Tuesday, June 5, 2012

News: Bushiroad Cuts Ties with Crunchyroll, Appears at Anime Expo 2012, VGE-BT03/04 Release

Bushiroad has recently issued a statement on their official blog that the negotiations with Crunchyroll over the second season of Cardfight!! Vanguard, Asia Circuit Hen, are at an end. The producers of the anime are currently looking into alternative options to releasing season 2 to the English-speaking world; with the recent addition of Cardfight!! Vanguard's English dub to their YouTube page, digital distribution via streaming websites appears to remain the favored method. Due to its advertisement in web banners, it is possible that the dub is being used as a testbed for distribution model based in YouTube.


In other news, Bushiroad will be hosting a booth at Anime Expo 2012, with the renowned artists Foo Midori and Adachi Yousuke attending. These are just two of the mastermind artists behind Cardfight, with Adachi having illustrated a wide range of famous Royal Paladin cards like Wingal Brave, Durangal and Epona, as well as the Narukami's entire Djinn series. Foo Midori is the illustrator of CoCo, Commodore Blueblood, Player of the Holy Bow Viviane, Flame of Hope Aermo and many others. Also in attendance will be Misaki and Suiko's respective voice actors, Kitta Izumi and Terakawa Aimi. Those present at the event will be able to buy booster packs, and get a free DVD preview of Cardfight!! Vanguard, as well as the first English chapter of the manga. An art gallery will be hosted as well.

In a reply on the official Cardfight!! Vanguard facebook page, Bushiroad suggested the possibility of a surprise announcement concerning VGE-BT03 and VGE-BT04, "Demonic Lord Invasion," and "Eclipse of Illusionary Shadows." When asked about an English release of these sets, Bushiroad stated that there may be an announcement with "dark tidings." This has set off speculation that these two sets will see an English release in the near future--the "dark" being taken as a reference to Blaster Dark of BT04, and the Dark Zone nations that BT03 supports.