Aria punts into Rightstuf's harbour

Paul

Paul

Ghost of Animes
Administrator
Earlier in the week, Nozomi Entertainment (US anime publishing arm of Rightstuf International) <a href="http://www.animenation.net/blog/2008/05/02/nozomi-acquires-aria/">announced that they've acquired</a> the fan-favourite slice of life anime franchise <em><strong>Aria</strong></em>, starting with a box set release of all 13 episodes of the first series (<a href="http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=5504"><em><strong>Aria the Animation</strong></em></a>) on September 30th. Following that, Nozomi will then release <em><strong>Aria the Natural</strong></em> and <em><strong>Aria the Origination</strong></em>. As is the modern trend for relatively niche anime series in today's climate, no English dub will be produced for any of the <em>Aria </em>series.
 
Paul said:
As is the modern trend for relatively niche anime series in today's climate, no English dub will be produced for any of the <em>Aria </em>series.
Click to expand...
By this criteria then there shouldn't be anymore dubs except for "big" mainstream series like Naruto, or Mega-man in that case. Also whats with the "modern trend"? More like what goes round comes round, as it was the "modern trend" back in the late 80's. So it appears anime has advanced so far that it's gone back in time. There's progress for ya. I wonder what could have caused this? Hmmm.
 
Mohawk52 said:
Paul said:
As is the modern trend for relatively niche anime series in today's climate, no English dub will be produced for any of the <em>Aria </em>series.
Click to expand...
By this criteria then there shouldn't be anymore dubs except for "big" mainstream series like Naruto, or Mega-man in that case. Also whats with the "modern trend"? More like what goes round comes round, as it was the "modern trend" back in the late 80's. So it appears anime has advanced so far that it's gone back in time. There's progress for ya. I wonder what could have caused this? Hmmm.
Click to expand...
I thought that back in the 80's and much of the 90's we just got anime in often poorly dubbed English with at best loose translations of the original scripts?
 
I always thought Aria was quite popular - has been for years. I had seen images from the show before I was into anime.
 
I have been waiting for this ever since I read the Manga.

As for whether it is dubbed or not I am not really bothered, I like to watch most stuff dubbed but I can take it or leave it, just takes a little more concentration to read subs.
 
harkins said:
Mohawk52 said:
Paul said:
As is the modern trend for relatively niche anime series in today's climate, no English dub will be produced for any of the <em>Aria </em>series.
Click to expand...
By this criteria then there shouldn't be anymore dubs except for "big" mainstream series like Naruto, or Mega-man in that case. Also whats with the "modern trend"? More like what goes round comes round, as it was the "modern trend" back in the late 80's. So it appears anime has advanced so far that it's gone back in time. There's progress for ya. I wonder what could have caused this? Hmmm.
Click to expand...
I thought that back in the 80's and much of the 90's we just got anime in often poorly dubbed English with at best loose translations of the original scripts?
Click to expand...
If you got a dub on VHS back in the 80's, chances are it was a "fan-dub". Puts shivers down my spine just remembering that still. Professional dubs, as we know them today, didn't really take off until the mid to late 90's as the popularity of anime started taking off as well.
 
One of the things I read recently (maybe it was on Inside Anime) is that, on the odd occasion, an anime DVD might not out-sell the amount of review copies being dispatched for free. We're talking double digit sales figures here, which is quite shocking. Admittedly, that was being applied to the UK industry, but I doubt it's much better over in the US, and when you consider how much it actually costs to finance an English dub; you're on a hiding to nothing, basically.

Rightstuf's choices are clever in that they clearly research their niche titles and license the things they know people are desperate to buy, regardless of a dub or not. Aria won't jump off the shelves for the casual buyers, but no doubt, it'll sell well enough online; not that there's any chance of this ever seeing a UK release, mind.

@Mohawk52: I'm not old enough to remember the 80s ;) But anyway, I guess my modern comment is more related to the bilingual age of DVDs; that these publishers outright refuse to produce an English dub for financial reasons has to be something unique in this modern age and indicative of everything that's happened since the boom-time of the early/mid-00s and the rise of the internet.
 
Rightstuf's titles sell at least a thousand, as the first thousand people to preorder Emma got their name in the credits. I would assume they're expecting to get 1000 preorders, because they'd look pretty if not enough people preordered. And that's a very niche title.
 
Well Right Stuf might be making the fans who want this in any language very happy, but I'm sceptic that most of those fans have already seen the fansubs anyway and few will buy it because of that, so if they want to sell these to a wider market, they will have to dub them. One thing is clear for me. No dub, no deal. It concerns me that these anime companies will panic and start to pander more toward the impatient fans who will instinctively go for the fansub, neglecting those of us more patient, with the readies, but wanting a dub. These are uncertain times.
 
On pretty most every Anime Forum there is a thread for Subs or Dubs, and usually the majority even if it is quite small is towards subs. So I think Right Stuff are taking a slightly safer bet releasing sub only. They hope to pick up the sub only audience, those that are not bothered and some that may just want the show. And if it does not sell well they may just make their money back without the extra costs of producing a dub.

I am a little surprised however to see them release sub only stuff in the US maybe anime, because of it's fans does not suffer from the usual attitude of "I don't go to the cinema to read the movie", which sees many foreign films dubbed for the US audience.

Myself I like to see both a sub and a dub on a DVD, the technology allows it and it gives me a feeling that somebody has cared enough about the audience to do both. But if I want to see something I am not really that bothered what language it is in as long as the story line is good and comes across. Good can be good in any language conversely the same is true for crap.
 
Aria seems to me to have a small but fervently loyal fanbase - I'm sure it'll sell (I'll be one of those to pick it up, even if I have to resort to a R1 import) but certainly not enough to warrant a dub. Given the time and money that an English dub will require, it seems counter-productive - Right Stuf are taking a logical course of action I think because those of us who would buy this show on DVD won't be too bothered by dual language tracks at all.

I'm just glad it's licenced with a DVD release in the pipeline.
 
Back
Top