Bandai Visual USA News

[Ranma4699]

dot-anime.us Announces New Video Streaming Service

Torrance, Calif. February 28, 2008 – dot-anime.us, the ecommerce site operated by
Bandai Visual USA, announced today the launch of a new streaming video service, which will
offer fans a legal option to view a full episode of Bandai Visual USA titles.

The video streaming will begin in late March 2008 with the first episode of “HARUKA:
Beyond the Stream of Time – A Tale of the Eight Guardians” and will be available, free of charge,
for a limited time and to viewers in US and Canada only. Future titles being planned for the offer
include “true tears,” “Shigofumi: Letters of the Departed,” and “sola.”

Bandai Visual USA President, Tatsunori Konno, said, “We are very excited about this
latest stage for Bandai Visual USA. A big change is afoot in the US anime industry when we can
deliver our work through authorized digital media. Bandai Visual will keep striving to work for
the benefit of US fans.”

Further details and schedules will be announced shortly.

[About dot-anime.us]
dot-anime.us (www.dot-anime.us) is a North American version of dot-anime.com, a Japanese
website dedicated to bringing anime directly to fans via the internet. At dot-anime in Japan, fans
can watch over 400 titles and 4000 episodes of anime, download thousands of anime songs, and
purchase their favorite anime DVDs and CDs with a click of their mouse. dot-anime.us is
planning to roll out similar services to the North American fans.

[About Bandai Visual USA Inc.]
Bandai Visual USA INC. was established in 2005 as a wholly owned subsidiary of
Bandai Visual co., ltd. with a mission to facilitate stronger, more active involvement in
positioning, marketing and distribution of Bandai Visual programs in North America. From
its base in Torrance, California, Bandai Visual USA seeks to form new alliances and
reinforce existing ties in an effort to strengthen Bandai Visual's international presence as a
producer and content provider in the ever expanding and diversified specialty programs market.

[Ranma4699]

Bandai Visual USA to Stream Selected Episodes on dot-anime.us

Haruka #1 to be streamed in March; true tears, Shigofumi, sola also planned

The anime distributor Bandai Visual USA has announced that its dot-anime.us retail website will stream the first full episode of the Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time – A Tale of the Eight Guardians anime series starting in late March. The streaming will be "free of charge, for a limited time, and to viewers in the United States and Canada only." Bandai Visual USA plans to offer episodes of true tears, Shigofumi: Letters from the Departed, and sola later. The company did not announce any system requirements and said that more details and schedules will be provided shortly.

The .ANIME site, the Japanese counterpart to dot-anime.us, has been streaming selected anime episodes for free. However, this separate Japanese service requires the Microsoft Windows operating system and the Internet Explorer web brower (version 6 or later) and limits itself to users with Japanese Internet addresses.

[Ranma4699]

Bandai Visual USA Delays Shigofumi, True Tears, Sola

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Shigofumi

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True Tears

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Sola

Company reconsiders strategy for packaged media, promises new schedule

Bandai Visual USA has announced that it has postponed its releases of the Shigofumi: Letters from the Departed, true tears, and sola anime series. The company says that it is reconsidering its release strategy for packaged media in light of "current market conditions and expectations." The company has also promised a new release schedule as soon as possible, and noted that all other titles, such as Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time – A Tale of the Eight Guardians, Yukikaze, and Freedom, are unaffected. Bandai Visual USA announced its release of Shigofumi and true tears on January 30. Bandai Visual USA just announced its sola release on February 25. The company's dot-anime.us website is still streaming the first episode of Haruka, but it also still lists Shigofumi, true tears, and sola as "Coming Soon."

President of Bandai Visual USA 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. We will also try to focus much more on Blu-ray Disc releases now that format war has ended.” Bandai Visual USA noted on February 19, after Toshiba's announcement of HD DVD's discontinuation, that it will continue Freedom's release on HD DVD/DVD Twin Disc Format. The company previously announced in January that it would be releasing Yukikaze on Blu-ray Disc on April 8, and that release has not been postponed.

[Ranma4699]

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Aim For The Ace

Ash ita no Joe 2, Aim for the Ace! BDs to Ship in Japan

Bandai Visual has revealed that it will release Tokyo Movie's Ash ita no Joe 2 boxing anime movie and Aim for the Ace! tennis anime movie (pictured at right) on Blu-ray Disc in Japan on September 26. Both will feature 16:9-aspect/1080p-resolution video, linear PCM monaural audio, the related movie trailers, and a 12-page full-color booklet.

Source: AV Watch

[Ranma4699]

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Bandai Visual to Offer Freedom on BD Worldwide in Fall

1 of BV's 1st titles on Blu-ray with same global price, subs in multiple languages

Nikkei's IT Plus news site reports on Sunday that Bandai Visual will release Freedom and other anime titles on Blu-ray Disc simultaneously throughout the world this fall. The same packaged disc with subtitles in Japanese, English, French, and other languages will be sold in the different countries for about the same price. Bandai Visual USA has already released the first five of the seven Freedom volumes in the United States on a HD DVD/DVD twin format.

In his final blog entries as the president of Bandai Visual USA, Tatsunori Konno had explained that the overall Bandai Visual company will be moving towards "simultaneous broadcast & digital distribution in both" Japan and the United States. IT Plus goes further to say that this strategic shift will also affect Bandai Visual's offerings in European and Asian countries. IT Plus notes that it is difficult to maintain the viewing restrictions and differences in prices and release dates between the various regions with current DVDs. While Bandai Visual USA is changing strategies, it delayed the releases of the Shigofumi: Letters from the Departed, true tears, and sola anime last month.

Director Shuhei Morita (Kakurenbo) and Namco Bandai's anime studio Sunrise have been animating the Freedom anime series with the design work of Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira, Steamboy) and the sponsorship of Nissin Cup Noodles. Dai Sato (Cowboy Bebop, Eureka Seven, Ergo Proxy) and Katsuhiko Chiba (E’s Otherwise, Rune Soldier, Turn A Gundam) created this story about a teenager on a lunar city who uncovers secrets that deal with the origin of Earth itself.

[Ranma4699]

Bandai Visual Confirms Global Blu-ray, Online Releases

New autumn strategy attempts to synchronize worldwide release dates, prices

The Japanese anime distributor Bandai Visual confirmed on Monday that it will start distributing popular anime on the Blu-ray Disc format throughout the world simultaneously this fall. The strategic shift will represent a new business model which attempts to solve the unauthorized distribution issue by doing away with regional differences in release dates and prices. It confirmed that the Freedom science-fiction anime series will be among the list of popular titles that will ship in staggered releases under this model. The discs will include subtitles in Japanese, English, and other languages.

Bandai Visual also confirmed that another Namco Bandai Group company, Bandai Channel, plans to sell downloads of its contents. Instead of streaming, the companies are aiming to sell downloads for specialized devices to protect their copyrighted materials.

The confirmations came in a press release that announced that Bandai Visual will introduce 10 theatrical films into the Blu-ray Disc rental market in Japan on July 25. Those 10 titles are: Royal Space Force: Wings of Honneamise, Mobile Police Patlabor: The Movie, Mobile Police Patlabor 2: The Movie, WXIII Mobile Police Patlabor, Jin-Roh, Avalon (live-action), Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack, Mobile Suit Gundam F91, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie: Knockin' on Heaven's Door, and Escaflowne.

Nikkei's IT Plus news site reported on Sunday that Bandai Visual would change its strategy, and Tatsunori Konno has been outlining some of these plans in his final blog entries as the president of Bandai Visual USA before returning to Japan.

Source: Nikkei Net

Update: To clarify, the ten films that Bandai Visual is offering to the Japanese rental market are not necessarily films that it will also release globally with subtitles.

[Ranma4699]

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1st Super Robot Wars OG Divine Wars Episode Streamed

2nd streamed Bandai Visual USA work after Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time

Bandai Visual USA has begun streaming the first episode of the Super Robot Wars OG Divine Wars television anime series on its dot-anime.us website on Monday. The anime distributor is already streaming the first episode of Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time – A Tale of the Eight Guardians. The episodes are available to users with American or Canadian Internet addresses with recent versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system and Microsoft Windows Media Player. The streaming will continue for each episode for three months.

Bandai Visual USA is planning to stream Galaxy Angel Rune next. It also plans to add the delayed titles of true tears, Shigofumi: Letters from the Departed, and sola "shortly."