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NEWS: Funimation: No More Big Windup! Anime to Be Licensed

Well, while it sucks that only a few months after they released the second set they're saying they won't consider season 2, they did say "same genre of sports anime". I'd assume this means baseball anime, or maybe "more realistic" ones, who knows. But I'd guess it might include the likes of One Outs and Prince of Tennis, the tournament sports shows. But something like Taishou or Bamboo Blade which have other elements as well (or even Umisho, which I would definitely buy if it was licensed, even though I normally would never touch a sports anime) don't fall into the same category. Even something like Shion no Ou is different enough that it might escape the "same genre of sports anime" statement.

Ggultra2764 wrote:

Guess this shoots down the likelihood of Cross Game ever being licensed here in the states.

This is basically what I was thinking. Had I known Big Windup! would determine the fate of other good sports shows (especially Cross Game) I might have given it a chance. It is a bit sad that they are basing the future of an entire anime theme on the performance of a single title. Would they have stopped doing mecha or magical girl shows if their first ventures had been failures? Probably not. Isn't Bamboo Blade also technically a sports title? How's it doing? Sure, it's moe (of the very tamest variety), but it should still have as much sway as Windup. Maybe compromise with a moe baseball title like Taishou Yakyuu Musume and then give us Cross Game?

Emerje

pf91rodman wrote:

Stop being cheap and buy the dang DVD's. I can understand if you're the 12% who are poor, but for the 88% of you middle class and upper class people who can afford luxuries one in a while, cut back on downloading/streaming whatever, and just buy it! If you really love anime that much, you should support what you love by providing animation companies money so they can continue doing what they're doing. Stop ruining it for all of us. Thank you to the people who actually buy the DVD's and merchandise. Without you, anime wouldn't be as big as it is now. I'm outa here.

I agree! Quit making excuses for being cheap, being impatient, and being immature kids and grow-up. Anime, whether you like it or not is an industry and a business. Everyone from the creators, to the actors, to the distributors, have to "put food on their tables" just like you or your parents have to. Every time you download anime or manga for free, you're taking money from every person who helped bring you that bit of enjoyment which is not fair. They should be compensated for what they do. And those artist and distributors may barely be making ends meet and you're not helping them. Regardless of the politics and artistic beliefs, The people who create and bring you anime have to survive and make a living in order to continue that. Try preaching that "it's too expensive" story to the ones in Japan who create it and see if they agree with free downloading. Grow up or Wake up!

Me wonders how many orders got cancelled because of the announcement of no season 2.

britannicamoore wrote:

$70 for a 26 episodes isn't cool. And yes you can find it cheaper- just wait until the complete set hits. Why pay that much? Funis shooting themsleves in the foot with the complete boxsets coming out for less than one part. Thats why i didn't buy them although they are on my list. If they release a complete set they'll see more sale numbers. People aren't stupid and they aren't just going to throw away money.

If you refuse to buy anything until it reaches the bargain bin or is released as a complete series, don't complain when fewer shows are licensed.

einhorn303 wrote:

skafreak51 wrote: It makes me mad, but I can understand why people didn't buy it- 50 dollars plus is outrageous for 13 episodes. Outrageously cheap. http://www.amazon.co.jp/s/ref=nb_ss?__mk_ja_JP=%83Jタ%83J%83i&url=search-alias%3Ddvd&field-keywords=dvd+box&x=17&y=14

Oh god...Can we please do away with this old logical fallacy already? Comparing Japan to North America is flawed. Flawed flawed flawed flawed flawed. I guess what I am saying is it is flawed. It is totally absurd to expect someone in one country to judge what is reasonable by the standards of another country. If that's how you want to look at it, then you should forget anime entirely. Instead we should all just log off ANN and spend our time being thankful that we were neither murdered by the guerrillas, nor imprisoned and tortured by the government today. If you really want to play the whole perspective game, we're all having a pretty [expletive] good day. But that would be pointless. So instead, we judge things based relative to our own country.

Eventually the movie will probably hit the $5 bin. It's a matter ofd appealing to different fans. The "must haves" ones are likely amongst those who buy it pretty close to the initial release (& impulse-good sale+spare cash). The $5 eventual price is for the ones who wouldn't pay $20, but see it in the $5 bin & pick it up because it was a pretty good movie, worth $5.

The characters in Big Windup are younger *and* drawn delicately.

Combine that with the fact that baseball hasn't caught on with the current generation of Americans like football and basketball has, as opposed to its unflagging popularity in Japan, and you have a recipe for a sales disaster in this economy...

hikaru004 wrote:

Me wonders how many orders got cancelled because of the announcement of no season 2.

Not enough to license second 2, I am afraid.

Sports anime usually just work in TV, at least around here. Captain Tsubsa was a big hit on TV, but DVD and manga didn't work that good. And let's not talk about the "Prince of Tennis" fiasco*...


* its "thousands" of fans** did vanish after the manga got licensed...
**PoT's yaoi dôjinshi scans' fans, probably

But it became a self-fullfilling prophesy imo. It will most likely to continue to have low sales because the people who wait for the s2 to come out before buying won't bother now. The announcement shot it in the foot imo.

You know what? FU, anime fandom.
Enjoy your 13-year-olds in bikinis and giant robots shooting each other or whatever it is that *does* sell around here.

Now, that's not to say that CG doesn't still have a chance of being picked up by someone else. It is as much about romance as it is about baseball, after all, so it's possible Section 23 or someone else might give it a shot. But now I consider that to be a longshot.