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NEWS: Bandai Visual, Dark Horse, ImaginAsian Exec Interviews




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Area88



Joined: 26 Jan 2006
Posts: 374
PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 9:39 am Reply with quote
Found a picture of the Japanese release, the US release should be the same (interview confirms the same specs including a box):

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Tyrenol



Joined: 13 Sep 2005
Posts: 398
Location: Northern California
PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 10:32 am Reply with quote
Quote:
You don't produce English dubs, you just do subtitles, and release just as they would be on a Japanese DVD?

Yes. We like to concentrate on presenting our products to the really sophisticated American anime fans. We know they don't need any dubs. Of course, if we can put a really good dubbing on a program, they will appreciate that, but unfortunately it costs a lot, and we cannot raise the prices of our products more than they are now. So, we aren't including dubs right now.


Your business model is predicated on working with the animephile, the hardcore collector. What is the best way you've found to reach that consumer base?

That's a very good question, and we're working on it. It's not easy. At anime conventions we sell our DVDs at the booths, and I've found that there are many people who want high quality products, but when I ask them where they get their information, they tell me that they don't read any anime magazines and they don't know really know about the anime-specific Webpages.

I think most people grew up with Japanese animation when they were young in the 1990s or maybe the 1980s. Since the quality of Japanese animation wasn't very good, they separated themselves from the market, but they still have some knowledge and interest in Japanese anime, and if they find a high quality anime product, they'll still buy it. That's what we're thinking about the market now.


Or maybe...

There are some titles over in Japan that are so "hot" that time is not an enemy to them.

And when we "fans" talk about quality, we're talking about a Region 1 DVD release that's in the same quality as the Japanese DVD release. Plus we want qualified people to give it an English dub. (Or atleast give good people good jobs.)

I hate it when "suit & tie types" talk from out of their buttholes about what non- "suit & ties" would put money on. (But I guess it's ICv2's fault for not asking tougher questions.) I hope BV USA fails and their "business model" doesn't get utilized. Now more than ever.

[EDIT] Spelling errors fixed hopefully.


Last edited by Tyrenol on Wed Aug 08, 2007 3:10 pm; edited 1 time in total
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BleuVII



Joined: 19 Sep 2006
Posts: 672
Location: Tokorozawa, Japan
PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 11:56 am Reply with quote
Yeah, about the "quality" that they keep talking about...

I just bought a Bandai Visual manga series last week, and it's awful. Their translator wasn't even a NATIVE SPEAKER!! The result is a LOT of subjectless sentences (which works in Japanese but not English), a few completely nonsensical sentences, a lot of half-sentences, and a whole crapload of sentences that could have been said in a much more artistic way.

Quality my @--. The thing was, it cost about $1 MORE than the manga surrounding it. I am VERY disappointed, and if this is how Bandai Visual treats MANGA, which is very easy to make compared to anime, I don't think I'll ever buy a product from them again.
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ChrisBeveridge



Joined: 13 Apr 2002
Posts: 162
PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 12:09 pm Reply with quote
Bandai Visual USA doesn't release manga in the US.
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HitokiriShadow



Joined: 09 May 2005
Posts: 6251
PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 12:21 pm Reply with quote
He's probably confusing it with Bandai Ent's almost non-existent manga division, which has about three titles total after existing for about two years.
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ChrisBeveridge



Joined: 13 Apr 2002
Posts: 162
PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 12:23 pm Reply with quote
I don't doubt it.

I do wonder about the fact that the translator wasn't a native Japanese speaker. How many translators working today are? I wasn't aware it was a requirement.
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Randall Miyashiro



Joined: 12 Jun 2003
Posts: 2451
Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park
PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 3:37 pm Reply with quote
I love the BVUSA interview which helped clear up the speculation in the relationship between BVUSA, BE, and Sunrise. I still find it odd when a Bandai Visual title is released by a different company like Cybuster was.

I'm still a bit confused as to why BVUSA is even bothering with a domestic release of Blu-ray and HD titles since they are the same price. I am planning on buying Honneamise from Rightstuf since they have a nice preorder price and free shipping, but am ordering Patlabor and Akira from Japan since they (according to this interview) have the same content and price, yet are available in a couple of weeks in Japan, but not in the States. I'm confused why they expect people to wait for the BVUSA release and why they are even bothering with it.

I think there estimate for 1:3 HD-DVD to Blu-ray confirms that they have more faith in Blu, despite the IGN article and Freedom's releases. I don't agree with the idea of the new formats taking over anytime soon, and will side with the coexisting formats theory presented in the interview. I think Blu-ray will be to DVD what Laser Discs were to VHS or even S-VHS was to VHS. There have always been at least two brackets for video media which is obvious when you see how many special edition, limited editions, superbit editions, etc. are out there. There are fans who are willing to spend $50+ for a DVD, but of course the average consumer doesn't want to. This has been the dilemma for the last 10 years with only one video format, since in the 80s and 90s the LD market was perfect for the major otaku. Although I'm a huge high definition fan I don't see standard definition going away anytime soon and really wonder about BVUSA's grip on reality.
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Oronae



Joined: 05 Oct 2006
Posts: 165
PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 3:42 pm Reply with quote
ChrisBeveridge wrote:
I don't doubt it.

I do wonder about the fact that the translator wasn't a native Japanese speaker. How many translators working today are? I wasn't aware it was a requirement.


I beleive he meant that the translator wasn't a native speaker of ENGLISH. Hiring non-native speakers of the target language without also hiring rewriters is just bad.
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15279
PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 8:12 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
We like to concentrate on presenting our products to the really sophisticated American anime fans. We know they don't need any dubs.


Yes, people who watch Galaxy Angel have a refined taste in entertainment. Rolling Eyes

Quote:
Of course, if we can put a really good dubbing on a program, they will appreciate that, but unfortunately it costs a lot, and we cannot raise the prices of our products more than they are now.


Pay no attention to that $100 Daibuster/Gunbuster recap. Razz

Quote:
I think most people grew up with Japanese animation when they were young in the 1990s or maybe the 1980s. Since the quality of Japanese animation wasn't very good,


So then why are you releasing films from that period?

Quote:
Actually, the DVD market will go into HD-DVD or Blu-Ray Disc, and those next generation DVDs don't have region codes,


You mean HD-DVD doesn't have region coding.

Quote:
Putting a high price on our products is not our policy; this is the result of what we try to make -- really high quality products.


Other companies can make high quality products without ripping off the consumer. You're just pulling that Working Designs bs of dumping crap on to the buyer that they don't want or need.

Quote:
Geneon has good knowledge and experience for distributing Japanese anime videos.


That's why they currently rank behind all the other major companies like FUNimation and Viz. Rolling Eyes

Randall:
Quote:
I'm still a bit confused as to why BVUSA is even bothering with a domestic release of Blu-ray and HD titles since they are the same price.


Because they want as many consumers as possible buying their products?

Quote:
I don't agree with the idea of the new formats taking over anytime soon,


It'll probably be sooner than LD, anyway.
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HitokiriShadow



Joined: 09 May 2005
Posts: 6251
PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 11:22 pm Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:
Quote:
We like to concentrate on presenting our products to the really sophisticated American anime fans. We know they don't need any dubs.


Yes, people who watch Galaxy Angel have a refined taste in entertainment. Rolling Eyes


I love how he basically told all the dub watchers to screw off because they are unsophisticated cads.
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Tyrenol



Joined: 13 Sep 2005
Posts: 398
Location: Northern California
PostPosted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 9:31 pm Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:
Quote:
Geneon has good knowledge and experience for distributing Japanese anime videos.


That's why they currently rank behind all the other major companies like FUNimation and Viz. Rolling Eyes


Hey, Gatsu! Can we have a link to that (so-called) ranking again? Very Happy

And, you guys don't mind if I add $0.05 more to this?

Seriously: Maybe if Geneon's releases weren't mostly and basically the same thing? "Loser male leads being comedic punching bags?" "Women who run things and are cooler than guys?" Rolling Eyes

I mean... FUNimation's now cool because they have Negima(!?) and Ouran High's Host Club. Viz had scored some popular properties and some otherwise interesting property. Yeah.
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HitokiriShadow



Joined: 09 May 2005
Posts: 6251
PostPosted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:32 pm Reply with quote
Tyrenol wrote:

Seriously: Maybe if Geneon's releases weren't mostly and basically the same thing? "Loser male leads being comedic punching bags?" "Women who run things and are cooler than guys?" Rolling Eyes


You're joking, right?
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Tyrenol



Joined: 13 Sep 2005
Posts: 398
Location: Northern California
PostPosted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 12:05 am Reply with quote
HitokiriShadow wrote:
You're joking, right?


I got an idea. How about you figure out what all these titles have in common:

Black Lagoon, Chobits, DearS, Dokkoida!?, Elemental Gelade, Fate / Stay Night, Girls Bravo, Ikki-Tosen, Karin, Phantom Quest Corp., Rozen Maiden, Shana, Tenchi Muyo!, and Vandread.

Then we can also talk about why FUNimation and Viz are, as Gatsu needs to prove, on top. Smile
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Randall Miyashiro



Joined: 12 Jun 2003
Posts: 2451
Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park
PostPosted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 2:11 am Reply with quote
I'm still confused, are you being sarcastic? I find Geneon's variety to be fairly good with titles like Bottle Fairy, Paradise Kiss, Human Crossing, Haibane Renmei, Master Keaton, Lupin 3rd, Gankutsuou, Hello Kitty, Ayakashi, Kyo Kara Maoh, Ergo Proxy, Sugar, Black Heaven, and Ultra Maniac.

Their titles seem to cover a good amount of demographics amongst the fans unlike Viz who really has a huge Shounen Jump (and some shoujo manga) catalog. Almost all of Viz's catalog seems targeted to younger manga readers. Since I tend not to like Jump, the only two Viz titles that I really like are Maison and Saikano.
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Tyrenol



Joined: 13 Sep 2005
Posts: 398
Location: Northern California
PostPosted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 10:52 am Reply with quote
Randall Miyashiro wrote:
I'm still confused, are you being sarcastic? I find Geneon's variety to be fairly good with titles like Bottle Fairy, Paradise Kiss, Human Crossing, Haibane Renmei, Master Keaton, Lupin 3rd, Gankutsuou, Hello Kitty, Ayakashi, Kyo Kara Maoh, Ergo Proxy, Sugar, Black Heaven, and Ultra Maniac.

Their titles seem to cover a good amount of demographics amongst the fans unlike Viz who really has a huge Shounen Jump (and some shoujo manga) catalog. Almost all of Viz's catalog seems targeted to younger manga readers. Since I tend not to like Jump, the only two Viz titles that I really like are Maison and Saikano.


I wasn't being sarcastic. I was actually hoping that you'd answer my question.

Look: With all the talk about variety, one has to wonder why "Geneon currently rank behind all the other major companies like FUNimation and Viz." I believe that the manga side of this hobby is getting redundant as well. But for Viz not to have much in terms of demographics and still receive a high rank (near FUNimation) should tell you something.

And to answer this question I tried to ask you: Loser male leads whose only purpose is to be the void for male viewers to fill and become "comedic punching bags" for slapstick comedy (which, in reality, can be considered domestic violence).
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