Funimation to be sold?
Fri 2010/06/18 12:08 JST
I got this bit of news listening to the Gundamn podcast and checked on Mecha Talk to find this link (page 28, 9th post down) with the information.
I haven't read the article yet but the basic gist I got from the podcast is that Funimation's parent company, Navarre Corporation, is looking to narrow its field of outputs so they can produce better products; and Funimation falls just outside the narrowed view.
Thought's anyone?
*Hi five* Oh today has just been great!! Now all we need is the fall of 4Kids and everything will be right with the world.
Not that 4Kids going under would really affect me in anyway, but I wouldn't neccessarily see Funaimation going under as a good thing. Also, this only states that Navarre plans to sell Funimation, not that Funimation is going out of business. Though, if Funimation were to go out of business, there wouldn't really be that many major anime licensors for North America. Pioneer/Geneon is out of the picture, I think ADV either already is or is on their way out, U.S. Manga Corps is gone, too. So that leaves, what... Viz, Anime Works, Bandai, Manga Entertainment and Toei. There's still the smaller guys like WEP and Nozomi, too. Anime licensors and distributors going out of business may not mean much to some people, especially with all the torrents and streaming anime available, but I still buy DVDs of series that I really like.
This means nothing. Navarre does nothing for FUNimation. A sale would probably work out better for FUNimation. I hope people don't expect FUNimation to fall because that won't happen.
Though, it does mean Funi loses many of their ins with Japanese anime makers.
Pretty sure Navarre has nothing to do with FUNimation and their sources. You can read this interview. From what I understand all Navarre did was handle distribution. Navarre is into the PC software, the only part of Navarre in DVD media or anime related would be FUNimation.
The companies of Navarre and the future owner of FUNimaton could still cooperate depending on who buys them and what their plan is.
Forgot to post the link ...
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interview/2010-05-29/interview-gen-fukunaga-on-the-status-of-funimation