FUNimation has scored a couple of coups this week, acquiring several titles from Geneon Entertainment as well as 30 more from A.D. Vision (ADV). But these acquisitions may sound the death knell for ADV, if the rumors circulating the anime news sites have any substance.

Geneon had already announced last September that it was ceasing the sale, distribution, and marketing of DVDs. The company referred to the abrupt cancellation of their proposed sales and distribution alliance with ADV as a large part of the reason for their downsizing.

Four months later, in January, ADV itself pulled several titles from its own website and catalogue, and from broadcast on its Anime Network. Many of them were restored a month later, but most were gradually withdrawn again, leading some fans to wonder if they'd ever actually see them, or have a chance to complete their DVD sets. And some began to suspect that ADV was not only sinking, but going down fast.

As long ago as last October, FUNimation announced that it was in early negotiations to acquire at least some of Geneon's titles, but nothing much was heard after that. However, on July 3, the announcement was finally made: FUNimation "obtains the exclusive rights to the manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution of established Geneon titles, including international successes Ergo Proxy, Hellsing Ultimate, and Black Lagoon." In fact, Hellsing Ultimate will be the first of these new series released, followed by Black Lagoon Second Barrage, Karin, Kyo Kara Maoh Season 2, and Lyrical Nanoha.

Then swift on the heels of that news, like the bursting of fireworks, came the explosive July 4th announcement that FUNimation has also acquired the rights to more than 30 of ADV's former titles, in a deal with the owners, Sojitz's ARM Corporation. This means FUNimation has exclusive home, video, broadcast, digital, and merchandising rights -- the whole shebang. You can see the entire list here, but these are some samples: Air TV, Guyver: The Bioboosted Armor, Kanon, Le Chevalier D'Eon, Red Garden, UFO Princess Valkyrie, Utawarerumono, Venus Versus Virus, and Xenosaga.

On Robert's Anime Corner Blog (associated with the Anime Corner Store), Robert reports this latest news, and speculates that since ADV has been having cash flow problems all year, this move may in fact finish the company completely. He expects that at the very least, they're not likely to be "a significant player in the industry" any longer. (He covers some of the developments at ADV, with lots of updates, in another post at the same blog from July 2.) Meanwhile, he thinks FUNimation is aiming to acquire a 50% sales share in the U.S. anime market by this time next year, while taking down some competitors at the same time.

Many fans in the various discussion forums are ecstatic that perhaps they'll finally have the chance to complete their DVD sets of some favorite series. But others are uneasy, wondering how FUNimation's attainment of something approaching a monopoly will affect the business in general. (When a company has a monopoly, or only a few very small or weak competitors, they can usually set whatever terms they please -- especially price -- since they don't have to worry about anyone else underselling them enough to bring their business down.) Fans speculate how Bandai Entertainment or Viz Media will possibly respond to the latest move. And with GDH/Gonzo also experiencing financial difficulties, the list of plausible competitors is growing steadily shorter.

It remains to be seen whether, in the end, this week's developments are good or bad for the fans of anime.