Geneon USA, a Japanese-owned company that sells dubbed and subtitled DVDS of Japanese animation, has announced that as of Friday it "is ceasing the sales of all DVDs and all related distribution and marketing operations . . . ."No matter how you slice it, this is bad news. Geneon is one of the major anime sellers/distributors in the US. Further, its Japanese branch (which, to our knowledge, is still functioning) puts together the HELLSING ULTIMATE original animation video series, which of course Amy loves dearly. HELLSING ULTIMATE reportedly would not have been made but for the American market for HELLSING, where the property is more popular than in Japan.As reported on Don Burr's blog (see link at right), Geneon and another DVD seller, ADV, had planned a sales and distribution alliance that fell through at the last minute. Alas, by that time Geneon had laid off 20% of its staff in anticipation of the alliance. The compnay has thus been gutted.Possiblities include Geneon hiring a new staff and carrying on; subcontracting its production to other companies; licensing its properties out; or simply selling them. Its top-selling titles (including HELLSING ULTIMATE) are likely too valuable to allow to simply drift off the market.
technorati tags:Geneon, ADV, Crash
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