On January 3rd, the publisher of Bandai Entertainment is announcing that it will cease to release new DVD and Blu-ray releases in North America, effectively ending its 13-year run in the market. The majority of the division’s contractors and three of their five full-time staff members will be laid off, and all releases scheduled after the end of January have been cancelled. For more information, visit www.animenewsnetwork.com.
Update: Off the top of my head, the titles I can recommend worth checking out are Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 and Freedom Project. Though you might also be interested in the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Plus, they also still have leftover copies of the Hideaki Anno Cutey Honey, which hopefully someone will unearth from COF vault hell.
Update: I forgot to add other recs. Lessee…It wasn’t one of my favorites, but if you want a decent samurai epic, check out Sword of the Stranger. Plus, they got the novel-based anime, Girl Who Leapt Through Time, which is not to be confused with the live-action film based on the same source material. Also, if you’re a fan of Cowboy Bebop, good luck on finding reasonably priced copies, but the team also worked on Wolf’s Rain. Anyone wanna name-drop any other favorites to check out, be sure to add to the comments section.
Update 1.5: How could I forget? They also have Akira on Blu-Ray!
That reminds me. How about bringing back the Cutie Honey review? 🙂