Beez Entertainment Discussion

[Ryo Chan]

Hi Andrew, this is one question I've never seen answered. I don't know if you or any one else will be able to answer it but I'll ask anyway.

Why has Dragonball/Z/GT never been released uncut over here?

Thanks

Easy, some french company owns the rights to the European release of DBZ dvds but refuses to sell it off to Funimation or anyone else, hence where the horribly dubbed movies we had released here came from

I see thats annoying...maybe when there licence runs out we can see some actual good releases of the series.

I don't know what the French release was like, but I know that Funimation's new boxsets that they claim to be 'remastered' are worse than the original by far.

looking at Amazon, they didn't even release the series in france

 

[beez_andrew]

Question: Are there any plans to release some Gundam boxsets?

Addium: especaily of the Seed Kind?

To answer both questions - box-wise - personally I would love to do something Gundam box wise, but right now I'm looking at the options. What I'd really like to do is as Gundam Seed is airing on TV soon to split the series into two digipacks like we did with .hack//SIGN (the 7 DVDs from the series + OVAs over two digipacks). So watch this space is all I can really say for now - as it's likely but not scheduled in quite yet.

 

[beez_andrew]

Did'nt Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke gross more in France than the UK and America?

I still think the UK market can be bigger than France, it just seems to be missing something.

I think the UK market has a lot of potential to grow in size - but the real problem that a lot of people miss is that while we may have had shows like The Moomins, Speed Racer and the like in one generation with Pokemon the following generation - in places like France anime arrived easily a decade+ earlier in the form of Goldorak (or UFO Robo Grendizer for those wanting Go Nagai's Japanese title for it).

That helped solidify anime in the mainstream in places like France and Italy as a whole generation of adults became very fond of anime, with that continuing on to the day both in DVD and manga form. With the help of fans both old and new - given the current influx of anime to TV then you can but hope things take off again!

So if we're missing anything tangible it may well be that feeling that anime has been around in the UK for 2 generations if that make sense?

 

[beez_andrew]

Hi Andrew, this is one question I've never seen answered. I don't know if you or any one else will be able to answer it but I'll ask anyway.

Why has Dragonball/Z/GT never been released uncut over here?

Thanks

Sadly there's a simple answer for that - basically it just wouldn't be profitable. If it had been released about 5 years ago then maybe there would have been a chance - but the crux of the issue is that the movies were released over here by one of the big studios and they shifted virtually no units. From there it came to common sense logic that if a big studio with muscle-power couldn't shift any after a TV airing of the series then the odds of shifting the series was also low sadly!

As with other older titles though this one does have some nostalgia value so you never know - stranger things have happened!

 

[beez_andrew]

Hi Andrew,

I must say an absolutely massive thank you for replying on behalf of everyone here as well, and you replied in such large quantity, thanks a lot for spending the time to do that! This is the first step to a great thing indeed! Also, there's absolutely no need to apologize about being late to reply, it must be a very busy job indeed and I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say this is greatly appreciated!

EDIT: I'll change the title of this topic, and hope it gets stickied.

Not a problem - it's a pleasure to be able to answer these questions . Fingers crossed they are comprehensive enough for everyone too!

Thanks for getting it stickied too - makes it easier to keep tabs on!

 

[beez_andrew]

Hi Andrew, this is one question I've never seen answered. I don't know if you or any one else will be able to answer it but I'll ask anyway.

Why has Dragonball/Z/GT never been released uncut over here?

Thanks

Easy, some french company owns the rights to the European release of DBZ dvds but refuses to sell it off to Funimation or anyone else, hence where the horribly dubbed movies we had released here came from

Afraid that's not the case to my knowledge (having checked on it a year or so back) - though I'd be interested to hear where you heard that one .

 

[beez_andrew]

Thatks for answering questions. It's always nice to get replies from people actually involved.

This is probably a long shot but I'm going to ask anyway. Is there a chance that Beez could get some UK licences for either Movies, TV Series, TV Specials or OAVs in the Lupin the Third franchise. It's a fantastic franchise and is sorely overlooked in the UK. Out of 30 years worth of material only 3 DVD releases exist in the UK, it's rather tragic for such a classic.

Hi Sy,

Not a problem at all - it's nice to be able to talk directly for a change too !

Lupin is definitely a classic title - though unfortunately it's just not established enough in the UK to stand up to the waves of new series coming out on a monthly basis from companies now! Again though stranger things have happened than someone acquiring it though - but I would be surprised if it was announced anytime soon .

 

[Noratav]

Hi Andrew, this is one question I've never seen answered. I don't know if you or any one else will be able to answer it but I'll ask anyway.

Why has Dragonball/Z/GT never been released uncut over here?

Thanks

Easy, some french company owns the rights to the European release of DBZ dvds but refuses to sell it off to Funimation or anyone else, hence where the horribly dubbed movies we had released here came from

I see thats annoying...maybe when there licence runs out we can see some actual good releases of the series.

I don't know what the French release was like, but I know that Funimation's new boxsets that they claim to be 'remastered' are worse than the original by far.

looking at Amazon, they didn't even release the series in france

As far as I'm aware the only European country in which the series has been released is Spain.

 

[SetoChaos]

Hi Andrew, this is one question I've never seen answered. I don't know if you or any one else will be able to answer it but I'll ask anyway.

Why has Dragonball/Z/GT never been released uncut over here?

Thanks

Easy, some french company owns the rights to the European release of DBZ dvds but refuses to sell it off to Funimation or anyone else, hence where the horribly dubbed movies we had released here came from

I see thats annoying...maybe when there licence runs out we can see some actual good releases of the series.

I don't know what the French release was like, but I know that Funimation's new boxsets that they claim to be 'remastered' are worse than the original by far.

I know that, but I was just hoping for some hope that it could be released in the US and one day here properly for once. That series deserves it, but has never gotten it.

 

[Sy]

Thatks for answering questions. It's always nice to get replies from people actually involved.

This is probably a long shot but I'm going to ask anyway. Is there a chance that Beez could get some UK licences for either Movies, TV Series, TV Specials or OAVs in the Lupin the Third franchise. It's a fantastic franchise and is sorely overlooked in the UK. Out of 30 years worth of material only 3 DVD releases exist in the UK, it's rather tragic for such a classic.

Hi Sy,

Not a problem at all - it's nice to be able to talk directly for a change too !

Lupin is definitely a classic title - though unfortunately it's just not established enough in the UK to stand up to the waves of new series coming out on a monthly basis from companies now! Again though stranger things have happened than someone acquiring it though - but I would be surprised if it was announced anytime soon .

I can understand why companys might see licencing Lupin as a daunting task because it's been going so long but I think that if it were handled correctly then we could at least get some decent releases of some of the movies or specials.

One of the main things to note is every aspect of the franchise stands alone. No prior knowledge about anything Lupin is need for somebody to enjoy part of the franchise. I think one of the main things that put people off watching Lupin is the fact that the amount of material is so immense and they think they would have to watch it all to get a clear picture but that's not the case at all.

I think that if a company put out one or two Lupin releases as sort of a test run then it might spark peoples interests in the franchise and if those sell well then who knows. The thing is that what is chosen has to be chosen carefully because in the past some of the more unpopular Lupin incartnations have been haphazardly released over here(like Legend of the Gold Babylon, one of the least popular films in the franchise). A good start for a company to begin releasing Lupin I feel would be the 1987 movie 'The Fuma Conspiracy' which was released by 'The Western Connection' on VHS years ago. An English dubbed version of the movie exists and is a good representation of the Lupin franchise with fluid animation, a solid story and some good humour to back it up.

Other strong movie that has a popular fanbase are 'Farewell to Nostradamus' which although has been released by Funimation in the US has not seen a UK release as of yet. I think this is another good example of Lupin and perhaps along with Fuma would be a good place to introduce the UK. Maybe if the fact that it's Lupin III is downplayed then people might be more interested to look into them as stand alone films?

A good run of Lupin expose to the UK would probably best be seen with the 2001 to 2007 TV specials which saw Lupin enter into the digital era and could appeal to a newer fanbase. Sadly these havent even had a US release and therefore have no English dub so I don't see this as possible.

Lupin hasn't really been given a proper chance in the UK and needs some time to shine. If released correctly with some decent promotion then it might do well.

Ah well just my thoughts. Please give it some consideration because although it may seen like a risk at first when you look into it it might not turn out to be as risky as it first seemed.

 

[J_C_X]

Do you think it would be wise to tie anime in with asian cinema? The market for asian cinema is quite large even my local Blockbuster has an asian cinema section. It just viewed as kiddie like in the UK which seems to be a huge problem.

JRPG market in the UK is much stronger than in France or Italy, do you think that some anime distributors have failed to take advantage of this?

http://uk.gamespot.com/ps2/rpg/finalfan ... id=6166461

Don't you view articles like this as potential?

 

[CitizenGeek]

Do you think it would be wise to tie anime in with asian cinema? The market for asian cinema is quite large even my local Blockbuster has an asian cinema section. It just viewed as kiddie like in the UK which seems to be a huge problem.

JRPG market in the UK is much stronger than in France or Italy, do you think that some anime distributors have failed to take advantage of this?

http://uk.gamespot.com/ps2/rpg/finalfan ... id=6166461

Don't you view articles like this as potential?

Well, the videogame market in general is gargantuan compared to the anime market. I think there is some potential in the JRPG market, but not too much. I mean, no JRPG besides Final Fantasy stands a chance of even getting into the top 10 (unless it's marketed like crazy, like Blue Dragon).

 

[J_C_X]

Didn't Dragon Quest (it was translated in the UK) top the charts or did it enter the top 10? Z.O.E topped the charts when it was released probably due to the "free" MGS demo. You could argue that very few JRPG's perform in the US charts as well.

Asian cinema market in the UK is relatively large. It's funny when you enter HMV the anime section is nowhere near the asian cinema section in my view that's just plain wrong.

 

[CitizenGeek]

Didn't Dragon Quest (it was translated in the UK) top the charts or did it enter the top 10? Z.O.E topped the charts when it was released probably due to the "free" MGS demo. You could argue that very few JRPG's perform in the US charts as well.

Asian cinema market in the UK is relatively large. It's funny when you enter HMV the anime section is nowhere near the asian cinema section in my view that's just plain wrong.

Nope, I'm pretty certain that DQ peaked at 19 on the UK charts. Z.O.E isn't a JRPG, and it did pretty much top the charts just because of the MGS2 demo. I never said JRPGs do better in the US, they don't.

 

[SetoChaos]

Thanks for the reply Andrew. I didn't see the fifth page when I posted my previous post hence not thanking you before. Personally I don't think they sold well because of lack of subtitled version and some of the worst voice acting I've come accross. FUNimations version is a lot better. But either way if risk is the general problem then I guess it probably wouldn't be given another chance being such a big series...oh well.

 

[Ryo Chan]

Hi Andrew, this is one question I've never seen answered. I don't know if you or any one else will be able to answer it but I'll ask anyway.

Why has Dragonball/Z/GT never been released uncut over here?

Thanks

Easy, some french company owns the rights to the European release of DBZ dvds but refuses to sell it off to Funimation or anyone else, hence where the horribly dubbed movies we had released here came from

Afraid that's not the case to my knowledge (having checked on it a year or so back) - though I'd be interested to hear where you heard that one .

Ah my info was from about 3 years ago, so no idea if it's changed since then, found it out from the HQ after ordering some more DVD's for Toys'r'us XD

 

[J_C_X]

If one of the major terrestial broadcasters did anime segment, I think that would really help. Such shows like Japanorama are scratching the surface. All it takes is Jonathan Ross to host a slot lol.

 

[melonpan]

All it takes is Jonathan Ross to host a slot lol.

I agree with that : p.

Also on your RPG marketing thing, I think that'd be an incredible idea if it worked, but there's not really much way to do it, there are relatively few games that are related to a specific anime.. you can't just market a random unrelated anime to a game. Besides, Bandai already marketed the .hack anime when they released the 4 part game. That's as far as I can see it going though. Unless of course a surge of Japanese anime games gets released, but let's face it - that's never going to happen.

 

[J_C_X]

Depends really, Final Fantasy: AC entered the top 10 DVD's as did the Spirits Within movie. Final Fantasy VII: the Last Order could and should be a hit anime, if a digital channel nabbed this I'm sure the numbers would be good.

If the Fullmetal Alchemist PS2 games were released here I'm sure there would be a surge of interest in the anime, probaly becuase the SquareEnix logo.

 

[hopeful_monster]

Wow, you've posted more here than on your own forum.

hmm, OK, from what I know about bits and bobs, last I spoke to Andrew Beez were looking at Haruhi but it's a really expensive licence, not only is it a big up front cost it also has a condition of monthly guaranteed returns attached. Since the Haruhi fanbase is still very small in the UK it's pretty much priced her out of the market for the moment

That's definitely true - that being said at Amecon I asked a room full of fans and got a distinctly uninterested response regarding Haruhi - which surprised me for sure. But hey - personally I am a fan of the show and nothing is ever set in stone!

Think the thing is that it was really big when it came out in Japan and also when the US it made a big splash. Problem with the UK is that a lot of us have heard all the hype about it but haven't see it and the lag between the US and UK releases has dulled the fans. I've heard how brilliant it is, that I have to watch it, but the hype has put me off a bit and the fact that comedy is a very hit or miss genre. Also the fact that i can't get hold of it without breaking the code of fansubs or getting it from the states, neither of which is something I'm keen to do. While those that have seen it want to get it, those that haven't (ie the majority) are not as fussed.