FUNimation to Distribute Select Geneon Titles

Roughly nine months after Geneon announced that it was exiting the American anime market FUNimation Entertainment has struck a deal that will allow it to distribute select Geneon titles in North America. Under terms of the agreement FUNimation has obtained the exclusive rights to the manufacturing, marketing, sales, and distribution of established Geneon titles including Hellsing Ultimate, Ergo Proxy, Black Lagoon, Elemental Gelade, Fate Stay Night, Kamichu, Ninja Vixens, Paradise Kiss, Rozen Maiden, Rozen Maiden Traumend, Shana, Shonen Onmyouji, The Familiar of Zero, The Story of Saiunkoku, When They Cry, and The Law of Ueki.

Among the first titles to be released will be the special edition of Hellsing Ultimate, Black Lagoon: Second Barrage, Karin, Kyo Kara Maoh Season 2, and Lyrical Nanoha.

Today's announcement is a bit of good news for the North American anime market and anime fans. FUNimation’s acquisition of Geneon titles had been rumored since last November (see “Geneon’s Fall a Positive for FUNimation?”) and in February the CEO of FUNimation’s parent company Navarre told industry analysts that FUNimation was in the “very early stages of negotiations” to acquire select Geneon titles (see “FUNimation Interested in Some Geneon Titles”). Those negotiations have obviously borne fruit, and though industry observers expected FUNimation to cherry pick the Geneon catalog, today’s announcement is notable for its rather broad sweep that extends from the obvious (Hellsing Ultimate, Black Lagoon, Ergo Proxy) to the somewhat surprising (The Law of Ueki, The Story of Saiunkoku).