Forum - View topicSentai Filmworks and the Non-Release of Licensed Bandai Titles?
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Ggultra2764
 Subscriber Posts: 3882 Location: New York state. |
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For context with anyone not in the know, may recall Bandai Entertainment ending their distribution of anime back in 2012 and much of their catalog getting license rescued by Funimation and Rightstuf. Sentai Filmworks had also acquired a number of titles from Bandai that included Big O, s-CRY-ed, Argento Soma, and Overman King Gainer. But outside of Big O, Sentai never released any of the remaining titles onto video or streamed them. Ever since, there's at least confirmation they no longer have the rights to s-CRY-ed and (as of today) Overman King Gainer with both now licensed by Discotek. Has there ever been an official reason confirmed as to why the majority of the old Bandai titles picked up by Sentai never got any kind of release by them?
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11300 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Not an official word, but here's a theory.
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Ggultra2764
Subscriber Posts: 3882 Location: New York state. |
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Interesting theory. But I guess the major question I'd have for that is what evidence is there to show for this? Don't recall Bandai getting in any kind of hot water with their dealings within the American anime distribution market from what I seen of them back in the day. Just sucks that I have to fish around online for some of their older titles, such as my recent snag of Brain Powered, because some sort of wrangling led those titles never to get a re-release under Sentai. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23781 |
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Yeah, I don't really buy the theory of Bandai not handing over the necessary materials to run the clock out on Sentai's license. The only thing that stops me from saying 100% that didn't happen is the anime world is weird, so Christ knows. It's been one of my pet peeves about the anime industry, both with Japanese companies and NA distributors. Way too often, they operate as black boxes where no information gets released. It's really effin' unprofessional, but we seem stuck with it, both because there is a tradition of secrecy in Japanese corporate culture and because for so long NA distribution was so niche that the companies involved didn't have to act like real companies and aped their Japanese exemplars.
Just one small recent example. Apparently, Golden Kamuy got delayed for months because of the death of a key member of the production. That person's name? Who knows because that information was never released. Only in the anime industry. |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9844 Location: Virginia |
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It is possible that Sentai only wanted to license the show they did release. They may have had to take the others as a package. If they never intended to rerelease those shows it would explain why they didn't make a fuss about not getting material from Bandai or who ever had it. None of the titles listed were exactly block busters.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23781 |
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I doubt that's the reason, either. Companies don't tend to announce they are going release titles unless they plan to, you know, actually release them. I think they did plan to release them and then something changed that made releasing them unviable. God knows what that is. Again, in a normal industry, there would have been an explanation. Sentai was run by John Ledford who I think was afraid that being informative would get him labelled as a competent professional and lawsy we couldn't have that.
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getchman
Space Cowboy Posts: 9120 Location: Bedford, NH |
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It did take some time for everything Funi got to finally be released. I'm willing to believe Bandai dragged their heels once the big money makers made it out.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23781 |
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But why? What's the logic of dragging its heels? |
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getchman
Space Cowboy Posts: 9120 Location: Bedford, NH |
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Given how long it has taken for folks affiliated with Discotek to find some of the old and obscure titles they managed to release, my thought is that the obscure titles sentai got were buried in a storage room somewhere and not properly archived. The big things like Geass, Bebop, Big O were probably treated better. If Bandai already got paid for everything then what's the incentive to find anything else once the big money makers are gone.
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Top Gun
 Posts: 4576 |
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I think Zalis116's post later in that thread might be closer to the truth. If you look at the lists of the titles that were announced as going to Funimation and Sentai, there's a pretty clear discrepancy. Funi wound up with all-time classics like Bebop, Outlaw Star, and Escaflowne, as well as the super-popular Code Geass, along with some lower-profile but still notable titles like My-Hime/Otome, Witch Hunter Robin, and Crest/Banner of the Stars. Almost all of those titles had aired on US cable TV at some point and were well known to fans.
In contrast, I'd argue that the only super-high profile series on the Sentai list was Big O, thanks to its run on OG Toonami and the second season being a much-hyped [adult swim] co-production. I don't think it's any coincidence that it's the only series that Sentai actually released. Out of the rest, s-CRY-ed might be the highest-profile title thanks to its own [as] run (massive shout-outs to Discotek for finally getting the BD out for all of us Reckless Fiyah fans), but once you get past that, the rest of the list starts getting much more obscure. And I'm not even saying they're all bad shows--I think Argento Soma and Infinite Ryvius were both great--but they just don't have the same name recognition as most of what Funi snagged. Maybe there were delays on Sunrise's part, and at some point Sentai figured they'd just cut their losses rather than trying to push out a bunch of rereleases that might not get too many eyeballs. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23781 |
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The incentive would be the legal obligation they would have under whatever contract they signed with Sentai. You can't just license a show and then not follow through with delivering whatever the license requires you to deliver. Or rather, you can, but then you are opening yourself to be sued for breach of contract. That makes me think that whatever the reason for the non-release of those titles, it was something that Sentai agreed with as opposed to, "welp, Bandai won't give us the materials we need so I guess we're screwed. Gee, we have no legal recourse whatsoever. Oh well, that's the way the cookie crumbles, I guess." |
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getchman
Space Cowboy Posts: 9120 Location: Bedford, NH |
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I saw his post too. His thoughts don't make any more sense than what I said. But im fine with that. I don't really need to know, especially after a decade
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9844 Location: Virginia |
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If I remember correctly, when Bandai sold the rights was a time of crisis and change for the anime industry. The same market forces that drove Bandai out of the US market would have effected Sentai as well. It is possible that when they got to looking at the shows to release they decided it wasn't worth the effort. On the off chance that things might improve they may have withheld comment until the license expired and then decided it wasn't worth mentioning.
As to the absence of material from Bandai, it is unnecessary to attribute to evil that which can be explained by incompetence. The material in question may have been in the possession of Bandai Entertainment and mislaid when they closed their US office. As you said these places work like black boxes. Unless an insider gives the full story we will never know. |
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