single title announced that I have the least little bit of interest in)
GrrrrRARGH why can't they LEARN?!
I'm gonna guess on Steve's three questions.
Single episode d/ls and streaming at the beginning (summer) with subs only. Later in the year (X-mas) box sets with bonus material including a possible dub. I'm really trying to be optimistic here.
Fans have been waiting for someone to license Toradora! and Pandora Hearts. I don't think they are going to be very forgiving on any screw ups. Persona has the video games to work from, so you'll get that crowd. The one that makes no sense for me is Wagaya no Oinari-sama. Furry crowd at best. Maybe harem. It just didn't have a big following in fandom.
Hah! Haven't seen an "Instant fail" in a while!
Ya know what confuses me a little (and I do mean a *little*)? Why has nobody tried to work-through the Enoki Films catalogue?
With this newer stuff (and some older kiddie-robot stuff) coming out over here it seems like nobody's bothered to look through the chestnuts already available for licensing from a company that's had roots here for a while.
Maybe this stuff was/is cheap to license (or is this a Japanese company opening an American branch? I'm sort of confused on that), but like Bomb#20 says, there doesn't seem to be a burning interest among AmeriOtaku.
joystiq has an interview with Jack Niida the marketing manager for NIS America.
Basically, dvds will be available online only, half season box set and for a limited time. Why did they enter the market? They are going to try to find the smaller titles that Funi, Bandai and Viz wouldn't pick up.
I guess somebody was gonna step in and pick up all the stuff ADV used to get. If they play it smart they just could survive doing that.
It's worked for Media Blasters.
I would consider Toradora! an A-list title though. They had to pay a pretty penny for it.
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