CPM filed for bankruptcy today, and I -- well, I may wish them the best, but I find it hard to imagine my life changing noticeably.
I bought the Utena DVDs, once upon a time. (And some of the Utena tapes.) I used to have a copy of
Project A-ko, and I think that's as far as my involvement with them went. I remember their releases as good-to-middling, and now they've gotten out of the business, and will quite likely never release anything again.
Fact remains, all American distributors are basically the same to me -- I may praise one for video quality, or another for a nice turn of phrase in the subtitles, but it's the underlying series I've come to see. The U.S. distribution is a commodity, one -- to my mind -- best provided by the lowest bidder.
Actually, I should intensify that. I think of the U.S. distributor as entirely transparent. When I buy a DVD, I essentially expect a product identical to the Japanese release, plus an English subtitle track. I only notice who's distributing when something goes wrong and I have to
find out what anime is.
So, goodbye CPM. I hope you had fun, but you don't want to be here.
words from chris, 2009-04-28 23:03:00, los angeles
