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Answerman - The Old West

There are more than a handful of shows that were made (or had sequels made) specifically BECAUSE of the Western market. Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Escaflowne: The Movie, Trigun: Badlands Rumble, The Big O...

This happens ALL THE TIME

When these Japanese anime voice actors[actresses] come to an US anime convention, do they take a translator with them?

The Kare Kano edits can be scene here go going to the Wayback Machine and typing in animeprime.com/reports.

The dub of Ai Yori Aoshi episode 13 replaced the "Happy Birthday to You" song spoiler[that Tina is practicing when walking with her groceries and that the characters sing at Aoi's birthday party] probably because of its copyright status here.

This makes me wonder about that cut song from Girls Und Panzer; They couldn't have just left it on the Japanese track? Of course, it was cut by the Japanese to make the original version more desirable, maybe...

A question for Justin,

I understand that more Space Dandy is being made because of its positive reception in the West. But since Funimation has not yet made a home release that can further show through disc sales that Space Dandy is a big hit, would it be foolish to think that a second season has already being green lit because Funimation is actually financing a large percentage of the anime production?

I understand that more Space Dandy is being made because of its positive reception in the West. But since Funimation has not yet made a home release that can further show through disc sales that Space Dandy is a big hit, would it be foolish to think that a second season has already being green lit because Funimation is actually financing a large percentage of the anime production?

the Japanese publishers are always reluctant to let the overseas release of an anime be as good as the far more expensive Japanese versions

Western releases are mostly paid for up front by the company releasing it,

ut that up-front payment isn't nothing

I understand that more Space Dandy is being made because of its positive reception in the West. But since Funimation has not yet made a home release that can further show through disc sales that Space Dandy is a big hit, would it be foolish to think that a second season has already being green lit because Funimation is actually financing a large percentage of the anime production?

I doubt that the Cowboy Bebop movie was made because of the Western market. It's often falsely repeated that Bebop wasn't popular in Japan, but it was. It just wasn't as popular as it is here.

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When these Japanese anime voice actors[actresses] come to an US anime convention, do they take a translator with them?

Just to answer the exact question, the answer is almost always "no". In most all circumstances the translators on hand are supplied by either the convention or the sponsoring company, or both. For many conventions, guests are sponsored BY the convention (not anime companies, corporate sponsorship of guests is EXCEEDINGLY rare) and all people that handle their interpreting (both for panels and also for just "getting around") are supplied by the convention, rather in the form of volunteer staff or paid contractors. In VERY rare circumstances guests might bring a companion who also speaks English, but that depends on the demands/requests of the guest and whether the con wants to pay. Since most conventions need to negotiate the appearance, they usually have SOMEONE who can at least handle communication once the guest is on-site.

The one exception I can imagine is when a MAJOR guest (like Rumiko Takahashi or Naoko Takeuchi) appears at a HUGE con (like Comic Con) as a promotional activity sponsored by a company. In that circumstance, they probably have a "co-worker" (like an editor or company liason) who might also speak English but it is unusual for a Japanese guest to have an interpreter that they already know on a first visit to the US, unless that person spoke to them directly during guest negotiations. (some interpreters do multiple cons, so you guests may already know the interpreter team on successive visits, even if they are to different cons)

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the Japanese publishers are always reluctant to let the overseas release of an anime be as good as the far more expensive Japanese versions

That's what killed hentai licensing. It wasn't dropping sales, online piracy, it was just Japan fearing that its domestic audience wouldn't buy the domestic product and opt for the unquestionably superior Western product.