The house Linna Inverse built crumbles

[Space Pirate Roberts]

To be honest, I'm surprised this hadn't already happened. They've been invisible for years now, even well before internet piracy became the problem it is today for the US anime industry.

CPM Enters Bankruptcy
By Chris Beveridge April 30, 2009
Source: ICv2

Central Park Media has finally done what many thought would have happened a few years ago by filing for bankruptcy. The company was originally founded in 1990 and was one of the early pioneers in the domestic anime industry alongside AnimEigo and Streamline Pictures. CPM focused on OVAs and movies early on and eventually into the realm of TV series. The company was also the first to release an anime DVD in the US with Battle Arena Toshinden and worked with multiple production houses to try and get titles to market with varying quality results. CPM is also one of the early companies to really work on "OEL" style comics with a number of adaptations of anime properties into comics form.

When Musicland filed for bankruptcy several years ago, CPM was one of the companies that got hit hard and reacted more dramatically than the others by essentially stopping most of what they do and focusing on selling their existing properties. In the years since, they did try a few things but eventually worked on selling and managing their existing properties and working with Warner Bros. for distribution at one point. One of the biggest signs that this filing was coming was the recent apparent sale of the "Anime 18" label and much of its material to Critical Mass Video.

While they didn't make it to the twenty year mark, Central Park Media has been one of the important factors in anime gaining more and more acceptance in the US market. Their impact is far less in the last ten years than the first, but their impact is particularly imporant to fans of shows that liked action, violence and sex as well as many other areas. And for DVD fans, they should have a special place for the company because of their early foray into the world of bilingual anime on DVD as they were more aggressive than anyone else during that early period.

RIP CPM, I'll miss you and everything you brought me. Except for Night Shift Nurses. I'll never forgive you for that.

[Rem]

I thought these guys went bankrupt years ago.

[Uriel]

Why are u poop banans?

[Fe 26]

piracy isn't killing anime. If anything, it helps it.

The fact that it is $5 to $10 more per dvd is what kills it. The pricing discourages impulse buying.

I mean seriously. You walk into best buy and see all of season 3 of the venture brothers for $25 and 4 eps of new anime whatever for $30.

which one are you going to walk out with?

[Brand X]

<3 Slayers

[Mr-K]

piracy isn't killing anime. If anything, it helps it.

The fact that it is $5 to $10 more per dvd is what kills it. The pricing discourages impulse buying.

I mean seriously. You walk into best buy and see all of season 3 of the venture brothers for $25 and 4 eps of new anime whatever for $30.

which one are you going to walk out with?

This. I wasted so much fucking money on anime when I was into this shit. What a crock.

I am genuinely surprised Central Park Media was still in business--they seemed po-dunk ten years ago.

Does this mean US Manga Corps is gone too? That had the best/worst logo.

[Nirvana]

CPM slowed down over the last three or four years as the other studios ran up the costs of licensing new titles. CPM stuck with niche anime shows and one-shots towards the end. They did expand their live action Asian cinema line, hentai, and some UK/US films. Since November of 2007, CPM has been silent on licensing, releasing, or sending out any more press material for reviews.

CPM simply fell behind as other companies flooded the market with too much and too fast. Musicland certainly didn't help. However, CPM was pretty forward thinking in trying new things to sell titles. They also slowly re-released most of their anime and Asian cinema DVD catalog over several years at a lower price point so that new and old fans could buy more titles. Part of the reason they signed with Warner Bros for distribution was just so they could get most of the catalog back into the market one last time before they would have to give up.

[mollipen]

I was always utterly shocked by how long CPM actually lasted, so this unfortunately doesn't come as a surprise. I always liked them, though, because they released some crazy stuff sometimes, especially through their Asian cinema division.

I'm nowhere near in anime at this point as I used to be, but it still sucks to see a lot of these companies going down, as some of them really tried hard to bring us a lot of stuff when there weren't companies like ADV or FUNimation just buying up tons of titles and flooding the market with product. Don't get me wrong - the anime companies got themselves into this mess - but it's still sad to see.

[Rem]

piracy isn't killing anime

It's killing the industry to be sure, not so sure that's a bad thing though.