Image is the cover of the doujin "Tenchi Muyou! Kougan Muchi Hen" by circle Jack O'lantern way back in 1993. More info at
http://doujinshi.mugimugi.org/book/125665/Tenchi-Muyou!-Kouganmuchihen/ >>1347543I was sad to see Geneon go. It (and Bandai) was a company that liked its fans. Geneon's case is that of a company being owned by a holding corporation that is interested in case flow. While there was technically positive cash flow in the overall Geneon corporation, the rate of return for the money invested meant that low return activities like those selling to the english-speaking anime fans would be stopped. The cannibalization of the Geneon titles by fansubs was certainly a major factor. Geneon still produces but it is in Japan as a funding partner. Geneon's fall began in the gradual economic downturn of the first bush presidency, and the three bush tax reductions (2 major, 1 minor) for the wealthy during both bush presidencies did not trickle down in the economy enough to have the market cap increase to where Geneon to had enough profit.
To Geneon's and Bandai's credit, they stuck to their commitments of not attacking their fandom despite the obvious case that fansubs reduced their markets. FUNimation was the most effective in its efforts to neutralize fansubs AND distribution and did so aggressively. That was a stable contributor to its sales as well as the luck of being able to pick up the titles dropped by ADV when ADV was releasing them due to the shrinking market and its failure to sell streaming video after paying for all those licenses.
Ironically, it will be the fansubs that preserve the legacy of Pioneer/Geneon since no one seems to be reprinting those works. Does that mean the fansubs are a "digital preservation project"?
