Forum - View topicTales Of The Industry - They Shoot Their Hostages, Don't They?
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here-and-faraway
 Posts: 1528 Location: Sunny California |
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What a nightmare. If it's the show is what I think it is, then may I say that the scriptwriters did a great job keeping the humor intact? The company also did a lovely job with the release. Great dub, nice extras, etc. Given the era, it could have been a hit if they had been allowed to promote it properly.
Thanks for the article. It was very interesting! PS: And before I forget, I always wondered if the show would have done better if it had been released 12 episodes at a time, rather than in single volumes. I know I was a bit wary about investing in 20+ DVDS at around $25 a piece. It looks like it was pretty much doomed from the start. 
Last edited by here-and-faraway on Tue Mar 10, 2015 10:19 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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omiya
 Posts: 1826 Location: Adelaide, South Australia |
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Congratulations on another "Tales" column, trying to keep things anonymous.
The cross-cultural and cross-company communication certainly calls for diplomacy. |
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
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If the show is what I think it is, that studio's work always seemed to have problems here.
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whiskeyii
 Posts: 2245 |
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Oi, what a nightmare.
 Fun to read, but man, I'm cringing all the way! 
Something that confused me in the article was the mention of the slow dub process. What did they mean by "there was barely any art", and that it was on slides that had to be ray-traced over in Illustrator? And how did that affect the dubbing process? Nothing to lip-flap to? Sorry if I'm super ignorant; I know nothing about video formats, and the only ray-tracing I know of is in computers, used to create 3D objects by coloring in ray-tracing lights that hit a certain boundary/perimeter. 
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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Are you also trying to solicit contributions from people working in the industry in Japan? I'm more curious about how Japanese production committees function than I am about the problems of American licensors.
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DTJB
 Posts: 671 Location: Dubuque, IA |
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Yeah, I have a good idea of what the show is, almost done watching the official stateside release through Rent Anime (early arc episodes are better than the ones in the last arc which are...decent at best, completely unnecessary at worst). I remember doing my best to support it and picked up a box set when I heard releases were going to stop, guess I couldn't stop what was already in motion.
But really, communication just ended because of something that minor? Product recall at store level is understandable (make it a rare collector's item), getting every unit from the customer's hand isn't happening (shakes head in disbelief). Well, it's interesting at least to get some insider knowledge on one of my favorite titles from back in the day. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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There was one thing that baffled me about this story, a fundamental mistake if you will that cannot be passed off as simply a side-effect of changing details to protect anonymity. "Genom Corp." already knew what colour "Mu-sama" was supposed to be before the artbox went onto shelves, as they had been given promotional materials and artwork of the mascot. I know this because they used it. I find it difficult to believe that "Brad" was unaware of the artwork's existence because - as the show's marketing manager - he would have been the one to decide which images to use and where they would go. A simple look at the available promotional materials would have told him what colour "Mu-sama" was supposed to be.
---------- There's no way to actually know if the following rumour is true or not, but if it is true then it would shed light the real reason why "Brad" was so badly treated by "Kazuhiro". The rumour goes that "Kazuhiro" didn't really have the legal authority to authorise merchandise in the first place; he impinged on the territory of another Japanese stakeholder, the company which actually did hold the merchandising rights. Assuming that's true, the colour wasn't the issue at all. The false wrong-colour accusation - and the impossible-to-fulfill ultimatum that came with it - were just a smokescreen by "Kazuhiro" to cover up his mistake in treading on the toes of an influential Japanese company. ---------- Anyway, great article, and I hope to see more like it in the future. |
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GrayArchon
Posts: 393 |
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I'm assuming that part is talking about artwork for the boxes and promotional materials. When you're dubbing a series, you can't just release it in a blank DVD case, and promote it using only text. You need copies of the original official artwork to put on the DVD cases and use in ads. Which in this case was archived on slides rather than in a usable format. So they had to scan in the slides, and use them to essentially recreate the artwork in a format they could actually use for printing. |
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14761 |
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Guess the best the company could had offered to those who already bought the vol. 1 with trinket was a no-expense exchange recall.
Something like: There was an "issue" with the trinket. A "chemical" was used in the manufacturing process that was not supposed to be there and may be hazardous to your health. Please mail back the trinket to our address, and we will send you a replacement that does not have that "chemical" when the next batch comes................(small print: in about 6 months)." Then watch everybody return it! 
(Of course, the "chemical" is the wrong color paint.) Last edited by enurtsol on Wed Mar 11, 2015 2:12 am; edited 1 time in total |
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luisedgarf
Posts: 656 Location: Guadalajara, Mexico |
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No offense intended, but someone else in other sites are going to spill the beans because ANN already gave the clues, so it is a bad idea anyways, IMO. Keep in mind ANN is a very popular site and the net is a very vast place to be able to stop undesearable information. |
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vashthestampede1050
 Posts: 15 |
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Same here. I feel so stupid. |
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enurtsol
Posts: 14761 |
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Somebody suggested that Japanese company didn't actually have the authority to give the US company to make merchandise, thus effectively approving counterfeit goods, so tried to cover their ass by having the US company unreasonably recall all the trinkets immediately.
But then, why would they say "product must be reprinted immediately" (if that conversation is accurate)? |
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Hameyadea
 Posts: 3679 |
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I understand where you're coming from, but throwing [enter name here] off the bridge to save "face" doesn't necessarily means that it'll wrap-up the issue all nice and tidy. It might even add fuel to the fire ("Why were you using such an incometent company?", "You should've checked with us for final clearance", "We all know the final decisions were in your authority", just to point a few possible quips from the licensor). Also, as it was stated here already, it doesn't solve the crux of the complaint "have any and all units in existance recalled and disposed of, immediately". Now, one can attribute that to an over-inflating the matter in order to make the other, real requests more valid and petty by comparison (say, the licensor later have a slight "change of mind" and doesn't want all the units recalled, only those in production and on shelves. That way, they appear more "agreeable" and "understandable" to the licensee, raising their own statuts. I've seeing co-workers and costumers using similar way of making an unreasonable demand, only later to "back down a bit as a gesture of good will" to their real objective). It also adds the issue of the "homefront" angle: what about the licensees' "face"? Say "Brad" either took the hit/heat or pinned it all on the Chinese factory, that doesn't change their standing in the licensor's eyes. So the licensees can, in turn, take the ordeal onto themselves as a whole and try to smile it away, pin it on a smaller part part of the company and calling them "somewhat rowdy, but good guys" (say, like pointing finger at the department/divison in charge), or taking it all the way to the indivudual level and pinning it all on "Brad", showing him as some kind of Bad Apple. Again, I understand your idea of disregarding the ego in order to keep a good business relationship, but the business world (and not just that world, either) isn't so nice as to let those kind of developmets, complaints and good-will gestures to be treated lightly, go unpunished, or being rewarded for them, respectively. Last edited by Hameyadea on Wed Mar 11, 2015 9:16 am; edited 2 times in total |
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5824 Location: Virginia, United States |
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It is also a good way to have a class action lawsuit against your company for exposing your customers to toxic chemicals, and probably a violation of some state laws regarding not reporting such incidents. |
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enurtsol
Posts: 14761 |
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It says "may". Lots of things get recalled because of "may" over abundance of caution. This is just another one of those generic "may" recalls - that's what makes it normal since it's no different than other typical recalls. But still people will likely return it since people get nervous whenever "chemical" is mentioned, even when everything is safe. 
If they ask which "chemical" it is, tell them the chemical name of the (safe) color paint used - they can't sue you over a safe chemical. If they ask why the recall when it seems safe, just say it's over abundance of caution. Then for the reprint, use the slightly different color (still safe) paint with a different chemical name, so it's true that the old chemical won't be used. Then nobody would know the Japanese messed up. (I think I'm thinking this too much. )
Last edited by enurtsol on Wed Mar 11, 2015 5:22 am; edited 1 time in total |
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