Media Blasters Downsizes
Media Blasters formally laid off 9-10 of its 15 full-time employees yesterday. Those laid off will have the opportunity to continue working for the company as freelancers. CEO John Sirabella explained, “All of the small publishers are going through this sort of thing right now. Not just anime. Everyone’s transitioning from full-time staff to freelancers.” The downsize is not expected to impact the distributor’s release schedule.
I’m contributing my share. Just bought the first Queen’s Blade BD on Monday.
Source: Anime News Network
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I’ll do my share and pick up Squid Girl and Bakuman even though with my backlog and lack of time it will probably 2050 before I get a chance to watch them.
I already bought Media Blasters’ Moribito and Twelve Kingdoms BD sets last year, but I don’t intend to buy Bakuman until it comes out on Blu-Ray. I’m also hoping they’ll bring the Berserk BD-box to the US later this year.
That’s a shame… not so much from the licensing end, Media Blasters hasn’t been known for much lately, but rather for how it looks like they’re treating their employees. “You can’t work here anymore for regular pay and regular benefits, but if you want to do the same thing for much less, have at it.”
Haven’t bought the Punie-chan Special Edition nor Bakuman, but apart from those, I think I may own every non-H title Media Blasters has released. Oh, wait. I never bought their Fortune Quest DVD. Otherwise, I think I have everything they’ve released, including both volumes of Squid Girl and both Queen’s Blade BDs. I also bought their Destroy All Monsters BD just a few weeks ago.
Sucks as always when this happens to a distributor, but it’s better than closing down. They seem to be venturing into some new terroritory with Fushigi Yuugi, so hoepfully they can turn things around. Maybe if they license rescue some of the titles that are demanding $100+ on the after market, they can find themselves a nice niche.
I can’t argue MB doesn’t have a lot to offer these days, which is sad, since they’ve released a number of hidden gems.
Well, it seems they will release Bakuman on Blu-ray after all, so they’ll get more money from me this year. I might buy Fushigi Yûgi, too, since I’m a fan of the manga but never got to watch the anime.