Forum - View topicNEWS: Sentai Filmworks Licenses Hatsukoi Limited TV Anime
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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@Blood-, et. al
But you've got to ask how NISA manages though, with the same types of niche titles. Personally I think Sentai could probably do the same, if they didn't irrationally tie all BD releases with dubs. The dub requirement means they have to be sure (or bet) the title will sell a few times more than what it otherwise would have, to recoup the cost of the BD license, the cost of the dub, and additionally to make a profit over being sub-only (otherwise what's the point of all the effort). In fact, I bet that was why they chose to exclude the 6 bonus shorts from Demon King Daimou. They likely figured the extra cost of licensing those short animated features + cost of dubbing each of them was not worth it. The same applies for their decision to exclude the Angel Beats short. (It's the reason why I stated earlier I hope they include the limited girl shorts) I think a middle ground of less financial risk appropriate for more niche titles would be the sub-only BD road NISA takes. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23986 |
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@ configspace - But NISA doesn't exclusively do BD subs. Zakuro, which isn't coming out until June, is DVD only. House of Five Leaves, which was released only this past March is DVD only. So what are you talking about? NISA is a wholly owned subsidiary of a Japanese parent company that makes profitable games. Sentai is a stand alone R1 distributor. It lives and dies on making the right decisions about its releases, including which titles to acquire and which release strategy is likely to generate the most profit for it.
Now, if your contention is that you - random forum poster guy - could do a better job figuring those decisions out than the people currently running Sentai, what can I say? |
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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House of Five Leaves and Zakuro are DVD only because the Japanese release is also DVD only. But I never suggested NISA does nor should Sentai do sub-only BDs exclusively. What Sentai is doing now though, is exclusively tying BD+dubs. That is their own blanket rule; a company "commandment" if you will, much like how Funi's own blanket rule is to dub everything. So what I am suggesting is that they can decouple the two, freeing BDs of the dub requirement, and then choose to be selective of what BDs they want to release as sub-only.
BTW Bandai's last title right before they announced leaving the US market, Star Driver, was also sub-only BD. I also find it interesting that NISA's Occult Academy release will be limited to BD only. Furthermore, suggesting that NISA's anime efforts are all subsidized by their games is ridiculous. They'd drop the anime division if it kept on loosing money. It is ironic you suggest that, but then make questioning Sentai's decisions off limits. I hope you're not suggesting that everyone else can make bad decisions but Sentai always makes the optimal one. The fact of the matter is that we can see different attitudes and approaches by different companies, even on the same franchise like Hell Girl between Funimation and Sentai for example. |
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dragonrider_cody
Posts: 2541 |
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One thing I think is being overlooked is the fact that as a game producer, that also happens to produce a large number of PS3 games that also use the bluray format, they may get better pricing on replication than Sentai. Those games titles probably have much higher print runs than the anime releases NISA put out.
Also, Sentai has stated numerous times that with the sole exception of High School of the Dead, that their DVD releases have continued to outsell their Bluray counterparts. Given that, it's not surprising that Sentai is leery about doing subonly blurays. Also, bringing up the fact that Bandai did ONE subonly bluray really doesn't add anything to the argument. Let's not forget that Bandai quit licensing new product and is only keeping certain titles in print until their licenses expire. Also, just because NISA does something, doesn't mean it's going to be possible or economically feasible for every other company. It's just like how Funimation produces dubs for almost everything it does, except bonus features and some live action movies, while it may not be viable for everyone else. I would love for every HD production to be released on bluray, but I'm a realist. The market just isn't there yet, as much as I would like it to be. Even Hollywood skips bluray releases for slower selling titles, so I don't see how I could expect something different from tiny companies like Sentai. I went through such a long period of nothing I wanted being licensed, that I'm willing to accept the limitations of the market right now. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23986 |
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A wholly owned subsidiary that consistently fails to generate a profit is definitely in danger of being shut down. However, it is ridiculous to think that being a wholly owned subsidiary doesn't confer some potential advantages that a stand-alone doesn't have. Particularly in the Japanese context where, traditionally, companies aren't as relentlessly focused on "next quarter" results versus long term viability and market share. NISA and Sentai, given their different circumstances, are apples and oranges despite being in the same biz.
I would never argue for the infallibility of any business let alone R1 distribs. They make wrong guesses all the time. However, the people running them do have access to information that you, random forum poster guy, do not. So, sure you COULD be right - perhaps Sentai COULD make more money if it released Hatsukoi Limited as a sub-only BD versus sub-only DVD - but there is no particular reason for me to believe in your guess versus Sentai's guess, is there? Can you back up your assertion with any kind of data, at all? |
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RazzBerrieCharm
Posts: 81 |
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Yes!! I was waiting for this day...but why no dub?
Oh well, I'll still buy it!! |
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Crisha
Moderator
 Posts: 4290 |
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I'm trying to remember the last time I was excited for a Sentai license...
... ... Er, Mardock Scramble, I think? Oh, no wait, there was Another and Bodacious. Okay, good, there are some release announcements I'm interested in. I'm glad for others that they're such a prolific licensing company, but as for myself I'd say about 90% of their releases fall short of the line for my Giveadamn-O-Meter. Still I'd rather have more licenses than not, because one day one of those series I'm overlooking now could peak above the threshold (which has happened before). I should make a list and compare the different licensing companies on their releases I'm interested in and the ones I own. I'd be interested to know what their batting averages are. I would think that FUNi, Nozomi, and maybe NISA would have the highest, but I may just be deluding myself. EDIT: Potentially Bandai as well. |
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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I pointed to NISA as real empirical proof that a sub-only BDs are viable. Or put it this way, that there is nothing inherently unviable about them. And I recall Sentai/S23/neo-ADV also have the financial backing of a few Japanese companies (sorry I can't recall offhand; but I remember some news about securing investments, similar to how TV-Tokyo invests in Crunchyroll). They also aren't publicly traded, nor are they controlled by a large board--it's still just mostly Ledford--that they have to pump out growing quarterly earnings or profits for that matter. Given the nature of anime, I'd expect that to be impossible anyways.
Furthermore, I did not nor have ever stated that Sentai will make more money if they do any particular thing for any particular title. As I have mentioned repeatedly, the question is what you state:
but the issue at large is not really about Hatsukoi Limited. It's about their own policy of always dubbing BDs, that prevents them from even asking or exploring that possibility. Where is the data to suggest that they simply cannot make money on sub-only BDs, much like how they have sub-only DVDs, when they've never tried to selectively release sub-only BDs? But they aren't going to get any data until they change company policy as it's simply dismissed without consideration (i.e. can we sell 3x or whatever the amount because BDs MUST be dubbed per company policy VS can we sell 1.5x or whatever with sub-only BDs, which is currently not even tried) *again* Sentai's policy is just like Funimation's dub policy. It's not like it would be impossible Funi to make money to selectively dub some and not others. They simply don't do that because it's part of their company charter, not because it's financially impossible. So likewise, there's nothing logically preventing Sentai, nothing inherent in sub-only BDs that would make Hatsukoi Limited or any other title not financially viable. Last edited by configspace on Thu Mar 29, 2012 9:50 am; edited 2 times in total |
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Big Hed
 Posts: 1607 Location: Melbourne, Australia |
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Sentai? Dub Hatsukoi Limited? I don't know if they'd have enough female talent. 
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23986 |
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Again, we circle back to my point that due to the differing circumstances of NISA and Sentai, you cannot assume that a model for one is necessarily viable for the other. Besides which, we do not yet know if NISA's sub-only BD release model is viable, considering the short amount of time they have been doing it. All we outsiders can say with any degree of certainty is that they've done it a few times.
The point that there is nothing (as far as we can see) inherently unviable about releasing a sub-only BD product is irrelevant. Sentai, I'm sure, looks at all the options and decides which one is most profitable. Do you really think it has some "charter" that prohibits it from releasing a sub-only BD if it thinks it would make more that way versus a DVD release? "Gee, boys, we'd make more money going BD, but goshdangit, there's that pesky charter thing." 
As I've said before, you could be right. Perhaps Sentai could make more money sub-only BD versus sub-only DVD. All I'm saying is that you don't have enough information to have an informed opinion about the matter. |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6892 Location: Kazune City |
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Fun show, and it proved quite popular with fans of both genders when I screened it at NebrasKon this past fall. And to add to the fanservice discussion, there are plenty of random "casual" pantyshots that don't involve high kicks or other unusual actions.
And given the very soft-focus/washed-out/blurry look the series has, I don't see how it'd even benefit from BD all that much. The backgrounds in particular are what I thought the "Limited" aspect of the title referred to; they're certainly not heavy on super-detailed aspects like wood grains, grass blades, roof tiles, and wall textures. Which are what everyone watches anime for these days. "Blu-Rays have better audio" Yes, but how many dogs, bats, and humans with superhuman hearing are buying these releases?
Last edited by Zalis116 on Thu Mar 29, 2012 6:51 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Sailor S
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Good deal to hear that it's been licensed! This was a lot more entertaining than I thought it was gonna be, and that ED is way too catchy. Yet another title to add to my wall when it comes out.
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Razzuel
 Posts: 164 |
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I think configspace has summed up my thoughts quite nicely, so I won't reiterate what he's said. However, I will mention that I think Sentai's Blu-ray = English dub is a company policy, regardless of whether they could make money on a sub-only Blu-ray or not. It's possible that they put more value in the idea of Blu-ray = English dub, since they can use it as a marketing tactic.
Yeah, the first season was DVD only, but it was also DVD only in Japan when it came out. A Blu-ray box set was released in 2011, well after the Japanese release and Sentai's release. However, Maria Holic Alive is an HD show, and it benefits from Shaft's luscious visual style. I was expecting it to get a Blu-ray release, but I guess Sentai doesn't really care about the show enough or thinks not enough people care about the show or whatever. As for a release date, I really don't care if it would have taken an extra year, but Sentai has been pretty good about releasing Blu-rays six months after the Japanese release has been completed. |
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AlanMintaka
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Hi, Can you expand on that a bit, i.e. was it disappointing in that something happened that was totally preposterous, completely inconsistent with the rest of the story, or just plain "what the f...???"? Or, did it stop abruptly with no closure at all, and no indication of another season? |
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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Huh, totally forgot Sentai licensed this. I don't there was anything preposterous or inconsistent at all. He might have meant the ending, which I know you're worried about. It was based on ongoing manga, so it's obviously incomplete. Manga was cancelled so there won't be another season. However of the 3 relationships, one of them involving the front-most blonde twin tail girl on Sentai's cover is fully developed and resolved completely with nice closure. The other two not so much if I recall. So... you can think of the story involving 3 concurrent inter-mingling threads, and one of them wraps up nicely. I'd still definitely recommend it as I found it much less frustrating, and at least partially rewarding, than Aoi Hana or Toradora's ending. If you want recent romance or dramas with full closures then I recommend KimiKiss, Amagami SS, and Amagami SS+ |
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