Bandai Entertainment to Stop Production and Distribution of New Releases

by Florete
Jan 2, 2012 11:18 AM | 115 Comments

According to their official site, Bandai Entertainment's online store closed on December 29, and now the subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings will be ceasing production and distribution of new products. Starting in February, Bandai Entertainment will no longer offer new DVD, Blu-ray, and manga releases.

While there will be no new products emerging, Bandai Entertainment will continue to offer existing releases from its catalog after February and plans to produce new stock if needed until licenses expire. Below is a list of cancelled releases:

Anime:
Gosick
Nichijou
Turn a Gundam

Manga:
Code Geass: Shikkoku no Renya
Gurren Lagann volume 7
Kannagi volumes 4-6
Lucky Star Boo Boo Kagaboo (spinoff by Eretto)
Mobile Suit Gundam 00I
Tales of the Abyss: Tsuioku no Jade volumes 1 and 2

Sources: Bandai Entertainment Online Store, ANN

Story by Setsuna200

20 of 115 Comments Recent Comments

shame were only getting the dvd, but hell, its nichijou, id buy it if it were VHS, nichijou really needs a western release, it bombed to hell in japan and thats just not right.

Edit, date announced, march 20 for part 1, eps 1-13

Jan 3, 2013 12:07 AM by eldest

Australia. It's always Australia.

*adds to pile of Australian releases wanted that already consists of Kaiba, Trapeze, Dennou Coil and Usagi Drop*

Jan 2, 2013 7:00 PM by Seasonreaper

eldest said:
madman has licensed nichijou for a R4 (Australian) release for march 2013. DVD only sadly.
link here

I'd love Blu-Ray, but if DVD is all that gets released, I'll take it.

Jan 2, 2013 6:55 PM by Ultimadrago

madman has licensed nichijou for a R4 (Australian) release for march 2013. DVD only sadly.
link here

Nov 21, 2012 2:24 AM by eldest

Aaah, I was wondering why Gurren Lagann volume 7 took so long... Well, fuck.
Thanks for the info.

Nov 13, 2012 4:13 PM by CharmingIce

Why are they not doing all this stuff??? Some of them are really famous!!! Are they out of their mind?

May 31, 2012 5:09 AM by KittyKatWombat

Nichijou?!?!?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I just started watching this series, and now I release it's US release got nuked?!?! This sucks! I hope someone else picks it up.

May 31, 2012 1:29 AM by removed-user

Rakuen42 said:
Dear anime licensors,

Pick up Nichijou. Name your price. Take my money.

Regards,
Rakuen

+Ultimadrago

For real, son.
I will toss my money like a javelin towards their direction.

Mar 30, 2012 3:22 PM by Ultimadrago

I still hope Gundam will be released in the US cause didn't I see in the interview that they will be sub-licensers? Does that mean Bandai can get digital rights and give the DVD rights to another company to release physically?

Cause I don't want to pay a kidney for Gundam AGE and Code Geass: Akito when it finally gets a full release and most likely non-subbed on top of that. Legal stream is the next best thing, but I'd rather watch it whenever without waiting for this piece of junk to buffer or having to worry when the stream will expire.

Jan 27, 2012 11:38 PM by Roloko

**This is a really, really stupid question, I'm sure... Will I be able to order Gosick directly from Japan and if so, which company owns the title there? I'd look this up on my own if I knew where to look... Thanks for any help!**

Jan 23, 2012 12:30 PM by kesmikcuz

Forest-kun said:
Dammit, why? ;_;

I was looking forward to Nichijou...Why?? T_T

me too !_!

Jan 21, 2012 4:08 AM by AidaJudge

Well, sadly Bandai entrainment gets to join ADV & Pioneer/Geneon. That's just great. No Turn a Gundam :(

Jan 17, 2012 10:17 AM by Kaji02

Not really know where to post about his since im new here but i started to watch anime as nichijou and gurren lagann were the only 2 i've watched and it really bums me out there will be no nichijou, may i get some suggestion? And im guessing nichijou being back is such a slight chance kyoani will have nichijou back?

Jan 16, 2012 5:20 PM by Gasp

Wow -____-
Kinda cheesed...

Jan 8, 2012 7:07 PM by Falcomster

Tanrim said:
This might be a simplistic view of things but Bandai doesn't really have anyone to blame but Bandai, do they?

Their releases weren't exactly competitive in the current market so if they had bad sales that would be a major reason why.

An example would be Gundam 00. While other companies were doing 2 part releases they made the first season 3 parts and the second season 4. Went for it myself at first, since I bought the first season, but after that I didn't want to buy another 4 parts. Imagine a lot of other people didn't, either. There are probably more extreme examples, as well, but I don't have one off the top of my head.

The time they took to actually release stuff was probably another factor. You take a really long time with these little part releases then by the time you get to a season version a lot of the more casual fans would have probably already lost interest.

Well, I'm sad to see to see this happen to Bandai but it was kind of expected. In any business you have to adapt or die. Bandai was a dinosaur of a company, in more ways then one, and we all know what happened to the dinosaurs.

The real sad thing is, like with Geneon, a lot of good shows are probably just going to end up getting lost in the shuffle. That bothers me more than anything, to be honest.

That is precisely what might cause their downfall. This is in relation to this thread's topic... Just like what happened to some of their toyline, there was a case wherein, there was this very anticipated adaptation of a popular tokusatsu from Japan known as Kamen Rider Ryuki in the form of Kamen Rider Dragon Knight and guess what happened? They released those toys 5-6 months later and just the first half of the overall 13 Kamen Riders were manufactured. None of the latter half of the 13 were manufactured. If they could've manufactured them earlier, say 2 weeks from the initial airing in 4kids, all of them and probably, the Big Bad General Xaviax and the Advent Master Eubulon could've been made into action. I know this because I saw this going downhill as I was visiting their toysite just 4 days ago and found that Kamen Rider Dragon Knight is no longer around their corner. Furthermore, I saw some threads from tokusatsu fansites like Henshin Justice Unlimited and Rangerboard.

Another thing here in relation to that, is the advertising. I found out that they advertise less if I am not mistaken, and so, they lose the folks that should've gotten it. Let us look at Bandai Japan, they are so aggressive when it comes down to advertisements and deck-to-deck promotions. The moment a goodie is around, they run the show on rampage (uhr... I mean on high edge) and so, CA$H! When it hits, it hits hard on the customers and so, BOJ (Bandai of Japan) has great success.

Now, if only BoA could've done things in a large scale and compete well with Sentai and Funimation like loading up their licensing and promotions with a deck-to-deck performance, then they could've been at a better state now.

Jan 8, 2012 12:23 AM by HyperCobaltMax

This might be a simplistic view of things but Bandai doesn't really have anyone to blame but Bandai, do they?

Their releases weren't exactly competitive in the current market so if they had bad sales that would be a major reason why.

An example would be Gundam 00. While other companies were doing 2 part releases they made the first season 3 parts and the second season 4. Went for it myself at first, since I bought the first season, but after that I didn't want to buy another 4 parts. Imagine a lot of other people didn't, either. There are probably more extreme examples, as well, but I don't have one off the top of my head.

The time they took to actually release stuff was probably another factor. You take a really long time with these little part releases then by the time you get to a season version a lot of the more casual fans would have probably already lost interest.

Well, I'm sad to see to see this happen to Bandai but it was kind of expected. In any business you have to adapt or die. Bandai was a dinosaur of a company, in more ways then one, and we all know what happened to the dinosaurs.

The real sad thing is, like with Geneon, a lot of good shows are probably just going to end up getting lost in the shuffle. That bothers me more than anything, to be honest.

Jan 6, 2012 4:05 AM by Tanrim

Well now the UK is also stopping production too on its titles, but its also going to keep printing their old series too until the license expires like our US branch is doing.

Jan 6, 2012 3:48 AM by Roloko

Gosick! Nnoo!!

Jan 5, 2012 12:42 PM by SuperLou2

I heard from one guy that this is "a wake-up call." He's right, in a way.

It's a wake-up call for all these other US anime licensors to finally stop fucking around and start licensing anime that's aimed for the mainstream audience (as oppose to the niche audience). I said this a million times: "America IS NOT Japan."

Haters hate Bleach, Naruto, Pokemon, Dragonball, on down; but atleast they get played on non-cable TV channels and they keep the licensors afloat.

Jan 5, 2012 11:29 AM by Hectotane

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/bandai_downsizing_ken_iyadomi_interview

What the heck does this mean Bandai?
BAD MOVE!

Jan 4, 2012 7:50 PM by HyperCobaltMax

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Related Database Entries

Anime:	Gosick, Nichijou, Turn A Gundam
Manga:	Code Geass: Shikkoku no Renya, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Kannagi, Kidou Senshi Gundam 00I, Tales of the Abyss: Tsuioku no Jade
People: