UK Anime Distributor Crunchyroll/Funimation/Manga UK Discussion Thread

Jon O Fun said:
So the Japanese License holder Licensed the Manga UK dub to Discotek but not to Manga UK... šŸ˜‚ either Discotek paid more money or Manga UK really annoyed someone!
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I think what used to be Manga Video (who created all these dubs and produced films like Ghost in the Shell), which became Manga Entertainment, which itself became Manga Entertainment UK and Manga Entertainment US. Somewhere down the line the whole thing split and got sold off in different directions, leading to the current state of affairs where Manga US is owned by Lionsgate, while Manga UK is ultimately owned by Sony,

I suspect that all the old Manga Video assets, including the rights to Ghost in the Shell from the movie to SAC are owned by Lionsgate, and Manga UK have to licence all that stuff.
 
Jon O Fun said:
So the Japanese License holder Licensed the Manga UK dub to Discotek but not to Manga UK... šŸ˜‚ either Discotek paid more money or Manga UK really annoyed someone!
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Discotek apparently worked really hard to acquire the Manga UK dub so it's probably more complicated than it sounds.
 
NormanicGrav said:
Discotek apparently worked really hard to acquire the Manga UK dub so it's probably more complicated than it sounds.
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I remember a long time ago reading/hearing possibly in an article or podcast someone talking about licensed materials, I don't know why but it might have been in relation to Magical Index.
But it was said once any material is created for a release it belongs to the licensor, so for example Funimation create a dub for Index so the licencee can then get access to said dub normally by going through Funimation as its easier but if they wanted to be dicks they could say no so the company would have to go through the Japanese License holder who'd provide them a copy but take much longer.

So I assume Discotek had to spend a lot of time and effort sourcing the dub maybe not from Japan but from a fan or something that had a copy but once that's sourced wouldn't they have to turn that over to the licensor? At which point Manga could have gone through them to gain access right?

*all of this could have been completely misremembered so anyone with more insight please feel free to correct me šŸ˜‚
 
JP licensors get the rights hence why they can appear on JP BDs so as yes manga in 2020 isnā€™t manga of the 90s I can see them having to relicense it but so would have assumed Discotek would have opened the path to make it easier for manga to get it.
 
I think the more interesting part of Manga UK's response, is that the British dub supposedly wasn't available for them to license, considering that Discotek managed to include it on their release.

My honest suspicion, is that Manga UK simply weren't supplied with the British dub, and for whatever reason, didn't ask. I have no evidence to support that though - just that it's weird how Discotek were given the greenlight to include it, but Manga UK seemingly weren't (but this is anime licensing, though, so who knows?)
 
Joshawott said:
I think the more interesting part of Manga UK's response, is that the British dub supposedly wasn't available for them to license, considering that Discotek managed to include it on their release.

My honest suspicion, is that Manga UK simply weren't supplied with the British dub, and for whatever reason, didn't ask. I have no evidence to support that though - just that it's weird how Discotek were given the greenlight to include it, but Manga UK seemingly weren't (but this is anime licensing, though, so who knows?)
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My honest suspicion is it would've taken them time to get the dub and NUMBEROUS emails to people which would have maybe even have to delay the release.

Tl;dr 'ahhhhhh effort' šŸ™ƒ

But like you say licensing is funny and could be completely out of their control...
 
Jon O Fun said:
I remember a long time ago reading/hearing possibly in an article or podcast someone talking about licensed materials, I don't know why but it might have been in relation to Magical Index.
But it was said once any material is created for a release it belongs to the licensor, so for example Funimation create a dub for Index so the licencee can then get access to said dub normally by going through Funimation as its easier but if they wanted to be dicks they could say no so the company would have to go through the Japanese License holder who'd provide them a copy but take much longer.

So I assume Discotek had to spend a lot of time and effort sourcing the dub maybe not from Japan but from a fan or something that had a copy but once that's sourced wouldn't they have to turn that over to the licensor? At which point Manga could have gone through them to gain access right?

*all of this could have been completely misremembered so anyone with more insight please feel free to correct me šŸ˜‚
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Exactly! It was when Animatsu launched with their announcement of Index. Manga wanted to have it before hand but they could not licence it because it was owned by a Starz competitor (Universal?). MVM did not licence it either because, I think, the existing BD were locked and they did not want to pay a new authoring. As AL was not interested, the title was stuck in limbo. As Animatsu was independant, they could acquire it.

Just Passing Through probably summarised the situation. The cascade of acquisition by numerous company of Manga probably made them to loose the rights and access to their old productions.
If the dub is presently owned by Lionsgate, I would bet that neither want to hear about each other.
 
Apologies for something not particularly currently but Iā€™ve picked up what was meant to be the limited edition of DanMachi S1 from Zavvi but it looks like a regular release with no o-card and only says combo pack on the blu-ray banner at the top instead of limited edition. But googling around doesnā€™t actually seems to show any results for a non-limited edition that I can see.
Whatā€™s going on? Was this release just a mess?
 
This is what my copy looks like, picked it up about a year or 2 back in HMV
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Also comes with a poster inside the amaray case.
D3730432-F3F0-455F-B8E6-43FD2BAE71DE.jpeg
The same thing happened to me recently with Amagi Brilliant Park tho, bought it from UP1, ā€œcollectorā€™s editionā€ I think it was listed as, same with Amazon and Zavvi but when it arrived it didnā€™t have any of the stuff listed in the description. Just a standard BD+DVD release, which was a bit disappointing since I was expecting something like this DanMachi set.
 
Ah, see Iā€™ve just got the amaray on the left of your photo. Havenā€™t opened it up yet to check for a poster since Iā€™ve emailed Zavvi asking whatā€™s going on. Though itā€™s listed as oos now so guess Iā€™ll have to get it somewhere else anyway
 
Checking Amazon reviews for Amagi and DanMachi, few folks saying the same thing, no collectors edition stuff to be found. And evidently UP1 have this buried at the bottom of their description on both:
Please Note: Current stock no longer comes with slip cover
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Feel like this should be at the top and highlighted in bold tbh.
 
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