Ms. Answerman
Fruit Cocktail
by Rebecca Bundy,
Lots of yummy questions to answer, so let's get this picnic started!
Dear Ms Answerman,
I have been hyped ever since I heard they were finally making Banner of the
Stars III as an Anime. I have heard rumors and read on Amazon.jp that it looks
to be an OAV. I just have a few questions about the anime that hopefully you
could try and answer for me. First, if it is becoming an OVA is this a bad sign
that the anime isn't as popular and can't attain television time? Second, when
it is done in Japan, what are the chances that Bandai will bring it here to
America? As far as I know the series has been rather popular here, correct?
Thank you for your time.
James
Generally a series becomes an OVA for several reasons. One is a decrease
in popularity, yet the producers believe they can milk some extra cash from
current fans to pay for a less costly OVA. The second and most common reason
an OVA is made instead of a TV series is cost. OVA's cost a LOT less money
to make and, because of the lower overall cost, can put more money towards the
production of each episode. This is why OVAs are generally better looking than
TV series. Shows like Hunter X Hunter went on for several OVA series after it
stopped because the OVAs were cheaper to make than more episodes for a second
TV series. The trade-off is that TV series get a lot more screen time and publicity
when they air and have a larger number of DVDs to make money off of.
A US license really depends upon whether or not Bandai (or another company)
thinks that there's a market for the third series. Depending on the previous
sales, they may or may not want to pick it up. It hasn't been that long
since the series were released to DVD, so I give it a 50/50 chance of being
licensed.
As for the rumors about whether or not Banner of the Stars III will be an OVA,
all I can tell you is that shipping information for Volume 1 has been posted
on several websites. Since an air date hasn't been announced, most people
are assuming that they're going to release direct to DVD.
Dear Ms. Answerman,
I run a community on Livejournal that keeps yaoi fans out there up to date on the yaoi that's being released in the U.S.. Recently, there has been much ado in the yaoi community in general about this new phantom publishing company, Blu. There are listings on Amazon.com that cite Blu as the publisher for some very popular yaoi manga, such as Love Mode, Shinobu Kokoro, and Earthian. Yet there has been no mention anywhere of Shinobu Kokoro, or Love Mode being picked up by anyone.
During Anime Boston this year Tokyopop said that they licensed Earthian, yet on Amazon it's listed as being published by Blu. Even on the Tokyo Pop web site there were listings of these three manga, for several hours, and then they were inexplicably taken down.
So what's the deal with this company? Does it exist? There is some speculation that it is a sub company of Tokyo Pop, but no one knows for sure.
You can find the links to the Amazon listings here: http://www.livejournal.com/community/yaoi_industry/1252.html
And the links to the missing Tokyo Pop listings here:
http://www.livejournal.com/community/yaoi_industry/1416.html
They no longer work.
So any and all info you have on this company would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Bek
If I could find anything about them aside from what you've posted above I would, but all traces of Blu (aside from the amazon.com listings and rumors) have been wiped off the face of the Internet. If Blu was meant to be announced later and was accidentally put up on their web page too soon (or for the conspiracy theorists out there, ‘accidentally’ released early to drum up some inter-hype), I'd give it a month or two at most before TOKYOPOP makes an official announcement. It's not uncommon for announcements to slip up shortly before they're supposed to be made official. It's also possible that this is a genuine mistake. If it is, then in one to two months almost no one will even remember it happened and it'll join other dead rumors in a magical, mystical place where rumors frolic happily with each other.
Hey, I'm a clueless Canadian Girl wondering when Loveless will be released on DVD in English.
:)
I am really desperate for more Yun Kouga anime, I can't even seem to find any manga of hers that is in english :(
thanks
If you think you're clueless because you can't find a release
date, you'll be happy to know that you can't find one because the
series hasn't even been licensed yet. Next time you're trying to
find a clue regarding release dates, make sure to check and see if it's
even been licensed yet.
You will have a little more luck obtaining some of the manga and anime Yun Kouga
has worked on. Her manga, Earthian, will be available in November from TOKYOPOP
while the OVA has been out for years (I own a copy myself, which is sitting
snuggly in my ‘pretty boys doing more than just being pretty’ selection
of DVDs right between Yami no Matsuei and FAKE). The Gestalt manga will be hard
to find since it's an older series and hasn't been licensed, but
the OVA has also been available for a while now. Studio Ironcat has put Ren-Ai
on hold for an unknown length of time, so I wouldn't hold your breath
on that title.
Okay, I have a few questions considering one of my favorite series, Peach Girl. First: is the Peach Girl anime licensed in the U.S.? I'm not really expecting it to be since it just started in Japan, but maybe it is. And second, I've been hearing about a manga series called Peach Girl Reverse or Ura Peach Girl and wanted to know what it was. From what I can tell it's a second series of Peach Girl (about Sae?), but all the websites I can find about it are in Spanish or French, so I can't tell. Anyway, I'd really appreciate if you could answer my questions! Thank you!
No news on the Peach Girl anime being licensed, but with convention
season just around the corner I won't be too surprised if this title is
announced over the summer. When it's aired in Japan matters little nowadays
since the number of properties that are being snatched up for US distribution
while (or even before) they're airing in Japan is on the rise.
I can't find much information about Ura Peach Girl aside from the fact
that Sae is the main character instead of Momo and that there are currently
two volumes available.
Hey there, Answerperson!
The other day, extreme boredom had me checking out a favourite anime of a friend of mine, Puppet Master Sakon. I didn't think much of the series itself, but the the names of the two main ''characters'', Sakon and Ukon quickly rang a bell in my head.
Sure enough, I found out a little while later... Two characters from the ever famed Naruto series share the exact same names! Is this a mere coincidence, or is there a bigger plot at hand?
Sakon and Ukon come from the two large trees that grow in the Imperial
Palace, called Sakon no Sakura (which resides on the left side from
the Emperor's point of view) and Ukon no Tachibana (which resides
on the right). These two trees are known as the Emperor's guardians and
have been guarding him for over a thousand years, though the sakura tree replaced
a sakon no ume (Japanese apricot) tree when it was destroyed in a fire.
Sakon and Ukon also show up in the video game Kabuki Warriors, so if you're
a big gamer it's possible you recognized their names from that as well.
The information on the trees was found here and the link also has a number of yummy ume recipes (especially the one for umeshu).
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