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Interview: Michelle Lee


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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 12:23 pm Reply with quote
Michelle Lee wrote:
And not only that, but what you may not know is that Kamisama Kiss was our number one simulcast for the fall 2012 season.


Blimey. I had no idea the show was that popular in the West.

Guess companies really do pay close attention to how many watch their simulcasts. I mean, it's one thing to intellectually know, but quite another to be presented with such unimpeachable evidence to that effect.
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here-and-faraway



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PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 12:56 pm Reply with quote
I hope it does well for Funimation. I think it's great that they're branching out to premium edition releases.
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Angel M Cazares



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PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 1:21 pm Reply with quote
I am sure these premium releases will sell well as long as Funimation makes them 2,500-3,000 limited print runs. I want to think there is a very good chance we see premium sets of The Devil is a Part-Timer! and Attack on Titan.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 1:24 pm Reply with quote
^
I hadn't realised that FUNimation had Attack on Titan. For some reason I thought it was Aniplex who had that.

Well, fans of that show will definitely be happy.

here-and-faraway wrote:
I hope it does well for Funimation.


Although Kamisama Kiss isn't what I'd consider a great title (it's good, but not amazing), I think this "Goddess Edition" will indeed do well. Not sure if the streaming numbers are going to matter much and translate across into high sales. However, I do think people will buy the special edition - even blind buy it - just because they want FUNimation to release more of these types of sets in the future.
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navycherub



Joined: 26 Oct 2007
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 2:11 pm Reply with quote
Personally I'm really glad they decided to choose two very different shows to try this experiment on, because while I want to support these kinds of releases, Kamisama Kiss isn't my cup of tea. However, I am definitely excited for getting my hands on the Psycho-Pass premium release, so that option is great.
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Blood-
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 2:16 pm Reply with quote
Just piping up to say I hope we see more of these industry interviews. Having guests on the ANNCast is great, but it's nice to have some print interviews, too.
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Usagi-kun



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PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 2:50 pm Reply with quote
Kamisama Kiss is too girly for me, but Psycho Pass? Hell yes. Thanks for bringing back the box set. Best of luck, Funimation. My money is the highest praise I can give you.
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SouthPacific



Joined: 24 Oct 2013
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 3:34 pm Reply with quote
Really interesting interview and most of the answers pleases me greatly. I'm really excited about Funimation venturing into these types of releases. I pre-ordered Psycho-Pass soon after it was made available and managed to get it for a decent price Very Happy.

However. Unless they were using different masters for their Goddess Edition and the standard BD/DVD combo i'm rather worried. The standard editions had the technical issues many other Funimation releases have, such as banding/odd colors.

If this'll be the case for their Premium releases as well, I can't see myself supporting them in this venture. If they're going to charge Aniplex prices, they're going to have to bring Aniplex quality. Hell, to me it doesn't really matter whether the price is a bit higher, or a bit lower, the V/A quality has got to be there, otherwise I will simply pirate the series I want to watch. "Supporting the industry" is all fine and dandy, as long as the industry doesn't promote releases where fansubs do a better job of making the picture quality look pretty, as well as making better subtitles.

I really hope Funimation step up their game when it comes to QC, because it's just not acceptable to charge 100$+ and not have true BD quality.


Edit: Seems like Attack On Titan is getting a similiar treatment, and it's going to be split into parts. While not much has been revelead, the Amazon description lists this:
Quote:
Limited Edition comes with a 3-D Lenticular, as well as a 24 page digibook full of art, character information, and 4-panel comics.

Part 1 has a retail price of 89.98$ and can be pre-ordered for 80.98$; http://www.amazon.com/Attack-Titan-Limited-Edition-Blu-ray/dp/B00FXBL1IQ
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here-and-faraway



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PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 4:04 pm Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
Just piping up to say I hope we see more of these industry interviews. Having guests on the ANNCast is great, but it's nice to have some print interviews, too.


I agree. I like the print interviews too.
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Angel M Cazares



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PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 5:04 pm Reply with quote
SouthPacific wrote:
However. Unless they were using different masters for their Goddess Edition and the standard BD/DVD combo i'm rather worried. The standard editions had the technical issues many other Funimation releases have, such as banding/odd colors.


I really hope Funimation step up their game when it comes to QC, because it's just not acceptable to charge 100$+ and not have true BD quality.


I really do not get where you got the idea that Funimation sells BD's of questionable quality. When asked about the difference in quality between North American and Japanese anime BD's, this is what Justin Sevakis, who has authored BD's for R1 releases, wrote:

"In most cases, there isn't going to be a noticeable difference. Japanese discs usually have a higher bitrate than their American counterparts (as they stuff less on each disc), but anime is so easy to compress that the extra bitrate doesn't result in any visible improvement in the encode...The vast majority of discs from both countries look great."

"There are exceptions, of course. Japanese encodes tend to deal better with interlaced video (which is still somehow an issue nowadays), while American companies tend to pull off upscales of digitally-made standard definition anime much better. Both countries also make mistakes: fans are quick to point out when the American publishers screw up, but I've seen Japanese discs that accidentally had mono audio and some pretty severe video problems. Also, Japan has started upscaling ancient analog master tapes of shot-on-film OAV series, and these look SERIOUSLY awful."

animenewsnetwork.com/answerman/2013-12-27
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st_owly



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PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 5:18 pm Reply with quote
here-and-faraway wrote:
Blood- wrote:
Just piping up to say I hope we see more of these industry interviews. Having guests on the ANNCast is great, but it's nice to have some print interviews, too.


I agree. I like the print interviews too.


As do I. I'd like to see more of them as well.

About simulcasts, I wish Funi would start making their streams available outside of NA. Anytime I hear a Funi simulcast announcement, I know that there's virtually no chance I can watch it legally here because the UK exclusive providers seem to prefer to cannibalise off Crunchyroll rather than go after things which wouldn't be available here otherwise.
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SouthPacific



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PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 5:21 pm Reply with quote
angelmcazares wrote:
SouthPacific wrote:
However. Unless they were using different masters for their Goddess Edition and the standard BD/DVD combo i'm rather worried. The standard editions had the technical issues many other Funimation releases have, such as banding/odd colors.


I really hope Funimation step up their game when it comes to QC, because it's just not acceptable to charge 100$+ and not have true BD quality.


I really do not get where you got the idea that Funimation sells BD's of questionable quality.


I get the idea from my own Funi purchases, and comparing them with the Japanese BD rips, as well as the plethora of comparisons available on the internet. Not to mention the LARGE amount of reviews available...

This isn't something new you know, and it's commonly known as well.

For some more info on their Kamisama Kiss:
http://www.blu-raydefinition.com/reviews/kamisama-kiss-complete-series-blu-ray-review.html
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Kamisama-Kiss-Complete-Series-Blu-ray/91002/

Both reviews mention the issues of color banding, which seemingly is a common occurence in Funimation releases.


E: It's also worth mentioning that for some reason quite a few Funimation releases have either too dark of an image, or too bright. Not sure if anyone knows why they mess around with the brightness levels...
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Echo_City



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PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 6:14 pm Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
Just piping up to say I hope we see more of these industry interviews. Having guests on the ANNCast is great, but it's nice to have some print interviews, too.

As do I.
Quote:
And make sure you watch the simulcasts, we've got a ton of really good ones for this season as well, so go to Funimation.com, go to Hulu and check out the shows and see if there's something you really like, and if you do then make sure that everybody else knows and you get other fans involved in watching because we're using simulcast numbers as a big part of how to determine if something is going to get this type of treatment.
I realize that these companies want to use the Simulcast metric because it is easy but I am dismayed nevertheless to see its prominence grow as I buy physical releases but I don't particularly care for watching simulcasting and so what I can buy is affected by something with which I have little interest. I don't like the narrative of "if you want a dub, you have to watch the sub and do so at a rate of one ep/week". Even if I like a sub enough to stream it, I like to watch at a faster rate than 1ep /week but if I wait until the end of the season to stream a show I have been informed that such does not truly count as "simulcasting", to my dismay.

I also question the validity of simulcasting as a metric as it is impossible to determine how many purchasers were also simulcasters. As such, crutching on the simulcast numbers could create a debacle where Funi focuses its physical goods based on the input of an audience that doesn't exist; for all Funimation knows, there could be a huge "silent majority" of fans who buy but don't really simulcast.
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EyeOfPain



Joined: 14 May 2013
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 7:52 pm Reply with quote
Echo_City wrote:
I also question the validity of simulcasting as a metric as it is impossible to determine how many purchasers were also simulcasters. As such, crutching on the simulcast numbers could create a debacle where Funi focuses its physical goods based on the input of an audience that doesn't exist; for all Funimation knows, there could be a huge "silent majority" of fans who buy but don't really simulcast.
Michelle stated simulcast numbers are the "best indicator for a show's popularity," not the only indicator. And I don't see a reason why watching a show after it's finished airing wouldn't contribute to the streaming numbers.
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Echo_City



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PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 8:03 pm Reply with quote
EyeOfPain wrote:
Echo_City wrote:
I also question the validity of simulcasting as a metric as it is impossible to determine how many purchasers were also simulcasters. As such, crutching on the simulcast numbers could create a debacle where Funi focuses its physical goods based on the input of an audience that doesn't exist; for all Funimation knows, there could be a huge "silent majority" of fans who buy but don't really simulcast.
Michelle stated simulcast numbers are the "best indicator for a show's popularity," not the only indicator. And I don't see a reason why watching a show after it's finished airing wouldn't contribute to the streaming numbers.

I mentioned my bit about simulcasting because Funimation pushed it in this interview. Both Sentai and Funi push the simulcast virtually every chance that they get and it makes me worry. I'm unsure if streaming only counts if I watch it while the show is still airing. Right now there are a few current season shows that I'm watching. I'm tempted to stop and then watch them next season, after they're all available for "binge streaming". Would that count towards the magical simulcast numbers that Sentai and Funi are hyping? I think that this is a question that we need to have answered.

I'll give Funimation some credit though, when it comes to simulcasting they're the only ones providing an HD stream to Android devices.
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