GDH says: Retire voluntarily or else…

As predicted, when GDH already announced on November 10 that it would reduce its annual output of anime from about eight projects to four, there will be layoffs. Well, it is happening now. Around 50 people have to go “honorabily”

GDH, the corporate parent of the Gonzo anime studio, has announced on Friday that it is asking many of its employees — “in the range of 50″ of them, according to its press release — to voluntarily retire to help restore the company to profitability. Since GDH and Gonzo currently have about 200 employees, this planned reduction would represent about 25% of the workforce. The employees who choose to take advantage of the program between December 1 and December 12 will receive a one-time bonus equivalent to one-month’s salary. Their retirement will become effective on January 31. The program applies to GDH and Gonzo employees, but not to those in Gonzo Rosso, an online game subsidiary.

GDH has also announced on Friday that it would sell off its GDH Capital financing subsidiary for 213 million yen (about US$2.2 million). The four-person unit was originally established in 2005 with 300 million yen (US$3 million) in capital.

GDH cites the drop in DVD sales and the need to trim its anime production business for its most recent changes. GDH already announced on November 10 that it would reduce its annual output of anime from about eight projects to four in the next fiscal year and combine its four internal studios under one division. To that end, it plans to reduce its representative director’s compensation by half, its board of directors’ head count by two (or 30%), and its executive and managerial staff’s head count by eight (or 10 to 20%).

Earlier in the fall, CEO Shinichiro Ishikawa, director/chief financial officer Fumiaki Goto, and executive vice president/chief operating officer Yasushi Uchida stepped down, although they remain with the company as vice-president, director, and executive director, respectively. At the time, the Japanese investment company Iwakaze Capital KK finalized its bid to become the majority owner of GDH. GDH has been on notice for possible delisting from the Tokyo Stock Exchange before this investment.

Source: ANN

I must admit that to retire with only one month salary is less than “honorably” but guess it is better than nothing at all.

The financial crisis is taking its toll on anime studios.  Let`s hope the situation does not affect the quality of their production or worst, dont see anime productions at all. I dont think it is going to be that worst, but probably We will see a decrease of anime programming on TV or DVD sales.

C&D Confirmed: Funimation sent “Death Notes” to Fansubbers!

The North American anime distributor FUNIMATION has confirmed on Monday that it issued cease-and-desist letters on behalf of its Japanese partners to stop the fan-subtitled distribution of the following titles:

• Evangelion: 1.0 You (Are) Not Alone,
• Soul Eater,
• Spice + Wolf,
• Mushi-Uta,
• and My Bride is a Mermaid! a.k.a. Seto no Hanayome

According to Funimation, it has “recent authorization agreements with Kadokawa, NTV, Media Factory, and TV Tokyo Medianet” to send these letters. The Nyoron Fansubs group reports that the cease-and-desist letter for the Evangelion: 1.0 You (Are) Not Alone film was sent on behalf of NTV.

Funimation notes, as it has in past cease-and-desist efforts, “We want to stress that though these series are not yet licensed to a distribution company in the U.S., the rights owned by Japanese producers are still applicable, and enforceable, worldwide. ”

Funimation also continued to send out cease-and-desist letters for the D.Gray-man and Katekyo Hitman Reborn! anime, as it has been doing since earlier this year. Funimation announced it had acquired D.Gray-man this past May.
Source: ANN

This has some sort of sweet sour taste and I dont like it too much. If they are going to send C & D letters, I hope the titles gets licensed pretty soon (I doubt it according to the press release) instead of waiting for months or years.  And even if titles are released for video streaming, there are some people that will not be able to watch it. I can´t even talk about the quality of their videos…because I cant access!

I will like to buy the EVA movie but when it is going to be available? Considering that the company that will release it has to pay HUGE royalties for the distribution rights it will take some time.  Guess people will have to wait for the official release, wait for “others” to continue fansubbing or learn japanese to watch anime without english subtitles. At least there are options to choose.

Free anime on Hulu!…so what?

I hope the title of this post doesnt sound harsh, but basically, I am protesting about some facts regarding the news. This was big on anime blogs lately, so I was curious about it and visited the related websites (Hulu, Joust and others).  The only thing I got is this message:

So basically, if you live in the U.S., this are great news. But for everybody else, you will get this message and the same thing happens in Joust and Veoh. The other unfortunate thing about this is that if you try to view full episodes on Youtube, most of them are removed due to “copyright” violations, and EVERYONE can watch YOUTUBE.  Please read the statement from HULU concerning this:

Q : Why can’t I watch your videos from outside the U.S.?
For now, Hulu is a U.S. service only. That said, our intention is to make Hulu’s growing content lineup available worldwide. This requires clearing the rights for each show or film in each specific geography and will take time. We’re encouraged by how many content providers have already been working along these lines so that their programs can be available over the Internet to a much larger, global audience. The Hulu team is committed to making great programming available across the globe.

My question is…when?… When the great programming is going to be available across the globe?  This model of business is good for TV stations overseas because they can get the rights to broadcast it on their native language or with subtitles, but it could take MONTHS or even YEARS after the original broadcasting and also We will have to wait a while to BUY the dvds! Hulu said it: “clearing the rights for each show or film”…With the HUGE amount of shows and films there, I doubt it is going to be possible in the short or even medium term. I hate to admit it but until they solve the bureaucracy, many people will have to depend on other illegal methods to watch the programs they like, including anime. I hope they can solve this soon enough because time is priceless and watching anime legally helps support the industry so they can create more great programming.

Gonzo Studios: Less Quantity, More Quality?!

It had to happen and I am not surprised due to the global recession We are having now. GDH group, the company that owns GONZO STUDIOS has announced the reduction of projects that they make during a year. Annual productions will be reduced from 8 to 4 projects. What does that mean to anime fans? The bad news are that probably they will cut jobs like everywhere else due to the financial crisis.

This is of course only speculation, but due to my experience in the job markets, this almost happens when a company reduce production of their merchandise. Less anime made by Gonzo means less exposure in the media as well. The Good news…Gonzo will focus on series that are really worth it. Less deadlines, means more quality values on their productions which means Gonzo will probably return to their golden days when they really produced anime series worth watching.

Vandread, Last Exile, Gatekeepers are some of their series I really enjoyed, but due to the fact that Gonzo tried to swallow more of what they chewed, they produced series that many anime fans considered everything but exciting and fun. I just hope Gonzo and other anime studios can endure the financial crisis the world is suffering and lets hope this crisis will help anime studios manage better their resources for the goodness of anime fans.

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