At Anime Expo FUNimation demonstrated its position as the preeminent American anime company by announcing a host of new licenses including the new anime feature, Trigun: Badlands Rumble, which Funimation expects to exhibit in theaters before releasing on DVD. Among the anime that Funimation is planning to release in 2011 are the third Black Lagoon series, Black Lagoon: Roberta’s Blood Trail, Darker Than Black Season 2, Shakugan no Shana Season 2, Hellsing Ultimate Vol.s 5-7, Toaru Majutsu no Index (A Certain Index of Prohibited Books) and its related series Toaru Kagaku no Rerugan (A Certain Scientific Railgun).
Funimation also revealed that it would be simulcasting a number of anime series including Black Butler 2, Shiki, Sekirei—Pure Engagement, Sengoku Basara Two, as well as the live action Moyashimon, which is based on the manga about an ag student who can talk to bacteria and other micro organisms. FUNimation will begin simulcasting all these series this month as they air in Japan.
In addition to these new series FUNimation also announced that it had acquired the rights to a number of former Geneon properties including Ai Yori Aoshi, Armitage III, Haibane Renmei, Hellsing TV anime, Serial Experiments Lain, Tenchi in Tokyo, Tenchi Muyo!, Tenchi Universe, and Texhnolyze.
Amidst this horde of license announcements FUNimation also confirmed that it did not have the license for Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance. Considering that Funimation put out an excellent Blu-ray edition of the first Evangelion movie re-boot , this has to be seen as a real loss for U.S. fans. Perhaps another American anime company will release the remaining Evangelion films, but it appears that Gainax may just not realize how far the market has slipped even for a previously gilt-edged property like Evangelion. There is also the question of how many iterations of basically the same material that even the most devoted fan will buy, regardless of the substantial cosmetic improvements in the new re-booted version.
Funimation also revealed that it would be simulcasting a number of anime series including Black Butler 2, Shiki, Sekirei—Pure Engagement, Sengoku Basara Two, as well as the live action Moyashimon, which is based on the manga about an ag student who can talk to bacteria and other micro organisms. FUNimation will begin simulcasting all these series this month as they air in Japan.
In addition to these new series FUNimation also announced that it had acquired the rights to a number of former Geneon properties including Ai Yori Aoshi, Armitage III, Haibane Renmei, Hellsing TV anime, Serial Experiments Lain, Tenchi in Tokyo, Tenchi Muyo!, Tenchi Universe, and Texhnolyze.
Amidst this horde of license announcements FUNimation also confirmed that it did not have the license for Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance. Considering that Funimation put out an excellent Blu-ray edition of the first Evangelion movie re-boot , this has to be seen as a real loss for U.S. fans. Perhaps another American anime company will release the remaining Evangelion films, but it appears that Gainax may just not realize how far the market has slipped even for a previously gilt-edged property like Evangelion. There is also the question of how many iterations of basically the same material that even the most devoted fan will buy, regardless of the substantial cosmetic improvements in the new re-booted version.
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