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NEWS: Funimation Picks up Full Metal Panic TSR

And they gave you a sub option. Problem solved.
Sure it has a few faults, but to call it the worst dub ever is a far,far stretch. You can't honestly say it's as bad as the stuff 4Kids churns out and most 90s dubs.

Subtitled only DVDs usually cost more. So your getting less for more money.

Until Funimations starts selling Purely subtitled animes I will continue to complain because I pay for both the subtitle and dub. And yes, I still think it’s the worst dub I’ve ever heard and I know that many fans think the same. Regardless, that’s my opinion and you're entitled to yours.

My right, as a consumer, to a quality product?

I wonder if we were watching the same Fruits Basket because its dubbing was so horrible it cracked my windows. Hands down the worst dub I've ever heard.
The secret of their success? Tokyopop shares the same secret since they in turn mutilated the Fruits Basket manga. I think both companies have been very fortunate to pick up titles made popular by fansubs and scanlations and many poor Japanese-illiterate fans have no alternative but to buy them.

But they don't. The cost of producing a subtitle-only Anime DVD is actually less than producing a bilingual disc, as you only have one audio track (or two, if you include 2.0 and 5.1, or 5.1 and DTS, or whatever), and you only need to translate/time subtitles, rather than outsourcing (usually) the script and video and what not to a studio to readapt the script, and arrange for recording sessions.

The problem is that the large mass of casual buyers (who greatly outnumber the hardcore fans that form the majorities on these message boards) prefer dubs, so not having dubs would alienate that group of consumers. I wasn't a fan in the VHS days, but I've read that dubbed VHS tapes sold something like 4 times more than their subbed counterparts. This made dubs cheaper to the consumer, since their popularity meant that the companies could make a good profit on their investment of the greater expense of making dubs. Subbed VHS, on the other hand, was more expensive because it was a niche item that needed to sell at a higher price to make a profit, despite being much cheaper to produce.

I view dubs as a part of the value for the money I pay for DVDs (even if I don't get around to watching it for awhile), and honestly, there has been one case where I decided, "If that DVD had an English dub, I'd buy it, but since it doesn't... *opens torrent*" *shame* But it was for a shounen-ai series, and I'm only watching it so that I can say that I've seen one...

At any rate, I think that the "Funi's gonna ruin TSR" arguments are largely moot, since most of the same VAs will be working on it. I'll miss that "ADV feel" of the first 2 series, but I won't hesitate to lay my money down for it...after all, more money to producers = more money to possibly animate more FMP.

Zalis116 wrote:

The problem is that the large mass of casual buyers (who greatly outnumber the hardcore fans that form the majorities on these message boards) prefer dubs, so not having dubs would alienate that group of consumers. I wasn't a fan in the VHS days, but I've read that dubbed VHS tapes sold something like 4 times more than their subbed counterparts. This made dubs cheaper to the consumer, since their popularity meant that the companies could make a good profit on their investment of the greater expense of making dubs. Subbed VHS, on the other hand, was more expensive because it was a niche item that needed to sell at a higher price to make a profit, despite being much cheaper to produce.

It's not that I entirely disagree with you. Your examples in regards to tapes are true. There are shows, your FMA, GitS, Bebop, Naruto etc do require dubs. But then again, you have shows such as Kamichu, Air, Green Green and whatever else that are only ever bought by a hardcore market that saw these shows on fansubs to begin with. Removing the dubs from these sorts of titles wouldn't harm or damage sales greatly, if at all.

But they don't. The cost of producing a subtitle-only Anime DVD is actually less than producing a bilingual disc, as you only have one audio track (or two, if you include 2.0 and 5.1, or 5.1 and DTS, or whatever), and you only need to translate/time subtitles, rather than outsourcing (usually) the script and video and what not to a studio to readapt the script, and arrange for recording sessions.

Never satisfied with what? My right, as a consumer, to a quality product? I don't think any of us are giving that up anytime soon.

FUNimation Gets 'Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid'
ADV Had First Two Series
May 31, 2006
FUNimation has acquired the rights to Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid, the third season of the Full Metal anime. The first DVD and "starter sets" will street on October 6th.
The release is the first from Kadokawa Pictures USA, the new Los Angeles-based arm of Kadokawa Holdings, which owns Kadokawa Shoten Publishing, Kadokawa Herald Pictures, and Kadokawa Daiei Film Studios.
Quotes from both sides of the deal indicate the expectation that this is the beginning of a larger relationship. "These are the first steps in a mutually beneficial relationship," said FUNimation CEO Gen Fukunaga.
And "...[W]e look forward to working with them again in the future," said Kadokawa GM Takashi Sakuda.
ADV has released the previous two seasons of the Full Metal Panic anime, and has just completed two series of Full Metal Panic manga (14 volumes in all). Asked for comment on the property, ADV spokesperson Chris Oarr was positive on the company's experience with it. "We're very proud of our performance as a steward of the Full Metal Panic franchise," he said, "and we're going to continue to sell Full Metal Panic for the foreseeable future.
"As to Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid, we wish FUNimation all the best," Oarr said.
ADV has a broad, continuing relationship with Kadokawa (which is the Japanese publisher of Newtype), Oarr told ICv2.

I always view any title that arrives as sub-only as the distributor giving up on it making any decent profits and the title being for whatever niche it is aimed at only.

Makes you wonder what is going on with ADV to let a major title of theirs go like this and the fact that there has been very little activity from them so far this year.

Even though I was hoping ADV would pick it up I hope Funi gives us the following:

1. Animated menu.
2. All the original dub cast.
3. Better dub/translation scripts.
4. Subtitles based on the japanese timing/dub.
5. 5.1 audio tracks.

I guess Funimation has high expectations to satisfy.

Zalis116 wrote:

Wow, the patten holds true once again...every time Funi announces a new license, someone just has to chime in and say "OMG Funimation's totally going to ruin this title with tons of editing and a bad dub" Wake up people, IT'S NOT THE DBZ ERA AT FUNIMATION ANYMORE. Go watch some FMA, Fruits Basket, or Gunslinger Girl if you need proof.

I'm worried, too. I also watch the original Japanese versions with subtitles. I feel that if it was originally produced in one language, that's the way it should be experienced. If you want to argue that subtitles don't really cut it for that, then I should mention that I'm taking Japanese for just that reason. That said, until I become proficient enough with Japanese, I rely on subtitles. You say that FUNimation has been doing well in the past few years, and I counter: did you actually watch the subbed version of Tenchi Muyo! GXP? It was horrible. FUNimation used the English dub as the basis for the subtitle script. On top of that, they put lines in when no one was speaking and left out subtitles in some cases where people were talking. You say that the Dragonball Z era of FUNimation is over, but the first GXP DVD was released two years after the first Fruits Basket and the last GXP DVD was released a month before the last Fruits Basket. Their era of bad subtitles isn't over yet, and that has me worried.