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NEWS: Media Blasters Reduces Staff with Layoffs, Furloughs


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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 25 Oct 2003
Posts: 7578
Location: Wales
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:14 pm Reply with quote
It probably says something about the niche that MB occupies that practically none of their titles are available to buy in the UK - although they do have a few titles that I have been meaning to collect for years like Rayearth and Asagiri no Miko.
It is never good news to hear of yet another US company doing badly, even if it doesn't affect us here directly like ADV (who had a presence in the UK which S23 doesn't appear to have plans to re-establish). While bidding wars are bad for everyone, so is lack of competition.
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u_nick



Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 11
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:17 pm Reply with quote
I just wished they'd start changing release patterns, and maybe a put out a few season or half season sets. There are at least 3 titles of theirs I'm simply not buying because I dont want singles anymore. Sad
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Almaz



Joined: 06 Oct 2008
Posts: 134
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:20 pm Reply with quote
Paploo wrote:
I don't really know if AAAnime is any indication of their sales levels [Sirabella posts at AnimeonDVD sometimes, and has said Voltron, Teknoman and Loveless are pretty solid movers for them for example, with Loveless doing so well they are considering dubbing it, but want to wait until the subbed boxset slows down a bit since it's still a really great seller for them], but it's apparent some large accounts [Best Buy?] might not have ordered as much of their slate as they usually do given this announcement. If this affects print runs, then fans of their upcoming titles like Queens Blade and Kanokon might want to order those ASAP


It seems like MB is on economy mode. Hopefully, it will work out for them. If they are hoping for Best Buy to save them, good luck? Best Buy, around my area which has quite a few anime fans, have been cutting down their anime selection. It is nothing new. If titles do not do well, BB will cut the series.

Shiroi Hane wrote:
It probably says something about the niche that MB occupies that practically none of their titles are available to buy in the UK - although they do have a few titles that I have been meaning to collect for years like Rayearth and Asagiri no Miko.


MB does have some good titles that seemed to get ignored. Morbito, Otogi Zoshi, Simoun, Tweeny Witches, Twelve Kingdoms, Rurouni Kenshin . I do agree that a quite of few titles of MB of niche; however, there are several good titles mixed in there.
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Paploo



Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Posts: 1875
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:32 pm Reply with quote
u_nick wrote:
I just wished they'd start changing release patterns, and maybe a put out a few season or half season sets. There are at least 3 titles of theirs I'm simply not buying because I don't want singles anymore. Sad


They've actually done a lot of season sets with no single releases-
- Sentimental Journey
- Seraphim Call [might have this title's name off a bit]

The dvd edition of Virtua Fighter was 2 thirteen episode sets... all these preceded the more recent move to sets in this style.

Sayonara Zetsubou is also being done in 1/2 season releases, with 6 episodes on each volume, so the 1st series will just be 2 volumes [and about the same overall price as Sentai's 2-disc sets]


Invader Zim and Tweeny Witches were also released as 2-disc singles with twice the content of a normal single release at a lower price.

I think they stick with singles due to their smaller output [Sirabella mentioned singles generally do well if they're 3 volumes long], and the fact that it allows them to price subsequent boxsets fairly low.
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ninjapet



Joined: 20 Apr 2009
Posts: 1517
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:35 pm Reply with quote
They better not go out of business, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei needs to be released in the U.S.

But yes, I already have a order for SZS volume 1 on rightstuff so I hope it helps out MB with sales.
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dragonrider_cody



Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 2541
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:36 pm Reply with quote
I have no doubt that Best Buy is the most prominent "big vendor" they are talking about. They have been cutting back DVD and anime orders drastically, and moving a great many titles online only. John Sirabella made some comments that failing to get Best Buy's support on a title cuts into your sales dramatically, and I suspect it's why they've been doing several Best Buy and Walmart exclusives to get product on shelves. I doubt the slow collapse of FYE is helping either.

He also said that MB viewed layoffs as their absolute last option, so I imagine he did everything he could to keep those workers employed. I hope the orders do pick up so they can be rehired, but I'm not very optimistic on that. Good luck to the displaced workers and MB.
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Paploo



Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Posts: 1875
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:37 pm Reply with quote
Almaz wrote:

MB does have some good titles that seemed to get ignored. Morbito, Otogi Zoshi, Simoun, Tweeny Witches, Twelve Kingdoms, Rurouni Kenshin . I do agree that a quite of few titles of MB of niche; however, there are several good titles mixed in there.


Tweeny Witches is insanely good- they're releasing the TV series in a boxset soonish, though I think the Artbox edition is well worth tracking down since the Book-styled look is so pretty. They offered it with Vol.1 [it holds vol.1-3 and the OVA set], and a complete collection [singles+OVA in the artbox- the new collection is just the TV series, though buying the OVA and it seperately is cheaper then the complete artbox version]

Otogi Zoshi had a couple recent lower-priced rereleases, so some might want to check that out too. Walmart in the US apparently offered an exclusive insanely cheap stackpack edition of Moribito too, though the massmarket ed. of Moribito is insanely pretty and worth it in my books.

Simoun is an awesome show, and the boxset retails for 49.99 at the moment I think. I picked up the singles [well priced at 19.99 each subonly, with 26 eps across 5 volumes]

Twelve Kingdoms and Kenshin are classics, and both have fairly extensive complete collections available or upcoming [Kenshins'll have 21 dvd's and 96 episodes! Pricey at 160, but the lowest priced way to get the whole show (singles=630, economy boxsets would be over 200). I have most of it in singles, and it's really great stuff- MB's dvd's are unedited too, so don't worry if you saw some edits if you saw it on Cartoon Network in the past- CN's version was edited from MB's pre-existing unedited dub, which was the only version released on home video.]

Twelve Kingdoms is currently 70 for the whole show, or 50 each for the two economy sets
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15279
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:59 pm Reply with quote
Good luck weathering this down-turn, MB.
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Apollo-kun



Joined: 11 Feb 2010
Posts: 1213
Location: City 7, Macross 7
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:59 pm Reply with quote
jrnemanich wrote:
sad, i think that media blasters is underrated
I agree. I hope an excellent company such as MB doesn't go the way of ADV or Central Park Media. They've brought me some of my favorite shows (Kirameki Project, Kashimashi, The Twelve Kingdoms, Tweeny Witches, Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan) over the years, and are in my opinion one of the finest distributors of anime out there, and their prices are always so good. They've also licensed "Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei", which is sure to be good because the manga is so excellent. But yeah, people: BUY MORE MEDIA BLASTERS STUFF SO THEY DON'T GO THE WAY OF THE DINOSAUR.
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vashthekaizoku



Joined: 30 May 2009
Posts: 261
Location: The House of Rat
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 8:03 pm Reply with quote
I only have a couple more discs of Season 3 of Kenshin to have the whole series! This news is incentive to finish my set! Also, they did Kujibiki Unbalance, which I need for the Genshiken OVAs! I was in Best Buy today, and they had Disc 3 of Genshiken 2 for $19.99! I would have picked it up if Megacon wasn't this weekend...They also did the classic Gokusen, didn't they?
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Paploo



Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Posts: 1875
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 8:08 pm Reply with quote
vashthekaizoku wrote:
I only have a couple more discs of Season 3 of Kenshin to have the whole series! This news is incentive to finish my set! Also, they did Kujibiki Unbalance, which I need for the Genshiken OVAs! I was in Best Buy today, and they had Disc 3 of Genshiken 2 for $19.99! I would have picked it up if Megacon wasn't this weekend...They also did the classic Gokusen, didn't they?


The Kujibiku Unbalance litebox is probably your best option- 30 bucks for the full KU series and the Genshiken 3 ep OVA.

Yeah, they released Gokusen bilingually- I have it, and it's a pretty fun oddball show, and the dub is great. Checking rightstuf you can still get-
-Litebox edition w/3 discs in one case
-Gokusen TV collection [same price, but the original singles in a paper artbox

There was also a version of the TV collection that came with a windbreaker, that was also offered with a special ed. of Vol.1 (which is still listed on RightStuf ).

At 20 bucks, the litebox or economy collection are both pretty solid editions to your collection.

UPDATE- Chris Beveridge has posted a list of delayed titles here http://www.mania.com/aodvb/showthread.php?t=98968 alongside the latest solicitations [a premium collection of Moribito, and a Samurai Deeper Kyo reissue w/a tshirt]. There's a large number of titles that have had release dates moved up, and some that have had their dates move to "to be determined"

Note that "to be determined" doesn't mean cancelled- given vol.3 of Ikki Tosen DD is delayed till June, the boxset ed. of that series probably won't hit until that's been at retail for a little while. Zetsubou's also been delayed, but I'm guessing that's due to other titles taking up it's retail date spots. Hopefully July and August solicitations will being us better news for delayed titles.

Both MB and Bandai have had a lot of delayed titles lately that look to be less due to production issues [Bandai's Kurokami finished airing it's dub awhile back] and moreso due to retail issues as they move titles to better suit their larger purchasers.
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bglassbrook



Joined: 29 Aug 2006
Posts: 1243
Location: Gaithersburg, MD
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 8:24 pm Reply with quote
Paploo wrote:
Yeah, they dub most of their anime,

Eh? While this may have once been true, wasn't MB the first to dive into sub-only (with a few exceptions) mode a few years back?
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AyumiHamasaki



Joined: 17 Mar 2005
Posts: 219
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 8:27 pm Reply with quote
Thanks for the list, Paploo!

I'm planning on buying some Media Blasters collection. They are highly underrated. Their titles are amazing.
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Paploo



Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Posts: 1875
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 8:29 pm Reply with quote
Ordering at retail'll probably help out, but I just remembered that Media Blasters also runs their own DVD store at http://www.rareflix.com/home.cfm which looks to have some hard to find titles on sale. They also have a physical store in New Jersey http://okazu.blogspot.com/2009/01/day-with-media-blasters.html which doubles as their warehouse. If you're in the area, maybe call them up and go shopping.

Haven't ordered from them myself, but it is a way to help them out a bit more directly. They also run http://www.alteil.com/ Altiel, a free online card game [they've done a few games besides this, like a GBA Samurai Deeper Kyo game and a few Bible Black PC games from their popular adult title]
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Dargonxtc



Joined: 13 Apr 2006
Posts: 4463
Location: Nc5xd7+ スターダストの海洋
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 8:40 pm Reply with quote
I'm surprised this surprises anyone.
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