Forum - View topicAnime licensing question...
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DonQuigleone
 Posts: 154 Location: Dublin, Ireland |
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Yeah this is a pretty simple question, I was reading on the wikipedia that Anime is licensed by region (as per dvd), which might make sense at first glance but frankly wouldn't it make far more sense to license by language region rather geographical region, wouldn't it make far more sense to have licensing deals count north america, Australia, New Zealand, Britain and Ireland all in one deal rather than splitting them up and increasing costs to the industry as a whole? this would seem as a more sensible approach to me, so why don't they do it?
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DivinePlague
 Posts: 12 |
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cause languages are mixed in each region. say like the US, are you gonna stop all the spanish from watching DVD? every country had no one language, so it's easier to set up by region.
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Fallout2man
Posts: 275 Location: San Diego, CA |
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Well it isn't as simple because speakers of languages exist in all sorts of localles. For instance french is popular in some parts of africa. Language isn't exclusively tied to country. DVD regions are probably used simply because it's the way the system was designed by the studios so everyone goes with it. |
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DonQuigleone
Posts: 154 Location: Dublin, Ireland |
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Hmm there is a point there, however in most countries (in the developed world at least) language is pretty homogenous, I just think that with the internet and online distribution beginning to take off, it's a bit ridiculous to put in artificial restrictions (like region codes on dvds). I know why they do it (US companies like to use the USA as a "test ground" when it comes to advertising and such and other reasons which I don't know of) but it's pretty annoying, in fact splitting the world into language regions wouldn't be any better either now that I think about it, because you still have all sorts of annoyances (I could imagine the spanish french border being particularly annoying).
Why don't they just dispense with regions altogether and do as computer games are done, have localisation handled by the company itself (usually contracted out of course), I believe licensing occurs in gaming distribution, but I think it's more of a case of the person with the license getting a share of the profit and not neccesarily paying up front (though I don't know much about it). But if games (for PC, consoles have to deal with PAL, NTSC and whatnot) can go on without resorting to artificial regions and restriction (to give an example you'd never have a situation where a game demo is only playable in north america, unlike preview screenings of Kanon, though I know that was done for legal reasons so I'm not blaming ANN or even ADV) Maybe I'm missing something fundamental in all of this, but really is there anything wrong with distribution (particularly via the internet) being unrestricted by region? EDIT: to make my view clearer I think this would be a far more logical distribution model Step 1: anime production company X produces Anime Step 2: X pays Localisation company Y to dub/sub their anime Step 3a: X then contacts Internet company Z and Z puts it up on the internet (to stream), company Z get's a relevant percentage of the profits with X getting the rest, this can use the dub/sub produced by company Y earlier if they want to reach a foreign market (this is X's decision, company Z just hosts it) NOTE: there could be more than one company streaming it probably in different languages, companies like exclusive rights so perhaps company Z has exclusive rights to the english version, likewise company A has rights to the spanish version Step 3b: (for DVD distribution) company X contacts distribution company B to distribute their anime in france, with the french dub they paid for earlier, company B does this and retains a relevant percentage of the profits for their work Now doesn't all that seem more sensible /rant2 though maybe I'm being a complete idiot and ignoring something obvious 
[EDIT: make sure to use the "edit" button to edit, not "new reply."~Zalis] Last edited by DonQuigleone on Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:08 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9903 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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DonQuigleone
Posts: 154 Location: Dublin, Ireland |
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Irish isn't spoken by many in Ireland (I live here
) those that do speak english fluently, I'm not sure about catalan but I think most people who speak catalan speak spanish too, belgium is a good exception all those cases don't compare to the 500+ languages of papua new guinea, aren't you missing the obvious of the spanish speaking community in the US and the french in Canada? Also aren't we missing the point...
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16983 |
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Last time I checked "Irish" was not a language (despite what the omnipotent forces of wiki say). You can have an Irish accent sure but you don't speak "Irish." You would speak Gaelic if you're referring to the old (and mostly dead unfortunately) language of Ireland. Sorry to nitpick you 2.
[EDIT: Please do not excessively quote. -TK] edit 1---And Gaelic as it refers to the Gaels is also not simply for the Irish as it also could refer to Scots (and some would say some Welsh too). edit 2---Didn't think I was excessively quoting Tony, but duly noted. Last edited by Redbeard 101 on Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:14 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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DonQuigleone
Posts: 154 Location: Dublin, Ireland |
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Gaelic (actually Gaeilge, also gaelic might be confused with scots gaelic too) is the Irish for Irish, it's kinda complicated (a bit like deutsch is the german for german) but if you want to see my many timetable referring to Irish class you're welcome to cross the vast atlantic ocean, but really why is this thread descending into a discussion on linguistics (though I must admit it's fun ^^)
[EDIT: Please do not excessively quote. -TK] Edit: noted on excessive quoting, maybe only quote the previous line? Welsh are cymru and are of the southern celtic line (not sure of the name) they're more related to cornwallers and britanny. As for the scots being gaels it's a bit of grey area to tell the truth, The scots are Gaels but scots gaelic and Irish (or gaelic) are two distinct languages, I can sort of understand Irish but scots gaelic is a mystery to me(I could probably get a word here or there, though it doesn't help that my Irish is terrible) |
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KyuuA4
 Posts: 1371 Location: America, where anime and manga can be made |
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For a comparision -- look at the DVD regions used by Hollywood:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvd_regions If I were to guess how they came up with these regions -- it is by market. Strange to see China have its own region, but whatever. This article tends to explain it better than the Wiki: http://hometheater.about.com/cs/dvdlaserdisc/a/aaregioncodesa.htm Language has virtually nothing to do with media releases. It's primarily used to stagger releases by geographical area -- so that -- market performance in one area can determine whether to release a product to other areas. Japan does the same exact thing with its own anime -- and also video games.
And businesses won't care if you think it is annoying or not. They're out there to make money on this. |
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Kruszer
 Posts: 8015 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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Well, probabally the number 1 reason (or at least the most important) that region coding is in place is to help enforce international copyright laws making sure people can't play discs from other regions because the disc in question may not be liscensed there. It reduces (but obviously doesn't eliminate) boootleging, both hard copying and digital.
It would be wonderful if everything was open-source and region zero with universal coverage, however, the world just doesn't work that way because people are selfish and given the choice of whether or not to pay for something they will most likely not. If people do not pay studios, authors, and producers who make the product can not aford to make the product anymore, everyone loses. Whereas with the current system there is a semblance of balance, Economics is an endless cycle of give and take, you get what you want and so do they. Last edited by Kruszer on Sat Jan 05, 2008 6:07 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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DonQuigleone
Posts: 154 Location: Dublin, Ireland |
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Yeah you're all pretty much correct, it is damn annoying, still if (pc) game distribution can work without restricting through use of region codes I don't see why anything else like anime (which is a real niche) needs these kind of restrictions, and it only makes it harder for someone living in region 2 to get english anime (most of the sites with good deals sell region 1 dvds)
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Moomintroll
 Posts: 1600 Location: Nottingham (UK) |
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There are a couple of other things you might want to consider (none of which apply to PC games). 1) In many European nations (including Britain and, I'm guessing, Ireland) it's illegal to sell any DVD or video that hasn't been age rated by the relevant government body. It's legal for me to import a single copy of a US R1 release for my own use (something I do regularly) even though it hasn't been rated by the BBFC but importing multiple copies to sell on would be an imprisonable offense. So having a license for the entire English speaking world from the Japanese rights holder doesn't mean you can actually distribute to those countries. Getting a DVD certified isn't cheap and neither is printing up a different cover featuring the relevant age rating for every country in which it might be sold. The added costs may well be uneconomical for niche products with tiny profit margins. 2) US releases are in NTSC format, whereas European (and, I think, NZ / Australian) releases are in PAL format. Economies of scale mean that some of the more obscure US releases probably wouldn't see a PAL release even if the licensor had the right to sell the product on the other side of the Atlantic (or Pacific, as the case may be). Of course, those aren't obstacles to internet releases but they reduce the appeal of global DVD sales from a business point of view. |
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