Manga UK = Funimation/Madman?

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Neferpitou

Stand User
Manga UK have been no question the biggest distributor of Anime in the UK since their formation. But looking at Anime Schedule on our site, it seems that the vast majority of upcoming Anime release are from Manga UK.

Manga UK seem to have become the UK version equivalent of USA's Funimation or Australia's Madman Entertainment in the recent years. What are peoples feelings on the current market share that Manga UK has? Would you rather have more companies competing or would you prefer having just one company distributing the majority of Anime in the UK?
 
Neferpitou said:
Manga UK have been no question the biggest distributor of Anime in the UK since their formation. But looking at Anime Schedule on our site, it seems that the vast majority of upcoming Anime release are from Manga UK.

Manga UK seem to have become the UK version equivalent of USA's Funimation or Australia's Madman Entertainment in the recent years. What are peoples feelings on the current market share that Manga UK has? Would you rather have more companies competing or would you prefer having just one company distributing the majority of Anime in the UK?
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If manga got the solo rights of uk distribution, i'd be done with the uk industry

all bluray annoyances aside i much prefer Beez's work model to Manga's
 
There is no doubt that the majority of releases are coming from Manga atm but we must remember that half or so of these releases aren't even theirs but licenced released from Funimation which they make a small commission on.

On the flipside with madman they license series that they have already and buy masters from them or have joint release agreements. Its more like them piggy backing off Madman than anything.

Although I am happy with Mangas releases and pricing structure I see their aggressive push downwards in price as a major contributor of other distributors decline in release schedule items. Unable to compete on price without the economies of scale Manga and the penny pinching anime fans unwilling to pay more for a similar product in these bad economic times. This sadly means that rather than experimenting with licenses as the likes of MVM was originally good for they now have to focus on either the sure seller or the super cheap licenses.

This is except Beez who are cornering the 'special ed' market pushing the prices up so they can make a viable profit on less units rather than trying to compete on an even scale with Manga which they just can't do.

(On a separate note the treatment of those fans who want Gundam Unicorn makes me sick)

All in all, its good however they must not become complacent as they did in the late 90s early 00s, otherwise it will all end for them just as quickly as a Manga collection DVD got traded into CEX.
 
I have mixed feelings about Manga. They are releasing a lot very cheaply, which is good, and I want them to do well. However, they release things which are only ever -equal- to the US versions, which come out sooner, then complain at the non-psychic fans who didn't wait for a possible Manga release. I also refuse to participate in the popularity club that is blu-ray region locking outside of region A, so I cannot buy any of their blus - and they don't seem to be too good at negotiating for fewer limitations on their releases. I was disappointed when I bought the Layton DVD (being denied the blu by my campaign) and found it had fixed language/subtitle configurations. Lame. I know that's a Kaze thing, but if Manga's label is on the box then it's Manga I expect to be questioning these decisions to give the fans a better product.

I see Beez as much more progressive and good for fandom as they're picking up things that the US doesn't necessarily have at the time, and experimenting with release formats. Their relative lack of success though means that we barely see anything from them. Hopefully the AL releases are helping with this, but I can't buy any myself as they're all shows I bought and watched ages ago. Beez shows tend to be more expensive but I don't really care.

If Manga ceased to exist tomorrow, I'd feel that there would be little difference to the subtitled anime available to me legally, whereas with Beez they're at least grabbing stuff that (at the time of their licensing it) other people don't have. That's why I value Beez more highly than Manga these days, even though it's the latter who get their discs on shop shelves and spread the word to new [paying] fans, which is also an important job.

R
 
Pretty much, yeah. But I don't agree with it.

If MangaUK were the only company left, we'd only get what they release, and since they're still just a small company, that wouldn't be much :(
 
I can't see there being a huge difference, because as Neferpitou said, they are the ones mainly releasing everything. Arguably, if they were the only company, they might get more money and be able to do more lavish box sets (a la Beez) but I think, right now, those two seem to have nicely cornered two different sides of the game... That said, Beez are releasing lots of Legends. Hmm.
 
Personally Manga remains my favourite company if only for the affordability of its titles. I admit their releases are decidedly more barebones than Beez's but I find their schedule and prices easier to swallow. Though I certainly appreciate all the work Beez does listening to feedback from fans atc.
 
I'm happy with the Manga UK model. Cheap releases, quality titles being brought over and the willingness to release BD titles (FMA being cancelled was a major stumbling block though).

Looking to the future, Akira, Evangelion 2.22, High School of the Dead, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya are definite purchases for me, and Rideback and XAM'd will be bought as long as they're BD.

I'm happy with their upcoming library, and we're fortunate to have them in my eyes.
 
butch-cassidy said:
There is no doubt that the majority of releases are coming from Manga atm but we must remember that half or so of these releases aren't even theirs but licenced released from Funimation which they make a small commission on.

On the flipside with madman they license series that they have already and buy masters from them or have joint release agreements. Its more like them piggy backing off Madman than anything.

Although I am happy with Mangas releases and pricing structure I see their aggressive push downwards in price as a major contributor of other distributors decline in release schedule items. Unable to compete on price without the economies of scale Manga and the penny pinching anime fans unwilling to pay more for a similar product in these bad economic times. This sadly means that rather than experimenting with licenses as the likes of MVM was originally good for they now have to focus on either the sure seller or the super cheap licenses.
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prety much, yup.
They're driving down prices as they have to compete with US imports. They're normaly dealing with 3 months to a year delays after the US.
They have two options, release a more expensive collectors ed. with features the US didn't get, or be cheaper. They've chosen the latter.
 
The problem is not only is it cheaper to import from the US but also the fact that you are having to wait 2-3 or possibly more months before you see a UK release. Maybe people would feel more compelled to buy the UK version and actually have a proper R2 region if the release dates were similar to the US ones.

Atm its a shame that it seems to be just Manga with all the new licenses as i would like to see a bit more from MVM and Beez too. Hopefully with Kaze entering the business we might get a bit more variety instead of just relying on 1 company.
 
In one bizarre fashion, I kind of don't mind the delayed releases. US releases are already delayed as far as I'm concerned, so it's generally not my top-line series that I'm picking up. This then means that if we're talking a "third tier" series that I only sort-of want to buy, I probably won't go out of my way to import it from the States these days (since it *isn't* cheaper to import any more in a lot of cases outside of Funi's SAVE series) and might pick it up when it comes out here.

Actual legit good series though, it would be nice to see them released sooner in a DRRR!! style, yeah.
 
CloudedMinds said:
The problem is not only is it cheaper to import from the US but also the fact that you are having to wait 2-3 or possibly more months before you see a UK release. Maybe people would feel more compelled to buy the UK version and actually have a proper R2 region if the release dates were similar to the US ones.

Atm its a shame that it seems to be just Manga with all the new licenses as i would like to see a bit more from MVM and Beez too. Hopefully with Kaze entering the business we might get a bit more variety instead of just relying on 1 company.
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Kaze distro through Manga, so nope.
 
ilmaestro said:
Does using their distribution network preclude them from doing something different in other ways with their own licences?
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In terms of physical releases, yep, no discusion of digital in here.
They need a seperate distro to compete. The issue is Manga having a full release scedule.

Same problem with FUNimation, they take forever to release anything due to overfull production scedule. Manga are also locked into releaseing even later than that.
It'll be 2013 (2014 from Manga) by the time any announced title from FUNi I might want (just Railgun, only Viz have less upcoming titles I want) comes out, by which time I'll have lost interest and spent my money importing from the smaler US companies/Japan.
 
Reaper gI said:
no discusion of digital in here.
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Why not?

And I was reading your reply in the context of Clouded's whole post (which you quoted), it does make more sense if you were only replying to the first half (as it appears now from your reply to me), but I'm not sure the two halves were as connected as you took them to be.
 
I'm also ok with the delays. As long as the stuff is getting released I'm happy to wait, just so I have an entirely R2 dvd collection, the sole exception being online releases like RVB or Knox's Klay World which will never make it over here in an R2 format.
 
Neferpitou said:
Manga UK seem to have become the UK version equivalent of USA's Funimation
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This is quite literally the case since they are FUNi's exclusive UK sub-licensee, FUNi get the lion's share of US releases and they sew the UK (and Australia) up wherever possible too - when you consider that Manga their own licenses and distribute for Viz/Kaze too they are arguably even bigger here than FUNi is in the US.
Beez is relatively safe since they're part of Bandai Namco (although if Bandai Entertainment USA were to do a Geneon and Andrew's early license initiative doesn't pay off...), it is MVM I am more worried about since there aren't many profitable scraps left to fall off the table and they may some day end up going live-action only.
 
Shiroi Hane said:
Neferpitou said:
Manga UK seem to have become the UK version equivalent of USA's Funimation
Click to expand...
This is quite literally the case since they are FUNi's exclusive UK sub-licensee, FUNi get the lion's share of US releases and they sew the UK (and Australia) up wherever possible too - when you consider that Manga their own licenses and distribute for Viz/Kaze too they are arguably even bigger here than FUNi is in the US.
Beez is relatively safe since they're part of Bandai Namco (although if Bandai Entertainment USA were to do a Geneon and Andrew's early license initiative doesn't pay off...), it is MVM I am more worried about since there aren't many profitable scraps left to fall off the table and they may some day end up going live-action only.
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MVM were Geneon, Media Blasters and FUNi's distro: they lost FUNi rights to Revelation Geneon USA distro through FUNi, but not sure if FUNi have UK rights, Media Blasters are nearly dead. Again they don't distro sub-only which cuts out most titles straight off.

They're picking up old Madman titles that havent got a UK distro currently. (remeber the UK needs the masters from Australia, not the US) Not sure about the staus of Seraphim Digital titles, like Clannad either.

FUN only just get the most licenses in the US, Sentai Filmworks runs a close second, but releases 2/3 of it's titles sub-only.
 
Reaper gI said:
Shiroi Hane said:
Neferpitou said:
Manga UK seem to have become the UK version equivalent of USA's Funimation
Click to expand...
This is quite literally the case since they are FUNi's exclusive UK sub-licensee, FUNi get the lion's share of US releases and they sew the UK (and Australia) up wherever possible too - when you consider that Manga their own licenses and distribute for Viz/Kaze too they are arguably even bigger here than FUNi is in the US.
Beez is relatively safe since they're part of Bandai Namco (although if Bandai Entertainment USA were to do a Geneon and Andrew's early license initiative doesn't pay off...), it is MVM I am more worried about since there aren't many profitable scraps left to fall off the table and they may some day end up going live-action only.
Click to expand...
MVM were Geneon, Media Blasters and FUNi's distro: they lost FUNi rights to Revelation Geneon USA distro through FUNi, but not sure if FUNi have UK rights, Media Blasters are nearly dead. Again they don't distro sub-only which cuts out most titles straight off.

They're picking up old Madman titles that havent got a UK distro currently. (remeber the UK needs the masters from Australia, not the US) Not sure about the staus of Seraphim Digital titles, like Clannad either.

FUN only just get the most licenses in the US, Sentai Filmworks runs a close second, but releases 2/3 of it's titles sub-only.
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Geneon aren't licensing anymore, in the US that is, so that means that all that Funimation have off them are their old licences, and all that MVM could get from them are the old licences. Given that they renewed the Chobits licence recently means that Funi's grip on Geneon licences in the US means bugger all in the UK. But that's a well that's running dry. I can't think of too many Geneon titles left to release, although I am keeping fingers crossed for AI Yori Aoshi. Funi = Manga now, so that's out.

Aside from the odd Media Blasters title (Moribito), MVM currently operate by getting licences direct from Japan, which recently has meant the Slayers Franchise, and Gonzo titles. Again they have to wait for R4 masters, which probably means Blassreiter, Welcome to the NHK, Dragonaut, and Strike Witches in the foreseeable future.

You know, given their recent direction with live action titles (native language and sub only), maybe MVM are ready to give sub only anime a try, especially if Durarara and Soranowoto work out for Beez.
 
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