Ask John: Will Kurau Ever Be Released in America?

Question:
ADV licensed a series called Kurau: Phantom Memory a few years ago (around July 4, 2004 according to Anime News Network) and has still yet to do anything with the series. Do you happen to know anything about the production of this series?

Answer:
Among the numerous anime series that AD Vision has announced possession of but not yet released, Kurau ~Phantom Memory~ is not the oldest license, but it does seem to be the most requested. In July 2001 AD Vision announced its acquisition of the Papa to Odorou (“Let’s Dance With Papa”) anime television series and the Yuki Terai series of full CG idol videos. Now, more than five years later, both of these titles remain unreleased in America, but there’s little concern from America’s fan community because both titles are virtually unknown here. Beside these two titles, Kurau ~Phantom Memory~ is the only license from prior to this year that AD Vision still hasn’t released.

In December 2004 I named Kurau ~Phantom Memory~ one of my picks for best anime of the year. I said back then, “Out of all the high profile and well known anime produced by Studio Bones, including Angelic Layer, RahXephon, Scrapped Princess, and the Cowboy Bebop movie, the often overlooked Kurau: Phantom Memory may, in fact, be their masterwork.” I still think that statement is true today. This touching and simultaneously hopeful and tragic sci-fi drama presented humanity through the eyes of beings who weren’t entirely human. Through Kurau and her partner Christmas, we saw the compassion, love, empathy, and tenderness that human beings are capable of, and also felt the pain, loss, fear, and discrimination that they suffered from human beings. The show was largely overlooked by America’s fan community, but those who have seen it consistently praise it.

Regrettably I don’t know what the American status of the show is. For two years AD Vision has repeated its coy, non-answer about the show. ADV refuses to confirm whether or not they do actually have distribution rights to the series. In 2004, the same year that AD Vision licensed Kurau, they also licensed Tactics and Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, but later nullified those two acquisitions. Earlier this year I heard speculation that AD Vision would at last clarify whether or not it did actually possess distribution rights to Kurau at the Otakon convention in August, but Otakon came and went with no confirmation.

Over the past year I’ve seen and heard numerous inquiries and requests for the status of Kurau ~Phantom Memory~. Having seen the entire series, I’d gratefully appreciate an opportunity to purchase an official American release of the series. Unfortunately, I don’t know when or if the show will ever receive an official American release. At this point, it seems as if only AD Vision knows for certain, and they’re not telling.