Cautions on Licensing Speculation

Anime on DVD has reported speculation based on the Anime Expo announcements that Pioneer will sponsor the American premier of the Ah! Megami-sama (Ah! My Goddess) movie and Bandai will sponsor the American premier of Akihabara Cyber Team that these respective distributors have licensed these shows for eventual American release. It’s highly possible that Pioneer has obtained the American distribution rights to the A!MG movie, and Bandai Akihabara Denougumi, but, if true, American releases may still be quite far off. Pioneer first premiered Catnapped at Anime Expo 3-4 years before releasing it on American home video, and AD Vision sponsored Anime Expo premiers of Spriggan and Nadesico: The Prince of Darkness two years ago when neither will be available on home video in America until at least 2002. Bandai also premiered Maho Tsukai Tai and Tetsuwan Birdy (Birdy the Mighty) at Anime Expo several years ago, and both series eventually had American releases by companies other than Bandai.

Tokuma Shoten will also be sponsoring an AX premier of the Legend of the Galactic Heroes movie. No American distributor has ever shown interest in licensing this extremely long and complicated political space opera, but the series’ Japanese creators are very enthuastic about exporting the series to America.