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FUNimation's 20th anniversary.


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CastMember1991



Joined: 06 Feb 2012
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 6:44 am Reply with quote
Well, this year marks a milestone. FUNimation is celebrating 20 years of bringing quality anime to the US. I remember as a kid watching their most popular series, Dragon Ball Z, on Toonami. Pokémon may have been an obsession to me - Who wasn't obsessed with it? - when it comes to anime back when that show was popular, but DBZ was the one that got me into shows like One Piece (also licensed by FUNimation). When the financial crisis hit, companies like Central Park Media and ADV Films faded into obscurity, while FUNimation was left unscathed.

So, what's your favorite memory about Funimation? What is your favorite anime that they brought stateside?

[EDIT: Fixed your spelling. -TK]
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 10:34 am Reply with quote
CastMember1991 wrote:
When the financial crisis hit, companies like Central Park Media and ADV Films faded into obscurity, while Funimation was left unscathed.


That was not only because they were too well established by that point (with DBZ and syndie/cable broadcast), they had also jumped early onto the life raft that all the other studios missed--
They were offering series in Boxset form long before single-releases caused the mainstream-sales bubble to burst for all the other studios.

And we keep calling them "Fu-ni" for short, when it should be "Fun-i", as their name was technically FUN-imation, and they started out as just a generic importer of kids' syndicated shows, like 4Kids did when they hit gold with Westernizing Pokemon.
They just fortuitously found themselves in the position of defining an entire industry. (And occasionally blowing it, as with Sgt. Frog.)
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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 11:31 am Reply with quote
God, that opening statement reeks of corporate brown-nosing Confused... "Favorite memories?" Really?

I'm grateful for the anime that any company brings to the U.S. But singling out FUNi and praising them like it's the second coming of Jesus seems a bit overboard.

I'm ticked off enough from their past packaging fiascoes and current trend of DBZ Blu-ray deification, so I got nothin' good to say at the moment.

If anybody else feels this thread to be weirdly single-minded and self-congratulatory/masturbatory, then please report it or leave a comment. I'd be more than happy to lock it.
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 11:36 am Reply with quote
Tony K. wrote:
God, that opening statement reeks of corporate brown-nosing... "Favorite memories?" Really?


(At the moment, with the studio, it's quite distinctly the OPPOSITE...)

Tony K. wrote:
If anybody else feels this thread to be weirdly single-minded and self-congratulatory/masturbatory, then please report it or leave a comment. I'd be more than happy to lock it.


There is that distinct danger, I've noticed, with CastMember threads, but if it really is Funi's 20th anniversary, you'd think someone would have noticed.
Maybe we should wait for the site article and Talkback thread on the week it happens, if it hasn't already.
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Blood-
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Joined: 07 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 1:17 pm Reply with quote
Happy anniversary, Funimation! I've only been watching/collecting anime regularly for the last five years, so I don't have the sort of fond childhood memories some of you have. But there is no question Funi has released/rescued some great titles. Hope you guys are around for many, many years to come.
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Alan45
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 1:45 pm Reply with quote
@Blood-
The funny thing is that 20 years puts their start back to 1994. I started to collect anime in 1997 and I don't remember their logo on anything I was interested in for at least the first 5+ years. I wonder what they issued between 1994 and 2004??
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



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PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 3:18 pm Reply with quote
Your post got me curious, Alan45, so I checked ANN's release records. The first mention of Funimation doesn't even show up until 1999 when they released a few (what else) Dragon Ball Z titles. Over the next few years they added a few more titles like Yu Yu Hakusho, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, Fruits Basket and (what else) Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball GT and (of course) more Dragon Ball Z. There was even something called Kirby: Right Back at Ya! in there.

It wasn't until 2004 that Funi really branched out with titles like Kiddy Grade, Shaman King, Spiral, Tenchi Muyo! GXP and Ultimate Muscle.

So yeah, not terribly surprising you're a little light on Funi's early catalogue.
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Alan45
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 6:42 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, Fruits Basket followed by Kiddy Grade sounds about right. I also eventually bought Tenchi Muyo GPX. The rest of that list no. I didn't think I saw them in the early years. I checked out about everything that came out in those days. Still do as far as that goes, but shopping online makes you less aware of companies.
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OncelostLu



Joined: 14 Mar 2013
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 7:42 pm Reply with quote
Where's 3.33?
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Megiddo



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PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 7:45 pm Reply with quote
Funimation was definitely around in the mid 90s.

Lance Heiskell scanned in this Animerica magazine from October 1995 and it directly mentions Dragon Ball and Funimation.

http://www.practicemakesawesome.com/animerica-magazine-anime-3x3-eyes-sailor-moon-dragon-ball-tv-edit-streamline-pictures-softcel-volume-3-issue-10-october-1995/
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Blood-
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 7:55 pm Reply with quote
I wonder if the reason there is no mention of Funimation releases previous to 1999 in the ANN Enyclopedia is because, before that time, Funimation was only involved in TV broadcasts as opposed to home releases?
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Alan45
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 9:18 pm Reply with quote
If Funimation was only involved with TV anime, that would explain why I wasn't aware of them. I never did see any anime on broadcast or cable TV, only on VHS and later DVD. I've never seen any Dragonball as far as that goes.

I don't have that specific issue of Animerica, but I do have volume three issues 9 and 11. Strangely, I have that Ranma 1/2 Organizer, complete with pen and stickers. I doubt the pen still works though.
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CastMember1991



Joined: 06 Feb 2012
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 9:41 pm Reply with quote
Ugh!! I thought I deleted this page!!!! How did it appear on the threads again?!
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CastMember1991



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PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 9:48 pm Reply with quote
Tony K. wrote:
God, that opening statement reeks of corporate brown-nosing Confused... "Favorite memories?" Really?

I'm grateful for the anime that any company brings to the U.S. But singling out FUNi and praising them like it's the second coming of Jesus seems a bit overboard.

I'm ticked off enough from their past packaging fiascoes and current trend of DBZ Blu-ray deification, so I got nothin' good to say at the moment.

If anybody else feels this thread to be weirdly single-minded and self-congratulatory/masturbatory, then please report it or leave a comment. I'd be more than happy to lock it.


Looking back at my previous threads, I have no idea why they tend to be like that, it just doensn't make sense to me. Confused

I don't know. I don't post threads here very often, so ideas I have for threads aren't very good. I tried to get some advice from ANN's feedback section, and I only got one response so far.
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Spastic Minnow
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 10:19 pm Reply with quote
You can always look to the stand by for general info:

History

Wikipedia wrote:
The company was founded in 1994 by Japanese-born businessman Gen Fukunaga.[3] Fukunaga's uncle was one of the producers for the popular anime series Dragon Ball; he approached Gen about bringing the series over to America. He proposed that if Fukunaga could start a production company and raise enough money, Toei Animation would license the rights to the show. Fukunaga met with co-worker Daniel Cocanougher whose family owned a feed mill in Decatur, Texas and convinced Cocanougher's family to sell their business and serve as an investor for his company. The company was originally formed in Silicon Valley, California as Funimation Productions in 1994, but eventually relocated to Flower Mound, Texas, located near Fort Worth.[4] By 1998, after two failed attempts to bring the Dragon Ball franchise to a U.S. audience, it finally found success on Cartoon Network's action-oriented programming block Toonami, and the Dragon Ball phenomenon quickly grew in the United States as it had elsewhere. This led Funimation to begin licensing other anime to the U.S.


unrelated to the history.

Fond memory:
Fruits Basket was one of my earliest "new" Anime purchases, thanks to a very short-term agreement they apparently had with Columbia House at the time. Possibly the last time I ever had a Columbia House membership too.
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