Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! - Licenses-a-Go-Go
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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Watching stuff on VHS is not analogous to vinyl. The point of vinyl and record players is to get high-fidelity out of your music because the stylus is physically running over grooves that contain the sound recorded onto a medium, not just BECAUSE IT'S OOOOLDDDDD AND IT MAKES ME COOL; I SWEAR I'M NOT A HIPSTER. VHS is the equivalent of wanting to go back to cassette or 8-track, not vinyl or expensive reel to reel. Like Justin said, the closer equivalent would be setting up some reels of film on a projector, but that's even more of a rare hobby just to do for American cartoons and fim, forget Japanese. Also, part of those hobbies involve the handling and caring for your equipment and media pieces, which doesn't really occur with VHS, it just sits there and degrades with every playback while offering no benefit over DVD or BD.
I'd say most of the 70s and 80s mecha that aren't Gundam, like Zambot, Ideon, L-Gaim, Layzner, Galient, Dragonar, and even all of the VOTOMS sequels. And there's hundreds of little one-shot OVAs or the like that will never see releases here. I doubt you'd see Attack No. 1, Ashita no Joe, Tiger Mask, Aim for the Ace, or Future Boy Conan for a while either. |
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Yoda117
Posts: 406 |
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LoGH?
Yeah, as much as I really enjoy the series, there's no way that it'd ever do well in the English-speaking market (especially not Region 1 markets). And considering the rabid fandom in Japan for the series (who were paying insane amounts, even by Japanese standards, for the last release of the series), there's no way that could come over here for a reasonable price. |
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zeo1fan
Posts: 1016 |
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That could change, though; if Funi manages to license the new anime and Naoko sees they wouldn't butcher the original.
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Oneeyedjacks
 Posts: 307 |
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While not an old show by any means or even one nearly as wildly popular as the ones Justin mentioned, I have always wondered why nobody ever licensed Ben-to. It seemed to be pretty well liked and well regarded, but was never picked up for streaming or DVD/Blu-ray.
I also noticed it hasn't been picked up anywhere for that matter. Usually when a show's not licensed in the US, its got some kind of distribution in Taiwan, Australia, or the UK. I just assume its one of these off-limits titles that for whatever reason we can't get. |
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varmintx
 Posts: 1235 Location: Covington, KY |
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The first, and only, Answerman question I have ever wrote in (I'm guessing over a decade ago) asked why something as popular and well-known as Robot Carnival couldn't get a DVD release in the US. It's not likely to be as well-known anymore, and I want a BD release now anyway.
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walw6pK4Alo
Posts: 9322 |
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I find it funny everyone always says "an amazing and massive space opera with a steadily growing fanbase could never possibly sell here! Oh, Sentai's going to release some Time Bokan series no one's ever seen? That'll sell incredibly well!"
More western fans have seen LoGH than Creamy Mami and Onii-sama e, combined. I know the show definitely has a chance, the question is now up to what the licensing would cost. |
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Polycell
 Posts: 4623 |
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@Oneeyedjacks: Funimation had it on a survey they ran around that time, so I'd believe it if the production committee simply turned out to be too proud of it.
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Gilles Poitras
Posts: 480 Location: Oakland California |
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For VHS there are still some titles that were released on VHS that have yet to see a region 1 DVD release.
Rail of the Stars comes to mind, the same is true for live action. I'd love to see a DVD release of the 1968 film Black Lizard that was directed by Kinji Fukasaku with Akihiro Miwa, who did voice work in Princess Mononoke and Howls Moving Castle, in the title role. Heck we even have the original novel by Edogawa Rampo in English these days. |
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GracieLizzy
 Posts: 551 Location: Sunderland, England, UK |
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I can forsee Sailor Moon becoming available actually, as Italy has had a re-release among other countries, although only of the old dubs and not of the original Japanese show subtitled. Rumor has it that Takeuchi is doing a country by country re-release, but then I don't think the US especially wants a re-release of the dubs most of the fans want the original Japanese subtitled and with Sailor Moon Sailor Stars. So getting a couple of "nostalgia box sets" like the recent Digimon boxsets and Dragonball Z: Rock the Dragon is possibility one day, getting the show uncut is a lot more shaky sadly.
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Este
 Posts: 25 |
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Well, the Italian Sailor Moon release has Japanese audio (with Italian subtitles), as far as I have read.
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GATSU
Posts: 15569 |
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Yoda: I think Tokuma should just settle for streaming LOGH, and be done with it.
varmin: If it makes you feel better, Robot Carnival doesn't even have a Blu-Ray in Japan. They missed cashing in on the 25th anniversary, to boot. I don't know what the hell's with the management at APPP, on that one, either. walw: The only thing Sentai's touching is a one-off of Time Bokan. If it bombs, that's not really a loss for them, as it would be, if they picked up the entire show. If the demand for the OVA is high enough, though-and I highly doubt it-they might dip into the show, but it would not be a major priority like Gatchaman. Gilles: It irks me that the 80s and 90s Rumik World OAVs still haven't even been put on DVD, yet. |
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GVman
 Posts: 730 |
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I think I cried a tear for each one of the shows you mentioned. Anway, while it's considered to be one of the most significant anime ever made in Japan, I doubt we'll ever see Star of the Giants released in English. |
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ljaesch
Posts: 299 Location: Enumclaw, WA |
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For the unattainable anime question, I would add Candy Candy to that list, thanks to the bickering between Kyoko Mizuki and Yumiko Igarashi which ultimately affected Toei, the company that produced the anime.
I have faint memories of seeing this show on Japanese television as a little girl when my family lived in Japan due to my father being in the Navy and being stationed there in the late 1970s. I was under the age of five at the time, so I didn't understand a word of it, but my sister and I had some toys and merchandise related to the show that were bought for us while we lived in Japan. I would love to be able to see this series as an adult on DVD or through streaming, but it'll probably never become available during my lifetime. 
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Primus
 Posts: 2820 Location: Toronto |
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Heroman will likely never see a proper North American release because the toyline flopped in Japan.
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RadicaLElly
 Posts: 194 Location: Coral Springs, FL |
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While I can't imagine there are people out there who prefer watching their anime on VHS, the format certainly has its fans among b-movie collectors. The documentary Adjust Your Tracking is entirely about this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvGNfx0TaE4 |
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