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NEWS: Funimation Negotiating to Acquire Geneon Titles


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omnistry



Joined: 03 Mar 2005
Posts: 1015
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 4:54 pm Reply with quote
Considering they have other CLAMP titles I wouldn't be too surprised if FUNI got Cardcaptor Sakura and Chobits.
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TornadoTatsumaki



Joined: 01 Feb 2008
Posts: 145
Location: Mission Bend,Texas
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 5:00 pm Reply with quote
Last I heard, Dirty Pair's license is going to Funimation this year after ADV's expires this summer.


I also wonder if ADV will aqiure some Genenon titles.
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la_contessa



Joined: 20 Apr 2007
Posts: 200
Location: Pennsylvania
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 5:04 pm Reply with quote
This makes me happy! I really hope they can get Kyo Kara Maoh (the ending! Well, I guess it's not the end anymore . . .) and Nanoha. I've wanted to see Nanoha for ages!
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KabaKabaFruit



Joined: 20 Sep 2007
Posts: 1869
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 5:40 pm Reply with quote
I had a feeling for a while that the Geneon library could get picked up by FUNimation sooner or later and it looks like that might be the case.

I've bought a lot of Geneon titles over the years like Gungrave, Hellsing TV, Hellsing Ultimate, and GUNXSWORD. I just recently got Hellsing Ultimate 3 a month ago (much to my relief) and have enjoyed it immensely. One thing I'm wondering is if FUNimation will continue to release Hellsing Ultimate in regular and limited edition steel cases? I hope that they do because the steel cases released by Geneon were just incredibly gorgeous and it would look pretty awkward should they not.

As for Sailor Moon, yes Toei still holds a lockdown on the license. However, considering FUNimation's successes with Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, they have proven to Toei that they can successfully market their properties in America. Now, if the same can be done for One Piece, it may be possible for FUNimation to negotiate the license for Sailor Moon. However, knowing Toei, they may demand a successful TV deal and considering the age of Sailor Moon, FUNimation may have no choice but to DVNR the entire series to make it look fresh enough for television. It's a possibility but I'm not sure.

Zac wrote:

I didn't know you were a Pocoyo fan, Zac! Very Happy You learn something new everyday! Smile
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reversethief



Joined: 11 Dec 2007
Posts: 44
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 6:05 pm Reply with quote
FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS SACRED I HOPE THEY PICK-UP SAIUNKOKU!
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Porcupine



Joined: 21 Jul 2004
Posts: 1033
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 6:37 pm Reply with quote
CCSYueh wrote:
Turncoat!
Traitor!
Abandoning us out here in the trenches!

Or...
Invasion of the Bodysnatchers...podperson?

It's a waiting game. Note the comment licensing prices are coming down. The longer Funi waits, the more likely they could get fire-sale prices.

Lol, sorry. Smile

If someone could magically guarantee me that things would work out, and everything would be back to normal in a year (and remain reasonably stable that way thereafter) I would have been willing to wait. Impatience has never driven my viewing habits, that's part of the reason I've felt no temptation to watch fansubs before. I don't need to see the absolute newest thing all the time.

I agree that if we wait, things might return to normal. But they might not. So I made my decision. And at least for me, part of the things that made me decide to do what I did, are the fault of the anime licensing companies. If Geneon USA hadn't been botching the video quality on certain volumes of Fate/Stay Night...if ADVision hadn't botched the video quality on the intros to several animes...if Bandai Entertainment hadn't botched up the entire Haruhi DVD release at an abnormally low bitrate (and had the audacity to still ask us to pay $60 per release)...things might be different.

But I'd been growing very dissatisfied with the performance of the American anime licensing companies for over a year now. So, at least in my case, the loss of a customer was at least partially their own fault.

I apologize to Zac (genuinely) in advance, I suspect he will get angry at me again for continuing to say the same things.

On a separate note, I too would look forward to a Sailor Moon re-release. I've been waiting for it for years. I wonder if they could release the original versions with the original dub voices though? Seeing as there were even several versions of the dub, it might be a problem. But I really liked the American soundtrack they used for the first couple seasons, IMO it was way better than the Japanese soundtrack. I didn't like the dub voices so much but for me the music is way more important.
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Sticks



Joined: 14 Apr 2007
Posts: 199
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 7:07 pm Reply with quote
Porcupine wrote:
If anyone should take over it should be them. I'm guessing that if they do take over more titles, they'll start out-sourcing their dubbing jobs...their in-house studio (thankfully) can't do everything, can they?

Like Sticks said, it'd probably be best for Funimation to move as fast as possible, but that's probably difficult. The slower this goes the more the consumers are going to exodus the R1 DVD market and turn towards fansubs. I'm one of those people, I never downloaded a fansub in my life before a week ago, but from now on I plan to never buy a DVD again and pirate mostly everything, even if it is licensed or released. (Then again I might be speaking too soon, I might get fed up with fansubs too if I download enough releases with botched video-quality). If too many people do what I do, then even though Funimation has good intentions, they'd only be hurting themselves by trying to revive an animal that is already too far gone to be saved.


I won't deny that I have 1 or 2 fansubs of my own, "Sky Girls" being one of them, but the thing about all this is if people just download all their anime (and everything else) without paying for anything, the animation and production companies would never make any real profit or see any value in producing shows if people won't buy their DVD's or purchase them legally online.

That's why I bought the "Shakugan no Shana" series and the movie "Appleseed". The only reason I downloaded the fansubs of "Sky Girls" is because the series hasn't come to the U.S. yet (if ever). That's what I did for "Haruhi Suzumiya", but out of respect I deleted them after the DVD's came out (besides, it help make space on my computer Wink ).

Yea, they cost alot unless you buy the used DVD's, but better that then watching the anime market here in the U.S. go away. The Japanies pay MORE for their DVD's anyway, so we're getting off easier then they are. If Geneon didn't see any profit releasing them here, other distributors might think the same. Japanese distributors have the same problem in their own country as well. It's one thing to sell the distribute shows on TV or cable cause they already got paid for them, but if they don't make any profit from DVD's or other products, then what's the point of making the shows?

From what I can tell, the Anime and Manga market is more popular then it's ever been, and it still has the potential to get even bigger and better both here and abroad. Us paying for them is only helping the market stay secure.

I may be just the one guy talking about all this alone, but I for one want to keep anime coming. Funimation bringing out the rest of these titles is only helping us. Hopefully we get to see the rest of Geneon's titles that are waiting for a U.S. release.......... c'mon Sky Girls Exclamation
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Hon'ya-chan



Joined: 31 Jul 2007
Posts: 973
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 8:34 pm Reply with quote
Lanisatu wrote:
I don't know if either company would be interested in making a new dub for the series; but even if we were just to see an uncut subtitled release there is at least the possibility of airing on the future "The Anime Channel" (YTV would be foolish to not consider it, considering how successful SM was for them initially on YTV).


Given how dated some of the animation is, a TV relaunch is next to impossible. Plus i'm not 100% sure if there is even a market for Girl-based magical shows (Hasn't 4Kids bombed with Magical DoReMi?)
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Porcupine



Joined: 21 Jul 2004
Posts: 1033
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 8:44 pm Reply with quote
4Kids ands KidsWB bombed with pretty much all their kid-targeted animes, or even all their animes in general. So I don't think that says much about the feasibility of magical girl shows, but maybe just the feasibility of anime intended for younger audiences in general.

I can't think of a single kid's anime that DIDN'T get cancelled over here (which makes me really sad). So many casualties. Spider Riders, Mega Man XT/NT/whatever, Fighting Foodons, Mon Colle Knights, Digimon Frontier/World/Universe/whatever, Medabots, Yugioh GX, Flint the Time Detective, Zatch Bell, Bobobo, Cardcaptor Sakura...pretty much everything. :~(
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feytaline



Joined: 13 Sep 2006
Posts: 38
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 9:01 pm Reply with quote
Conan-san wrote:
feytaline wrote:
Even though this is still just ... cake ... being dangled in the air, to hear that it's even being DISCUSSED is a major step forward.


...

You're trying to make me crack a portal joke, arn't you?


Still, glad to see that chances of geting black lagoon on dvd are still alive...

...

damnit.


*wink Absolutely.

But I really hope this cake is NOT a lie. Geneon always had my favorite titles, and Funimation was my second fave, so... the two together would be like... double-layered cake. NOM NOM NOM.

... sorry. Too many cake references now. I'm going overboard.
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firedragon54738



Joined: 24 Sep 2007
Posts: 3113
Location: wisconsin
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 9:15 pm Reply with quote
Fighting Foodons, Bobobo, Cardcaptor Sakura they had full run on tv Yugioh GX, is still playing on fox mornings but mew mew power got cancelled after 26eps but all i what to see is black lagoon and Saiunkoku
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Monsieur Pink



Joined: 23 Jan 2008
Posts: 141
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 9:51 pm Reply with quote
Porcupine wrote:
I can't think of a single kid's anime that DIDN'T get cancelled over here (which makes me really sad). So many casualties. Spider Riders, Mega Man XT/NT/whatever, Fighting Foodons, Mon Colle Knights, Digimon Frontier/World/Universe/whatever, Medabots, Yugioh GX, Flint the Time Detective, Zatch Bell, Bobobo, Cardcaptor Sakura...pretty much everything. :~(


And Monster Rancher, from which I'm still trying to find a way to own the last 25 episodes, and yeah, just thinking about it makes me sad, I love my cheeky lil' kid shows! But then again a random mention of Medabots is all I need to get a smile on my face (or just thinking about the fact that I'm probably the only guy in Canada who legally owns the whole series for that matter).
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Celes



Joined: 11 Jan 2007
Posts: 223
Location: Madison, WI
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:20 pm Reply with quote
Oh sweet god I will be happy if they release Saiunkoku...That's the only anime I really need to/want to finish at this point in time. None of the new season's releases look that exciting to me.
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Richard J.



Joined: 11 Aug 2006
Posts: 3367
Location: Sic Semper Tyrannis.
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:24 pm Reply with quote
Shocked So Funimation really IS trying to make me worship them. Wink

This is perhaps the best news I've gotten in some time. I honestly was beginning to despair that the R1 industry was toast. With some of the recent good news, which has pretty much been all Funi's way, I'm feeling a lot better.

Also, if what was said in the article and in the Anime Corner Store update is true, and I have no reason to doubt the great purveyor of anime Robert nor any of the other sources, then ultimately Geneon and ADV's problems might actually be for the good of everyone else.

Quote:
He [Cary Daecon (the CEO of Navarre)]said that Geneon and ADV, with the help of Japanese investment money, had been bidding up Anime license fees for the past few years to totally unrealistic levels. I can attest to that - did you know Geneon paid $70,000 per episode to license Heat Guy J?! Now that Geneon is gone and ADV's past is coming back to haunt them, Deacon says that he thinks some of these licenses can be acquired by Funimation at affordable levels. This is outstanding news, and gives us hope that some of Geneon's unfinished titles might be resurrected this year.
While I liked Heat Guy J, the idea of paying that much for it is freaking insane. If those were the kind of prices resulting from Geneon and ADV's practices, then truthfully they may have been at least partially responsible for some of the industry's problems as of late.

It's funny, a while back I told my sister that if there was only one company left in the R1 with anime, I figured it would be Funimation. Looks like I may be channeling a prophet.

Or at least Mabanya.
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Goodpenguin



Joined: 02 Jul 2007
Posts: 457
Location: Hunt Valley, MD
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:31 pm Reply with quote
Porcupine wrote:

Quote:
If someone could magically guarantee me that things would work out, and everything would be back to normal in a year (and remain reasonably stable that way thereafter) I would have been willing to wait. Impatience has never driven my viewing habits, that's part of the reason I've felt no temptation to watch fansubs before. I don't need to see the absolute newest thing all the time.


This isn't to single you out Porcupine, but I see this sentiment ('I always buy R1 series, but because 'X' was canceled from now on I'm just doing fansubs') a lot, and I don't quite get it.

I of course understand the general disappointment when a series isn't completed, and especially so for people that don't use fansubs. However, for people that buy R1 releases and are willing to also download fansubs, whats the fatal blow here? Presumably by swearing off purchasing you'll be downloading whole series that you like and possibly be burning them to disc, so what's the big hang-up to having 3-4 volumes on R1 official DVD's (that you were already historically willing to purchase) and finishing off a canceled volume 5 and 6 via fansub/burn? If you value R1 discs/features enough to purchase regularly, your still getting what you enjoy for at least several discs, and by finishing via fansub/burn you would only be doing what you pledge to do (now entirely) anyway. A series getting canceled didn't make the dub/extras/features in the first couple of volumes you own disappear, you still get whatever value you were looking for out of them.

Again, this isn't about fansubs, I'm just curios as to the 'all R1 release or nothing' stance being taking by some fans who both value/purchase R1 releases (and moving away from them sure as heck doesn't help anything industry-wise) and also don't have a problem downloading fansubs. It doesn't seem like starting a volume by official purchase and finishing via fansub/burn would be a huge deal-breaker.
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