Is ADV films in trouble ?
Back in August I reported on the demise of Geneon USA and there subsequent bankruptcy, this event shocked many Anime fans around the world as Geneon had been around since the beginning. (They were known as Pioneer back in those days.) They were praised and well known for their high quality VHS & DVD releases, there subsequent bankruptcy left many titles unfinished and left fans are wondering if they will be picked up by other companies.
Well it looks like something similar is happening to ADV films now. In early 2000 when Anime hit it’s peak ADV was licensing every title they could get there hands on. Some of these titles paid off and some of them did not, this method of licensing Anime got them into financial trouble and were forced reconsolidated there losses. But they managed to pull it out of the fire and saved them selfs from the same fate as Geneon. But now some interesting has been happening recently and you don’t need a degree in financial management to see what is happening.
Back in January 5th ADV canceled its 24/7 Anime Network TV channel operations, scaling it down to video on demand. (Pay as you watch basically or pay as you request however you look at it.) Exactly 5 days later on January 10th they announced that they will be ceasing production of its magazine Newtype USA, and replace it with there own god awful magazine called “PiQ Magazine”. Then 8 days later ADV would also announce that they will be shutting down its Anime ADVocate program. ( ADVocate was basically a program giving away free Anime material to Anime clubs around the states and Europe.) But it does not end here, on January the 22nd ADV stated that it it would be shutting down its U.K offices. And that all the European Anime releases would be distributed through their U.S offices.
But now it gets even a bit more disturbing on January the 28th, ADV dropped a number of high profile titles from its website titles like Gurren Lagann, 5 Centimeters per Second, Kanon, Pumpkin Scissors, Devil May Cry, and Welcome to the NHK just to name a few, only to magically re-appear a day or two later. It seems a little bizarre to me that they actually removed the items from their store. (Without comment.)
Shortly afterwards an ADV Films spokesperson made the following statement in regards to the Anime titles that were removed from the site:
“We know there are a lot of rumors swirling about, and that fans are looking for assurances that ADV will continue to distribute the anime series they know and love.
While we can’t go into any detail at this time, please know that ADV is working through a few short-term challenges and fully intends to continue our releases.”
Short term challenges” aka we are in the shit people. A complete list of dropped Anime titles can be found here. And like I said before you don’t need a degree in financial management to see what is happening at ADV they are re-consolidating there assets, trying to keep the ship floating.
It seems that ADV and there financial backer Sojitz had a fallout somewhere along the line. And now ADV does not have Sojitz’s financial backing anymore leaving ADV in financial trouble. And since Sojitz set up ARM to help ADV license there Anime titles, it only stand to reason that those titles are now up in the air as ARM decided to withhold all the shows it licensed for ADV since they are part of Sojitz, leaving ADV dead in the water so to speak.
ADV has been completely silent about these issue’s with the exception of the one statement they made above. No spokes person have appeared on any message boards or made any statements publicly. No sites have received screener DVDs for reviews, either. So this begs the question is ADV films in trouble.
But there is at least some good news. As ADV decided to drop the license for Gurren Lagaan, Bandai quikly jumped in and brought the rights to Gurren Lagaan. Let us hope the same happens with the other shows that ADV decided to drop.
We thank you for your patience.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:22 pm
ADV has been circling the drain for about five years now. The powers that be got greedy; they started throwing money left and right at new business ventures, like the magazine, the manga, the Anime Network, the toy line, etc., in an attempt to stay the #1 company in the industry, but the only thing that was making any money was the DVD line. And once they squeezed every last penny they could out of Robotech and Evangelion, they were screwed.
September 2nd, 2008 at 2:11 pm
[...] buzzing that ADV has secured the rights from StarChild… although, considering how much of a financial mess ADV is rumored to be in right now, I kind of doubt [...]
September 4th, 2008 at 12:05 am
I see this happen to businesses again and again. A thriving business decides to expand just when the economy takes a dive. Then the business implodes.
My feelings about ADV is mixed. They do decent English dubs. I especially appreciated Azumanga Daioh. But I have never forgiven them for the Sailor Moon R and S boxsets. The quality was dismal and way overpriced. The fact that they ignored my numerous requests to be taken off their spamming list convinced me that they seriously disrespect their customers.
All the best to the ADV voice actors, lets hope their careers continues with companies like Funimation.
December 31st, 2008 at 8:22 am
[...] another look at trouble at ADV Films from earlier in the [...]
June 21st, 2009 at 11:13 pm
Another issue I have noticed in ADV Dubs is they seem to have this neurotic notion, that any series/OVA that has an exiting counter part that has been dubbed/ licensed by another company is crap. so they feel the need to change major details in it to make their own original artistic statement. Lets start with the first one I encountered. Being a huge anime fan I have quite an extensive collection, which includes The Record of Lodoss War both series, so when i heard ADV was releasing a series called the Legend of Crystania I was ecstatic, until I bought the movie who ever created it had changed the way an important character was supposed to look this story was to expalin what happen to ashram the black knight of marmo as he set sail for a better place for his people it did that but here is what ADV felt the need to do they decided that Purittesse needed to be pronounced pur i tess aa and later in the ova series that follow that emperor beld needed to be change to emperor beird this is all because U.S. Manga controlled lodoss war. Theye also did the same thing to Lost universe which had a connection to another U.S. Mange licensed series The Slayers they canged the names of all the lost ships which either represented a weapon of light or a god in the series of slayers this one was actually a power play ADV had lost the bid for the series slayers but won the ova to the series and a related series Lost Universe. But, there are two more series they did this to Shadow Skill an OVA that had been licensed by Manga entertainment ADV changed the pronunciation of all of the main character’s names predictably the fans of the OVA were put off instantly and the series flopped But lets get to the most famous series they got the rights to MACROSS known by many is the founding series of robotech, I understand hey were trying to dubb the series it was supposed to be but they were trying to capture the market of a preexisting fan base that being fans of robotech so the name changes back to their original form is acceptable but, the first problem they changed the pronunciation of macross to ma-cross this instantly alienated the fan base they were targeting this coupled with making all the inhabitants of the city on board the ship sound like backwoods hicks and hillbillies helped to further displease the fan base. This is only four series i am aware of there could be more
In my opinion this neurotic notion has made many fans of adv me personally I have not bought any of adv films dvd’s in a while but the above mentioned issues is not why they just quit producing anything I am interested in collecting the only series I want from them now is excel saga. which happens to be something ADV is good at doing they are very good with Comedies some of the funniest series I have evr seen were dubbed by ADV