News

HIDIVE Postpones Future Streaming Dubcasts

The streaming service HIDIVE announced on Tuesday that it is postponing all future dubcast titles until further notice, including the Ahiru no Sora anime's English dub as of the 20th episode. The service in the United States cited the health and wellbeing of its talent and employees "during this historic time."

The entertainment company Bushiroad announced on Tuesday that it is canceling or postponing all of its events in Japan until May 31 due to measures to combat the spread of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The company is canceling its Sukufesu Series Fan Appreciation Festival 2020, the BanG Dream! Special ☆ LIVE Girls Band Party! 2020 Goods Pre-Sale, Great Vanga Festival 2020, and the BCF 2020 Nagoya events. Bushiroad is postponing the Butai Shōjo Dai-Undōkai, D4DJ 4th Live, Argonavis 3rd Live "Crossing," Aina Aiba 1st Live "Sign," Morfonica Debut Event "Prelude," and the BanG Dream! Special ☆ LIVE Girls Band Party! 2020 events. Bushiroad had already canceled or delayed many of its scheduled events until late March.

The planned 4DX screenings of the Patlabor: The Movie anime in Japan have been postponed from their planned April 17 start due to COVID-19. The film opened in Japan in 1989. Section23 Films most recently released the film in North America on Blu-ray Disc and DVD in 2015.

The official website and Twitter account of Comitia, a quarterly event devoted to the sale of original manga and dōjinshi, announced on Wednesday that the Comitia132extra event at the Tokyo Big Sight venue has been canceled due to concerns about the COVID-19 situation. The event was originally scheduled on May 17.

Arc System Works announced on Monday that it has canceled its Arc World Tour 2020 fighting game tournament due to concerns about the COVID-19 situation. The company is considering holding ARCREVO Japan 2020, which was scheduled for July 18, and the Arc World Tour 2020 Finals, originally slated for the end of the year, as independent events. Arc System Works is canceling the ARCREVO Korea 2020 and Daredevil events entirely. The company will facilitate the online tournaments independent of the world tour. Arc System Works stated that it will make decisions regarding future Arc World Tour events based on global conditions as coronavirus news develops.

The first reported cases of COVID-19 were in Wuhan, China in December, and then the disease began to spread in varying rates and intensities across many parts of the globe through incubation in human hosts. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a world health emergency on January 30, and announced on March 11 that it is classifying the outbreak as a pandemic. As of Wednesday, the WHO reported that there are 823,626 infected individuals worldwide. 40,598 individuals have died from the disease.

As of Wednesday, the WHO reported that Japan has 2,178 cases of COVID-19 with 57 deaths. These numbers do not include the number of cases from the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Yokohama. That cruise ship had 712 infected passengers with seven deaths.

Sources: HIDIVE, Bushiroad, Anime! Anime! Biz (コウタロウ), The Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web, Comitia's website and Twitter account via Otakomu, Arc System Works via Siliconera