The News Thread (for news that does not need a thread)

HdE said:
Since Bandai shut up shop in 2013, Bang Zoom! have been a lot less active in dubbing anime, and I know that sme of their classic rostr of VAs - the guys and gals you used to hear on EVERYTHING - aren't working as much. There are even some notable voices that we just don't hear anywhere near as much. Remember how Steve Blum used to be everywhere? I have it from the man himself that he's not in anime like he used to be.
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A lot of the big VAs are now unionised, which makes them too expensive for most anime dubs.

Bang Zoom! is in LA where all the actors are union meaning they have to be paid more than normal, and the actor's union has rules in it's standardised contract requiring all actors in a production to be union, if any unionised actor is hired. Obviously, this means union dubs cost a lot more money than those from elsewhere. These clause can be enforced in LA and I think New York too, but definitely not in Texas, so as a result, dubs from LA and NY are now beyond the price most anime distributors can afford.

That's why people like Toei and seemingly now Crunchyroll have gone to Canada for dubs. Because Canada is cheap, and you don't need to go through another anime company to get it made, though I hear Funimation's dubbing services are also cheap if you can convince them to do it.
 
Right on the ticket, Buzz.

It's a shame in a way. I mean, Bang Zoom!'s talent list really defined dubs for me for a long, long time. People occasionally talk **** about them, but you could always count on them to produce dubs with character. That's something I don't think can be said as much for ADV / Sentai or Funimation (who, incidentally, have a LOT of crossover in terms of the voice actors who appear in their dubs.)

But, if that crowd are still active and getting a better deal for their work, then I'll take comfort in that.
 
Bang Zoom are still pretty active though, despite the uptake in unionisation and rising costs - they do a lot of the dubs for Aniplex USA these days - some of their recent projects have included...

Blood Lad
Aldnoah.Zero
God Eater
Love Live! School Idol Project (S1, S2 and the movie)
ERASED
MSG: Iron-Blooded Orphans
One Punch Man
Sword Art Online (I and II)
Toradora!
Your Lie in April

All of these have occurred since 2013...
 
This looks interesting

"Set to be released in 2018, the movie will be composed of 6 Short Movies, all based on the card game "Force of Will", which in turn is based on H.P. Lovecraft. This is a Teaser for the first of the 6, dubbed "L.S.", which will focus on Cthulu."

 
IncendiaryLemon said:
So, they're making a JoJo Part 4 Live Action movie.

「ジョジョの奇妙な冒険」山崎賢人主演、三池崇史監督で実写映画化

Not to sound to pessimistic, but I'm not entirely sure JoJo would work at all in live action.
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That was my immediate reaction as well. Some live action versions I roll my eyes but know they could work if they get lucky in the script and director department, but how the crazy (or bizarre, I suppose!) world of JoJo is going to possibly work in live action I have no idea...
 
Smeelia said:
I dunno, some of the cosplay/posing that I've seen is pretty neat. I'd imagine there's more to the show than that but it has to be a good start.
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Yeah, it's very over the top and, for lack of a better word, cartoony. I'm not sure if some of the more wackier moments could be pulled off in live action without it looking silly, in a bad way.
 
IncendiaryLemon said:
I'll admit, I haven't seen much asian cinema outside of a couple of horror films, so I may not be the best judge.
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The world of Japanese live action films is as varied and interesting as Japanese animation itself, and like Japanese animation, live action counterparts tend not to shy away from exuberance. Plenty of anime series and even more manga get live action adaptations, be it drama's or film and unlike the people across the pond who try to homogenize everything to a degree that they often lose what made the content interesting in the first place, the Japanese live action adaptations take the source material almost 1:1 with pride, with equally varying results.
 
Some discussion is being had online about a Tweet from the Your name. Production Committee, asking people not to pirate.
Nice to meet you, the movie "Your name is. "Copyright in charge of the Production Committee.
Movie thanks to like "Your name is. "Is a super-mega-hit Playing in the nation of a movie theater. thank you very much. Well, unfortunately, it will not exist this piece of video that has been illegally flowed. We ask that you do not view these videos.
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(Google translation of this tweet)

It's disappointing that they feel the need to send a tweet like this, but at the same time and I know people will criticise me for this, I kind of feel like maybe some of their past decisions are partly-responsible. It's first international non-festival release, according to IMDB, is still a month from now (Taiwan: 21st October), and it's first non-festival English-language release is still a month after that (UK: 18th November). Also, it had it's premiere at Anime Expo, but there's still no US date. So they hyped a movie that people can't legally see elsewhere and won't be able to for months.

That said, AL has done a great job with the theatrical run for the UK, and hopefully they'll be able to do home video quickly or sort out a VOD run for those of us that don't have anything nearby.
 
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Considering the tweet is in Japanese I don't think it would be completely unreasonable to assume that they were reaching out to a mainly Japanese audience.
 
BlackStrat said:
Considering the tweet is in Japanese I don't think it would be completely unreasonable to assume that they were reaching out to a mainly Japanese audience.
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Yes, but it has been picked up on by others in reference to Western and foreign behaviours, which is why I was mentioning it. Maybe I was a tad harsh on them, Your Name is getting a much better international release than most anime films...



Yoshihiro Watanabe on Twitter:
How Illegal streaming sites made Your Name available to many territories, at the same time dooms many country from theatrical release. A scenario if a trustable con is around, that can host a paid film fest or theatrical event, even just for one day, may convince companies. At the same time Your Name has distribution decided on 89 counties. This is an achievement of business and also fans as well. It means that at least 89 companies believed that there are honest fans that would support Shinkai and his works. The power of fans can lead to great achievements. It just matters of each person taking necessary action. There are territories that can be available for governmental or religious factors. This will take years of effort.
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