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Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic there have been multiple announcements of delays, postponements, and cancellations through out the Anime Industry, read below to see what has been affected. We will keep this article updated as we learn more information.
Right Stuf has announced in order to protect the health and safety of their employees they will reduce their staff, they will continue to ship orders however processing times may be longer now due to warehouse staff being reduced as well.
Here is the statement form Right Stuf:
“Dear Anime-zing Customers,
We are sure you are painfully aware of the measures being take to combat the COVID-19 virus. We wanted to let you know we are currently shipping, but to prioritize the health and safety of our employees we are operating with a reduced staff. Therefore, starting Monday March 23, 2020 our telephones and live chat will only be open from 10:00 am CST to 12:00 pm CST and again at 1:00 pm CST to 3:00 pm CST. If you need to reach our representatives by phone outside of these times, then please leave a voicemail or our contact us form on the site and submit a case. They will work as tirelessly as they always do to get to your voicemails and cases as quickly as possible but we can not establish a set number of days when they will resolve your concern.
Additionally, we have reduced warehouse staff as well so our shipping will continue but our order processing times may be longer than normal.
We want to assure you that our facility is cleaned and sanitized nightly and our staff is taking great care to practice extraordinary hygiene.
Thank you for being a valued customer and we hope you and your family remain safe and healthy.”
Right Stuf isn’t the only one in the anime industry being forced to make changes dues to the COVID-19 Pandemic, FUNimation announced they will be stopping English Dub production for the remainder of the current and upcoming seasons.
Here is the statement from FUNimation:
“The safety of our Funimation family is our highest priority right now, so we’re adjusting our dub-production schedule to allow everyone to work from home. This means there will be delays in some of our dubbed series in the coming weeks, but subs are still on schedule! Right now, we’re working hard to spin up some special content releases for you guys, so stay tuned! 💜
We have made some necessary changes to the SimulDub production and release schedule, and have temporarily paused SimulDub production for the remainder of the current and upcoming seasons. We’ll let you know if and when that changes. Funimation is an extended family of creators, partners, actors and producers, and their safety is our top priority, so we hope you guys will understand.
We’ve put together a breakdown of the shows by broadcast date that will be impacted by the production delay.
Thanks for watching.”
This delay includes My Hero Academia and Black Clover which are both currently airing on Toonami, we aren’t sure how this will affect the airings of these shows on Toonami as of right now. FUNimation said that episode 84 of My Hero Academia and episode 124 of Black Clover is when fans should expect delays going forward. Depending on the length of the delays, Toonami will have to decide what to do for the future. Right now, there’s a sizable buffer for Black Clover on the block, but that isn’t the case for My Hero Academia. We will continue to monitor the situation and report any new information as soon as we get it.
UPDATE (Toonami Will be Affected by COVID-19 Quarantine): Jason DeMarco has stated in a tweet that due to the COVID-19 quarantine Toonami will definitely be affected and that we will be seeing marathons, possibly special plays of classic shows, and reruns but they are going to do their best to keep things fresh for as long as possible. Jason also went on to say that he isn’t able to say anything about Uzumaki or Blade Runner at this time but that things are going well and as of right now there haven’t been any COVID-19 related delays for either show.
The quarantine will definitely affect delivery of several Toonami shows. You are going to see things like marathons, maybe special plays of classic shows, and yeah, some reruns. We are going to do our best to keep things fresh, for as long as we can. https://t.co/ecNpIiu6vO
— SPIRAL CURSE DEMARCO (@Clarknova1) March 25, 2020
I can’t tell you anything about Uzumaki just yet, beyond that things are going well and this far there have not been any Coronavirus related delays. https://t.co/IKDvRbg45y
— SPIRAL CURSE DEMARCO (@Clarknova1) March 25, 2020
Click here to see what other FUNimation shows are being delay – https://www.funimation.com/blog/2020/03/18/simuldub-delays-anime-winter-spring-2020-funimation-simulcasts-on-track/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=org-social&utm_campaign=simuldub-delays&utm_content=winter-spring&utm_term=
Unfortunately these aren’t the only changes to affect Toonami, as we previously reported MomoCon was forced to postponed their convention until further noticed leaving Toonami no choice but to cancel their Panel that was schedule to happen at MomoCon on Friday, May 22. 2020.
UPDATED: MomoCon has announced on Monday, April 6, 2020 that they have decided to cancel MomoCon 2020.
Here is the statement released by MomoCon:“On behalf of the entire MomoCon family, our hearts go out to every person and family affected by these challenging global times.
MomoCon organizers are currently exploring new dates for the MomoCon 2020 experience and we will continue to work around the clock with the Georgia World Congress Center, our hotel partners, and government officials to bring our fans an update as soon as possible.
In the event you are unable to attend during the later dates, we will also be providing options for existing memberships. As soon as we have our new plans for 2020 in place, you—the valued members of our community—will be among the first to know.
Thank you for your continued patience as we work toward finding the best solution for MomoCon 2020. ”
Updated 4/6/2020
“Over the past weeks, many academic centers, health systems and businesses have issued notices that do not allow for domestic travel and gatherings on a large scale. After much consideration in conjunction with our venue and city partners, MomoCon 2020 will be cancelled, with MomoCon returning bigger and better than ever in 2021 (May 27-30th, 2021). We would like to thank the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Georgia World Congress Center, and Eventsphere, our housing partner, for their extensive efforts over the past few weeks to attempt to find alternate dates, move existing business, and aid the efforts.
MomoCon’s goal has always been to provide a world-class event. Like many of you, we have been eagerly anticipating and preparing for MomoCon 2020, but the health and safety of attendees, volunteers, vendors, exhibitors, and everyone else involved must come first. Our concern is for both the health of everyone involved and the quality of event we can deliver with the current challenges we are all facing.
Our team has been meeting to discuss recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. In light of the potential risks associated with large gatherings and increasing global travel restrictions, it became very clear that not holding the event over the originally scheduled dates was the right thing to do.
We are grateful to everyone who has worked tirelessly in the planning of MomoCon and those who will continue to assist with next steps for our 2021 event. The 2020 MomoCon experience was years in the making, with thousands of volunteers, speakers, attendees, exhibitors and community partners coming together to make this event possible. Our vital work will continue in the days and weeks ahead.
Thank you for your commitment to MomoCon and to our community as a whole. It’s been a challenging time and we appreciate your patience while we’ve worked with partners to find the best path forward. We will provide more details and information on our website, through our social media channels and via email to various groups affected in the coming days.
Hotels
Our hotel partner Eventsphere is ready to process the cancellation of hotel rooms within the MomoCon block at our partner hotels. They will be in contact with all reservation holders via email this week. If you need to reach out to them, they are available at momocon@eventsphere.com, but we encourage you to give them some time as the volume will initially be high. Reaching out to them is not required to process your hotel cancellation, which will happen automatically, so we encourage you to only reach out if you have questions or concerns. No credit cards or deposits have been charged from the reservations at this time and they will not be for the 2020 event.
Reservations made directly through a hotel must be cancelled directly with that hotel or booking service. Please refer to your reservation confirmation for refund information for direct hotel or third party bookings; MomoCon is unable to intervene in these circumstances.
Travel bookings for most major airlines have been made more flexible for transfers due to the current US situation; if you have booked travel, please contact your airline directly for what options are available.
Parking
If you have pre-paid for Red Deck parking, please contact ParkMobile directly at 866-330-7275. They have been advised that all refunds are approved.
True Dungeon
If you purchased True Dungeon tickets at td.events, the folks at True Dungeon will begin processing full refunds today at 5:00 pm central. The refunds may take up to a week to show up on your credit card, but they will all be initiated tonight by TD. If you have any questions about your refund, please email lori@truedungeon.com for assistance.
Attendees
MomoCon has been around for 15 years, through 5 venues, one college campus, and even a tornado. We aren’t going anywhere and we look forward to bringing you amazing entertainment long into the future. We thank you immensely for your support and understanding right now.
You have a few options for your membership if you’ve already purchased:
- If you would like to retain your membership for our next convention, you don’t need to take any action. This rollover will happen automatically for attendees on May 15, 2020, with no ticketing fees for repurchases, unless another option is chosen. If you do choose to roll over your registration to the next MomoCon, we have something special for you: an exclusive MomoCon item that will not be released in any other form or fashion, as a memento of thanks for sticking with us through this. These will be provided for you at the next convention.
- If you request a refund, it will be provided with no questions asked. Thank you for allowing us a little time for the ticketing provider to process. Please request before May 15, 2020 for refund consideration.
- If you’d like to have your merchandise order mailed to you or refunded, all who have pre-purchased merchandise will receive an email within a few weeks for options.
Vendors and Artists
We understand the gravity of postponements and cancellations in the event space. This industry touches many small businesses, artists, conventions, vendors, and other workers that rely on the sales from events for their livelihood. If you’re able, there are ways you can help the conventions, vendors, and artists you love, at MomoCon and other events.
- Think about carrying over your convention memberships to the next year/event for postponed cons, opting not to get a refund, if you can. That small amount can go a long way to help the events you love continue for future years.
- Take a look at the list of vendors and artists for a convention. Support them. Commission things. Get early holiday gifts. Grab a gift card for when things are better! We will be featuring exhibitors and artists through the coming weeks on our social media channels.
- Don’t have the ability to spend right now? Spread awareness and positive posts about the cons and vendors. A little kindness goes a long way.
Small actions now mean a lot to people and communities that are hurting.
If you are a vendor, artist, or indie game developer registered for MomoCon, look for an email from us today with your options for the next convention and refunds.
Participants who have submitted for various contests, game shows, panels, and fan-organized photoshoots and gatherings will be contacted in the coming weeks by their section coordinators.
Online and Future Offerings
Some features of MomoCon will continue online! We will share more details about some of our contests and events in an online/distance format soon.
We will be working with guests and agents currently booked for MomoCon 2020 throughout the coming weeks to ensure as much of the awesome event we’ve been planning for the past year can carry forward to the new year, but please bear with us as some guests may have scheduling conflicts. We want to bring you the best event possible and will do everything in our power to keep the awesome set of guests and amenities we have now while adding new features to help fill in for those guests and partners who cannot attend the new dates. Thank you for your patience on further updates, as this will take some time.”
Here is the statement Toonami released:
“To our dear Atlanta and Momocon fans, after much thought we’ve come to the sad conclusion that we are going to cancel our Toonami panel this year. So sorry to miss hanging out with you. But with the need to protect everyone as much as we can, we hope you understand the reason for us cancelling is to help keep our fans safe and away from large crowds right now. But rest assured Toonami will keep going this and every Saturday night. So stay at home, wash your hands, and watch your favorite shows this Saturday from 11:30p – 3a!”
UPDATE: Anime Frontier Powered By Crunchyroll (animefrontier.com) today (March 25, 2020) announced its inaugural event has been postponed until 2021.
This new Japanese pop culture festival created with the Japanese pop culture industry was scheduled to take place May 20-22, 2020, in the Fort Worth Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas, and it will now be delayed until May 14-16, 2021, out of an abundance of caution and rising coronavirus concerns.
Here is the statement released by Crunchyroll:
“Anime Frontier Powered By Crunchyroll (animefrontier.com) today (March 25, 2020) announced its inaugural event has been postponed until 2021. This new Japanese pop culture festival created with the Japanese pop culture industry was scheduled to take place May 20-22, 2020, in the Fort Worth Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas, and it will now be delayed until May 14-16, 2021, out of an abundance of caution and rising coronavirus concerns.
Anime Frontier Powered By Crunchyroll was planned to be Texas’ largest gathering of Japanese entertainment celebrities and brands. Its guests were to include Japanese voice actresses Chiwa Saito (Madoka Magica and Fate/Grand Order) and Ayaka Ohashi (Magia Record and BanG Dream!), singer ZAQ (Food Wars and Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions), and major Japanese entertainment brands including Crunchyroll, Aniplex of America Inc., Animate, GKIDS, HIDIVE, Kinokuniya, Sentai Filmworks, and SUNRISE.
“After tremendous deliberation, we feel postponing until 2021 is the only right decision we can make,” said Anime Frontier Show Director Peter Tatara. “We look to create an inviting, exciting, safe, and healthy celebration for Texas’ anime community – and there’s no way to achieve this now without putting this same community at COVID-19 coronavirus risk.”
All attendees who purchased tickets to Anime Frontier will have the option to roll their tickets over to 2021 or receive refunds. Likewise, all exhibitors will have the option to move their booths to 2021 or be refunded. Attendees and exhibitors should all look for email communications in the next 24 hours with additional details.
Due to the continued COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, cities and states across the U.S. have limited large gatherings and begun to use convention centers, themselves, as virus testing sites and hospitals, and Anime Frontier is only the latest large event to postpone. To date, over 200 conventions, conferences, and other major events have cancelled across the U.S. over the next several months.
Anime Frontier was launched by the creators of Anime NYC, the second largest anime convention in the U.S., together with key companies from the worlds of anime, manga, and Japanese entertainment with the goal of bringing fans, publishers, and Japanese creators together in Texas like never before. This goal will remain when Anime Frontier returns in 2021.
Anime Frontier 2021 tickets, guests, and further details will begin to be announced later this year, and fans wanting to learn more can subscribe to the Anime Frontier newsletter and follow the event on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.”
Unfortunately MomoCon and Anime Frontier aren’t the only conventions forced to either cancel or postpone until further notice, these include Tora-Con, Anime Boston, Sakura Con, MegaCon, and many more. For a full list of convention cancellations and postponements click here – https://animecons.com/events/
UPDATE: Sentai Postpones North American Theatrical Release of “MADE IN ABYSS: Dawn of the Deep Soul”
Here is the statement from Sentai Filmworks: Sentai announced today (March 24, 2020) that it will postpone the theatrical release of MADE IN ABYSS: Dawn of the Deep Soul from April to later in 2020 due to the global and local impact of COVID-19. The decision to delay the film’s release impacts all film locations and screenings, including international sites.
“Our first priority is to ensure the safety of fans, theater staff and the broader community,” said John Ledford, Sentai CEO. “After careful consideration and deliberation, we determined that it is in the best of interest of theatergoers and the public to reschedule this release. While we are disappointed by the delay, we have every intention of giving this film the theatrical release it deserves when the time is right and safety can be assured. Fans of MADE IN ABYSS should keep an eye on our social media pages and dedicated MADE IN ABYSS site for updates.”
The film was set to premiere at Anime Boston, but that event was cancelled along with the cancellation of that convention.
Fans who had previously purchased a ticket to a showing of MADE IN ABYSS: Dawn of the Deep Soul should contact the outlet through which they purchased their ticket to inquire about ticket credits or refunds.
UPDATE: Crunchyroll Announces Postponement of English Dub Recordings for Several Series Until Further Notice.
Here is the statement from Crunchyroll:
“To ensure the safety of the Crunchyroll team, we’re making some changes to the production schedule of our English dubs. While our efforts surrounding pre and post-production of these dubs will continue, we put a hold on recording for the foreseeable future. As a result, please anticipate a pause in new English dub releases after the following episodes of these series:
- In/Spectre: Episode 7, Airing on April 11th
- Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It: Episode 8, Airing on April 3rd
- Somali and the Forest Spirit: Episode 8, Airing on April 2nd
- Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun: Episode 15, Airing on March 28th
Additionally, the English dub of KONOSUBA -God’s blessing on this wonderful world!- Legend of Crimson will also be paused for the time being.
We’ll do our best to keep fans of these series aware of any major adjustments to our production schedule, and thank you all for your patience as we focus on the safety of our cast and crew.
Please keep an eye out on our Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Italian, Russian, and Arabic news pages for updates regarding dubbed releases in those languages.”
Steven Durso our social media manager has contributed to this article.
Sources:
Right Stuf Via Email Correspondence
FUNimation
Toonami/Jason DeMarco
MomoCon
Anime Frontier Crunchyroll Via Email Correspondence
Sentai Via Email Correspondence
Crunchyroll English Dub Production
AnimeCons.com
