Beez Licensing announcements for Amecon 2010.

[DanM]

Im hoping for lucky star, as i never got round to watching it.

 

[BAKA]

Woo Lucky Star all but confirmed! I'm glad I didn't give up hope.

 

[Rob F1UK]

Nozomi/Right Stuff has licenced SoRaNoWoTo. I can't recall any Nozomi titles that are licened over here.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... o-utena-tv

Beez have already announced it for a German release, so it is a good possibility with them already working once before.

http://www.animeuknews.net/news/2199/so ... ed-by-beez

My Guess

1. Shana of the Burning Eyes (released the same year and sounds similar)
2. SoRaNoWoTo
3. Lucky Stars
4. Big O

I'll go with Lucky Star and the Big O, but Shana of the Burning Eyes - aka Shakugan no Shana? If so, then MVM have already released the first series here, and FUNi have announced the licensing for movie, second series and OVA (presumably still via Geneon) in the US. I'd assume MVM would have dibs on that, and if not, Manga UK. Still, it hasn't even been dubbed yet, I doubt Beez would have that at all.

 

[Neferpitou]

Nozomi/Right Stuff has licenced SoRaNoWoTo. I can't recall any Nozomi titles that are licened over here.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... o-utena-tv

Beez have already announced it for a German release, so it is a good possibility with them already working once before.

http://www.animeuknews.net/news/2199/so ... ed-by-beez

My Guess

1. Shana of the Burning Eyes (released the same year and sounds similar)
2. SoRaNoWoTo
3. Lucky Stars
4. Big O

I'll go with Lucky Star and the Big O, but Shana of the Burning Eyes - aka Shakugan no Shana? If so, then MVM have already released the first series here, and FUNi have announced the licensing for movie, second series and OVA (presumably still via Geneon) in the US. I'd assume MVM would have dibs on that, and if not, Manga UK. Still, it hasn't even been dubbed yet, I doubt Beez would have that at all.

The clue said a film released in 2007 that sounded like Sword of the Stranger and was closest match to those I could find those was Shana of the Burning Eyes. Been released Sub only is an option now in UK. It's not necessary that the company who released the previous series in the UK will get the second series. Oh My Goddess First series MVM But the second MANGA UK.

 

[JohnC]

I love how #4 caught everyone out :lol:

Still, interesting lineup, depending on release details.

Just noticed mention of Kaiba being doubtful. I can understand why. I loved it, but it probably is a bit niche.

 

[Reevothemusefan]

Well I got Lucky Star at least , I seem to forget that Sonawoto is a music anime, I tend to think of more as a war one.

 

[fabio de lunatico]

I'm not sure it's necessary to have separate threads for each of the four licenses (/headache), so I'm confining my posts to this one.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Space
This one's a yes. If Beez offer some nice packaging I'll take their release over Bandai's (who these days shove everything in bricks).

Soranowoto
This one's a maybe. Nozomi's packaging (thinpaks w/sturdy artbox) might make their release a more attractive proposition.

Lucky Star
Nope.

Outlaw Star
If Beez can get their hands on remastered materials, I'm in.

 

[Jaymii]

Awesome, I was choosing one to post in. Not a bad selection, so I think The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Lucky Star could be likely purchases for me - LS more so.

I'd also love to see Andrew's MyAnimeList. He seemingly watches everything.

 

[Shiroi Hane]

I forgot Andrew had already confirmed Big O.

 

[Rob F1UK]

Nozomi/Right Stuff has licenced SoRaNoWoTo. I can't recall any Nozomi titles that are licened over here.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... o-utena-tv

Beez have already announced it for a German release, so it is a good possibility with them already working once before.

http://www.animeuknews.net/news/2199/so ... ed-by-beez

My Guess

1. Shana of the Burning Eyes (released the same year and sounds similar)
2. SoRaNoWoTo
3. Lucky Stars
4. Big O

I'll go with Lucky Star and the Big O, but Shana of the Burning Eyes - aka Shakugan no Shana? If so, then MVM have already released the first series here, and FUNi have announced the licensing for movie, second series and OVA (presumably still via Geneon) in the US. I'd assume MVM would have dibs on that, and if not, Manga UK. Still, it hasn't even been dubbed yet, I doubt Beez would have that at all.

The clue said a film released in 2007 that sounded like Sword of the Stranger and was closest match to those I could find those was Shana of the Burning Eyes. Been released Sub only is an option now in UK. It's not necessary that the company who released the previous series in the UK will get the second series. Oh My Goddess First series MVM But the second MANGA UK.

Perhaps, but you also overlook the fact that MVM typically release most Geneon licenced series in the UK, I believe, or would be led to believe they have their own agreement with them. Also, on the subject of Ah! My Goddess, as the series it titled, Manga UK are releasing it now, but ADV had the initial UK rights, before running into their well known troubles. Manga only picked it up then, after FUNi presumably "saved" it from ADV. I'd agree on the point of a sequel series not always being released by the same company here in the UK, but going on recent trends, I'd say its much more likely that MVM or on the off chance Manga will release those titles here. Beez tend to focus mostly on Bandai titles (obviously), with the odd other release creeping in here and there.

Finally, releasing a title here with subtitles only, has also always been a possibility here (see Only Yesterday, Ocean Waves, and Jin-Roh, Tokyo Godfathers, I beleive) but in order to gain the most sales possible, the better business strategy would always be to release with a dub too. I assume you made that comment due to Durarara!! Beez understand this, as although Durarara!! is being released sub only first, they are following it up with a dub release later.

 

[Project-2501]

I have to say I do not understand Beez logic here. If I wanted to watch Drrr in sub only I can already do that legally and free, or for a fee that is less than the price of buying the sets I can see it in better than PAL resolution. Same can be said for Soranowoto.

For me to buy these series they need to offer something more than I can get at the moment. Better quality or additional features such as a dub or ideally both.

Releasing it twice means one of the releases will very likely sell badly IMO.

 

[fabio de lunatico]

Releasing it twice means one of the releases will very likely sell badly IMO.

This is what I fear will happen. Personally I think Beez would be better off waiting until the dub is available, but they seem set on the idea of beating Aniplex to the punch. Time will tell whether it's the right strategy, I suppose.

 

[ayase]

The only reason I can think for there not being more HD releases* (which would give people a real reason to buy over streaming) is lack of adoption amongst the consumer. Though given the fact that anime fans are probably one of the groups most likely to own a PS3 I'm not sure it would be as great a risk as some might think. Personally I couldn't care less about dubs or most special features; they don't influence my purchasing choices at all. Video, audio and packaging quality most certainly do. All I want is the original show, presented in the best quality available.








*Which I would personally love and happily consume. My bank balance is actually increasing in size for the first time in years, primarily because I've stopped buying DVDs almost entirely in anticipation of BD releases which... don't seem to be materialising.

 

[fabio de lunatico]

I wonder how sales for the few simultaneous DVD/BD anime releases thus far have been split. That Manga have more BDs on their schedule is a positive sign, but I get the impression we're some way behind the US, where Funimation and Sentai are releasing a lot of shows on BD. Mostly region locked, naturally.

 

[Project-2501]

Would be interesting to know how well GITS2.0 and Innocence sold on BD. Also the Eureka Seven movie is coming out on BD pretty soon.

BD region locking isn't the hardest thing to get around, although all those PS3 owners are stuck. You can get a DVD/BD region switchable player for sub £100.

 

[Neferpitou]

Perhaps, but you also overlook the fact that MVM typically release most Geneon licenced series in the UK, I believe, or would be led to believe they have their own agreement with them. Also, on the subject of Ah! My Goddess, as the series it titled, Manga UK are releasing it now, but ADV had the initial UK rights, before running into their well known troubles. Manga only picked it up then, after FUNi presumably "saved" it from ADV. I'd agree on the point of a sequel series not always being released by the same company here in the UK, but going on recent trends, I'd say its much more likely that MVM or on the off chance Manga will release those titles here. Beez tend to focus mostly on Bandai titles (obviously), with the odd other release creeping in here and there.

Finally, releasing a title here with subtitles only, has also always been a possibility here (see Only Yesterday, Ocean Waves, and Jin-Roh, Tokyo Godfathers, I beleive) but in order to gain the most sales possible, the better business strategy would always be to release with a dub too. I assume you made that comment due to Durarara!! Beez understand this, as although Durarara!! is being released sub only first, they are following it up with a dub release later.

The way its looking now if MANGA or BEEZ really want a title then MVM have little chance of competing. Also a lot of titles are having their UK right brought by Funimation so they can decide who ever they want to give the UK rights too. BEEZ are releasing quite few titles that aren't been released by BANDAI USA these days.

BEEZ were very prepared to release it SUB only. Its only getting a DUB release after now as it was announced in USA with DUB before Beez could even start release the title in the UK. If Durarara! was announced in America after Durarara had already been released in it entirety over here by BEEZ it would be unlikely they would release a DUB version later on.

We have to wait and see but there is a chance that Sora no Woto and The Girl Who Leapt Through Space maybe SUB only releases. I have yet to see anything confirming a DUB on these upcoming USA releases.

BEEZ often to sell Anime DVD's to countries in Europe only providing Japaneses with Subtitles. These countries are willing to watch it SUB only so why not the UK? Sure its experiment as it may not work but it worth a go If it means it can speed up the process of getting series from Japan to the UK.

 

[Shiroi Hane]

From the UKATV interview with Manga at the MCM:

How are Manga's Blu-Ray releases selling compared to the same titles on DVD? Is Blu-Ray going to become an even bigger part of Manga's strategy going forward?

The best example of our Blu-Ray business was the recent Evangelion 1.11 release. We saw the first week of over the counter sales results - that's mainly HMV, HMV.com, Play.com, Amazon and Forbidden Planet - we actually sold about 3,000 copies in a week which is really great for an anime in the UK, and about 60% of that was Blu-Ray. So, the Blu-Ray outsold the DVD; that's the first release we've had that's done that. Devil May Cry is about 50:50 on Blu-Ray to DVD sales.

The non-anime titles we've released with our sister label Anchor Bay - Dead Space: Downfall, that's about 50:50 and Dante's Inferno again is about a 50:50 DVD to Blu-Ray split. Because those are based on PlayStation 3 games, obviously the owners of the games are buying the film for PS3, and I think also the anime fans are early adopters of PlayStation 3, Blu-Ray technology and High Definition TVs, so they're the type of audience that are already set up to play Blu-Ray. I think we're offering a good price comparison between DVD and Blu-Ray - We offer Blu-Ray at a slightly premium price, but we're not asking too much extra.

I think for the future we'll continue to see Blu-Ray selling at the same level as DVD, and slowly I would think it'll probably take over.

http://www.uk-anime.net/articles/UKATV_ ... May_2010/3

--edit: missed something out, and got sniped--

Perhaps, but you also overlook the fact that MVM typically release most Geneon licenced series in the UK, I believe, or would be led to believe they have their own agreement with them.

I seem to recall a fair few coming from ADV International (Last Exile and Hellsing for example). More recently Manga managed to get Hellsing Ultimate. There'd not been much movement on Geneon-owned properties between the closure of Geneon USA/merger with Universal and the announcements at Anime Expo.

BEEZ were very prepared to release it SUB only. Its only getting a DUB release after now as it was announced in USA with DUB before Beez could even start release the title in the UK. If Durarara! was announced in America after Durarara had already been released in it entirety over here by BEEZ it would be unlikely they would release a DUB version later on.

Actually, what Andrew actually said at the Expo is the exact opposite:

After so many years of dubbed anime being the de facto standard, what was the thinking behind making the move to a subtitle-only release with Durarara?

For Durarara it was completely different. Companies like Sentai Filmworks have been doing subtitle-only anime because it's cheaper to do; in our case it's really just because we would normally wait for a US dub, but to be honest the thing that's really swayed us on this is things like Baccano and Eden of the East, which were licensed over a year before they're getting a DVD release - In Baccano's case it still hasn't been released in the UK, it's only just been sub-licensed by Manga.

So, we decided it was better to take a risk and license Durarara straight from Japan and either create or use the subtitle track that's already been created and get it out to the fans quickly. In return though, what we'll do is that, as we understand that dubs are important to fans and we like them as well to be honest, if a dub becomes available from the USA later we will of course pay the material access fee and create a new set, and anyone whose upgraded (from the subtitled to dubbed release) early we will try our best to secure some sort of upgrade scheme where they pay a nominal fee to help cover the materials access cost for the dub and shipping out a new disc, and we'll ship them fresh discs - That's the idea.

 

[Neferpitou]

BEEZ were very prepared to release it SUB only. Its only getting a DUB release after now as it was announced in USA with DUB before Beez could even start release the title in the UK. If Durarara! was announced in America after Durarara had already been released in it entirety over here by BEEZ it would be unlikely they would release a DUB version later on.

Actually, what Andrew actually said at the Expo is the exact opposite:

After so many years of dubbed anime being the de facto standard, what was the thinking behind making the move to a subtitle-only release with Durarara?

For Durarara it was completely different. Companies like Sentai Filmworks have been doing subtitle-only anime because it's cheaper to do; in our case it's really just because we would normally wait for a US dub, but to be honest the thing that's really swayed us on this is things like Baccano and Eden of the East, which were licensed over a year before they're getting a DVD release - In Baccano's case it still hasn't been released in the UK, it's only just been sub-licensed by Manga.

So, we decided it was better to take a risk and license Durarara straight from Japan and either create or use the subtitle track that's already been created and get it out to the fans quickly. In return though, what we'll do is that, as we understand that dubs are important to fans and we like them as well to be honest, if a dub becomes available from the USA later we will of course pay the material access fee and create a new set, and anyone whose upgraded (from the subtitled to dubbed release) early we will try our best to secure some sort of upgrade scheme where they pay a nominal fee to help cover the materials access cost for the dub and shipping out a new disc, and we'll ship them fresh discs - That's the idea.

On the Manga interview they said the following:

Something's got to give in the market, because there's a demand from the fans that do want to buy the DVDs and Blu-Rays who don't necessarily care if its got a dub, and it's very hard to tell if there's enough of them to make it feasible. Ultimately the authoring costs of producing a Blu-Ray or DVD and the manufacturing costs of making the finished discs and packaging is the same whether its dubbed and subbed or sub-only or dub-only, so it's highly unlikely that a company like Manga would ever come back to a show twice with the same programme with a dub later on. You get one shot at it, don't you? We're not going to want to spend the marketing and advertising money twice on the same film, and also the retailers are only going to give us one chance to put that film out as a new release at full price, so you have to be very careful.

If Manga can't see it been viable choice when their sales are many times that of Beez in the English market. I can't see Beez being able to fund the extra cost for a DUB release for small group of buyers when the majority of people who really wanted it already brought it.

BEEZ probably said that in the sense of if before or they are just about to release Durarara! that if it gets a English DUB then they will create a DUB version as well. Not when it already past it best potential sales point.

 

[beez_andrew]

I have to say I do not understand Beez logic here. If I wanted to watch Drrr in sub only I can already do that legally and free, or for a fee that is less than the price of buying the sets I can see it in better than PAL resolution. Same can be said for Soranowoto.

It's funny - replace legal and free with fansubs and its the same argument that others have used for years. Point is that people will always prefer a physical copy of the show over something with adverts in between - it's the same argument as to why people buy TV shows that are available. Fans just haven't had a legal method to watch before for anime.

You also don't get to *keep* those files when you stop paying your fee, hence why the price is a bit less. As is at £24.99 per third of the series will be £15 online is not so much when you think that I'm not going to take the DVDs back after you cancel your fee.

For me to buy these series they need to offer something more than I can get at the moment. Better quality or additional features such as a dub or ideally both.

Releasing it twice means one of the releases will very likely sell badly IMO.

Here's how the magic works:

1) If you are a sub only fan you get to buy the whole series for £45 online (or £75) in the *same* quality of release as Gurren Lagann or Code Geass but before anyone else has a physical copy outside of the Japanese version.

2) If you care and want a dub version we'll arrange an upgrade scheme for people who purchased the volumes. This will work via the Beez Shop. You pay £4.99-6.99 maximum or so to cover shipping + replication cost + dub for the cost.

Alternatively you'll just have to wait in line with the US 1/3rd sets then which is perfectly fair too ideally with our releases of it!

Ultimately nobody is losing out - including Beez. This is being done with a limited volume of sub-only per initial release and it won't be for everyone. But I hope people will support this release and give it the full support I believe it deserves!

There's an option for everyone here and we've listened to what you said and are working with it .

We can make it work by doing it as a limited test this time and by being very clever with how we crafted the release.

Anyway - whatever people feel like purchasing for Durarara I hope you make it a Beez version as I am personally putting a LOT of effort into making this release work for you guys !

All the best and as ever your comments and feedback is greatly welcome. It's your comments that made £24.99 a reality for the sub only release too guys .

As ever, any questions or such do fire 'em my way

Andrew

 

[Project-2501]

It's funny - replace legal and free with fansubs and its the same argument that others have used for years. Point is that people will always prefer a physical copy of the show over something with adverts in between - it's the same argument as to why people buy TV shows that are available. Fans just haven't had a legal method to watch before for anime.

Fansubs are also the arguement used by some distros as to why DVD sales are poor. If illegal online watching hurts sales then isn't legal online watching going to do the same?

Yes a lot of people like physical media, I'm very much one of those people and my shelves are getting rather full, but now there are options I have to think a bit harder. I think I've rewatched about 10% of my collection. Its a lot of ££ sat gathering dust.

Its certainly a different idea, I'll give you that!