Sola License Fiasco Due To 'Clerical Error'

Bureaucracy: can't live with it, can't live without it... The cause of so much stress, headaches and poverty (damn health insurance penalties sucked me dry the other day) is now being cited as the cause for a recent licensing fiasco, involving the 2007 TV anime series Sola. Back in 2008, Bandai Entertainment was the first to license the anime for a North American release, only to delay it shortly afterwards.



Later that year, there was also some confusion about an alleged cancellation of their DVD releases for Sola and True Tears. But the really mind-boggling confusion struck last month, when another North American company - Sentai Filmworks - announced their very own license deal for Sola (plus a couple of other titles), planning to release it on DVD via Section23 Films this August. Despite the anime already being sold by Bandai at a lower price, ironically.

Bandai Entertainment was quick to claim that it still holds a valid license for Sola, which it will continue to release, and that it was "not involved with anything [Section23 Films] are doing". But this "clarification" hardly made any more sense of the awkward situation, of having two license holders for the same anime, at the same time, in the same DVD region.

Eventually, nearly two weeks later, we finally have an official statement that makes things crystal-clear: it was the Japanese anime production company Bandai Visual who screwed up. Big time! They are blaming a "clerical error" for accidentally allowing Sentai Filmworks to license Sola, and said that Sentai has agreed to retire the title from its catalog without any legal hassle.

So, indeed, Bandai Entertainment remains the sole licensor for Sola, and it will continue to distribute the anime in North America.