Bandai has sent out a mailing announcing their February release dates but before we get into that let’s play our favorite game here on Otaku Review… Which Bandai Title Got Delayed Today?

Alright, does everyone playing along at home have their pre-order slips out? A lot of big name releases have been set for the early holiday shopping season but not all of them can be released on time. Which ones get delayed? Will it be Toward the Terra? Or Code Geass R2? Hayate the Combat Butler perhaps? Let’s find out! Here we go…

Toward the Terra [Anime Legends] Complete Collection – Moved from 11/3 to 12/1
My Otome [Anime Legends] Complete Collection – Moved from 11/17 to 12/1
Code Geass R2 Part 2 (and Special Edition) – Moved from 11/17 to 12/1
Code Geass R2 Part 3 (and Special Edition) – Moved from 12/1 to 1/19
Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Part 3 (and Special Edition) – Moved 11/17 to 12/1
Hayate the Combat Butler Part 3 – Moved from 11/17 to 12/1
Hayate the Combat Butler Part 4 – Moved from 1/4 to 2/9

If you guessed D) all of the above; you win! What do you win? An extra one or two months to wait for your Bandai shipment. Yay for you. Things get better as we go along though. For those who didn’t get to see in theaters a few weeks ago (yes, I missed it though I did want to go), Eureka Seven good night, sleep tight, young lovers will be released on DVD and Blu ray on 2/9. The releases will retail for 24.98 and 39.98 respectively. Now for the fun part…

Do you remember how Kurokami was supposed to be released on DVD and Blu ray a few months ago by Bandai? At first it was going to get a DVD release which was pushed back into May. After canceling all pre-orders, the new plan became a summer release to go with the streaming premiere on Crunchyroll. But the new, NEW plan is to release it on both DVD and Blu ray in February. Both the DVD and Blu ray will be released 2/9 for 29.98 and 24.98 respectively. I know that’s crazy cool good news. But we haven’t even gotten to the best parts yet so let’s just lay out some of the bullet points some of the highlights for this release:

The DVD release format has changed. Instead of three volumes with eight episodes each, it will now be four volumes with six episodes each. The Blu ray however will be six volumes with four episodes each.

Wow, so better picture is cheaper but I don’t have to buy as many of the more expensive one. Alright, I can live with that and it’s not like I’m going to be getting the Blu ray. It also has been awhile since someone has purposely gone with the long six volume release format. But its Blu ray so at least it’s going to be filled with great extras.

Blu ray volumes will be DUB ONLY

Dub only? So let’s weigh this out: the less expensive Blu ray will have a better picture but will be spread out over six volumes and only has a dub track. The DVD will have a worse picture but a higher price spread over fewer volumes. Wow, Bandai just made a lot of fans unhappy.

For those who are wondering, many people who are smarter than me have already speculated on the insanity of this Blu ray release. Apparently with being such a recent release, those who issue the license in Japan may have concerns of those in Japan importing the US release into Japan to get around the insanely expensive Japanese release prices. If the US release has no Japanese dub track, it becomes much less of a problem. This is in no way confirmed to be the total and complete truth and should be treated as such. ANN managed to get a comment out of Bandai reading simply “The license for the Japanese audio was not granted for our Blu-Ray release of Kurokami.” Hm.

But what about the still constant DVD delays? I’m not an expert in the field so I can’t even begin to speculate what keeps causing these problems at Bandai. For at least a year now, Bandai has been issuing press release after press release to announce delays. Not that I’ve ever run a multimillion dollar anime company before but I can’t help but think that maybe Bandai could keep some of their footing if they were allowed to just step forward and say ‘Alright, here’s why everything has gone to s#it and here’s what we’re doing to fix it.’ It’s not too late to do it either. So Bandai, what is going on over there?

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