Anime Sols shutting down May 1

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usamimi
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Anime Sols shutting down May 1

Post by usamimi »

Not really a huge surprise, but still disappointing: Anime Sols will be shutting down it's website May 1: https://twitter.com/AnimeSols/status/583147916044304384

Their business model definitely had a lot of problems, but I was glad that SOMEONE was actively trying to bring classic anime to the states. They managed to release all of Dear Brother and Creamy Mami, at least. Sadly, Black Jack TV will be unfinished, as they only got to fund the first set.

I might go back and try to watch Yatterman again before the site does down. Sigh~
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Re: Anime Sols shutting down May 1

Post by yusaku »

Thanks for the heads up! I will be watching me some of that classic anime when I get off work. At least I get a month to enjoy the site.
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Re: Anime Sols shutting down May 1

Post by Animusubi »

As much as I wanted to support them, I just wasn't able to and rarely got to watch their offerings. I like both Creamy Mami and Dear Brother, even though I am only a few episodes into each, but yeah, it's not surprising to see them shutting down, unfortunate as it is.
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Re: Anime Sols shutting down May 1

Post by usamimi »

ryoran wrote:As much as I wanted to support them, I just wasn't able to and rarely got to watch their offerings. I like both Creamy Mami and Dear Brother, even though I am only a few episodes into each, but yeah, it's not surprising to see them shutting down, unfortunate as it is.
Yeah, at least all of both of those got fully funded, so the DVDs are still out there (til they sell out...) and Dear Brother will still be on Hulu and Viki since they were on both before AS picked up the show.

Amazingly, Discotek picked up Dororo, which was one of the titles AS was trying to fund before closing, so that's good at least!
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Re: Anime Sols shutting down May 1

Post by Akage »

The unsold DVDs were destroyed. Sols posted about it on their Facebook page prior to their shut down. Apparently, they either had to be destroyed or sent back to the license holders, so they went with the destruction route. Sadly, though, unless you were following them on FB, most people didn't know about it and they only gave a three week 'heads up' regarding the destruction. I had wanted to buy the Black Jack sets they had, but Sols shut down during the mid of my convention season, and all my funds had been earmarked for that.

As a company, IMO, Sols did very poorly. While I'm happy they were able to succeed in funding a US release of both Creamy Mami and Oniisama e..., everything else about them was lackluster at best. Communication with the company was next to impossible, and many of my inquiries were either ignored or never taken seriously. I had offered to pledge at much higher levels in exchange for some of the artwork being shown on their site, but I never heard back from them. I had later read that the company consisted of just two men, one of which was active military. I can understand why they were unable to keep up with business.

...Other than the DVD releases, about the only good thing that came out of Sols for me was that I ended up with the Akemi Takada sketch as the original winner didn't want it. I'm still not sure how I feel about that; On one hand, it's nice to own something she drew, but on the other hand, Takada was a total witch when I met her at Anime Expo several years ago and I really want to have nothing to do with her artwork because of it.
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Re: Anime Sols shutting down May 1

Post by llj »

Destroyed? Damn it. Why couldn't they just have put it in a box and put it out on the street with the sign "Free DVDs"? At least then it would be going to some homes. I know it would piss off those who paid money for it, but somehow it just seems like such a waste. Or at least bury it in Mexico or something...
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Re: Anime Sols shutting down May 1

Post by Animusubi »

Akage wrote:...Other than the DVD releases, about the only good thing that came out of Sols for me was that I ended up with the Akemi Takada sketch as the original winner didn't want it. I'm still not sure how I feel about that; On one hand, it's nice to own something she drew, but on the other hand, Takada was a total witch when I met her at Anime Expo several years ago and I really want to have nothing to do with her artwork because of it.
It's always a shame to hear about an instance where someone you admire isn't what you wanted them to be. I experienced this myself many times meeting creators. And usually it only takes one time to make that impression. But I also learned how stressful conventions can be for creators, and sometimes they don't show the best of themselves to the public, and it leads to some bad tastes in the mouth. I met some creators twice over the years, first time bad, second time good. I even had a comic creator apologize to me online because when I got a sketch from them, they were in a foul mood and made me feel horrible asking for art from them. They basically said the con gets to you sometimes, and things don't always go by the schedules they are given, so things go south for them.

On the other hand, I would love to own original art from Takada-san. I guess if you really didn't want it you could just trade it to someone for something you really want.
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Re: Anime Sols shutting down May 1

Post by llj »

I remember reading something like this about Takada in another forum before. Maybe it was you Akage? I seem to recall it being mentioned that there wasn't a very big fan lineup for Takada and she was upset about it.
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Re: Anime Sols shutting down May 1

Post by Akage »

ryoran wrote:It's always a shame to hear about an instance where someone you admire isn't what you wanted them to be. I experienced this myself many times meeting creators. And usually it only takes one time to make that impression.
It's not that I have an pre-set expectation when meeting a guest, other than hoping they'll be as reasonable as any other person you could meet. And most guests are. I've never gone to a convention with the thought that I'd become best friends with any guest, that we'd chat for hours and/or I'd end up a bunch of sketches, etc. Granted, I met Takada during my first convention as I began to make the transition from cel to sketch collecting in 2008. At the time, having never received a sketch from an artist, I had very, very low expectations as to what was even possible. I met her twice at that convention; Once during her autograph session where I waited almost 2 hours in line before Takada arrived (and constantly being reassured by staff that shikishi were ok) only to be told upon getting to the front of the line that she wouldn't autograph anything but a $75 print she was selling and then the second time, during Open Autographs, when staff begged me to go over there because Takada was furious that everyone was lining up for Vic Mignogna.

I know I'm not the only one out there who feels disgusted when a guest can't behave. I have friends who went to AX the year that CLAMP was there (2006) and because of CLAMP's behavior, will have nothing to do with any of their works. Speaking for myself and the small group of collectors that I know, no one equates rudeness with unwillingness to draw. They equate it with those that throw temper tantrums during their autograph session. Or who fail to show up for any of their autograph sessions or panels because they're so famous that they don't have to.
llj wrote:I remember reading something like this about Takada in another forum before. Maybe it was you Akage? I seem to recall it being mentioned that there wasn't a very big fan lineup for Takada and she was upset about it.
It was probably me. I'm pretty vocal about my experiences with guests :D
llj wrote:Destroyed? Damn it.
Blame it on the Atari diggers? Rightstuf was the one handling the DVD sales. I haven't checked their site, but maybe they held on to a couple copies...?
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Re: Anime Sols shutting down May 1

Post by usamimi »

When I worked in a video rental store, we had to destroy DVDs that didn't sell, so it's not unheard of. It's a huge waste, though--and time consuming! We had to take a BOX CUTTER to the disks to make sure that they were absolutely unplayable, then chuck em all in the recycling bins. It always made me sad when it was legitimately GOOD movies (though I admit to taking some joy into doing it to movies that were awful. :lol: )

Strangely, even though The Right Stuf claimed they would not sell any Anime Sols DVDs after the cut-off date (and that they had to be "destroyed"), they seem to have he first sets of Creamy Mami and Dear Brother for sale still on their site? I dunno if it's a glitch or they got permission to sell what little they had left...but that's only, what, 1/3rd of each series?

I was pretty disappointed with how Anime Sols was handled, I agree with you, Akage. I also tried contacting them on several occasions and got the same runaround. It also makes me worried that the companies involved will see this as a total failure & won't let any other companies try to release these same titles ever again. Which would be super unfortunate...many of the titles they were trying to release/stream really do deserve official releases, imo.
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