Anime Sols

[drauch]

http://animesols.com/

"...the first time ever Japanese animation companies have set up their own business to stream classic Japanese animation to fans overseas!"

Essentially a giant streaming/kickstarter for anime that hasn't been localized. A lot of classic stuff so far, as well as some relevant newer titles. Just got launched today, so the site is still a work in progress. Support from Tezuka, Tatsunoko and Pierrot are some of the big ones. Figured this needed its own separate thread, seeing how our current anime thread is really supposed to be focused on what you're watching.

This is some of the best news I've heard in quite some time. After seeing so many companies fall in the last few years, seems like Discotek, Rightstuf, MaidenJapan, Sentai, and now this arise from the ashes.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Bah US and Can only

[CMoon]

Woah, RightStuf is gone? Times _have_ changed.

[drauch]

Woah, RightStuf is gone? Times _have_ changed.

Nah, alive and kicking more than ever. Poor wording on my part. I was more so referencing Tokyopop, Animeigo, CPM, etc.

[drauch]

Bah US and Can only

Yeah, I agree it's a bit of a downer that this can't apply to everyone. Maybe if this proves successful they can do a Region 2 division? Here's to hoping.

[Ganelon]

Cool stuff. Making fans speak with their money is a great way to put the ball in the fans' hands. The current format is a bit unclear though.

I'm a bit surprised at the low ~$20k pledge goals. The collapse of US anime companies despite relatively low overhead now makes a lot more sense to me if they couldn't even reach these numbers to continue bringing a series over.

[trap15]

Great idea. Will definitely be checking this out!

[Ed Oscuro]

Sounds good, will keep an eye out.

[Ji-L87]

Listened a bit to the Anncast where they talked about this, sounds cool. A bit of a shame about this though:

Bah US and Can only

However, understandable

Hoping they will broading their horizons to here soon...

[Obiwanshinobi]

Wasn't vehement piracy worst for the business? (I believe it was good for The People™ alright.) Like, worse than everything else on Earth.

[Jeneki]

This website really needs an explanation of what it is and what the pledges are for on the main page. I had to dig through the FAQ to have any idea what is going on here.

[drauch]

This website really needs an explanation of what it is and what the pledges are for on the main page. I had to dig through the FAQ to have any idea what is going on here.

Yeah, they've apologized for that. It literally started yesterday, so it's still a work in progress.

[Skykid]

Listened a bit to the Anncast where they talked about this, sounds cool. A bit of a shame about this though:

Bah US and Can only

However, understandable

Hoping they will broading their horizons to here soon...

You folks realise any half decent vpn will circumvent all region issues?

[Jeneki]

A better question would be if they will ship DVDs overseas if you pledge money.

[Jeneki]

Man ... the cutoff for a few of the DVD sets is today, with the rest days to a few weeks later. Only one is even a fourth of the way funded, but nowhere near the goal. Perhaps AnimeSOLs is a literal name?

[trap15]

Sadly, that's how it seems

[Pretas]

This was never going to work unless people could put their money down and be guaranteed they were buying something. If the licensing barriers weren't in the way, I could see a service that pressed and shipped on demand US-region, subtitled DVDs of old and obscure anime doing quite well for itself.

[drauch]

Yep. They dicked around too long with too little information on the product. Pledge this amount and get this! Get what? Pictures, information, anything? Quality of DVDs? What the sets are going to look like? Great idea, even though the price is a bit steep for 12 episodes in these times, seeing as all the R1 stuff from Righstuf, Sentai, Discotek, etc. carries a lower price tag and more episodes. Sentai has picked up some Tatsunoko as well, so that kind of makes me question the point of some of the AnimeSols releases. People are obviously buying the shit, but they have zero credibility thus far and zero information on their advertised product, hence the reason I still haven't pledged.

[Master O]

Well, according to this link, box sets will be coming for Black Jack and Creamy Mami:

http://animesols.com/video_sets?search% ... rating.asc

[drauch]

Right, but you are aware the box sets are coming only for those that pledged it?

Out of the initial six, only Creamy Mami and Black Jack made the cut for their first box sets. Looks like Sols is getting the hang of things, as Dear Brother just got announced, complete with a much longer pledge date, cheaper box set cost, and an overall lower goal.

[Jeneki]

I was interested in the 24-Hour Specials.

[drauch]

Yeah, I was as well, but decided against it for some of the aforementioned reasons. I went ahead and joined the Mami train once things looked promising, so we'll see how that goes. There is mention of bringing back some of the failed titles once they get their feet wet, so don't give up yet!

[BrianC]

I forgot I saw Black Jack TV before when I rented it. Didn't CPM use to have it?

Edit: nm. Those were the OVAs, not the TV series.