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Answerman - Why Does Anime Go Unlicensed?

That's an old wives tale spread about on the internet. Toei's Yu Gi Oh series is no more dark or violent than the various Studio Gallop series.

Violence doesn't just equal blood. That scene was certainly 'dark' when you consider whether Yami's punishment was justified for the crime. It may have all been a visual illusion, I'm pretty sure it was, but a ton of Yami's punishments were really intense. Probably fine for Japanese kids but on American TV that sort of content won't cut it. Much easier to just move on to the trading card game where there were much less intense visual punishments from Yami.

Just to make things clear, we're referring to a show that had a character strapped to a table with a menacing guillotine inching ever slowly downward toward his body with the only crime being that the character had stolen a girl's watch, correct?

prime_pm wrote:

Once again, another situation to bring up Nichijou and Carnival Phantasm. What categories would they fall under, I wonder? Actually Nichijou wouldn't technically count, since Bandai originally had the license right before they bellied up. But still, I've missed out on so many AMV's being made without this title.

I think in Carnival Phantasm's case it is because it is a combination of shorts about two shows. Sure the Fate side of it is really popular, but the Tsukihime side is not nearly as popular (though I could be wrong) and that might make licencors shy away from it. If it had been a straight up Fate comedy series it would most certainly have been licensed.

4. The Licensor Thinks The Show Is Worth WAY More Than Anybody Else Does

There are quite a few shows from back in the day that aren't really worth much, but might be worth a small-scale US release, like on subtitled-only DVD or Blu-ray. However, there are licensors who have a greatly inflated sense of that show's value, such that their asking price is simply out of the range of sanity for any prospective overseas publisher. Every once in a while, a publisher will ask the price, gasp, and walk away.

You do realize most american cartoons in 80s and 90s did that and more on a weekly basis, right?

That kind of stuff is in all Yu-Gi-Oh series. Yugi VS Pandora has them strapped to torture devices where a buzzsaw slowly inches towards them with each life point lost, with the loser getting their legs cut off. Yuma VS Black Mist also involved a gullitine and traps in ancient ruins. Considering the American dub for Yu-Gi-Oh is one of the most altered and changed dubs out there, skipping the first series due to content is unlikely. In the later series it wasn't just illusions so they had to deal with the concequences like heart failure due to torture, suffocating without air, and dueling with an open stab wound as they slowly bleed out and struggle to stay concious.

You do realize most american cartoons in 80s and 90s did that and more on a weekly basis, right?

I think the primary reason Yu-Gi-Oh is not licensed is, aside from Toei not owning the license anymore, is because the franchise's only seen as a marketing vehicle here, so no company wants to license an old show which won't sell merchandise.

not in the US maybe, but Manga UK did:

http://www.mangauk.com/item.php?s=yu-gi-oh-season-1-the-official-first-season-episodes-1-49-dvd

While I don't remember what happened in the battle against Black Mist (or who Black Mist is), I do remember that when Yugi battled Pandora, they changed the saws at the duelists' ankles to some sort of spinning energy disc, and Pandora explained that the saws do no physical damage but will transport anyone who touches it to the Shadow Realm upon contact. When Pandora was defeated, he had something that could shut off the magic blades without harming himself and was immediately mind-hijacked by Marik.

Black Mist is a villain in Zexal. He teams up with Vector and they hold Yuma hostage and force Astral to duel Black Mist. Vector rigs the match by saying every time Black Mist loses life points he'll throw Yuma into a deathtrap he has to survive like spinning blades or being crushed alive which deters Astral from attacking.

I wonder which category the Black Rock Shooter TV series falls under.
It never got a disc release in North America while Australia, the UK, France, and Italy, got it.
I remember FUNimation had the streaming rights a few years ago, but not the home video rights?

Hell Teacher Nube never got release in the US. Even back in the late 90's and early 2000's. Could have fit on Adult Swim back in 2002.