Forum - View topicNEWS: Justin Sevakis' Video Production Company MediaOCD Acquires AnimEigo
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Beowulf47
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Fantastic news!. An absolute win win for the anime community!
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TheSeventhSense
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This is completely different from the CR/Funimation situation. No one stands to lose anything. AnimEigo's current projects will be fulfilled, plus they have the opportunity to become a greater player in the licensing market. MediaOCD will still do projects for Discotek. This will likely help to counter the dwindling physical releases that have come with the consolidation. |
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vanfanel
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It's sad to see the end of an era, as Robert and Natsumi have been a fixture of the industry ever since I became a fan in the early 90s, and AnimEigo was always my favorite licensing company. This was because they only licensed shows that they actually liked themselves, they had a terrific style of subtitling, they provided liner notes to their releases explaining lots of cultural and linguistic points of interest, and their customer service was second to none.
I've never forgotten writing them with a nitpicky complaint once way back in the 90s, expecting the reply would just be company boilerplate if I got one at all -- and being surprised to get a personal response from Robert, who patiently explained why they'd had to do things the way they did. That really impressed me. I'll never forget the first time I saw the Kimagure Orange Movie -- a film that moved me as few "teen" movies ever have. The VHS had come in the mail the previous day, and I got up early to watch it before work. Afterward, I left for work early, and stopped in a park near the office to walk for a bit until it was time to go inside. It was foggy that morning, and I couldn't get that movie or the beautiful Kanako Wada songs out of my head. Not sure, but the first CD I ever imported may have been one of the KOR song collections. I remember first seeing the Crusher Joe OVAs in a video room at Anime Weekend Atlanta, and making a beeline for AnimEigo's dealer table as soon as it ended. Why can't we get rip-roaring space adventure like that anymore? Otaku no Video is a film I've seen many times, but usually with several years between each viewing. I swear that thing is a different film every time I see it. But it isn't the video that keeps changing; it's me, and my evolving attitude toward my own fandom. As for their current Kickstarter model, I regret missing out on some of the other ones, but I signed on for Macross II and am looking forward to whatever's next. I would absolutely love it if one of the remaining few turned out be Windaria; since that masterpiece of a film has never had an uncut, subtitled release in the West, it strikes me as an ideal candidate for the AnimEigo treatment. But whatever they end up doing, chances are it'll be something to get excited about. Two things I'll mention for Justin if he's reading: First, congratulations on this; I'm glad AnimEigo will continue, and hope this new era will be just as awesome. Second, we were only able to get 1/3 of "Yawara!" from AE due to licensing issues. You know what this means, right? It means that those of us who watched it are still living with the constant fear that Jigoro's gonna jump out of the bushes someday to pull some agonizing judo move on us because we failed to watch the next episode. Help us, Justin Sevakis; you're our only hope! Robert and Natsumi, o-tsukaresama deshita. Doumo arigatou gozaimasu! Last edited by vanfanel on Thu Feb 15, 2024 9:37 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Triltaison
 Posts: 792 |
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You weren't kidding about big news coming soon, Justin! This is fantastic news and kinda feels like a changing of the guard when a father-son business shifts to having the son manage the place for the father in his golden years. I know you'll treat Robert's baby right and I'm glad to see that AnimEigo won't be sunsetting anytime soon.
Sign me up for one of those t-shirts, too. 
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vanfanel
Posts: 1259 |
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One other AnimEigo anecdote. Many years ago, I was in a Book/Off in Japan, and out of the blue, a familiar name appeared in my peripheral vision. I turned my head, and saw "Robert Woodhead" printed on the back of a Japanese VHS tape.
Turned out it was a copy of an old OVA based on the Wizardry games; he was listed on the back as copyright owner. The used tape only cost a few bucks, so of course I bought it. Shortly after hitting "play," I began to realize why AnimEigo had never brought such an obvious title (for them) to Western shores. Later, on the old AnimeOnDVD forum, I decided tease them about it a bit, suggesting the Wizardry anime as a future release. Robert responded: "My ego is large, but not that large." |
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BigOnAnime
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 1246 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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About the only buyout that I'm not dreading. AnimEigo hasn't been that active for a long time, like Media Blasters has more output per year, though AnimEigo is the gold standard for Kickstarters. This is kind of similar to when Central Park Media bought Software Sculptors.
Never bought many of their releases as I got into anime in November 2008 and didn't begin collecting until July 2010 when I was 16, but I have wanted to get more. I've got just Otaku no Video (DVD and Kickstarter Blu-ray) and Vampire Princess Miyu. Been meaning to get Bubblegum Crisis as I enjoyed it quite a bit on Hulu years back, as well as some of their other DVD releases. Bit of a shame new copies don't come with the physical liner notes anymore, though they thankfully keep them on their site. I hope this stuff doesn't get lost in the transition. https://www.animeigo.com/liner It's also nice how they have the full credits of releases on their site, including what episodes people worked on. You never see that from the actual companies, that's typically stuff put in by fans (like myself) on ANN and such. A random example of this below. Really hoping none of this stuff ends up lost. https://www.animeigo.com/liner/anime/vampire-princess-miyu |
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nhat
Posts: 922 |
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"Woodhead is also the co-creator of the iconic Wizardry RPG" Wow that's amazing, I did not know that. I like Wizardry
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Snomaster1
 SubscriberPosts: 2906 |
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I think that Mr. Sevakis should be proud. Getting something like AnimEigo should be considered a great feather in his cap. Let's all hope that he does well by it.
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Shay Guy
 Posts: 2296 |
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…Oh, wow. Not a lot of people who can say they influenced the entire history of console RPGs from Dragon Quest on. |
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skaterballer
Posts: 19 |
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I like the logo animation but I feel having "A Division of AnimeOCD" to be like yeah ok like it's a little meh. AnimEigo oughtta fly solo in instances like the logo at the bottom of the back or wherever any logos may be, the sequence, or both. The few ADV releases after post-buyout didn't have "A Division of Section23" on them did they? Heck, Section23 doesn't put "a division of" on any of their labels Sentai Filmworks, Aesir Holdings, nor Maiden Japan. Sony didn't subtitle Funimation's logo either once they swallowed them whole. Not that these similar things matter much compared to simply the fact that it makes the logo/sequence a tad clunky but hey I guess I felt like flexing my anime knowledge
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gpnymz
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Nice to see AnimEigo will live on. Hopefully the last couple Kickstarters are Oh My Goddess and Vampire Princess Miyu Blu-rays.
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BigOnAnime
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 1246 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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RupanSansei
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I'm sorry if this counts as Necroposting but I had just heard about this & wanted to wish that Robert and Natsumi have a swell time in retirement
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