There’s been a lot of gossip and speculation over the past few days over the fact that, as Anime News Network reported, ADV films has pulled a number of trailers from its website and yanked even more titles from its online store such as Red Garden, Welcome to the NHK, and Pumpkin Scissors. ADV also announced this month that it will be shutting down publication of the major anime magazine Newtype USA, and beginning work on a new magazine called PiQ, which will cover anime as part of the larger cultural spectrum it’s supposedly a part of, including anime, manga, and video games.

Rumors are flying that ADV is about to go the way of Geneon and shut down, and unsubstantiated speculation is rampant. Some forum-based gossip even claims that ADV is bankrupt from pouring too much money into the live action Neon Genesis Evangelion movie, which began development in 2003 but has been on hold for the past three years. That all seems pretty unlikely though. If ADV is indeed trimming a whole crap load of anime titles out of their distribution list, and are going forward with a pop-culture magazine that broadens its coverage to deal with more than just anime, then it sounds like ADV is just changing focus, and tweaking its place in the market. The anime titles that have suddenly gone missing from the website are almost all relatively obscure stateside — not shows that have generated major cult followings or been snatched up by Cartoon Network. Looks like they just don’t plan on continuing to include the hardcore otaku in their consumer base. It sucks, but that’s what fansubs are for.