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Central Park Media In Turmoil


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From the Anime News Network:

Central Park Media has sent out an official statement regarding the recent lay-offs at the company. There is no mention whether, when, or how CPM will enter bankruptcy.

   

As our business has been significantly impacted by Musicland's bankruptcy filing, we are facing tightening sales conditions and are currently focusing on a cost cutting program which will structure the company for future growth without our largest customer. A number of very talented and dedicated employees have unfortunately lost their jobs through no fault of their own.

CPM will be happy to assist these fine staff members find employment opportunities, so any company seeking experienced and professional employees are requested to email CPM at HR519@teamcpm.com for further details.

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I didn't know about this, I never got into VOTOMS, so I never went into that thread. :p

I guess I'm happy I picked up the Lodoss War OVA DVD set a while ago. And I have the Lodoss TV series to maybe finish watching, one day... Maybe...

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HOLY COW!!!

According to this forums: http://anre.org/fo/viewtopic.php?pid=91588

This Company did some the follwing anime:

CPM also licensed:

Dominion Tank Police

New Dominion Tank Police

Now and Then, Here and There

Mobile Police Patlabor (OVA)

Mobile Police Patlabor (TV)

Project A-Ko

Roujin Z

Venus Wars

Its also interesting to note one comment from a member of that forum (GrinfilledCelt):

It true that the market is changing but I don't think it is shrinking by any means. I have seen the anime section at Best Buy double in size in the last year and have been seeing more outlets start to carry anime, like Meijer's - my local grocery/department store. I love to shop brick and morter stores because I can easily strike up conversations with other people browsing the anime. I'm seeing more and more diversity in the people interested in anime - not just kids and young adults. They are still true fans. They know that they have found something good and are starved for information.

It's sad to see a small company like CPM go under after doing such good work but others will arise to take it's place. What really scares me is that eventually the growing popularity of anime will make the large media corporations like Disney and WB decide to get into distributing anime instead of just imitating it (badly), specifically that they will almost certainly decide that fansubbers have served their purpose and will set their lawyers on them and shut them down. I for one don't like the idea of those Disney Dickwads deciding which pasteurized and homogenized anime I get to see. I don't like that idea at all.

I commpletely agree with the second paragraph.

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It's sad to see a small company like CPM go under after doing such good work but others will arise to take it's place.  What really scares me is that eventually the growing popularity of anime will make the large media corporations like Disney and WB decide to get into distributing anime instead of just imitating it (badly), specifically that they will almost certainly decide that fansubbers have served their purpose and will set their lawyers on them and shut them down.  I for one don't like the idea of those Disney Dickwads deciding which pasteurized and homogenized anime I get to see.  I don't like that idea at all.

I commpletely agree with the second paragraph.

404321[/snapback]

Problem is... they don't have grounds to sue except over anime they've licensed. And since the fansubbers usually drop the series once it gets licensed, they'll have a hard time making something stick, since at no point in time were they infringing on big mega-corporation's license.

Disney and WB have also both ALREADY tried their hands at anime distribution.

Or did we all miss Mononoke and Cardcaptors?

Generally speaking, they'd rather make their own shows because it means they own all the rights, not just distribution rights in specific areas, and get all the profits.

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HOLY COW!!!

According to this forums: http://anre.org/fo/viewtopic.php?pid=91588

This Company did some the follwing anime:

CPM also licensed:

Dominion Tank Police

New Dominion Tank Police

Now and Then, Here and There

Mobile Police Patlabor (OVA)

Mobile Police Patlabor (TV)

Project A-Ko

Roujin Z

Venus Wars

Its also interesting to note one comment from a member of that forum (GrinfilledCelt):

It true that the market is changing but I don't think it is shrinking by any means.  I have seen the anime section at Best Buy double in size in the last year and have been seeing more outlets start to carry anime, like Meijer's - my local grocery/department store.  I love to shop brick and morter stores because I can easily strike up conversations with other people browsing the anime.  I'm seeing more and more diversity in the people interested in anime - not just kids and young adults.  They are still true fans.  They know that they have found something good and are starved for information.

It's sad to see a small company like CPM go under after doing such good work but others will arise to take it's place.  What really scares me is that eventually the growing popularity of anime will make the large media corporations like Disney and WB decide to get into distributing anime instead of just imitating it (badly), specifically that they will almost certainly decide that fansubbers have served their purpose and will set their lawyers on them and shut them down.  I for one don't like the idea of those Disney Dickwads deciding which pasteurized and homogenized anime I get to see.  I don't like that idea at all.

I commpletely agree with the second paragraph.

404321[/snapback]

Well none of that is new to anyone who was into anime before it "boomed". CPM, was one of the first back in the day and these are CPM's familiar titles since they started early 90s.

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Most of CPM's releases were crap (M.D. Geist, Battle Arena Toshinden and Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer anyone?), but CPM did release some great titles, other than what grss1982 posted:

Grave of the Fireflies

Night on the Galactic Railroad

Odin: Starlight Mutiny

Demon City Shinjuku

Cyber City Oedo 808

Urotsukidoji (Admit it - the first movie was good.)

The World of Narue

Detonator Orgun

Record of Lodoss War

BTW, CPM did not license New Dominion Tank Police. It's licensed by Manga Entertainment.

Edited by areaseven
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What really scares me is that eventually the growing popularity of anime will make the large media corporations like Disney and WB decide to get into distributing anime instead of just imitating it (badly), specifically that they will almost certainly decide that fansubbers have served their purpose and will set their lawyers on them and shut them down.  I for one don't like the idea of those Disney Dickwads deciding which pasteurized and homogenized anime I get to see.  I don't like that idea at all. [/b]

404321[/snapback]

Actually, Disney's own anime releases have subs that are more faithful and readable than most fan subs, not to mention dubs that are actually tolerable. If they're going to sue, that means they've bothered to pay for and obtain the license, and that also means you're likely to get something better than most fans can put together in the first place. I don't see that as a bad thing, so long as Disney treats the source material with the respect they've shown so far.

And like JB0 mentions, it won't be Disney who decides that fansubbers have served their purpose. It'll be the fansubbers themselves.

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Just talked to my friend Joe who I voice act with on occasions, it looks like he got laid off from CPM recently as well. He did alot of the English text insertions into Manga.....last thing he told me was that he was working on a Yaoi and really wished he wasn't.

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CPM angered me mightily when they released all but the last volume of the Patlabor TV series as separate DVD volumes, then put out the last only in a set with the previous two (making me buy them again :angry: ), but without them I'd never have received all that Patlabor goodness in the first place (and not spent all that money on both the VHS and DVD versions... wait a minute, am I angry or not? :huh::lol: ). At any rate, it'll be sad to see one of the old guard go the way of the dodo.

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CPM angered me mightily when they released all but the last volume of the Patlabor TV series as separate DVD volumes, then put out the last only in a set with the previous two (making me buy them again  ), but without them I'd never have received all that Patlabor goodness in the first place (and not spent all that money on both the VHS and DVD versions... wait a minute, am I angry or not?  ). At any rate, it'll be sad to see one of the old guard go the way of the dodo.

Is there like a box set of the whole tv series which I can get? (link with pics of what to look for would be nice.)

I hate buying stuff as seperate volumes..(too lazy to make repeated trips to store)

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Is there like a box set of the whole tv series which I can get? (link with pics of what to look for would be nice.)

I hate buying stuff as seperate volumes..(too lazy to make repeated trips to store)

405227[/snapback]

If you go to Right Stuf's Weekly Specials section, they have all 3 box sets of the TV series for $18-23 each, and the New Files sequel OVA for $16. I picked all those up a few weeks ago because it's such a bargain.

http://www.rightstuf.com/1-800-338-6827/ca...egory/4/153/100

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Actually, Disney's own anime releases have subs that are more faithful and readable than most fan subs, not to mention dubs that are actually tolerable.

Slightly OT:

Where Miyazaki's stuff is concerned Disney has the power to get big name actors to do the dubs like Dakota Fanning and her sister for the newer release of Tonari no Totoro (I thought the Fox dub was slightly better imho, but that's me :D )

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Here's a thought:

If Central Park Media goes out of business, many of their titles will probably go to other anime distributors like ADV Films (they already picked up the Area 88 OAV), Media Blasters (a good chunk of CPM's old catalog went to them), Geneon Entertainment, and Bandai Visual USA (hopefully, the Patlabor TV and OAV series goes their way). In this case, who'll pick up M.D. Geist?

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  • 2 years later...

R.I.P. Central Park Media (1990-2009)

After years of financial turmoil (with a $1.2 million debt to creditors), CPM has filed for Chapter 7 and is now facing liquidation. Many of its titles such as Grave of the Fireflies and Now and Then, Here and There have found a new home in ADV Films. Unfortunately, ADV also decided to pick up M.D. Geist as well. God help us if they decide to use him as their logo and mascot...

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Actually, Disney's own anime releases have subs that are more faithful and readable than most fan subs,

Ah, no they don`t. For example the disney "subs" on Kiki`s Delivery Service are just a transcript of the dub, ie hearing impaired subs.

Edited by MilSpex
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  • 4 weeks later...
Next month, ADV Films will reissue Grave of the Fireflies, Now and Then, Here and There, The World of Narue and MD Geist (unfortunately) on DVD. What other former CPM titles would you like to see back in stores?

Beautiful Dreamer was released by CPM, no?

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But you gotta admit, MD Geist's RPA does look rather cool (his Death Force Armor's ugly, though).

That was the only good part about MD Geist. And I'm not gonna even discuss MD Geist II: Death Force, as it was one of the factors that led to CPM's eventual downfall.

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Patlabor on TV, followed by Patlabor on TV followed by Patlabor on TV. :) Preferably also with much better cover art and promotional blurb written by someone who actually understands the series...

Maybe, but I'd prefer Bandai Entertainment over ADV to re-release anything related to Patlabor. Unless ADV got the same team behind Gasaraki's English release.

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  • 2 months later...
Speaking of ADV and dying anime companies...

ADV Films Shuts Down, Parent Transfers Assets to Other Companies

As the old saying goes: "The bigger they are, the harder they fall." Over the past decade, ADV was America's largest anime distributor, but being just that appeared to be its downfall.

Now I wonder which company will be the next to fall...

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