I've been seeing a lot of requests from people in the last 2 weeks that are requesting shows that do not fall under the category of shows that we will release. It's getting to the point where some of the regular commenters and myself are getting a bit tired of endlessly repeating ourselves on my policies. Allow me to reiterate exactly what we will and will not release. Note that I use "we" here since EZ8 and ssj2_goha both provide conversions of some of my releases and as such, are also following these policies by proxy.

1. We will not release any series that is already available in the US with no improvement in quality. For example, Evangelion. It has been released in the US in it's remastered form, so there is no reason to spend the time ripping the dub to add it to the remastered footage. You want to see it? Buy it. However, in the case of Gundam Wing, there is no indication that the remaster is coming, so I release that. Many new shows get released in the US at the exact same quality level as Japan as far as DVD goes. Remasters tend to only get done on shows from the 90's and before.

2. We will not release anything that is a license of Funimation. This is two-fold. One reason is because I take a view of "You scratch my back, I don't infringe on your licenses" policy with them. Funimation is by far the leading anime company in the US in support of Blu-Ray. I appreciate that fact and so I am content to leave them alone as I have faith that they will release everything they can get at an affordable price. Also, the second reason is because they protect their licenses like I've never seen before. The last thing I need is a cease and desist order, so I'm happy to leave them alone.

3. We are not a traditional fansubbing group. I barely speak any Japanese, certainly not enough to translate a show. That's why I use R1 DVD subtitle rips. Please stop emailing me asking if I can pick up [INSERT NEW ANIME HERE]. No, I can't. I didn't start this to fansub new shows, I started this to provide anime in the highest quality possible with English audio. I don't release raws either. If I use pre-existing raws, you can get the same ones. If I ripped them, they are ripped for the purposes of projects, so there is no point in releasing raws.

4. As I've said before, while it may be hypocritical of me since I download the Japanese raws, I refuse to work on a series I don't have the DVD's for. The US anime market is hurting, and what I'm doing can't be helping. Sure, only around 100 people downloaded my 00 releases for Episodes 8 and 9. But lets assume that 80 of them are not going to buy the DVD now. Of those 80 people, I'll guess that 50 of them weren't going to buy the DVD anyway and would have waited for DVD rips by another group. So fine, that's 50 people that wouldn't matter anyway. However, that still leaves 30 people that won't buy the DVD. Let's subtract 5 bucks as markup at RightStuf. Ignoring the S.E., that's 750 dollars Bandai loses. Doesn't seem like much, but keep in mind, that $750 serves to pay for the licensing, dubbing, and DVD production of further series. If we want to ever have a chance of seeing other shows get dubbed, we need to support these companies or they are going to end up going the way of Geneon, or ADV. Dead, or dying.

So to all of you asking for me to do DBZ, or Fullmetal Alchemist (the first one), or any other show, here's what you need to ask first before you request it or you are going to get ignored. If you find the anwser is YES to any of these questions, see option B.

1. Is this show already available in Region 1 in the same quality as Japan (Remastered DVD/Blu-Ray)?

2. Is this a Funimation license?

3. Has the licensing company announced plans for a Region 1 release of the Remastered/Blu-Ray version?

OK, ask yourself all those questions. If you don't know the answer, do some Googling. Now, use these answer keys:

Option A: You answered NO to all of the above questions. Congratulations, you have a candidate for release! Now you need to find out if there is a Japanese remaster/Blu-Ray, and if I have the R1 DVD's. If I do, great, throw in a request and I'll certainly consider it. If not, suggest it anyway and if there are enough requests for it, I can try and allocate donation funds toward buying the DVD's. Otherwise, it'll have to wait.

Option B: You answered YES to any of the above. Forget about it, it isn't going to happen! If you need to know why, re-read this post.

So, that's my long-winded rant. I really want to take requests for shows, and as some people can tell you, I do follow through with them. Full Metal Panic is the first request I have accepted, used donations to buy the DVD's, and begun to release. Outlaw Star, which I'm planning for after I finish Gundam Wing, is also a request that I already own and plan to release. But in order for me to want to pay attention to them, I need people to do a little homework first.

Thanks for your support!

OZC