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Answerman - Why Doesn't Viz Automatically Get Every Show From Their Japanese Parent Companies?




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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 5296
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 1:27 pm Reply with quote
My knowledge on Vizs titles is blank in some areas, but they do not seem to get that many titles at all, so maybe it is a lack of availability and more that they are very conservative when choosing titles. I would imagine though that My Hero would have been a title they would have loved to get, they are kind of the long running action Shonen people after all; Naturo, Bleach, Hunter X Hunter.
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brammerhammer23



Joined: 06 Jun 2013
Posts: 62
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 1:58 pm Reply with quote
It doesn't happen often but I enjoy when my question is picked. It also seems like Viz Media very rarely picks up licenses right away. It takes them a few years for their releases. It was 4 years between JoJo's Bizarre Adventure airing in Japan and on Toonami. It was the same amount of time for Hunter X Hunter as well. It took them 1 year to release One Punch Man on Toonami after the Japanese showing. I hope season 2 doesn't take that long since they already announced they got the license for it already. That might also explain why Season 2 is exclusive to Hulu in North America. As an aside it took them 3 and 2 years respectively for Naruto and Bleach but that was before streaming so its a different situation.
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TravellinMatt77



Joined: 26 Dec 2016
Posts: 85
Location: Durham, NC
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 5:06 pm Reply with quote
I've thought about asking this question, but decided against it because I knew there must be complex issues related to production companies. Still, I'm glad to see Justin tackle it. It's odd to think that Viz used to be one of the major and prolific anime distributors, and now they're just considered a major. Still, they're one of the oldest anime distributors that's still in business, so they must be doing something right.
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Chichiryuutei





PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 8:58 pm Reply with quote
I think it's all about committees relationships and how much they trust the "business plan."

Also, at AX18, Viz explicitly mentioned that they're a primarily manga publishing company. Anime licensing is based on a specific criteria (long running shonen?) & opportunity.

They do a great job with their releases though. My concern is that they take way too long to release a dub.

I wonder what's going to happen in the next 5 years though. Hulu is going to flop (Disney will buy it all and merge it with Disney+ or sell it to Comcast). Sentai is probably going to be takeover by Crunchyroll/AT&T. Toonami is a vessel for Crunchyroll so no more extra revenues for other publishers. And, Funimation seems to have no real issue.
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CR85747



Joined: 13 Oct 2014
Posts: 113
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 10:07 pm Reply with quote
Chichiryuutei wrote:


I wonder what's going to happen in the next 5 years though. Hulu is going to flop (Disney will buy it all and merge it with Disney+ or sell it to Comcast).


Disney's plan for Hulu currently involves shows that can't go on Disney+ due to adult content, so it's probably safe.
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OjaruFan2



Joined: 09 Jul 2018
Posts: 659
PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 9:49 am Reply with quote
Chichiryuutei wrote:
Sentai is probably going to be takeover by Crunchyroll/AT&T.

I'm confused. Are you saying that Sentai will potentially get bought out by Crunchyroll/AT&T (similar to FUNimation getting bought out by Sony), or Sentai losing a lot of their viewership because of Crunchyroll?
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4410
PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 10:52 am Reply with quote
brammerhammer23 wrote:
It doesn't happen often but I enjoy when my question is picked. It also seems like Viz Media very rarely picks up licenses right away. It takes them a few years for their releases. It was 4 years between JoJo's Bizarre Adventure airing in Japan and on Toonami. It was the same amount of time for Hunter X Hunter as well. It took them 1 year to release One Punch Man on Toonami after the Japanese showing. I hope season 2 doesn't take that long since they already announced they got the license for it already. That might also explain why Season 2 is exclusive to Hulu in North America. As an aside it took them 3 and 2 years respectively for Naruto and Bleach but that was before streaming so its a different situation.


It is interesting how Viz doesn't seem to be in a major hurry to release home video products. I'm sure Toonami is a factor since it doesn't seem like much of coincidence that shows like Hunter x Hunter and Boruto started seeing home video not long after the episodes broadcast on Toonami. Plus, the explanation they gave for waiting so long on Tiger & Bunny was that they tried to get adult swim to air it a couple of times, and at the time adult swim wasn't interested in anime it couldn't premier. I don't know if that is still their line of thinking now since Toonami has aired anime that premiered elsewhere, and it's not like they were in a hurry to release Terraformars. I know they've consistently said that manga is their focus, but they have to be aware that waiting too long affects sales.
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OjaruFan2



Joined: 09 Jul 2018
Posts: 659
PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:57 pm Reply with quote
Greed1914 wrote:
Plus, the explanation they gave for waiting so long on Tiger & Bunny was that they tried to get adult swim to air it a couple of times, and at the time adult swim wasn't interested in anime it couldn't premier.

I keep seeing mentions of that explanation, but never been able to find an official online source for it. Do you happen to know if they said it at a convention, a random forum thread, or an interview under an ambiguous title?

Quote:
I know they've consistently said that manga is their focus, but they have to be aware that waiting too long affects sales.

Why though?
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