Bandai Visual USA sends word that the Shigofumi: Letters from the Departed, true tears, and sola DVD releases have been postponed. Why? They say in a release that they are "reconsidering the overall release strategy of packaged animation media in the United States." That doesn't sound good, does it?

Bandai Visual USA President Tatsunori Konno says, “Many aspects of the anime market are in a transitional phase. We need time to reinvent ourselves so that we can bring our customary quality together with better customer satisfaction."

And then some slick diversionary tactics: "We will also try to focus much more on Blu-ray disc releases now that format war has ended."

They say that a new release schedule is coming as soon as possible. Only these new releases seem to be affected. HARUKA: Beyond the Stream of Time – A Tale of the Eight Guardians, Super Robot Wars: OG – Divine Wars, YUKIKAZE, and FREEDOM (yes, even the HD-DVD version) will continue to be released as scheduled.

What do you think is up? Is this a pulling of the plug? Or will we see these released in another format?