The Old School Otaku Lounge

LOL. Damn, should have actually clicked on that link first before posting.

llj wrote:
LOL. Damn, should have actually clicked on that link first before posting.

it's no problem! I think CB might've been not only online only but in stores as well (since it was getting good ratings on tv), so that might be why you thought that.

Thanks for the help everyone! I've updated the list with your additions.

Thanks for posting that advertisement llj! That really makes the name "Anime Village" make more sense to me, I wasn't aware that it was meant to be an online destination for fans.

That YouTube channel is really interesting yusaku, thank you for posting that!

Usamimi, do you remember seeing any of these in stores other than Cowboy Bebop? I seem to remember seeing a lot of these at my local Suncoast, specifically the Gundam titles. Of course, that could just be my memory not being 100% accurate.

The entire Anime Village catalog made the move to retail shelves. I was ordering the Escaflowne subbed tapes for a customer at Suncoast, where I worked (until they died circa Jan '06)

SteveH wrote:The entire Anime Village catalog made the move to retail shelves. I was ordering the Escaflowne subbed tapes for a customer at Suncoast, where I worked (until they died circa Jan '06)

Yeah, if I recall, all of their titles eventually made their way to stores, then they dropped the AV label and just became good ol' Bandai. They had a solid idea, but people weren't used to ordering stuff online yet I don't think...if a company did that kind of thing now it'd probably be a lot easier to sell. But back then I don't even think Paypal was a thing yet, and while plenty of anime fans were comfortable with mail order, not all of them used credit cards (which is what I think they only took? Or checks, too, which I never use). I remember signing up with their online community thinking it'd be pretty fun, but it wasn't very lively from what I remember...I think most of the people who signed up only did it for updates on releases, so the "community" aspect wasn't all that active.

Did they only make it to stores to get rid of the overstock later on, or did they have them in stores from the start? Were they printed in those PREVIEWSWorld-type distribution catalogues retailers use to order their merchandise? Because I'm pretty sure it didn't appear in stores initially unless they specifically went and ordered from Anime Village. At the very least, it didn't seem to appear in stores where I was, except for one retailer who went out of his way to order them himself.

llj wrote:Did they only make it to stores to get rid of the overstock later on, or did they have them in stores from the start? Were they printed in those PREVIEWSWorld-type distribution catalogues retailers use to order their merchandise? Because I'm pretty sure it didn't appear in stores initially unless they specifically went and ordered from Anime Village. At the very least, it didn't seem to appear in stores where I was, except for one retailer who went out of his way to order them himself.

I'm pretty sure they were online-only at first. I know that once Cowboy Bebop was on TV, though, I saw the tapes in stores. Not sure about the rest.

Whatever Anime Village released after the initial batch of MSG, 0083, 0080, Escaflowne, CLAMP detectives and Saber M J must have made it to stores I think. The North American Cowboy Bebop VHS releases (1999) actually made it to stores 2 years BEFORE it aired on Adult Swim (2001). I very distinctly recall talking to people online about it before it aired on TV, and I was hyping certain episodes up before they aired. I remember getting the CB VHS tapes quite easily when I was buying them, so at some point Anime Village must have been designated a subsidiary branch of Bandai for the subtitled VHS versions of their releases. The "purists" label, I guess.

The dub VHS' were being released under the Bandai Entertainment label. No Anime Village labels on the spines as you can see:



I assume that Anime Village as a label essentially died when Bandai Entertainment officially went DVD. Come to think of it, I think Cowboy Bebop was already on their first DVD release when it first began airing on Adult Swim.

Geez, I have all my Bebop VHS tapes in a box somewhere at my parents' house--about half the series on dub VHS, and the other half on sub VHS. Really need to dig them out to inspect them again. Was 1999 that long ago? Doesn't feel like it, but since we're so foggy about those years right now, I guess maybe it is!

While doing a random Google search, I discovered that Eat Man '98 was also released under the Animevillage.com label, apparently:

Haunted Junction was also released under Anime Village. <: