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Answerman - Why Does Anime Go Unlicensed?

BodaciousSpacePirate wrote:

maximilianjenus wrote: thios ticks me off a bit, sure I am the kind of person who thinks a person is "worthless and inferior" if he/she is not bilingual, but really, anime licensors can't hire people that speak japanese ? "Speaking Japanese and English" and "understanding the nuanced differences between US and Japanese contract law" aren't the same thing.

the point being that the american licensors want the work to be put in the japanese side (the japanese can't write englihs contracts) instead of putting the work themselves (americans are unable to learn business japanese).

Took the US seven years to air GT in the US and GT already felt dated when it came out in 2003.

I've even heard of one manga artist who demanded that, if her work was to be released in the US, that she must be allowed to walk the red carpet at the Oscars.

Eh, there's a difference between shows like Tatami Galaxy that at least have streaming but no home video, and those that don't even get licensed for streaming. The fixed costs for a home video release have a greater bar, though I would definitely buy Tatami Galaxy. If it's been streamed then there's some hope.

Australia is my go-to stop for stuff that for some reason or another never got licensed (or released fully in the case of Monster)

Shots fired, surely!
Admittedly, I expect the majority of the human race ultimately values creativity over business acumen, even though we sadly end up relying on the latter to enjoy the former.

Stuff that Madhouse made before being bought by NTV would likely not be something NTV would automatically gain the rights to and be able to sell. The rights would probably lie still with Madhouse alone and NTV would have to pay Madhouse (their own subcompany now, but still it would be money transferred) to purchase them which would cause money loss on NTV's licensing department's books. At the same time Madhouse's in house licensing team is no more after the sale to NTV since they won't be getting anything NEW, hence they hired an outside agent basically to handle all the legacy stuff.
On the other hand, most of Madhouse's new output is handled by NTV (or the committee that hired them). I believe that there are still cases where Madhouse handles the rights themselves, mainly some of the films I think?

thios ticks me off a bit, sure I am the kind of person who thinks a person is "worthless and inferior" if he/she is not bilingual, but really, anime licensors can't hire people that speak japanese ?

Quote:

I've even heard of one manga artist who demanded that, if her work was to be released in the US, that she must be allowed to walk the red carpet at the Oscars.

She must've thought she was Hayao Miyazaki despite having none of the notoriety or established history.

I know JoJo's initially didn't make it over here (the U.S.) due to a mixture of copyright issues (so many characters named after either songs, musicians, or fashion designers) and Araki being ashamed of his art in "Phantom Blood" and "Battle Tendency," the first two Parts. I don't mind his old art, honestly. The anatomy is definitely janky, but other than that, the style is pretty great. And it's impressive to see his artwork progress.

I personally would like to know why the original Yu-Gi-Oh series and its accompanying movie weren't licensed. I keep hearing it was too dark and violent, but after seeing what 4Kids did with One Piece, I doubt that was the reason. And I also doubt Toei wouldn't want this to be licensed, so I keep thinking there must be another reason. Correct me if I am wrong, but I've heard even in Japan, this series only got home video release in VHS shorly after its premier and that's it, it never was released anywhere after that. That made me think, though I may be wrong, that this probably fall under number 1, Kazuki Takahashi probably doesn't want this to ever be seen again, which is shame IMO.

I personally would like to know why the [url=/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=790]original Yu-Gi-Oh series[/url] and [url=/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=2760]its accompanying movie[/url] weren't licensed. I keep hearing it was too dark and violent, but after seeing what 4Kids did with One Piece, I doubt that was the reason. And I also doubt Toei wouldn't want this to be licensed, so I keep thinking there must be another reason. Correct me if I am wrong, but I've heard even in Japan, this series only got home video release in VHS shorly after its premier and that's it, it never was released anywhere after that. That made me think, though I may be wrong, that this probably fall under number 1, Kazuki Takahashi probably doesn't want this to ever be seen again, which is shame IMO.

It was a complete failure, which is why Studio Gallop rebooted it to much better success. There's no reason to license it when a superior version already exists. It was also based on one of the most unpopular parts of the manga which doesnt help.

I've even heard of one manga artist who demanded that, if her work was to be released in the US, that she must be allowed to walk the red carpet at the Oscars.