Popular Anime seller, ADV Films, has chosen to back the Blu-ray format bringing with it, its substantial library of Anime. According to sources, ADV plans on releasing titles as early as this spring for the BD format.
For the Otakus out there, don’t expect to see a backlog of Anime coming to the shelves at your local Best Buy. ADV feels that their frontlist titles that are coming out will have first priority. "Frontlist is more important than catalogue right now," said a highly placed source from within the company. The decision to move to a high-def format may cause issues with their release schedule due to the films having to be prepared for a high-definition release.
With Warner Bros. sending a death strike as the top Hollywood movie producing studio in early January, this announcement is pretty parallel with it. ADV Films is one of the leading distributors of Anime in North America. With Geneon stopping the production of Anime from their studios, it will give way to a slew of new licensing possibilities for ADV Films in the immediate future.
Bandai Visuals and FUNimation are the other two major suppliers and have expressed support but have been weary of releasing titles until the war is over. However, with an announcement like this, you could see the other two studios following suit very quickly.
ADV has been under a lot of rumors recently with their NewType licensing coming to an end and the fact that there has been a ton of changes to their official website. "We know there are a lot of rumors swirling about, and that fans are looking for assurances that ADV will continue to distribute the anime series they know and love," the statement said. "While we can’t go into any detail at this time, please know that ADV is working through a few short-term challenges and fully intends to continue our releases. We thank you for your patience."
With Anime being a growing hobby for North America over the course of the last decade, this will be a huge blow to the HD DVD camp as support for this hobby starts to grow. We’ve seen what HD animation can look like with the beauty of Cars and Ice Age, we can only imagine the pull HD Anime will bring to people who haven’t yet delved into that world.
Now with the top Hollywood studio’s backing the Blu and the top Anime studio backing it as well. It’s only a matter of time until this is officially over despite the last ditch effort of a Toshiba Super Bowl commercial.