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Answerman - Universal Appeal


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BigOnAnime
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 01 Jul 2010
Posts: 1231
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Fri Jun 05, 2015 4:12 pm Reply with quote
It's still a bit ridiculous how it took FUNimation this long to use the correct logo. For a few years they've been inconsistent. The packaging would use Geneon Universal (Though now they have to change that for newer titles), and discs sometimes would use the old Geneon logo or the Universal logo (I really need to check my discs and ask some people again), sometimes both across the whole release (I think this happened with Hellsing Ultimate). This really is the logo they should have been playing on EVERYTHING for years now. I should have been seeing this on say Tokyo Ravens from the start, not the old Geneon logo.

Also regarding Warner Bros. and entering the anime market, I doubt it. The only reason they're releasing JoJo is probably because Warner Bros. Japan got tired of trying to find someone that would want the show (Or was willing to pay enough), and pitched it to their parent, that's it. They're already doing something questionable though, those 3 discs for the entire first season, not 4... Hopefully it turns out good. Then there's also the $50 MSRP price point for a dubbed release, seems too low.
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Hameyadea



Joined: 23 Jun 2014
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 05, 2015 4:20 pm Reply with quote
About the logo change:

I think most people got confused not neccesarily because the Universal logo was shown at the start of this cour's shows like Arslan Senki or Owari no Seraph, but because the change in logos was mid-run. IIRC, the first 2-3 episodes of both of the aforementioned shows had the FUNImation snippet, and after the 4th-or-so episode, the Universal logo showed up.
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kevinx59



Joined: 27 Jan 2012
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Location: In sunny California
PostPosted: Fri Jun 05, 2015 5:27 pm Reply with quote
Hasn't it been Geneon Universal for a while now? Unlimited Blade Works and High School of the Dead had the logo and they are 5 years old now. They changed to just the universal logo last year I think, or maybe earlier. Anyways I think it's pretty cool that these big movie companies have an interest in anime, at least in Japan. Plus both Warner and Universal have great music artists. And is it just me or do they seem to have some kind of relationship with each other? Shana, Nogizaki no Himitsu, To Love Ru, Railgun/Index, all were originally released by Universal, all had their latest seasons released by Warner.

I've wondered why the companies don't just release they l their titles in the US themselves. Not that I mind the current arrangement. Funi and Sentai have more knowledge about how to sell and market their anime. On the other hand if Universal and Warner release things themselves they may give the anime more exposure (not to mention probably package and release the series like how they do for their TV series, which means that anime may be even more affordable and more visible on shelves). Interesting times for sure, and I'm eager to see how Jojo works for Warner. I could see them releasing certain series (like maybe Terraformers) themselves.
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Polycell



Joined: 16 Jan 2012
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 05, 2015 8:46 pm Reply with quote
ShanaFan852 wrote:
Also regarding Warner Bros. and entering the anime market, I doubt it. The only reason they're releasing JoJo is probably because Warner Bros. Japan got tired of trying to find someone that would want the show (Or was willing to pay enough), and pitched it to their parent, that's it. They're already doing something questionable though, those 3 discs for the entire first season, not 4... Hopefully it turns out good. Then there's also the $50 MSRP price point for a dubbed release, seems too low.
I wouldn't be surprised if the music rights have to do with it - a giant like Warner Brothers can get away with things that would bankrupt a small anime distributor(hell, they probably already have favorable agreements in place with the RIAA for any and every song they could possibly use).

That said, I really hope that this doesn't become more common: the big studios can be very skittish about their images and, if they're releasing what their Japanese branches produce, we likely won't get it over here. Remember what happened with Ro-kyu-bu? If they manage to make things too popular, things like Loliball might not even be possible anymore since they'd be too worried about protecting their image.
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yuna49



Joined: 27 Aug 2008
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2015 12:28 am Reply with quote
walw6pK4Alo wrote:
I would love for big Hollywood movie studios to come in, dump money so we get shows with $250-300k per-episode budgets and increased wages for workers, and not have any other involvement! Never gonna happen.

Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis clearly had higher than average budgets and lists NBCUniversal as a producer. Whether that money came from Comcast, or whether it came from Cygames, I don't really know. Cygames itself reported revenues of $1.8 billion in 2012; the entire anime industry grossed about $2.4 billion that year.
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leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2015 2:45 am Reply with quote
I can't afford to eat sushi every week (unless it's like...one plate at a revolving sushi place). But if you smell like fish, Justin, at least you can officially be an eskimo.

I find that major studios tend not to be too interested in playing by the rules of niche markets they might fall into, but once they get the hang of it, they can function quite well.

Quote:
This means that if the actors ad-libbed some lines (which happens all the time), or the director saw how the episode was coming together and thought some additional dialogue needed to be added, there was simply no way the production could be nimble enough to fix the lip flap, or tweak a sound effect that's off by a second or so.


Yeah, I remember seeing old Popeye cartoons where Popeye would say something that wasn't animated. I wondered why for the longest time, and I later found out they were ad-libbed. I had a feeling that there wasn't the resources to re-animated these scenes, but I didn't have a good explanation until now. Thanks.

ShanaFan852 wrote:
They're already doing something questionable though, those 3 discs for the entire first season, not 4... Hopefully it turns out good. Then there's also the $50 MSRP price point for a dubbed release, seems too low.


If there are few or no special features, 3 discs seems perfectly fine to me. And as a consumer, I like my prices as low as possible. I mainly get my anime home releases from clearance sales.
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jr240483



Joined: 24 Dec 2005
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2015 4:55 am Reply with quote
Greed1914 wrote:
I'm a bit disappointed that Universal has opted to retire the Geneon brand at this point. It was fun seeing a few recent Funimation releases with the old Geneon logo and sound effects splashing on screen, but that came and went pretty fast. I think one of Funi's broadcast dubs actually started out with the Geneon logo for a couple episodes and then it was replaced by Universal. Even though it is the same company, seeing something I associate with big Hollywood at the start of my anime has made be a bit apprehensive, mostly for the reasons Justin mentioned. Maybe it won't matter and it'll be nothing more than a logo at the start of some shows, but I do have some concern that "We're big and can do what we want" might be a prevailing attitude going forward.


unfortunately it also pissed off diehard anime otakus,especially those from the 90's giving them all the excuses they need to justify their hate for when american hollywood companies get their hold of anime licenses.

Quote:
Personally, I'm a little concerned that major Hollywood studios getting into this already crowded market will be less likely to listen to fans, or to follow established best practices for releasing stuff on DVD and Blu-ray.


not necessarily answerman. dont forget the japaneese division of universal is a whole different animal than the parent company in hollywood. they have different standard and practices which means they (the japan division) would probably do things to appease the japaneese auidence and their otaku community.

now if this was the US parent branch of Universal then hell yea you should be concerned,but considering that its not, i dont see any reason to panic just yet unless they start acting more and more like their hollywood counterparts or if the US branch start putting their weight and muscle on the choices and decisions of universal japan.
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John Thacker



Joined: 28 Oct 2013
Posts: 1006
PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2015 6:38 am Reply with quote
ShanaFan852 wrote:
Also regarding Warner Bros. and entering the anime market, I doubt it. The only reason they're releasing JoJo is probably because Warner Bros. Japan got tired of trying to find someone that would want the show (Or was willing to pay enough), and pitched it to their parent, that's it.


I guarantee that the traditional US niche localization companies were interested in Jojo's. Viz got a license to be the "master merchandiser" for Jojo's overall and has been releasing recent manga (which has been making the NYT best sellers list for manga.) If the parent company WB was willing to pay more money than anyone else, then that's a pretty clear expression of interest. They wouldn't bother to release it at all if they thought it would lose money in the US (or cannibalize sales via reverse importation too much.)

jr0904 wrote:
not necessarily answerman. don't forget the japaneese division of universal is a whole different animal than the parent company in hollywood. they have different standard and practices which means they (the japan division) would probably do things to appease the japaneese auidence and their otaku community.


Weird, you think that the Japanese rights holders all treat the American audience the same as they do the Japanese audience, and don't suggest various "adaptations" in an attempt to make something more mainstream and win bigger marketshare? (Take a look at Enoki Films pitches for anime not that long ago.) Or don't try to make a release somewhat worse or at least different than the Japanese release in order to discourage reverse importation hurting their lucrative domestic sales? Or on the other hand, like Pony Canyon and to some degree Aniplex, might try to bring Japanese market prices to the US? We already had a bit of a failure with Jojo's itself before, with Super Techno Arts (a US facing division of a Japanese company.)

The Japanese divisions are very familiar with the Japanese audience. That doesn't mean that they are familiar with American fandom.
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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2015 11:25 am Reply with quote
John Thacker wrote:
The Japanese divisions are very familiar with the Japanese audience. That doesn't mean that they are familiar with American fandom.


It's true that an entertainment company would likely be more familiar with their native audiences vs. their foreign audiences. However, they might be getting a better idea of understanding their foreign audiences when they establish a company branch for a particular company. For example, in '09, Kadokawa Pictures did have an American division where they were pitching some of their anime titles. The only 1 I really recall was Chrome Shelled Regios.
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PurpleWarrior13



Joined: 05 Sep 2009
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2015 11:32 am Reply with quote
In Australia, all Geneon/Universal titles are released by Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (their local home video divisions merged). Madman even said that all Geneon titles are off-limits in that territory.

I'm surprised they haven't attempted to do the same here. I wouldn't mind seeing Hollywood studios do a lot more with anime, as long as their releases were similar in format to FUNi, Viz, Sentai, etc.

And yeah, more and more anime releases appear to begin with the licensor AND licensee logos. FUNi's new Blu-ray release of Darker than Black has the Aniplex logo before FUNi's, and Viz's Sailor Moon releases begin with both the Viz and Toei logos.
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SEGAtheGENESIS234



Joined: 19 Jan 2015
Posts: 81
PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2015 12:39 pm Reply with quote
Is it just me, or does Discotek always license anime that Funimation or any other company would NEVER touch?
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FLCLGainax





PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2015 2:21 pm Reply with quote
It always amazes me how Discotek is able to track down old English audio for most of their titles. I wish Sentai would do that more often.
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Spotlesseden



Joined: 09 Sep 2004
Posts: 3514
Location: earth
PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2015 6:39 pm Reply with quote
WB is huge in Japan. He made many live Action adaptation of anime/manga such of Kenshin, Death note.
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Tenchi



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
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Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer.
PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2015 6:45 pm Reply with quote
whoops wrong thread.

Last edited by Tenchi on Mon Jun 08, 2015 2:41 am; edited 1 time in total
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Sky Captain



Joined: 15 Nov 2008
Posts: 26
PostPosted: Sun Jun 07, 2015 1:54 am Reply with quote
Greed1914 wrote:
I'm a bit disappointed that Universal has opted to retire the Geneon brand at this point. It was fun seeing a few recent Funimation releases with the old Geneon logo and sound effects splashing on screen, but that came and went pretty fast. I think one of Funi's broadcast dubs actually started out with the Geneon logo for a couple episodes and then it was replaced by Universal. Even though it is the same company, seeing something I associate with big Hollywood at the start of my anime has made be a bit apprehensive, mostly for the reasons Justin mentioned. Maybe it won't matter and it'll be nothing more than a logo at the start of some shows, but I do have some concern that "We're big and can do what we want" might be a prevailing attitude going forward.


This somewhat reminds me of how people feel about SPT (Sony Pictures Television)'s logo being plastered all over the old Screen Gems logo and the Columbia Pictures Television logo on most DVD's and TV broadcasts, as well as the similar logo plastering that's happened to shows from other older American TV companies. At least the Desilu logo's somewhat intact on a few of CBS's DVD's and TV shows before the CBS Television Distribution logo.
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