Ask John: Where’s the Rest of Law of Ueki?

Question:
Funimation has released pretty much finished up all of the stalled Geneon releases except for The Law of Ueki. Do they have this one? If they do, do you know what plans they have for it? Will they continue selling the singles like they have with the other series, or release a box?

Answer:
FUNimation has promptly redistributed most of its Geneon “license rescues,” in the process continuing and finishing formerly incomplete domestic releases including Shonen Onmyouji, When They Cry, Story of Saiunkoku, Black Lagoon, Kyo Kara Maoh season 2, and Karin. However, among the 17 Geneon anime franchises that FUNimation acquired last July, Law of Ueki is the only one to still not have any announced re-release plan. I do anticipate FUNimation eventually circulating this series back into the American market, but production of individual DVD volumes is probably unlikely.

Geneon released the first 36 of 51 episodes of Law of Ueki on nine DVDs. With that release distribution, a completion of the individual disc release would require 4 additional DVDs. FUNimation finished the individual disc releases of Rozen Maiden, When They Cry, Black Lagoon, Kyo Kara Maoh, and Karin with no more than 3 additional individual discs per series. With only one individual disc remaining in the former ADV series Pumpkin Scissors, Red Garden, and Welcome to the NHK, FUNimation initially intended to not release any individual discs at all. In this light, the possibility of FUNimation releasing four additional single volumes of Law of Ueki seems unlikely. However, it must be noted that FUNimation did release 4 previously unreleased individual volumes of Shonen Onmyouji.

FUNimation clearly seems hesitant to release more than three additional individual DVD volumes for any of its “license rescue” titles, which is understandable considering the success FUNimation has had with its multi-disc collections and the generally poor state of American sales for individual DVD volumes. Furthermore, Law of Ueki has never been an especially strong title in America, further diminishing the practical necessity and financial viability of producing and distributing four additional separate DVD volumes of the show for the benefit of the very small number of American consumers that collected the previous releases.

Law of Ueki probably isn’t a high priority title for FUNimation because it’s not a title likely to generate much revenue. But considering that it’s already translated, and FUNimation wouldn’t have to invest much to deliver the show to market again, I’m sure that FUNimation will eventually re-release it. But I fully expect that whenever FUNimation does re-release Law of Ueki, they’ll do so in the most practical and cost efficient manner – multi disc sets – rather than issuing four final individual DVDs.