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Answerman - The Old West


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navycherub



Joined: 26 Oct 2007
Posts: 233
PostPosted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 8:32 pm Reply with quote
I feel like it's understandable when only small differences are made to the home release, but in the case of shows like Sankarea, the difference should really be way more obvious than Justin makes it sound here, especially since it came out and was in the hands of customers before it was "caught". Giant beams of light or darkness and suspiciously smart steam over breasts is kind of a huge tip-off in the supposed "home release" version of an ecchi show, don't you think?
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configspace



Joined: 16 Aug 2008
Posts: 3717
PostPosted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 9:03 pm Reply with quote
Zalis116 wrote:
There was some mention in the Retail Forum of Funimation's Haganai releases being the broadcast versions with some additional censorship in Next -- can anyone confirm this?

Crap, goddammit Mad You can add that to the list of partially censored releases.
I have the first BD which I haven't watched yet, but I just researched Haganai NEXT now from fandompost and other sites. Funimation actually states this right on their back cover:
Quote:
EPISODE 2 CONTAINS SELECT FOOTAGE OF THE JAPANESE BROADCAST VERSION

That's the first I've seen and I guess I have to give them some credit for being upfront. But this actually doesn't tell you the whole story which is pretty interesting. The laptop screen shots in ep2 which show Kobato in an eroge uses the TV version. However, Funimation's release uses the proper home video BD footage everywhere else in the episode, including within the same scene of those laptop screens! This is indicated by the corrected animation frames.

Since I can't hotlink images, I mirrored the top two images from this post on sankakucomplex (nsfw obviously) that show Sena facing towards the right, holding the laptop with the Kobato eroge:
- TV version
- Japanese BD version
- Funimation version
The Funi version still uses the proper home video footage with the off-model frame of Sena corrected, but with the edited TV version of the laptop screen.

I doubt Funimation did this themselves. Studio AIC must have prepared two different versions of this episode. Now the question is whether this was by Funimation's request or decided early by Media Factory or other production committee members that this is the version to give to foreign licensees. I suspect the later.

My reasoning is that this is just a few eroge sex scenes within a laptop screen used in a parody context--meta-fanservice so to speak--so there is less risk of any legal issues. Look at Funi's OniAi's uncut release with the all the specials (nsfw pics). And look at Media Blaster's Koe de Oshigoto release, which is focused on this type of scenario; or past hentai for that matter; or Alan Moore's Lost Girls comic, and so on.

Quote:
Though in some cases, the TV version can be an improvement; I wouldn't complain if Aniplex released the broadcast version of Nisekoi instead of the backgrounds-impaired home video version, assuming there aren't nudity changes or added scenes in the disc version.

To be fair, the background is still there, it has just momentarily disappeared behind the sea of sparkles. I'm kind of ambivalent about which style I prefer. The sea of sparkles of supposed to make a bigger impact I guess. I do think we can expect enhanced fanservice scenes from SHAFT. While there's more of these artistic directional changes for the home video release, there are also many corrections too:
http://www.kira-reviews.com/blog/archives/category/nisekoi

Blanchimont wrote:
configspace wrote:
I was aware of Escaflowne, but not your other examples. But since I kind of had an inkling, though did not think it occurred that much, I started keeping track of various blogs (mostly Japanese, a few English) who do the laborious job of side-by-side comparisons...

Mind sharing those, especially the English ones? I usually pick those instances up, but that's mainly because I frequent so many anime-related sites on daily basis. Some might still fall through the cracks so I wouldn't mind if there was one single place I could keep track of them on...

I'll get back to you here after sifting through and editing my notes on these sites, but you probably know most of them already.


Last edited by configspace on Fri Jun 20, 2014 9:25 pm; edited 2 times in total
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katscradle



Joined: 05 Jan 2013
Posts: 469
PostPosted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 9:08 pm Reply with quote
Really enjoyed reading this week's Answerman.

While I might have certain preferences as a consumer, the basic thing I want is to know what I'm buying. Over the years I pretty much have felt that I need to double-buy and spend extra time online interacting with other fans to truly assess products. Which means I have less money and time to go around. And then I start wondering why I bother...
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sunflower



Joined: 04 Sep 2005
Posts: 1080
PostPosted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 9:33 pm Reply with quote
EyeOfPain wrote:
First of all, USB flash drives weren't introduced until 2000, and those models only held about 8MB [source]. No services like DropBox existed, and there are security concerns with protocols such as FTP (SFTP would probably not have been widely available by that time), not to mention that Internet speeds were slow. HDDs weren't that cheap, and would have been clumsy to ship; same with LaserDisc, and DVD is a lossy format unsuitable for master copies.


I can't speak to digital versions, but in 1997 in the US even small companies with more than handful of computers could afford a network, a server, and backup tapes that they'd run and store offsite that would go years back. The company I was at from '90 to 2000 set their network up in '91.
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Cutiebunny



Joined: 18 Apr 2010
Posts: 1767
PostPosted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 9:34 pm Reply with quote
Answerman wrote:
There are bad guests, bad conventions, and a whole lot of really nice great times with good people to be had, which don't make for good stories. I'm guessing in the real world, there's mostly the latter.


I guess I'm an oddball in that I think the most mundane stories about Japanese convention guests are the most interesting. There are certain people I would expect to be arrogant, and it's really refreshing when they're laid back in person. I mean, I honestly like stories where a guest will go and have dinner with a group of fans or something like that. It's guests that are friendly at conventions to attendees that make me want to buy items from projects they've worked on more than the actual production they worked on. Similarly, guests that act up at conventions make me never want anything they've worked on, and there are certain artists and productions I've boycotted simply because the guest was an absolute arse.
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John Thacker



Joined: 28 Oct 2013
Posts: 1009
PostPosted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 9:44 pm Reply with quote
Kadmos1 wrote:
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.


Song copyrights have their whole category. Vandread using Louis Armstrong singing "What a Wonderful World" during the initial Japanese TV broadcast, then replacing it for the home video release, the Gilbert O'Sullivan songs used for OP/ED exactly one episode of Maison Ikkoku but not on the US release, etc.
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BringBackUzume



Joined: 01 Jun 2013
Posts: 161
PostPosted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 10:47 pm Reply with quote
John Thacker wrote:
Kadmos1 wrote:
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.


Song copyrights have their whole category. Vandread using Louis Armstrong singing "What a Wonderful World" during the initial Japanese TV broadcast, then replacing it for the home video release, the Gilbert O'Sullivan songs used for OP/ED exactly one episode of Maison Ikkoku but not on the US release, etc.


And Speed Grapher using a Duran Duran song in the Japanese release. However, Funimation couldn't get the rights to use it for their home video release, so they had to come up with their own original opening song in house.

I think music licenses in conjunction with Anime seems to be a lot more complicated than is thought to be.
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EyeOfPain



Joined: 14 May 2013
Posts: 312
PostPosted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 10:54 pm Reply with quote
BringBackUzume wrote:
And Speed Grapher using a Duran Duran song in the Japanese release. However, Funimation couldn't get the rights to use it for their home video release, so they had to come up with their own original opening song in house.

That track came from the OST. Almost 100% positive it was used as background music during one of the episodes, and for the eyecatches.
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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
Posts: 13621
Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP
PostPosted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 11:15 pm Reply with quote
Given what was shown with the Haganai Next links, I'm glad that Funi got this version though I normally would favor the ATX version. I find it weird that that they decided to choose the TV broadcast version for episode 2 when they have other series that can push the boundaries (Freezing, Rin, and Dance in the Vampire Bund).
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6401
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 11:51 pm Reply with quote
Kadmos1 wrote:
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.


BringBackUzume wrote:
John Thacker wrote:

Song copyrights have their whole category. Vandread using Louis Armstrong singing "What a Wonderful World" during the initial Japanese TV broadcast, then replacing it for the home video release, the Gilbert O'Sullivan songs used for OP/ED exactly one episode of Maison Ikkoku but not on the US release, etc.


And Speed Grapher using a Duran Duran song in the Japanese release. However, Funimation couldn't get the rights to use it for their home video release, so they had to come up with their own original opening song in house.

I think music licenses in conjunction with Anime seems to be a lot more complicated than is thought to be.


This is why I hate licensing restrictions, it makes thing complicated and a lot of time when anime get license outside of Japan and Asia, a lot of thing get lost or redtapes block that special thing from getting international exposures. Also international anime fans will not get the same content as what the Japanese get. This also happen to some J-pop soundtracks that are part of anime OST, for example for the anime Kodocha, the song, 7 O'Clock News by Tokio has to be removed for the US version. Because any idols from Johnny & associates are hard and unfair to work and negotiate with. The same thing happen to Skull Man. Tokio's Hikari no Machi/City of Light has to be removed from Sentai's release because of that same reason. It's not only anime that is effected by this, but other medium like video game (ie: several Japanese video games had J-pop soundtrack removed for international releases due to licensing cost or redtapes), and J-dramas too:

Wikipedia wrote:
In recent years, many theme songs have been licensed from sources outside of Japan. In some instances, theme songs have been licensed from some of the biggest names in the Western recording industry.

This practice has disadvantages. When the Japanese drama is licensed outside of Japan, theme music licensing becomes very costly. For example, in the Fuji TV drama Densha Otoko, the opening song and some of the background music had to be replaced in the release that aired on the Nippon Golden Network because they couldn't get the rights to use the sound.


This is one thing I don't like about Japan, too many regulations and restrictions (most of them that shouldn't be there) that can cause complicated copyright and legal issues, these restrictions don't make a lot of internatonal anime fans happy. Mad
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EyeOfPain



Joined: 14 May 2013
Posts: 312
PostPosted: Sat Jun 21, 2014 12:04 am Reply with quote
mdo7 wrote:
This is one thing I don't like about Japan, too many regulations and restrictions (most of them that shouldn't be there) that can cause complicated copyright and legal issues, these restrictions don't make a lot of internatonal anime fans happy. Mad

The issue isn't with Japanese regulations, but that many (allegedly yakuza controlled) talent agencies aren't interested in dealing with overseas distributors, and record labels want more money than North American companies are willing to pay for a song from a high profile band.
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HeeroTX



Joined: 15 Jul 2002
Posts: 2046
Location: Austin, TX
PostPosted: Sat Jun 21, 2014 12:34 am Reply with quote
mdo7 wrote:
I'm going to blame this on Japan's lagging behind technology. I mean all of the artwork these day are done on computer and I read it somewhere Japan doesn't used PC a lot. Not saving the animation or artwork on PC is a good way to lose your uncensored work. Japan is very notorious for lagging behind on new tech.

I'm just going to say you don't know what you are talking about I can tell you as absolute FACT that Japan has been animating via computer for at LEAST the last 10 years. I can state that because I have literally seen the computers in the studios (going back that far). They still paint up some gorgeous backgrounds, but most of the general animation is digital now and has been for at least something like a decade. I will say though, that the Japanese LOVE putting their stuff to BetaMAX tapes for some reason.
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reanimator





PostPosted: Sat Jun 21, 2014 1:23 am Reply with quote
As far as Japanese licensor being reluctant to give remake master is concerned, I think it's more to do with emotional and financial attachment of Japanese licensors. Or they just don't want to diminish brand and sales potential of certain titles.

Financially, Japanese may have justifiable reasons for not giving up remake master. While freshness and popularity are main factor, also they spent initial DVD sale money for remakes which foreign licensees are never involved as contributing partners (please correct me if I'm wrong). From some Japanese perspective, foreign licensees are getting too much for paltry up-front license fee. All of these reasons may seem petty, but it's the Japanese who gather the funds and actually make and run the show. Anime is business, so not everything is taken for granted.

On the subject of import anime collector feeling superior, I think it's a shame (and maybe insecure?). I'm a Japanese import anime collector (with few domestic anime) myself, but import collectors shouldn't rub people wrong way and should respect other fans' taste and budget on collecting whatever they like to collect. After all, I can't take my import and domestic anime collection with me when I die. It's just better to be happy with what I've got and be in harmony with others.

Also, I think import collector's boasting problem lies on Japanese third party sales ranking poll like Oricon which gives rough sales data for calculation. With such data on hand, it makes some import collectors to bolster claims that their purchase habit really matters to ever-important animation production cost.

I don't know if there is any similar ranking system for domestic anime videos, but without some kind of data on hand, it's difficult to back up the claim that domestic video sales matter in terms of royalty. Personally, I'd like to see more collecting fans in the west that could rival Japanese fans in terms of sales and profit in the future.
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jr240483



Joined: 24 Dec 2005
Posts: 4457
Location: New York City,New York,USA
PostPosted: Sat Jun 21, 2014 4:35 am Reply with quote
i would necessarily say its true. sure some VA might get intimidated since NY & LA are target central for street gangs and terrorists, but if it was really that scary, then ADV Films would have never gotten Imari to voice as Minmay for the Macross series.
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Mr. Oshawott



Joined: 12 Mar 2012
Posts: 6773
PostPosted: Sat Jun 21, 2014 5:13 am Reply with quote
jr0904 wrote:
sure some VA might get intimidated since NY & LA are target central for street gangs and terrorists, but if it was really that scary, then ADV Films would have never gotten Imari to voice as Minmay for the Macross series.

...and Miyuki Sawashiro, the Japanese seiyuu that played as Puchiko from Di Gi Charat for the English version of it.
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