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According to the official BBS of Hirata Katsuzo (the chief animator of "Basquash!"), Itagaki Shin was fired from the director of "Basquash!". The official website of the anime indicates that the new director is Sato Eiichi (the director of "Kiss Dum: Engage Planet"). Hirata said the production staff of Basquash were largely reorganized from the episode 9 and Hirata himself also had to leave the team by the end of May.

Sources:
Hirata's official BBS
Basquash official website

The Amazon pre-order ranking chart of Basquash Blu-ray vol.1 shows unsuccessful sales of the anime.

Amaran chart of Basquash

Hashimoto Hiroyuki, one of the episode directors of Basquash, is looking for jobs because he quit the team.

Hashimoto's blog

Last March, Itagaki Shin wrote in his web column that there was an extremely discouraging event happened to him on March 24th.

Source: Itagaki's web column

I am not amused. Itagaki's ADHD directing was one of the things that kept the show entertaining.

Hey, maybe the show can now be good!

Thats just silly :P

Two significantly rare events happened.
1. The main production staff were fired in the middle of the airing.
2. Such confidential personnel changes were leaked by animators before the official announcement.

I guess many animators are dissatisfied with the discharge of Itagaki.

Exactly.


Dropping it in the same moment the episodes directed by so called new director begin.

that is a dumb move. that is the way to get people to hate a company.

Effed, the show hasn't been as exhilarating since the first episode but it's still pretty good, it's not like Lucky Star where the first episodes were completely unbearable to watch.

Well, I guess I can't say I blame them. The show - while decent in some parts where action was concerned - hasn't lived up to my expectations. I'm interested to see what kind of direction the new director will take the anime in.

Probably going to drop it when the next director episode's arrive. Being bad or not, not going to watch 2 half finished anime's

wtf, that sucks

Looking forward to see the changes. Preferably in a direction that makes Basquash! stands out as more than just a "forgettable" anime.

wow.......i was really enjoying basquash O_o this really sucks..

It was obvious Basquash would have bad sales. Unfortunate, but obvious.

Wonder where the show will go now with such a major change.

I thought episode 10 was the best so far, it seemed to be hitting its stride. Guess I'll have to see what a new director can do...

Wasn't expecting anything from the show to begin with, so all changes are positivei guess.

Ass long sa Sela is ever-present.

This may be a weird example to use, but the same thing happened in the tokusatsu project Kamen Rider Hibiki. The show had amazing ratings and was widely acclaimed for being unique, but toy and DVD sales were weak, so a large chunk of the production staff (including producers and writers) were changed to try to get the show some better toy sales. The show ended up suffering in the end, with fans, critics, and actors extremely dissatisfied with what the new staff did. In the end, toy sales did rise. *shrugs*

Gah, I just know Basquash! is going to go down the toilet now. I love the hyperactive feel of the show, changing that will just remove half of the show's charm. I've been thinking this for a while now, but Shoji Kawamori must have lost his mind if he'll let this happen.

The official website of the anime indicates that the new director is Sato Eiichi (the director of "Kiss Dum: Engage Planet").

yeah, never touching this anime now...

...

well there goes my Friday catch-up marathon.

-___________-
I downloaded everything last night just to wake up to THIS news?
gah! *angry*