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Has a there ever been a situation that an English dub was required and that the Japanese audio track was not made available to the distributor in order to prevent reverse importing?

omiya wrote:

Has a there ever been a situation that an English dub was required and that the Japanese audio track was not made available to the distributor in order to prevent reverse importing?

It's becoming quite common with video game localizations lately. Dual audio is becoming slightly less common since the Japanese voice studios and the voice actors' agencies are refusing to allow the original audio to leave the country.

English dubs are not common in Japan, duh, but English dubs have been released there since the early 90s.

I heard a rumor that Lucky Star's English dub was released due to popular demand, but it's probably not true.

1. The dub is intended for Americans/Canadians.
2. Only the opinions of Americans, Canadians, and Brits matter.

Could be more bragging rights than reverse importation:

When Disney signed the deal with Ghibli, one of the non-negotiable clauses was that Princess Mononoke get a US theatrical dub--
Partly to make sure that Disney wouldn't release a subtitled DVD (as Japanese DVD's hadn't caught on yet in '99, and Toho originally had to put an embargo on Disney releasing a bilingual disk, before the fan blowup)...But as the movie was still a full-blown mania in Japan, the fan entertainment-rumor press went into overtime speculating about which big Hollywood A-list stars would be voicing the American Mononoke--Jack Nicholson? Robin Williams? Madonna?

Japanese licensors are happy that their shows get overseas sales, but diva Ghibli aside, they're not quite picky on HOW they end up once sold and dubbed. (I'd wager few have even seen Sgt. Frog or Ghost Stories.)
Just think how we don't really care what VA's voice the Japanese dubs of American movies, but bring up the subject of who voiced the Japanese Frozen, and.... Very Happy

omiya wrote:

Has a there ever been a situation that an English dub was required and that the Japanese audio track was not made available to the distributor in order to prevent reverse importing?

Well Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust had the English dub for that done first, and Discotek was unable to get the Japanese audio track for that but that doesn't quite fit that situaton.

Last edited by traffiktiger on Wed Apr 06, 2016 2:34 pm; edited 1 time in total

omiya wrote:

Has a there ever been a situation that an English dub was required and that the Japanese audio track was not made available to the distributor in order to prevent reverse importing?

When Persona 4: The Animation Collection first released it was not allow to have the Japanese voice track so it just had the english track. I think it was because our region is the same as Japan's, the cheap price in the US, it being scheduled near the Japanese release, & the publishers worries over it being reverse-imported.

Quote:

The other reason I could see for this happening is as something of a test. Kickstarting anime releases, particularly for previously unlicensed niche shows, is still a new thing. [..]

In Skip Beat!'s case though, the dub requirement was there before KickStarting anime become (moderately) popular, and was the reason it hadn't been licensed yet despite being from 2009 and getting high ratings.

While this is mostly speculation on my part, I have been wondering if the dub of Kingdom didn't come about because the licensor required it. Funimation made no announcement other than the show has a dub, they made the English version the secondary audio track, and there aren't any credits for English actors on the discs. It definitely comes off like they were very reluctant to dub it, but then again, sub-only releases are common enough it seems weird that the licensor would care that much.

EricJ2 wrote:

Japanese licensors are happy that their shows get overseas sales, but diva Ghibli aside, they're not quite picky on HOW they end up once sold and dubbed. (I'd wager few have even seen Sgt. Frog or Ghost Stories.)

I happened to see the english dub Ghost Stories on ANN on-demand back in the mid-2000s. I remember being amazed at the time of how many Western references were in that show. At the time I thought it was what was in the original stories, ignorance is bliss... sometimes Laughing

EricJ2 wrote:

Japanese licensors are happy that their shows get overseas sales, but diva Ghibli aside, they're not quite picky on HOW they end up once sold and dubbed. (I'd wager few have even seen Sgt. Frog or Ghost Stories.)

From what I've been told at conventions by people involved with the Ghost Stories dub, apparently the licensor realized it had huge dud that was pretty much worthless, so they basically gave the go-ahead for ADV to make a joke dub if that meant someone would license it.

traffiktiger wrote:

omiya wrote:

Has a there ever been a situation that an English dub was required and that the Japanese audio track was not made available to the distributor in order to prevent reverse importing?

When Persona 4: The Animation Collection first released it was not allow to have the Japanese voice track so it just had the english track. I think it was because our region is the same as Japan's, the cheap price in the US, it being scheduled near the Japanese release, & the publishers worries over it being reverse-imported.

Although this was true, the stipulation was that it had to have English voices on the Blu-Ray only, the DVD release however had dual audio. This has now since been corrected on the now Collectors Edition of P4TA that includes dual audio on the Blu-Ray for that edition.

It's about time I have had another question answered. It's been so long. I thought this question was very timely and I'm not surprised it got picked. I was really caught off guard when I saw the japanese licensor required a englsh dub. I had never heard of the stipulation before. I am happy Justin was able to mention several series in the past that had the same requirement. I really want a blu-ray release of Skip Beat! so I have that stretch goal is reached. As always Justin had a perfect answer Very Happy

omiya wrote:

Has a there ever been a situation that an English dub was required and that the Japanese audio track was not made available to the distributor in order to prevent reverse importing?

Well, there was Kurokami (Black God). The Blu-ray only included the Japanese dub. The DVD was bilingual though.
Funnier still with its Japan equivalent, to quote from an ANN article;

Quote:

Update: Bandai Visual's Kurokami BD volumes in Japan include Japanese, English, and Korean soundtracks, as well as Japanese subtitles (but not English subtitles). Thanks, darkchibi07.

That was Bandai Visual USA. And we know what happened to Bandai Visual USA...

License for Kurokami has since gone to Sentai. Hopefully they're less drunk handling the property...

Greed1914 wrote:

While this is mostly speculation on my part, I have been wondering if the dub of Kingdom didn't come about because the licensor required it. Funimation made no announcement other than the show has a dub, they made the English version the secondary audio track, and there aren't any credits for English actors on the discs. It definitely comes off like they were very reluctant to dub it, but then again, sub-only releases are common enough it seems weird that the licensor would care that much.

It's not certain if FUNi had much to do with it (I highly doubt it myself) but it was definitely dubbed at Blue Water. The dub was first revealed at a convention by a YouTube guy by the name of RobMan which was odd at first because he's from Canada but then when FUNi released the dub on their website, those who watched it immediately recognized some VAs from Cardfight Vanguard & Future Card Buddyfight, which were also Blue Water dubs.

Blanchimont wrote:

Well, there was Kurokami (Black God). The Blu-ray only included the Japanese dub. The DVD was bilingual though.
Funnier still with its Japan equivalent, to quote from an ANN article;

Quote:

Update: Bandai Visual's Kurokami BD volumes in Japan include Japanese, English, and Korean soundtracks, as well as Japanese subtitles (but not English subtitles). Thanks, darkchibi07.

That was Bandai Visual USA. And we know what happened to Bandai Visual USA...

Wrong Bandai, BVUSA was already gone before that happened and it was Bandai Entertainment who first released Kurokami here.

Quote:

License for Kurokami has since gone to Sentai. Hopefully they're less drunk handling the property...

If it ever happens as it's one of the many Sentai (& FUNi) titles that's taking too long to get released here because of whatever is going on with Sunrise.

NJ_ wrote:

Quote:

License for Kurokami has since gone to Sentai. Hopefully they're less drunk handling the property...

If it ever happens as it's one of the many Sentai (& FUNi) titles that's taking too long to get released here because of whatever is going on with Sunrise.

If I recall correctly, since Sunrise was affiliated with Bandai just like A-1 is with Aniplex, they're pretty protective of the license. They had to sell their assets when Bandai closed down, but now they want to do the licensing themselves, and are even producing a dub for Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans. My guess is, now they plan on having the shows become worthless and buying them back. Strange, though, because Sunrise clearly let Funimation run their fingers all over Cowboy Bebop and Escaflowne.

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