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Answerman - Why Don't Anime Musicals Get US Releases?


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Covnam



Joined: 31 May 2005
Posts: 3650
PostPosted: Fri Sep 22, 2017 5:22 pm Reply with quote
I'd love to see the One Piece Super Kabuki II show get subbed and brought over. I saw it live and was surprised that I couldn't buy a recording there. AFAIK, there still isn't one available yet =/ (probably because they keep bringing it back)

The production values were really top notch so I don't think that would hold it back. Guess I'll just have to keep hoping. If there's any live stage production that might come over (on video or otherwise), One Piece is definitely among the top picks.

samuelp wrote:
I can say that I've discussed licensing streaming rights for anime musicals (tenimyu, yowapedal) with the appropriate rights holder and the rights are available.

One issue is there are no final scripts. There is the play script but the performances often have adlibs and deviate from the original so that's a challenge but other than that I think it's just a matter of no one caring enough to try.
The mg needed is a little high to help cover the music rights cost but nothing too crazy.


Interesting. Guess it's hard to have a home release when there's no definitive version.

Maybe you should give Crunchy a wave about this too Sam Wink

leafy sea dragon wrote:
Besides operas, are there many stage plays that do international tours? I always had the impression that musical theater was really only meant to be seen in its home country and that they're not really viable when brought to another country, especially a country with a different primary language.

But yeah, all in all, musical theater is meant to be seen live, with the actors right there on stage. You can't replicate that experience on a screen. And I'm certain it'd be incredibly expensive to bring those actors, the backstage crew, and the props and equipment to North America or Europe.


I know Takarazuka did a live show here in NY, though I don't know how well it did.
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Sheleigha



Joined: 09 May 2008
Posts: 1671
PostPosted: Fri Sep 22, 2017 6:20 pm Reply with quote
Wasn't there a Princess Mononoke play made in Europe? I wonder how that went.

Found it and wow it did well!
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/anime/princess-mononoke-back-on-the-uk-stage-by-popular-demand-82465.html


As for official subs, I know that blu rays of the finalized play come out later on and can be ordered online. Very few ever get ripped, let alone subbed.
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treeofjessie



Joined: 27 Oct 2014
Posts: 31
PostPosted: Fri Sep 22, 2017 9:47 pm Reply with quote
not that it really matters, but the sailor moon musicals (at least the last few; i have no data either way on the earlier ones) actually HAVE been available in english, were you in japan to see them and able to get a ticket.
for a small extra fee, they offered special glasses that would run subtitles (with several languages available, including english) along with the action so you could read along as the play happened live in front of you.
i just thought that was pretty neat. Smile
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LUNI_TUNZ



Joined: 28 Apr 2010
Posts: 809
PostPosted: Fri Sep 22, 2017 9:47 pm Reply with quote
leafy sea dragon wrote:

Is Miku popular enough worldwide to be called a "global phenomenon"?


I'm not sure if she qualifies as a "global phenomenom," but she has toured with Lady Gaga and appeared on The David Letterman Show a couple years ago, for what that's worth.

Anyway, recently The Muppets did a live 3-day live show at The Hollywood bowl, fully backed by Disney, with the actual regular performers and writers working on it, and it's not getting a home release due to music rights, so I'd assume that same thing super applies here.

Come to think of it, how many musicals versions of American shows in America get released? I can think of Power Rangers off the top of my head, but that's it. Sesame Street which has toured for the greater part of 3 decades has never done a home release, I don't think the Pokemon live show was home released.
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fuuma_monou



Joined: 26 Dec 2005
Posts: 1817
Location: Quezon City, Philippines
PostPosted: Fri Sep 22, 2017 10:17 pm Reply with quote
leafy sea dragon wrote:
Besides operas, are there many stage plays that do international tours? I always had the impression that musical theater was really only meant to be seen in its home country and that they're not really viable when brought to another country, especially a country with a different primary language.


The touring production of The Sound of Music is in Manila right now; we also had West Side Story. Chicago was staged in Singapore, going by ads on Asian cable channels.
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manapear



Joined: 02 May 2014
Posts: 1525
PostPosted: Fri Sep 22, 2017 11:55 pm Reply with quote
I get some series' stage musicals not getting picked up, but in certain cases; it boggles my mind how they pass up the series.

SeraMyu has always had an international audience, and there's still a pretty good community for it. At that, Takarazuka is still rising in popularity in the West and some of that overlaps with the Myu audience.

I wish someone would bother to pick up the musicals and plays to some of the bigger series, but I guess that's how it is. :/
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KutovoiAnton



Joined: 03 Mar 2013
Posts: 942
Location: Vladimir, Russia
PostPosted: Sat Sep 23, 2017 7:01 am Reply with quote
Mr. sickVisionz wrote:
I never get the impression that these are made like The Lion King, which has won prestigious awards and had multiple runs across multiple years. They went in clearly trying to make something quality and succeeded critically, commercially, and with fans.

These plays never seem like that to me. They're often packed to the brim with c-grade celebs or the latest idol trying to make a name as opposed to people with experience or theatrical training. They just give the appearance of cheap cash ins as opposed to someone with like a real love of the story and a great vision for how it can be adapted theatrically.


Sakura Taisen musicals have voice actors coming back to the roles and have some really great songs:
https://youtu.be/eBZxxHGMpXw
https://youtu.be/96KOgF9y9IU
https://youtu.be/i5Lxl8NRwxc
https://youtu.be/6Flo04najyo
https://youtu.be/sBr3OdFNRtY
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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
Posts: 13555
Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP
PostPosted: Sat Sep 23, 2017 8:02 am Reply with quote
Well, going with the way our current American copyright works, 120 years from when a musical was made, you can legally fansub a video recording of the theatrical.
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kasumicc



Joined: 05 Jul 2007
Posts: 26
PostPosted: Sat Sep 23, 2017 8:23 am Reply with quote
Mr. sickVisionz wrote:

These plays never seem like that to me. They're often packed to the brim with c-grade celebs or the latest idol trying to make a name as opposed to people with experience or theatrical training. They just give the appearance of cheap cash ins as opposed to someone with like a real love of the story and a great vision for how it can be adapted theatrically.


Seramyu has traditionally cast the Senshi with new talent, and older characters (especially the villains) with actors having theatrical experience. Several ex-Takarazuka have acted in Seramyu; if you want an example, look no further than Yamato Yuuga (current Tuxedo Mask). On the other hand, these stage plays often serve these "c-grade celebs" as a platform to jump into more traditional acting roles, be it in Broadway adapted plays, movies or TV dramas. And I take a look to the roles in the articles listed in ANN and more often than not, the cast already has some experience at least in previous stage plays.

Now sure, anime stage plays rarely reach the production values of a Broadway or Takarazuka play (except, perhaps, the Sakura Wars ones) but then, they're usually not intended for a new audience. And fans generally react well to them, so cheap productions or not, I don't see why they can't have a chance for a video release overseas.
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#861208



Joined: 07 Oct 2016
Posts: 423
PostPosted: Sat Sep 23, 2017 8:58 am Reply with quote
kasumicc wrote:
And I take a look to the roles in the articles listed in ANN and more often than not, the cast already has some experience at least in previous stage plays.


Also a ton of famous seiyuu were in TeniMyu at some point.

KENN, Toshiyuki Toyonaga, Genki Okawa, Toshiyuki Someya, Kensho Ono, Mamoru Miyano, and Yoshihiko Aramaki, who I mentioned before. Also, I thought I saw something about Toshiki Masuda in one of them at some point, but I know he's been in [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKhOqc-gmOg]other stage plays[/url]. (Edit: found a video of him in TeniMyu, even though Wikipedia doesn't list him...)

Also, Shouta Aoi is in a bunch of stage plays.
The Royal Tutor had the whole main cast from the stage play as the voice actors for the anime as well (including Shouta Aoi <3) And they had the live ending that one time.

.... that really should just show how important these are to anime.

I really don't think the DVDs are supposed to just be souvenirs for people who saw the play. They're part of the series - you're supposed to collect them and put them on the shelf next to the anime, manga, CDs, etc., the collection isn't complete without them.
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Cordelia LeFay



Joined: 13 Sep 2011
Posts: 13
PostPosted: Sun Sep 24, 2017 7:47 am Reply with quote
I flew to Japan to see the new SeraMyu musical in 2013--I used to live in my Japan so I used that as an excuse to visit since I came back to the States. At that time, they did not have the subtitle glasses (that can display in English, Chinese and French) and overseas fans couldn't purchase tickets with a foreign credit card. Fast forward to 2015, I went to see Un Nouveau Voyage and they've finally gotten their crap together and they unveiled the subtitle glasses and now the Japan 2.5 Musical Association has a website in English where you can purchase the tickets with a foreign credit card. My friends and I joke that even these simple, logical changes probably took a huge effort by the theater and production company.

I've seen interviews where the people involved in SeraMyu are so excited to see foreigners at the shows--they wonder if they can sell the theater rights to troupes around the world. And we also know that they show SeraMyu performances in movie theaters in Japan as well as Hong Kong and Taiwan. I'm guessing the reason why we haven't had something similar in the States is because the business relationships are probably much easier to establish in those markets.

It would be amazing if Crunchyroll could stream it, but I'm not holding my breath. It's probably a logistical nightmare that no one wants to figure out. I do know that about 4,000 Sailor Moon fans tuned into hear about the new reboot---and that was at like 4am in 2012. So, I definitely think they could do some shows over here at least. They did some shows in Shanghai, but they haven't done any other foreign shows since (they've done promotional events in France and the United States, but not actual shows.) I'm guessing that these shows are so cheap to produce in Japan, it doesn't make financial sense to do them overseas.
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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
Posts: 13555
Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP
PostPosted: Sun Sep 24, 2017 9:42 am Reply with quote
samuelp wrote:
I can say that I've discussed licensing streaming rights for anime musicals (tenimyu, yowapedal) with the appropriate rights holder and the rights are available.

One issue is there are no final scripts. There is the play script but the performances often have adlibs and deviate from the original so that's a challenge but other than that I think it's just a matter of no one caring enough to try.
The mg needed is a little high to help cover the music rights cost but nothing too crazy.

I like how Sam is 1 of those people who can act as a medium between fan translators and rights holders.
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Sun Sep 24, 2017 2:08 pm Reply with quote
treeofjessie wrote:
for a small extra fee, they offered special glasses that would run subtitles (with several languages available, including english) along with the action so you could read along as the play happened live in front of you.


That's common in chain movie theaters for hearing-impaired audiences, but I hadn't heard it done yet for "supertitling" English subs in theatrical foreign-opera productions....Huh, that would be one way to do it. Confused
Up to now, big opera houses like Lincoln Center would project English lyrics on a screen over the stage, and that became common over the years for most smaller theaters as well.
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#861208



Joined: 07 Oct 2016
Posts: 423
PostPosted: Sun Sep 24, 2017 10:09 pm Reply with quote
EricJ2 wrote:

Up to now, big opera houses like Lincoln Center would project English lyrics on a screen over the stage, and that became common over the years for most smaller theaters as well.


The Met has subs on the backs of the seats. You press a button to pick a language.
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crosswithyou



Joined: 15 Dec 2007
Posts: 2892
Location: California
PostPosted: Sun Sep 24, 2017 11:27 pm Reply with quote
leafy sea dragon wrote:
Besides operas, are there many stage plays that do international tours?

I believe the Naruto stage plays had tours in Singapore.

Personally I'm not very interested in musicals or 2.5D stuff, but I do have friends who are all over it. I think it's still too niche to take the trouble to license and release internationally however. In order to get the rights, you may have to pay usage fees to the entire cast which could end up costing way more than what the release would sell.
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