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REVIEW: Mermaid Melody: Pichi Pichi Pitch Aqua GN 1

Is it odd to license a sequel manga when the original has been out of print for years and its anime adaptation never got licensed?

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Is it odd to license a sequel manga when the original has been out of print for years and its anime adaptation never got licensed?

when was the original has been out of print

You would think that Kodansha USA would rescue the license for it, though, given that they licensed the sequel….

FUNimation announced at AKon that they have acquired the license for Gunslinger Girl (TV). Meanwhile, ADV announced the licenses for Mermaid Melody: Pichi Pichi Pitch, Sakigake!! Cromartie High, and E’s Otherwise.

Finally, ADV has passed on the Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pich license. Mermaid Melody was a “Big Franchise” that would have required TV backing to be financially viable. While ADV was in talks with networks, these networks re-evaluated the market and it would not have been financially reasonable for ADV to license the title without at TV deal.

Now this is an interesting case of something being licensed but never being released. At AKon 2004, ADV Films announced that they licensed the 2003-2004, 52-episode TV series Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch (I don't believe the 39-episode "Pure" sequel series was licensed). As time went on, though, ADV never announced any DVD for Mermaid Melody, and after a while quietly confirmed that the show was never going to be released. Later on, it would be revealed in forums that one of the clauses in the contract was that ADV had to get Mermaid Melody on TV in North America before a DVD release could happen; no TV airing, no DVD release. Naturally, a TV airing was never going to happen, but it was confirmed that ADV did in fact fully dub the series. Chris Ayers directed the dub and it featured the likes of Blake Shepard, Brittney Karbowski, & Monica Rial. In the passing years, Del Ray actually started releasing the original Mermaid Melody manga the TV series was adapted from, which is kind of funny when you think about it. As it is now, Mermaid Melody could be an anime license with some potential to it, mainly because it features an ADV dub that has never been heard before, barring the whole "must air on TV" clause still keeping it at bay. Hell, even ADV's dub of Gurren Lagann was shown off at cons before Bandai took the show away from them...