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Answerman - What Does Darker Than Black's License Withdrawal Mean?


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Percival King
Banned User


Joined: 20 Dec 2015
Posts: 51
PostPosted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 5:27 pm Reply with quote
Ambimunch wrote:
Dark time are upon us anime fans lol. I'm glad I got that LE of DTB past spring. Now I need to look into what else Aniplex owns that I need to get my hands on asap.

-Fullmetal Alchemist & Brotherhood
-Big Windup
-Bleach
-Birdy the Mighty
-Blood+ and Blood-C
-D. Gray-man
-Flag
-Gintama
-Guilty Crown
-Hell Girl
-Naruto
-Night Raid 1931
-Rurouni Kenshin
-Soul Eater
-Wagnaria

All shows produced (and owned) by them, with licenses held by other NA companies. Quite the list, and apparently, none are safe.
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AbZeroNow



Joined: 14 Jan 2013
Posts: 519
PostPosted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 5:33 pm Reply with quote
Percival King wrote:
Ambimunch wrote:
Dark time are upon us anime fans lol. I'm glad I got that LE of DTB past spring. Now I need to look into what else Aniplex owns that I need to get my hands on asap.

-Big Windup
-Bleach
-Blood-C
-D. Gray-man
-Gintama
-Naruto
-Soul Eater
.


None of those I quote are Aniplex.

Big Windup is Kodansha
Bleach, Gintama, and Naruto are all TV Tokyo
Soul Eater is Media Factory.
I can't remember which company as Blood-C or D. Gray Man but neither of those were Aniplex.
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4575
PostPosted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 5:41 pm Reply with quote
ShanaFan852 wrote:
Felis wrote:
As for Darker Than Black, I believe AoA has said they have no interest in catalog releases so I would assume there won't be a re-release from them and just get the Funimation release now while you can.
That they did, so if there's an old Aniplex title you want them to put out, sorry, it's not happening.
http://www.fandompost.com/oldforums/showthread.php?43312-ANNCast-Aniplex-of-America&p=305320&viewfull=1#post305320

Do not count on AoA rescuing it and just pick up the FUNimation release while you still can.
XChampion wrote:
My real question is it just the first season or is it also the 2nd season and OVAs as well that has expired?
Both, S2 is going OOP.

This is what I really don't get from a business standpoint. I can understand if AoA doesn't want to bother with older titles under their release model, but if that's the case, why wouldn't AoJ make those licenses available to other distributors? Sitting on the licenses and not doing anything with them basically means that they're losing money.
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BigOnAnime
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 01 Jul 2010
Posts: 1229
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 5:45 pm Reply with quote
AbZeroNow wrote:
I can't remember which company as Blood-C or D. Gray Man but neither of those were Aniplex.
FUNimation got Blood-C from Production I.G. and D.Gray-man from Dentsu.
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WingKing



Joined: 27 Apr 2015
Posts: 617
PostPosted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 5:46 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Not sure where you both got the idea Soul Eater (Including Soul Eater Not!) is an Aniplex property. FUNimation got both series from Media Factory, which is now part of Kadokawa.


I stand corrected. It looks like Aniplex was only involved in music production for that series.

Quote:
-Rurouni Kenshin


Late to the party. AoA already has the license for RuroKen - both the TV series and most of the side projects like Trust & Betrayal - and they've had it for quite some time. AFAIK, the only installment they don't have at this point is the "New Kyoto Arc" OVA - Sentai has that license.
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leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 7163
Location: Another Kingdom
PostPosted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 5:55 pm Reply with quote
Snakebit1995 wrote:
The closing paragraph is why physical media will never die, there are always people who won't trust rights and will want to be able to call on a series and know it will be there.


Yeah, I was kind of dismayed when certain shows were no longer available streaming, and I realized I missed my chance.

That being said, I once owned early editions of Viz's Dragon Ball manga, uncensored and "chest butt" intact. I eventually donated it though, as I wasn't reading them anymore and I figured someone else might appreciate it more.

Kalessin wrote:
Streaming can save you money, and at this point, the shows seem to be generally available first that way, but having everything shift to streaming as the focus definitely seems like a bad trend to me. I will continue to buy everything on Blu-ray and hope that things don't ever shift to streaming completely.


I'm sure the people at FUNimation and other localization companies are just as dismayed that they don't have particular licenses even if they want them, and as a result, I don't think physical sales will ever go away completely. Logically, they'd be interested in serving audiences interested in permanence.

You can't count on certain business leaders to act with logic though

Dfens wrote:
And no Aniplex shows are not so expensive you will never be able to afford them. If you save up you can buy anyone of their titles, but if your stubborn and will only pay up to a certain amount for 1 show and that's why you won't buy the show in question well that's on you.


If someone believes that a particular show is worth X to them, then it means they will buy that show if it's X or lower and they will not buy that show if it's higher than X. I love Kill la Kill, for instance, but Aniplex of America's price is higher than that X. Therefore, I won't buy it until the price goes below X, and I have no regrets. And if it never goes below X, well, it means I'm never owning it.

Top Gun wrote:
It's not even about not being able to save up for a show at a particular price point, so much as the fact that doing said saving precludes making multiple other purchases. I'd imagine that most of us who buy anime don't just get 2 or 3 shows per year, and anime isn't the only thing we spend our discretionary budgets on. (*glances nervously at Steam backlog*) Spending $200 on a single 26-episode release may be within many people's budgets, but when it's a question of either doing that or purchasing 5 other series at an average of $40 each, one of them makes much more financial sense. I think what many Aniplex defenders miss is that buying anime isn't a zero-sum game. It's not buy one Aniplex series vs. buying no anime at all, it's buy one Aniplex series vs. buying several other series and/or games and/or whatever. Couple that with the fact that Aniplex titles essentially never go on sale, at least not remotely to the extent that every other US distributors' titles do, and it becomes an easy choice for the budget-conscious anime fan.


Definitely. No matter what income level you have, you will have a finite amount of money to spend on hobbies, and getting one expensive thing will mean missing out on multiple less expensive things. You have to be pretty dedicated to do so.

The hobby of eating is similar. You have the hardcore, who will eat at upscale, or at least more expensive places, for every meal of every day of their lives when possible. They thumb their nose at anyone who spends less than that on food, but they can afford to do so because they have no other hobbies. The only thing they enjoy as much as eating well is talking about eating well. To most people, the idea that they'd spend US$60 or more every day on food at restaurants is complete madness. But to them, everyone else is mad for not being willing to spend that much on food.
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4426
PostPosted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 5:58 pm Reply with quote
PurpleWarrior13 wrote:

Hopefully FUNi won't loose the Fullmetal Alchemist license. That show is pretty synonymous with them, almost as much as Dragon Ball Z (in fact, it's probably their second biggest show).

.


I also hope so, but it would completely depend on if Aniplex was even interested in renewing the license. It would be awfully tempting to keep such a mega hit for themselves. Or they could offer to renew it, but at a price set where Funimation couldn't risk not getting their money back on future sales.
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Zalis116
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Joined: 31 Mar 2005
Posts: 6867
Location: Kazune City
PostPosted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 6:20 pm Reply with quote
There is a contingent out there that feels like Blu-Rays were outdated Stone Age technology from the moment they were released, that no one in their country still has an optical media player, that "Steam for Anime" would solve all the industry's problems, etc. But as long as licensing issues/DRM issues exist for streams and downloads, and given all the many many things that can cause hard drive failures and data loss, physical media is still the most reliable way to guarantee access to content for the foreseeable future.

NeoStrayCat wrote:
But yeah, I know the trend that usually someone will re-release classic titles eventually, like how Sentai got with Azu-Dai and Ichi-Maro, and how Discotek got Cro-High, at least fans can get it again without having to resort to OOP prices. Though yeah, at the cost of no extras the ADV singles releases had back then (Azu-Dai and Cro-High), or the OVA's included (Azu-Dai and Ichi-Maro).
Geneon never had the Strawberry Marshmallow OVAs to begin with, so Sentai's re-release of that show isn't comparable to Azumanga Daioh -- the R1 availability status of those OVAs hasn't changed.
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One-Eye



Joined: 08 Mar 2011
Posts: 2261
PostPosted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 6:48 pm Reply with quote
Oh, crap WTK just posted this in the retail section:

Funi forums

Quote:
Baccano! is expiring and will be removed 2/8/2016

Our streaming rights to Baccano! are expiring. The show site and all videos, including the OVA, will be removed from Funimation.com and all Funimation streaming apps two weeks from today on February 8, 2016. We might be asked to remove the episodes sooner, so please watch this awesome show as soon as possible.

Watch it here --> www.funimation.com/shows/baccano/watch

Thank you!


Sophie said this includes home video as well, so if you want the DVDs you might want to put that on your list of pickups.
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BigOnAnime
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 01 Jul 2010
Posts: 1229
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 6:51 pm Reply with quote
Well the good news is there's still the UK release, as well as the Japanese Blu-ray Box which used the exact same discs that were in AoA's BD. Though the JPBD's lack certain extras in FUNi's DVD's.
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One-Eye



Joined: 08 Mar 2011
Posts: 2261
PostPosted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 7:01 pm Reply with quote
ShanaFan852 wrote:
Well the good news is there's still the UK release, as well as the Japanese Blu-ray Box which used the exact same discs that were in AoA's BD. Though the JPBD's lack certain extras in FUNi's DVD's.

Hmmm...the Japanese BD went up. When I got mine it was about $160-170 US I think. I guess the yen isn't quite the same now.
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Artesox



Joined: 19 Dec 2014
Posts: 90
PostPosted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 7:24 pm Reply with quote
Percival King wrote:
STOP. BUYING. FROM. ANIPLEX!


I actually do the contrary, I don't buy it if its one of the underpriced products that usually run in the western industry, or if I buy one of those out of need, I will also try to get the correctly priced Japanese version.

The truth is a simple one, the anime industry can't, and won't be sustained by selling whole seasons for 20$.

I will be generous and say the price to make a 12 episodes show is around 1 million.

If you sell the whole season for 20$ you need to have 50 thousand buyers to break even.

Its much easier with the Japanese pricing, you only need around 3 thousand fans who are willing to pay 300$ to break even.

The people who buy the physical media are the fans, and only a handful of series have 50000 fans who are willing to buy discs at this day and age.


Last edited by Artesox on Mon Jan 25, 2016 7:34 pm; edited 1 time in total
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TsukasaElkKite



Joined: 22 Nov 2005
Posts: 3950
PostPosted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 7:29 pm Reply with quote
I usually only buy physical copies of series I know I'm going to rewatch multiple times. Even so, I have quite a few out of print titles that haven't been re-released for one reason or another (Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series and movies, a lot of Media Blasters titles, first print runs of DVDs with artboxes and feelies, etc). In the case of the Pioneer releases of Sailor Moon S/SuperS and the related movies, I'm keeping my copies of those simply because of the 90s dub. I have every intention of buying Viz's sets when they're (hopefully) released this year.
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NeoStrayCat



Joined: 14 Sep 2011
Posts: 610
PostPosted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 7:45 pm Reply with quote
Zalis116 wrote:
Geneon never had the Strawberry Marshmallow OVAs to begin with, so Sentai's re-release of that show isn't comparable to Azumanga Daioh -- the R1 availability status of those OVAs hasn't changed.
Oh, I see, I thought they would have had them. >.> (Thanks for the correction.)

And yeah, checking out that Baccanno is the next to go, I would wonder what might be the latest title/series that'll end up having their license expire someday. Anime dazed
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Zalis116
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Joined: 31 Mar 2005
Posts: 6867
Location: Kazune City
PostPosted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 7:50 pm Reply with quote
Artesox wrote:
Percival King wrote:
STOP. BUYING. FROM. ANIPLEX!


I actually do the contrary, I don't buy it if its one of the underpriced products that usually run in the western industry, or if I buy one of those out of need, I will also try to get the correctly priced Japanese version.

The truth is a simple one, the anime industry can't, and won't be sustained by selling whole seasons for 20$.
Considering that the alternatives to buying discs at typical Funi/Sentai/Viz prices for the vast majority of Western fans are either watching on streaming services (=even less revenue) or pirating the content, it's not too far of a stretch to say that the anime industry would rather have us buying discs at "Western average" prices. If you want to stick to your guns and get the Japanese releases instead, more power to you, but spreading the "overseas releases don't really count" talking point doesn't do the industry one lick of good.

And since when are whole seasons sold initially for $20? Even the cheaper distributors charge $50-$65 MSRP for 12-13 episodes at the outset.
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