[EVA] ADV Films shuts down

[Harold Ancell]

At 07:23 PM 9/2/2009, V V wrote:
>You know a lot about this.

Well, a lot about corporate governance; as for ADV, only
what I've been reading in the usual sources (granted, I also
have been buying their products since that very first DHY tape).

>Sorry yeah I was kind of lightly saying "dummy company" when I meant more like "Dummy name" (i.e. everyone at Section 23 worked at ADV, the name changed, etc.)

I'm sure it's more disruptive than that.  They're getting
paid from a different company, they probably have a new health
plan, probably new offices (whomever the current ones are
being leased from is probably an unsecured and out of luck
creditor), etc. etc.)

>Anyway, the big questions are:
>
>1-what will be the fate of Ledford and Greenfield, the original founders/leaders?

Do we care?  As long as the various parts of Neo-ADV function well?

As long as they keep cranking out NGE V1.0 product ^_^?

Whatever negative things I might have thought about Ledford,
converting ADV's tailspin into this controlled crash (which at the
very least he had to cooperate with) is a truly impressive feat.

Greenfield?  He's had no ownership (I wonder what the story
there is) and he hasn't had much to do with the inner workings
of the company for a long time, right?

>2-will a new, revized, "Neo-ADV" (like Neo-Zeon) rise up out of this, or are they just burning off inventory?

They clearly aren't doing (just) that.  For one thing, you don't
need much of a company to do that, especially if you hire The Right
Stuf to do a liquidation.

Plus the various players are all saying the right things; we'll
find out soon enough if new product shows up on the shelves soon,
as promised.

>I don't seriously think they'll get back to where they were;

No, Funimation has that mantel now, for what it's worth.  And
the US anime bubble coincided with a world-wide credit bubble,
we aren't going to see a return to those conditions any time
soon, if ever.  It's been noted that Japan's first lost decade
coincided with the sort of rapid greying of their society that
the US is about to experience.  That really changes consumption
patterns and is thoroughly deflationary (which is bad). 

>but what are the chances they could at least work their way back to say, a level like Media Blasters?

Fair, I'd say.  Heck, what has Media Blasters been doing in
the way of anime lately?  A Blade of the Immortal license
announcement in June, then you have to go back 11 months for
more titles.  I gather they're alive, but it wouldn't seem
they are particularly in the anime business any more....

Neo-ADV seems to be a lot more healthy, as long as they can
keep their head above water; it's not guaranteed their new
titles and back catalog (minus the Sojitz/ARM titles) can
keep them alive ... we'll find out presently.

                                        - Harold