[darktruth]

* Madman will finally be releasing Anime Music Soundtracks (OST). It will initially be a small shipment. The first five soundtracks to be released are the first FLCL OST, Love Hina, Fruits Basket, Neon Genesis Evangelion movie and series. The CD's will be Japanese imports and will cost either $29.95 or $34.95. They will be un-translated but Madman will have track and cover translations available on their website.

Anime News Network Australia

This was announced at Madman's panel at Manifest this year, at this point it's still unconfirmed whether it'll be available in retail stores like JB Hi-Fi but Madman has said it will definitely be available for order from their website. The downside to this announcement is the lack of translation Madman will be putting for the actual booklet as they'll only be available on the website whereas the US licensed soundtracks provide translations 99% of the time. In any case, this is still kind of good news for anime down in Australia as we may finally be able to buy anime soundtracks without having to import the US versions if this sells extremely well.

[GabeXorn]

If those are the prices, I'm better off going to Minotaur for the imports, otherwise good news

[Lynk Former]

Well at least it makes things more accessable.

[darktruth]

The prices may seem a bit off but it's rather cheap for a Japanese import in Australia considering it'd cost an average of $45US just to import it from overseas. However, Madman would have a little competition seeing how online Australian anime stores like Tamarket sell US licensed anime soundtracks for around $25AU and not to mention the fact the American licensed soundtracks comes with translations in the actual booklet than just being on a website.

That and the fact that Madman will also have to battle against the bootleg problem of anime soundtracks still being sold in many asian/anime shops in Australia. The typical anime buyer wouldn't be able to spot the difference between the bootleg and official licensed/Japanese import cd unless they know the name of companies that make them, and even with that would they even care? They'd probably just be after the music and wouldn't care less as it's just a cd to them.