This time it's time to take a look at the best anime titles that were released in the US during 2009. Mania/AnimeOnDVD's legendary Chris Beveridge took a look at what he thought were the top 10 titles to be released state-side during the year. Some of these are carryovers from last year that finished their run this year, such as Gurren Lagann & Death Note. But they're still all very worthy titles & the list presented here is pretty much perfect (#2 is the only one I'm surprised about). You can read the countdown at the link below, or if you just want to hit the results quickly, I've listed them after the jump:

http://www.mania.com/anime-gift-list-10-must-own-anime-dvds_article_119287.html

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It's now online super store Amazon's turn to give us their list of the top 10... err, 9... anime titles of 2009. Why 9 instead of 10? No freaking idea. I mean honestly, was it that hard to come up with one more title? Well that little annoyance not withstanding, the list is pretty good. Bandai's epic release of Akira on Blu-ray topped the list, a well deserving choice indeed. You can check out the rest of the Top NINE below:

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Just like last year, there lots of good deals for anime fans going on tomorrow for Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. This year though is all about digital distribution, as both the Anime Network & Crunchyroll are offering good deals for their subscription services. For Crunchyroll, if you buy a paid account tomorrow via Paypal, you'll get $20 added back to your PayPal. & considering that their 3-month plan is only $19.99, that means you can get 3 months for free AND still have a penny left over! Obviously though it's best to get the 1-year plan with this offer, which will only cost you $39.99 after the cash back deal. [Crunchyroll]

The Anime Network is running a similar deal, with all paid memberships will be 25% off. This works for both personal & gift memberships. [Anime Network]

But if digital content isn't your thing & you want to stick with DVDs, both RightStuf & Amazon are hosting small but still nicely priced Black Friday sales. Amazon's mostly consists of DBZ, Bleach, & Naruto boxsets, but you wont find them marked lower than right now. Meanwhile, RightStuf has great deals on awesome titles like Tears to Tiara, Shin-chan, Special A, & even some Blu-ray! But hurry, these sales wont last long. [Amazon] [RightStuf]

The latest K-On Blu-ray release featured the debut of the series' beloved nekomimi loli Azunyan. It also featured the second beach episode, with all the girls, including Azunyan, sporting attractive swimsuits & even "baring all" in the bath house. Of course this scene was heavily covered with magical steam in the televised version. But for the Blu-ray release, some of that steam was removed & we got to see the scene in high-definition glory. Behold the stunning difference:

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Just in time for the holidays, Adult Swim has rolled out a really cool unique idea for their online shop. Visitors now have the option of making their own custom AS DVDs, which can hold numerous episodes from a variety of different series. For $20, each disc can hold up to 110 minutes of shows. That's enough to hold 4 half-hour episodes, or 9 "15 minute" episodes (which the majority of Adult Swim's shows are). You can design the DVD menu, the cover image, & even the disc art.

Currently there are about 100 episodes to choose from, with thousands more (& more series as options) available by year's end. Of course, none of the series available right now are anime, & I doubt any of the other upcoming titles will be either, but you never know. This is probably just for Adult Swim original series, but it's still a pretty awesome concept. Check it out & start building here:

http://adultswimshop.com/cat/Build-Your-Custom-DVD.html

FUNimation has announced a February 9 street date for their heavily awaited release of the first 13 episodes of "Soul Eater." The first box-set will contain episode commentary, textless songs, & a preview of the manga (which runs in Yen Plus magazine).

In addition to a release date being announced, Funi has also added the first four English dubbed episodes of the series onto their video portal. This is in addition to the first 26 episodes that have already been on the site in subtitled format. You can see a sample clip of the dub above, & another one below:

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Despite all the problems that Bandai's been having with their DVDs, they still have a very large library of good titles out there. & now for the holiday season, Buy.com is throwing a Bandai Entertainment DVD sale! Select titles are now up to 71% off, meaning you can get whole series for as low as $10. Or you can get all of Cowboy Bebop for $18, the newly released Sola complete series for $16, or both seasons of Big O for $14. They got tons of Gundam, Code Geass, Lucky Star, Haruhi, Eureka Seven, & a lot more for you to buy on the cheap. So don't delay, take advantage of these great deals while you can:

http://www.buy.com/specialty_store_6b/anime-box-set-sale/65475.html

Speaking of not selling well, it's been revealed that the second half of Gonzo's "Shangri-la" anime series will not be released in single disc format with 2 episodes per DVD, which was the case for the first half of the series (& 99% of every other anime series in Japan). Instead, the remaining 12 episodes will be bundled together in a half-series box-set, something that's still very rare in Japan despite being so common these days in the US.

Gonzo's exact reason for doing this is unknown, but more than likely it's probably due to low sales of the first six volumes of the series. Gonzo's financial troubles are no secret, & a poor selling series for them (one of the only new ones they're currently releasing to boot) definitely isn't a good thing. But putting a large amount of episodes in one release could drive up sales for the title & give Gonzo a lot of money in one lump sum, which would be a good thing for them. The special 12-episode set will go on sale in Japan on March 26, 2010. Meanwhile, us here in the US can watch the series for free on Crunchyroll.

Source: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-11-10/last-6-shangri-la-single-dvds-dropped-for-box-in-japan

Bandai Entertainment has announced their release schedule for February 2010, for it's worth that is. Since this is Bandai we're talking about, NOTHING by them ever gets released on time anymore. The latest delays include Toward the Terra, My-Otome, Code Geass R2, Gundam 00, & Hayate the Combat Butler- all of which delayed by at least two weeks if not longer.

The perfect allegory for Bandai's ineptitude comes in the form of their latest news regarding Kurokami. Part 1 of the series was originally supposed to come out this past June in order to time well with the release of the Japanese version, just as they had been doing with their same-day broadcast on TV. But with delay after delay, the first part of the series is now do out on February 9. They also changed the episode count from 8 eps to 6, but at least they lowered the price by $10 to $29.98. But Bandai also confirmed that a Blu-ray version of the series will be coming out the same day. Again, that sounds like a good thing. However, the Blu-ray will only have 4 episodes on it, though will retail for $24.98. But wait, here's the real kicker. The Blu-ray version will be DUB-ONLY.

Bandai has responded to immense outcry by fans upon hearing this news, saying "The license for the Japanese audio was not granted for our Blu-Ray release of Kurokami." If you think about it, Japan's reasoning is somewhat justified. They're obviously afraid of reverse importation. That is to say, anime DVDs from America being imported & bought in Japan. DVDs & Blu-Rays in Japan have always been much more expensive in Japan than in America, & they usually hold less episodes too. The typical American anime DVD has twice the amount of episodes at half the cost of the Japanese ones. & of course, the American ones contain the Japanese version in addition to the English dub. This wasn't quite a big deal for DVDs, since Japan & the US had different region codes. But with Blu-ray, Japan & America share the same region code, meaning our BDs can be played on their players easily.

With this in mind, it's easy to see Japan was worried that if our Blu-ray release of Kurokami had the Japanese version, otaku in Japan would just order our version at a much cheaper price. After all, the Japanese BD version of Kurokami retails for 9240 yen (~$100) for three episodes! But here's the thing- the series has been doing horribly in Japan, it's one of the worst selling series of the year! Another thing is that their Blu-ray version actually includes three different dubbed languages- Japanese, Korean, & our English dub! Basically, this whole situation is screwed up royal. While their is some logic to Japan forcing this, the stupidity far outweighs the logic. I know Bandai had no choice with this, but wouldn't it have been better not to release a Blu-ray version at all?

While we're on the subject of Bandai's February releases, their Blu-ray releases, & how they screw things up, there's another topic that meets all these requirement. They'll also be releasing the Eureka Seven movie on both DVD & Blu-ray in February. The only thing is, only the Blu-ray version will contain the special behind-the-scenes & bloopers featurette that was shown in theaters. As a someone who doesn't own a Blu-ray player, I'm very saddened to not get that bonus material on the DVD. The behind-the-scenes was quite informative, & the bloopers were extraordinarily funny. Just glad I was lucky enough to catch it at the show at least.

Source: http://www.mania.com/bandai-announces-february-titles_article_118788.html

Warner Bros recently revealed that the Halo Legends anthology anime will be coming out on DVD in the US on February 9, 2010. Three different versions will be released, similar to Ponyo- a single disc regular DVD ($19.95), a 2-disc special edition DVD ($29.98), & a Blu-ray version with all the features of the special edition DVD along with an exclusive one called “Halo: The Story So Far" ($34.98).

WB also confirmed that Seraphim Studios will be the ones dubbing the project. In case you don't remember, Seraphim Studios is the name of the dubbing section that formed after the ADV split. Meaning that this is the first anime that "ADV" (or the company formally known as) will be dubbing in what feels like years. Probably the first since Kiba. I bet a lot of the voice actors over there are relieved to finally get some more work.

Sources: http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/16206.html
http://www.sxanimedia.com/2009/11/microsoft-and-warner-brothers-tap.html

RightStuf is having a limited special right now, where if you pre-order Part 1 of Linebarrels of Iron on DVD you'll get a free oppai mousepad of one of the girls from the series. That's right, no longer is importing one from Japan you're only option of getting a mousepad with 3D boobs as a wrist rest. FUNimation & RightStuf are teaming up to get you this official US-sanctioned goody! But hurry, it's only while supplies last! The DVD officially goes on sale on January 19.

(UPDATE: Turns out that it's not an oppai mousepad, but rather just a regular flat mousepad with just art of an anime chick on it. What the heck's up with that? Just look at the thing, it's so obvious it was meant to be oppai. Looks like Funi chickened out on this one.)

& while we're talking about Linebarrels available in the US, FUNimation has officially announced the cast list for their English dub of the series (featuring the awesome Tiffany Grant in her first ever lead FUNimation role). Check out the leads below:

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Despite the horror that was Haruhi season two's Endless Eight, the DVDs continue to sell like hotcakes. Kadokawa recently released the second Endless Eight DVD (third Haruhi Season 2 DVD overall), & just like the first one, it's been selling very well. Proving that the followers of Haruhi-ism will buy anything that features their goddess. In its first week, it sold well over 12,000 copies, placing it as the third highest DVD of the week.

While we're talking about the DVDs, it should be pointing out that the DVDs for Bakemonogatari have been doing surprisingly (or rather unsurprisingly) well. The second DVD took the top spot once again, selling over 18,000 copies in its first week on sale. Not only that, but the Blu-ray version sold so many copies that it's now the highest selling anime Blu-ray of all time, even surpassing K-On. Here are the top 10 DVDs in Japan for last week:

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It turns out the new Mai-HiME Blu-ray set in Japan will contain brand new animated shorts. A high-def Blu-ray boxset for the series was announced sometime ago, & is due to come out January 27. It was already confirmed to have all 26 episodes of the original 2004-2005 anime series, along with the shorts that came on the original DVDs.

Now it's been announced that two brand new OVAs will be packaged in the set as well. Titled "Black Dance" & "the Last Supper," together they total a mere 4 minutes. Still though, it's brand new Mai-Hime for the first time in 5 years (not counting the various spin-off series of course). & in glorious HD to boot. Though this isn't the first time a new Blu-ray set of an older series was announced to contain brand new material.

Source: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-11-03/my-hime-blu-ray-box-new-anime-shorts-listed

Disney’s Buena Vista Home Entertainment has revealed that the American DVD release of Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo will hit stores on March 2, 2010. Three different versions will be available- regular DVD ($29.99) 2-disc special edition DVD ($34.99), & Blu-ray ($39.99). While the regular version will only hold the film, the special edition will come loaded with special features. It also comes with a very cute Ponyo plush toy. The Blu-ray version comes with the same bonus features, but strangely enough it does not come with the toy. Usually Blu-rays have more goodies than DVDs, not less. Glad I don't own a Blu-ray player so I don't have to worry about that.

All in all, Ponyo made over $15 million dollars in the American box office for its entire run, earning it a very sold #5 slot in the top grossing anime movies of all time. Surpassing even Miyazaki's Oscar winning Spirited Away by about $5 million, Ponyo has been pretty successful. Though considering how much time, money, & effort Disney put into releasing it, they were probably hoping for even more.

Source: http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/16154.html

The second DVD & Blu-ray release of Spice & Wolf season II has been announced to contain a slew of extras, the most notable of which is a bonus OVA of sorts called "Stretch with Wacchi." Seemingly based on the hit Isshoni Training with Hinako DVDs, this anime short will have series hottie Holo leading the viewer in a series of simple exercises. Don't expect it to get as fan-servicey as Hinako though, as Holo will be uncharacteristically clothed while stretching.

The animated short will be featured on both the DVD & Blu-ray versions of the disc, which contain episodes 4-6 of the second season. But that's where the similarities end. Depending on which version you buy, you'll be getting different goodies in the limited edition collector's sets. Both will come in a box to hold the rest of the season, but the artwork for the box (& the individual cases cover art, for that matter) will be different between DVD & BD. Both will also come with two illustrated cards, but again the cards will differ between the two releases.

The real difference between the two comes in the final goody. The DVD will come with a 300-piece puzzle of Holo, while the Blu-ray release will come with three water-proof pinups of the spicy wolf. I wont go into detail as to why they decided to make these "water" proof (hint: I don't think they had water in mind), but you can jump to your own conclusion by seeing the goodies below:

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