Back in January of this year, Manga Entertainment quietly removed the Blu-ray side to their Fairy Tail release with the 9th Part release and with the 3rd double-set collection. Asked at the time about it if it was going to be DVD only, they confirmed that they would not be producing the Blu-ray for it.
Now, while discussing some playback issues that surfaced on the most recent DVD release, they also talked a bit about the Blu-ray problem, especially for longer running series, and the shonen issue as well:
Apologies for the radio silence on reported Fairy Tail issues. We’ve been spinning disks in all sorts of players and it continues, we’ll have an update for you soon.
In response to Fairy Tail becoming a DVD only release. There is always the chance with a long running shonen series like Fairy Tail that interest will begin to decline in a format like Blu-ray and we as a distributor must make the hard choice to drop that format for future releases. It was a tough decision but we always try to bring you guys the formats you love where possible.
We’d rather take a chance on bringing you the formats that you want rather than not at all. Sometimes this works out and in cases like this, it disappoints both us and the fans.
Again, we apologise for the inconvenience.
The Manga UK Team
With the differences in when series start and the easier accessibility of materials online from overseas, it’s no surprise that they’re facing importation competition.
Plot concept: In the Kingdom of Fiore, powerful wizards make their living by joining magical guilds and contracting out their services to become “wizards for hire.” Harnessing the forces of Dragon Fire, Ice, Weaponry, and the Zodiac, four young wizards of the infamous guild Fairy Tail team up to seek their fortunes.
Growing stronger with every mission, they travel the countryside helping people and battling rival guilds, but with personalities as different as their magic skills, this team may end up doing more damage than good.
[Source: Shiroi Hane]