ADV are not the kind of guys I'd think could ever be described as "ninja-like." Maybe quick on their feet from the way they dodge questions, but fast enough to rip your family to shreds, annihilate every friend you've met, and crucify your dog while waiting for a pop tart to warm up? No way. So I was incredibly surprised when ADV's David Williams mentioned that he and some other ADV members had recently been involved in some "black ops stuff," evaluating other companies and potentially looking to buy them out. Though I'm not entirely sure if fewer American anime producers is entirely bad for the industry, it's safe to say that Williams would never make it in the harsh world of the ninjas.
In less ridiculous matters, ADV announced that they have acquired the license for Kiba in conjunction with Upper Deck, the parent company of the show's main Japanese sponsor, Upper Deck Japan. For those unfamiliar with the series, Kiba is designed as a violent anime with a card-game tie-in. While ADV did not delve into details of the license, and no one seemed to care enough to ask any questions about it, I'm sure that Upper Deck will be importing the card game to market to the crowd that buys other short-lived anime card games.
Williams took some time to discuss recent "replicator issues," stating that some volumes might be delayed a bit. He promised, though, that March releases would still be out by the end of March, and they should be back on track by the end of May. Furthermore, they're still hesitant about how to approach Blu-ray distribution, despite their announcement of supporting the format. Off the record, Williams was clear in the fact that he was not real optimistic about the future of the format, thinking that DVD sales would probably transfer to online distribution formats such as Xbox Live Marketplace.
The rest of the rest of the panel was mostly statements that "things were happening," littered with Williams' favorite phrase, "I can neither confirm nor deny." ADV Manga is still alive and will keep producing titles, Newtype is still dead, ADV is not going after Geneon titles, and Anime Network will still remain as Video-On-Demand because of cable demands. Needless to say, there was nothing said on everyone's favorite over-the-top mecha, Gurren Lagann.
Beyond that, Williams did manage to make a few interesting, somewhat odd points I feel like sharing. He mentioned that the fansubbers who have their work shown on CrunchyRoll for money do have some legal recourse, but quickly stated that he wasn't going to touch that one anymore. He gave a very obvious protip: if you want to collect a series individually, buy the first volume right away, something any collector probably knows already. ADV might look into doing subtitled-only releases of very niche titles, and they would probably be released in a full-series box set. And finally, he very carefully mentioned the fact that ADV is "working very hard to maximize the effectiveness of [Sgt. Keroro] in the United States."
I have no idea what that means, but I'm guessing you shouldn't expect to see everyone's favorite Gundam ad with frogs any time soon.
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