×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
Answerman - Why Do Publishers License Anime And Not Release It?


Goto page 1, 2, 3  Next

Note: this is the discussion thread for this article

Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
kyokun47



Joined: 17 Feb 2008
Posts: 231
PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 12:10 pm Reply with quote
I really wanted to see MekakuCity Actors too...
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Sakura Shinguji



Joined: 09 Feb 2005
Posts: 190
PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 12:15 pm Reply with quote
I feel like the article doesn't spend enough (any?) time talking about the streaming aspect. These days, a show that is licensed and not released doesn't go unseen like it would have ten or even five years ago. Sure, folks (like myself) who would prefer a physical release for everything are SOL, but it's not as if it's wholly unavailable.

The article could also have touched a bit on how licensing packages come into play here, as perhaps every studio, present or past, has at some point ended up wanting to license a certain title only to have to pick up an unwanted tagalong C-tier title as well. Not that the C-tier titles by default go unloved and unreleased, nor do all the targeted big potential titles live up to their billing, but this sort of situation is one of the reasons why studios do end up with titles that they may even only be streaming reluctantly. Or, for that matter, why FUNimation is actually throwing a couple of random sub-only DVD-only releases out there, contrary to their history.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
rpgothic



Joined: 03 May 2006
Posts: 27
Location: UK
PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 12:19 pm Reply with quote
It's funny, some of those titles which seem to be in limbo in the U.S from Aniplex are available in Australia (I ended up importing them from there (and much cheaper than Aniplex would charg))
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Megiddo



Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 8360
Location: IL
PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 12:19 pm Reply with quote
I still remember how happy I was when Media Blasters announced that they licensed Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
TheMorry



Joined: 08 May 2014
Posts: 656
PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 12:25 pm Reply with quote
Did Sentai commented anything on Phi brain puzzle of god s3 yet? That has been ina a limbo too xD.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Lord Vaultman



Joined: 03 Mar 2017
Posts: 810
PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 12:27 pm Reply with quote
Wish Funimation would say what the hell is going on with the LOST D Gray man episodes. I mean they said last summer they had gotten the rights to it but we haven't heard anything since then not even a sub release on their app or crunchyrolls app.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4410
PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 12:54 pm Reply with quote
Lord Vaultman wrote:
Wish Funimation would say what the hell is going on with the LOST D Gray man episodes. I mean they said last summer they had gotten the rights to it but we haven't heard anything since then not even a sub release on their app or crunchyrolls app.


I've wondered about that too. I didn't watch the simuldub of the latest season because there wasn't a legal way to watch half of what came before, and I questioned the choice to simuldub it at all for that same reason. Considering that it was prior to the partnership with Crunchyroll, my suspicion is they felt like the needed content, and at least D.Grayman came with some name recognition.


Aniplex's decision not to physically release a number of titles is more frustrating to me than if it were most other companies. I'm sure part of the decision making process involves factoring in their prices, so it seems like streaming numbers have to be even higher than they would need to be for Funimation or Sentai in order for them to think that enough people will buy their expensive releases.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
pajmo9



Joined: 24 Feb 2005
Posts: 630
PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 1:25 pm Reply with quote
TheMorry wrote:
Did Sentai commented anything on Phi brain puzzle of god s3 yet? That has been ina a limbo too xD.


I was actually wondering the same thing. It's kind of odd they would release all of it but the last part.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
rizuchan
Collector Extraordinaire



Joined: 11 Mar 2007
Posts: 974
Location: Kansas
PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 1:40 pm Reply with quote
Sakura Shinguji wrote:
I feel like the article doesn't spend enough (any?) time talking about the streaming aspect. These days, a show that is licensed and not released doesn't go unseen like it would have ten or even five years ago. Sure, folks (like myself) who would prefer a physical release for everything are SOL, but it's not as if it's wholly unavailable.

That kinda depends on if you're talking about streaming licenses or disc license, because they are different. There are still shows that never get picked up for streaming, or get licensed for streaming but are never actually uploaded. And there are so few actual (English language) fansubbers these days some of these shows really are almost completely unavailable for English speakers. Crying or Very sad

But yeah, 5-10 years ago it was a much bigger frustration, because fansubbers would usually take down their subs when a show got licensed for NA. Shows that were licensed but never released were often in this weird limbo where they were a lot harder to find than shows that were never licensed at all. So there were a lot of fans whose hearts would sink when they found out about a license acquisition, especially if it was picked up in the middle of the show airing.

Megiddo wrote:
I still remember how happy I was when Media Blasters announced that they licensed Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei.
I'm glad I'm not so old that there's someone else around here who upon hearing "unreleased licenses" immediately remembers Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei. I know it's silly at this point but I still can't forgive Media Blasters for that one.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
Dop.L



Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 713
Location: London
PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 1:53 pm Reply with quote
Megiddo wrote:
I still remember how happy I was when Media Blasters announced that they licensed Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei.


Ah yes, I remember it well. *sigh*. Happy days... I only guess at some point they worked out how much it would cost to translate and subtitle not just the dialogue but also everything written in the backgrounds. One of those "How I wish they'd really released that" lost opportunities.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
pluvia33



Joined: 23 Mar 2005
Posts: 194
Location: Dayton, OH, USA
PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 2:20 pm Reply with quote
Megiddo wrote:
I still remember how happy I was when Media Blasters announced that they licensed Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei.


Yep, add me as sad Zetsubou-sensei fan #4 in this thread. I immediately thought of it while reading this entry of Answer Man. If someone would rescue this series and put out all of the season on Blu-ray, I would love them forever. Right Stuf? Sentai? ....please?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail My Anime My Manga
invalidname
Contributor



Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 2434
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 2:26 pm Reply with quote
I'd buy Mekakucity Actors on Blu-Ray if it ever came out here, if only to get the fixed-up animation in episode 9 (the barely-Flash animation on the stream of that episode is painful to watch). Maybe Aniplex USA could sublicense it to a Discotek or something?

The Japanese release of that series was strange -- one episode per disc, along with a CD of new versions of the relevant music from the Kagerou Project franchise (it might be said that the anime episode was a bonus with the music CD, rather than the other way around). If a US release can't include the new music, that's fine, I think most or all of them are on iTunes now.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NeoStrayCat



Joined: 14 Sep 2011
Posts: 610
PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 2:40 pm Reply with quote
Well guys, I see what you mean, but at least now this is the opposite for Nichijou and Gosick, now that they're actually getting home releases...in 2017! I know the wait was long and Bandai held them before the rights expired and the company too (same thing with the CR stream licensing.)

But since now in Funi's hands, yeah...its all good.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
relyat08



Joined: 20 Mar 2013
Posts: 4125
Location: Northern Virginia
PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 3:03 pm Reply with quote
This is my biggest point of frustration and, honestly, anger toward AoA. I wish they wouldn't hoard those shows. Give them to someone else, or something. It's smart business and it's clearly meant to help stem reverse importation(you can't import a region 1 disc that doesn't exist after all). But it's not good for consumers, at least collectors, at all. I've been waiting for a Mushi-shi BD as well as Samurai Flamenco, Blast of Tempest and Zvezda for years. These guys suck.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
VinceA



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 126
Location: Bayonne, NJ
PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 3:04 pm Reply with quote
Samurai Flamenco... enough said. Smile
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail AIM Address MSN Messenger ICQ Number
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page 1, 2, 3  Next
Page 1 of 3

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group