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Funimation's Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood License to Expire in March

I was talking about the post where I orginally mentioned funimation were'nt licensing all the big titles anymore, which I had to reiterate in my last message and is clearly relevant.

And no, I don't think Aniplex taking back titles is setting any kind of precedent, nor did I say or imply it was. I'm just saying the loss of Aniplex titles right now is a big loss, and it will be hard for them to make that up given how tough the competition is when it comes to licensing nowadays.

And I never said I was shocked or surprised that funimation aren't getting all the big titles anymore, only that now that it's finally happening it's gonna be hard for them to license more shows. I know it's natural, i just stated it's starting to happen (which doesn't help funimation), not that I i'm dumbfounded that there's increased competition. Of course more competition is good for in the industry as a whole from a business perspective, but not good for funimation. But from a fan perspective, as stated in more detail in one of my previous post, it's not good due to the fact that pretty much the only anime company who caters to all fans will bring in less revenue and won't be able to license as many smaller shows as often as they are now.
And I haven't really seen too many new successful anime companies popping, the ones that are taking the big shows that funimation would usually get are the same companies that have been here for years.

AutoOps007 wrote:

I was talking about the post where I orginally mentioned funimation were'nt licensing all the big titles anymore, which I had to reiterate in my last message and is clearly relevant. And no, I don't think Aniplex taking back titles is setting any kind of precedent, nor did I say or imply it was. I'm just saying the loss of Aniplex titles right now is a big loss, and it will be hard for them to make that up given how tough the competition is when it comes to licensing nowadays. And I never said I was shocked or surprised that funimation aren't getting all the big titles anymore, only that now that it's finally happening it's gonna be hard for them to license more shows. I know it's natural, i just stated it's starting to happen (which doesn't help funimation), not that I i'm dumbfounded that there's increased competition. Of course more competition is good for in the industry as a whole from a business perspective, but not good for funimation. But from a fan perspective, as stated in more detail in one of my previous post, it's not good due to the fact that pretty much the only anime company who caters to all fans will bring in less revenue and won't be able to license as many smaller shows as often as they are now. And I haven't really seen too many new successful anime companies popping, the ones that are taking the big shows that funimation would usually get are the same companies that have been here for years.

Ah, okay then. Me, I'm not that worried. This is not the end of FUNimation. FUNimation may have to change business strategies, but I don't think by much. But that's because I don't think FUNimation losing Aniplex titles is that big a loss.

Are there multiple, unrelated things that could compound to create a big loss for FUNimation? I think it's possible. But I also think FUNimation is ready and will survive. The people there are smart.

All that said, I have nothing to gain or lose from what happens to FUNimation, as I'm not connected with the company in any way. I am just a consumer. And as a consumer, it's in FUNimation's interest to make a more compelling case to buy things from FUNimation than its competitors. In a way, as I am a consumer, it's in Aniplex's interest to do that too. Then again, I guess Aniplex's strategy is whether or not I am the kind of consumer they want. (As I have a rather low price ceiling for my anime, I'm not.)

That is incorrect. If the show changes hands, after the selloff period they must return any remaining stock to the owners and rightstuf get reimbursed. If funimation printed 7000 copies before the license ran out and only 3000 were sold by the end of the selloff period, Aniplex aren't gonna allow funimation or rightstuf to continue to profit off remaining stock, cause they had their chance during the selloff period.
However, if the show is dropped and no-one picks it up they can sell any and all remaining stock to try and make as much money back as they can to try and cover the loss of the show failing.

Usually, distributors are allowed to send back any remaining stock back to the owner. It happens all the time with regular products in regular supermarkets. If the distributor buys too much stock, they send some of it back and get reimbursed.
In this case, however, rightstuf's fma contract it linked to funimation's, and once funimation's contract is over that contract that allows rightstuf to sell fma is invalid, so they can no longer sell any remaining stock. In this case the distributor will most likely send it to the owner cause they're not gonna keep hundreds or thousands of stock they can't sell.

AutoOps007 wrote:

That is incorrect. If the show changes hands, after the selloff period they must return any remaining stock to the owners and rightstuf get reimbursed. If funimation printed 7000 copies before the license ran out and only 3000 were sold by the end of the selloff period, Aniplex aren't gonna allow funimation or rightstuf to continue to profit off remaining stock, cause they had their chance during the selloff period. However, if the show is dropped and no-one picks it up they can sell any and all remaining stock to try and make as much money back as they can to try and cover the loss of the show failing. Usually, distributors are allowed to send back any remaining stock back to the owner. It happens all the time with regular products in regular supermarkets. If the distributor buys too much stock, they send some of it back and get reimbursed. In this case, however, rightstuf's fma contract it linked to funimation's, and once funimation's contract is over that contract that allows rightstuf to sell fma is invalid, so they can no longer sell any remaining stock. In this case the distributor will most likely send it to the owner cause they're not gonna keep hundreds or thousands of stock they can't sell.

Then why did Rightstuf still have copies of ADV's NGE thinpaks nearly two years after it went OOP?
animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-11-29/u.s-evangelion-tv-dvd-release-going-out-of-print

I grabbed my copy of the thinpak when the low counter finally appeared, and going off my spreadsheet, I ordered it late September 2013. I also got my hands on the Holiday Edition as a gift the year before, and that lasted a bit longer after I got it. The show was still being printed up until ADV's license expired in late 2011 due to them not being allowed to renew it like everyone else. It wasn't just remaining copies ADV most recently printed before the restructuring in September 2009 (And ADV in-fact still exists).

There's many other things I could point to that are still in-stock at Rightstuf, such as Bandai's Ghost Slayers Ayashi Anime Legends set, a show Aniplex started streaming themselves in 2013, and Bandai didn't go bankrupt, they just simply pulled out of the market, so the license didn't just expire the way Media Blaster's licenses did.

The show was still licensed in 2011, it doesn't matter if ADV withdrew from the market. They were obviously trying to make back as much money as they could. If a company withdraws from the market they will still try to make the best out of the situation by continuing to any series whose license had yet to expire. And I know they still exist.

As for Ghost Slayers Ayashi, the license has yet to expire. Aniplex of America likely only have the streaming rights. Just like how funimation had the dvd and streaming rights for Baccano, while Aniplex of America had the blu-ray rights. Why else do you think haven't released any dvd's or blu-rays yet. And I know they bandai didn't go bankrupt.

Sounds nice in theory but what of new fans who just discovered the anime for the first time or future fans who will?

AutoOps007 wrote:

The show was still licensed in 2011, it doesn't matter if ADV withdrew from the market. They were obviously trying to make back as much money as they could. If a company withdraws from the market they will still try to make the best out of the situation by continuing to any series whose license had yet to expire. And I know they still exist.

But the license expired, so didn't Rightstuf have to send back copies in mid-2012 like you're saying?

Quote:

As for Ghost Slayers Ayashi, the license has yet to expire. Aniplex of America likely only have the streaming rights. Just like how funimation had the dvd and streaming rights for Baccano, while Aniplex of America had the blu-ray rights. Why else do you think haven't released any dvd's or blu-rays yet. And I know they bandai didn't go bankrupt.

Bandai no longer has the license to any of the titles they had. And even if they did still have the rights, by now they should have expired, they first released the show in December 2008. As for why AoA hasn't re-released it, it's because catalog series are of no concern to them.
http://www.fandompost.com/oldforums/showthread.php?43312-ANNCast-Aniplex-of-America&p=305320&viewfull=1#post305320

The only actual license-rescue for them was Gurren Lagann, and that was like 3 years ago already. The others were due to recent BD releases in Japan.

Usually, distributors are allowed to send back any remaining stock back to the owner. It happens all the time with regular products in regular supermarkets. If the distributor buys too much stock, they send some of it back and get reimbursed.
In this case, however, rightstuf's fma contract it linked to funimation's, and once funimation's contract is over that contract that allows rightstuf to sell fma is invalid, so they can no longer sell any remaining stock. In this case the distributor will most likely send it to the owner cause they're not gonna keep hundreds or thousands of stock they can't sell.

Sad, sad news indeed. Before this recent craze, Aniplex didn't have any good shows in their catalog (and, no, a show that is basically a massive multiplayer online RPG does not count as "good"), so their outrageous pricing tactics were doing no harm.

cheapassgamer wrote:

Sad, sad news indeed. Before this recent craze, Aniplex didn't have any good shows in their catalog (and, no, a show that is basically a massive multiplayer online RPG does not count as "good"), so their outrageous pricing tactics were doing no harm.

Are Fate/Zero and Madoka Magica chopped liver?

I haven't read through all 13 pages of this, but does anyone have a link to a definitive list of all the titles whose license is about to expire? I would like to continue my bargain-buying anime tactics in the future, and have no intention of ever paying Aniplex prices.

If you read what I wrote, the show was still licensed in 2011. What i'm saying is the show is still licensed right now. Some licenses last for years. Funimation gave up on case closed around 2010 and is still licensed. Funimation had to wait for years to license the first 13 episodes of dragon ball. AoA has been around since 2005 but didn't start becoming active in the market until about 2009. Considering that you would think they would've got some titles like FMA back way earlier. Simply put, a lot of series have long contracts.

Can't help you on that one, good sir. I did pick up Fate/Stay Night Collections 1 & 2 on blu-ray from Rightstuf during the recent holiday sale for $10 and $14 respectively, but haven't gotten around to watching them as yet.

It might be in your best interests not to say Aniplex doesn't have any good shows until you've seen all of their shows. Maybe start with the biggest, most well regarded, highest selling ones, like Madoka and Fate/Zero. After that you can move on to Kill La Kill, Durarara!!, Baccano!, the Monogatari series, and another dozen shows that are all some of the better things we've seen in the last decade.