Forum - View topicThe Time Limit on Licenses.
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Nagisa
Moderator
 Posts: 6128 Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh |
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Firstly, I'm gonna say this pretty bluntly: I hate individual DVD releases, and 9.5 times out of 10, will refuse to buy them, opting instead to wait for the box set (Fullmetal Alchemist for how long it'll take to ever see a box set release, and Gundam SEED for the number of individual volumes I've already got may prove the final two exceptions to that rule). The box set is cheaper, and having to keep up with some eight or more discs on a part-time tutor's salary is just way too much work when I can just buy an entire series in one or two fell swoops.
That said, waiting on the box set does offer me one little bit of stressfulness (if indeed that is even a word): wondering just how much time I have to buy it. When a series enters the stage of its license where it's being released as a box set, it's at the end of or near the end of the point where it's profitable for its distributor. Especially once the econo-box sets come out, like Bandai's "Anime Legends" line or ADV's "Essential Anime" deal. Theoretically, with a series being near the end of its profitability, it also stands to reason that it's near the end of the distributor's...distribution of that series, and is thus soon to go out of print or the license is soon to expire. This brings me to my point. Is there perhaps a general, relatively consistent time limit between when a series goes to box set (or brick, or thinpack) and the time its license expires, or is it simply left up to random chance and series popularity? I'm currently scrambling like mad to save up enough money to pick up the two Twelve Kingdoms boxes and the Seikai trilogy, as I have this (probably irrational) notion that I'm gonna wake up any day now and check ANN to find that Media Blasters or Bandai respectively have announced that one of them is going out of print, and I would like to know whether I have a valid cause for concern or some room to breathe a little easier on the matter. It'd also be nice to know generally how long I have left to get around to picking up some other box sets I've been interested in, like RahXephon, Fruits Basket, Full Metal Panic!, Wolf's Rain, G Gundam, Genshiken, Gasaraki, and Otogi Zoushi. |
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HitokiriShadow
 Posts: 6251 |
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It seems to me that you can expect a box set about two years after the last single volume release at the latest. Some may come sooner, but two years seems like the longest it takes these days (i.e. not including series from years ago before box sets became common).
It's hard to say on the rights' expiration, but it doesn't seem like it expires soon after the box set releases. The only instance I recall in which this was an issue was with Sailor Moon and that was an issue with Toei being unwilling or unable to allow them to renew the rights. On a side note, pick up Rahxephon ASAP. I watched it about a month ago and it was great. |
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HellKorn
Posts: 1669 Location: Columbus, OH |
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I hear ya there. I'm waiting for Geneon to release a Gankutsuou box set while the only series that I've bought in singles for (box set included with the first volume, of course) are Gilgamesh and eventually both Kino's Journey and Ergo Proxy.
This majority of the time it seems that this lies in Bandai's court, but perhaps that's just me.
How common is it when a box set is released the license expires? I'm unfamiliar with its frequency as I was under the impression that more typical problem is trying to find specific box sets/bricks well after their release date. |
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Nagisa
Moderator
Posts: 6128 Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh |
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I'm not saying that it's a common thng that a license will expire immediately after a box set is released, I'm simply wondering as to the general time frame between one event and the next, whether it be a year, two years, five years or however long. The fact that some titles I'm wanting to get have aged a good bit (or seemingly didn't sell too well) and I've still not had the chance to buy them yet has me jittery, and I'd simply like to know if I need to hurry things up or if I still have some time left to work with. |
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HitokiriShadow
Posts: 6251 |
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Very few licenses have expired at this point, so I don't think its really possible to give an answer to that question. In addition, it probably varies from series to series. I'm sure that shorter amounts of time result in lower licensing costs, so I would guess that distributors vary the amount of time for the licenses based on how popular they expect a series to be.
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Randall Miyashiro
 Posts: 2451 Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park |
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Considering how up to date you seem to be (and how often you rotate your avatar) I would expect you to hear about a series going into moritorium well before it becomes unavailable. I find it funny that you use Bandai as an example for a company that will lose it's US rights, since they are perhaps the most likely company to buy expired rights (yay Gunbuster) instead of the other way around.
The two companies that I would worry about would be US Manga (who seem to be losing their rights to Bandai) and ADV. Companies that have their international branches (who release their own titles in Japan) like Geneon and Bandai seem to have an advantage over the others. I'm always worried that Viz will lose their rights to some of their stuff, especially Maison Ikkoku, which has too many episodes for me to buy at one time. I keep saying I'll buy the rest of the series during the next TRSI Viz sale, but never have enough money. Certain animation studios also tend to favor certain distributors. I'm not surprised that Patlabor jumped the manga ship to go to Bandai, since Sunrise and Bandai have a good relation. I wouldn't worry about G Gundam going out of print since it seems happy with Bandai. I would also suggest getting Rahxephon, since I wouldn't be suprised if Bandai steals this one from ADV. BONES titles, with the big exception of FMA tend to be released by Bandai. The ADV releases of RahXephon are mastered well, and have really pretty booklets which are almost certainly not going to be matched if Bandai were to release them. I'd actually would be glad and would reconsider rebuying Genshiken, Otogi Zoushi, or Twelve Kingdoms (or Berserk, Figure 17, Giant Robo, etc) if Media Blaster lost it's rights to Geneon, or Funimation. The current DVDs are poorly encoded, and contain minimum inserts. The on DVD extras are good in Otogi, and Genshiken's case, so I would also keep the MB editions as well. I didn't hesitate to get the Honneamise editions of Patlabor 1 and 2 even though I owned the Manga versions. I'm just waiting for the Honneamise edition of Honneamise. |
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jaybug39
 Posts: 552 Location: Oregon, Is it FOOTBALL yet? |
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I was thinking that it would be like a patent, good for 20 years. But on second thought, I would think that it is by contract, with clauses for early terminations.
So since we have teams of lawyers involved, don't think that the consumer will be benefitted anytime soon. |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6902 Location: Kazune City |
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Hmm, a Nagisa-made thread, you don't see that every day...
I'm not exactly sure how long licenses last on average...for instance, AnimEigo lost the KOR license this year, after first releasing DVDs back in 2001 (and presumably on VHS before that), and Sailor Moon had been licensed since roughly 1996 and expired in 2005. CPM lost the rights to Slayers in 2005, after having them for at most 8 to 9 years. My uneducated guess is that licenses usually last for about seven to nine years, so I don't think anything like Fruits Basket or RahXephon that originally aired after 2000 is in danger of going OOP anytime soon. On a sidenote, there are some patterns of boxed set releases that I've seen...ADV has publicly announced that they're going to wait a year after the final volume for the thinpack releases, Media-Blasters does their "premium collection" about 6 months after the last disc, and an economy collection later. Funimation has said that there'll be a two-year wait between last disc and box, but in the case of Gunslinger Girl, it was only one year. Bandai seems to do some kind of re-release or Anime Legends version within a year and a half of the final disc. Geneon is pretty much a tossup, though. Samurai Champloo had a boxed set less than six months after disc 7 (probably to cash in on AX), and Rumiko Takahashi Anthology had a boxed set a week after the last disc, but some of their older series like Strawberry Eggs and Ai yori aoshi have been out for years with no sign of a box. Good thing I picked them up on the cheap at the Rightstuf sale 
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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Once every ten years or so 
Sorry. Now to get on topic, I think that box sets do offer some of the best deals that you can find. One because you have the entire series (unless it's seasonal) and two like Nagisa said it is, if not a lot cheaper than if you were to buy individual volumes. This has been proven to me when I bought my Tsukihime boxset for 25 dollars cheaper than if I were to have bought singles. And I also regret that I didn't get the Fruits Basket boxset when I found out the price for it  I haven't gone through the experience of something that's gone OOP yet, so I can't offer much on that part of the topic other than that would really suck if something I wanted wasn't available as a boxset anymore.
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Deltakiral
 Posts: 3338 Location: Glendora, CA (Avatar Hei from Darker than BLACK) |
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I know Nagisa really wants that FMA boxset, but I don't think it's coming till Xmas of next year......The one company that I wish had more boxset Geneon. There products always seem to be so expensive it's really hard for me to keep up with them...let see in this coming year there is Fate Stay Night, Ergo Proxy, Zipang, Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, Fighting Spirit, (Although TRSI did help me get the first 10 volumes) the new Hellsing(one episode 30 dollars?), X-Remix (I was lucky to get the set on Ebay for fairly cheap)....so lets do some math here, 6+6+6+4+5+10(Hellsing)*$30=$1110 I am in debt to Geneon.
Not to mention I don't have Black Lagoon on there as well....so that probably another 6 disc series......damn I am broke. |
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Randall Miyashiro
Posts: 2451 Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park |
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I love the inserts in the FMA DVDs. They even are nicer compared to the newer Digipak release inserts and don't cost more. Although Funimation hasn't removed extras from their box sets, they probably won't include these nice books with a box set. Bandai on the other hand tends to not have any inserts on even their individual releases. I held out on buying the Gundam Seed DVDs having been a U.C. purist for over 25 years. I decided to give in earler this year with the Wing Box sets, and decided to buy all 10 volumes of Seed last week during the TRSI Bandai sale. I believe the series came out to about $180 which is a good amount less than $30 a dvd. I don't mind individual discs, but I hate paying $30 since most online retailers will give you at least 25% off of MSRP on preorders. |
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