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Anime Expo 2008 - ADV Films

That's a pretty faulty statement. For one thing, conventions get more people each year, but that doesn't seem to be translating to DVD sales now does it? Sales is what drives the industry, if thousands of downloaders go to a convention then that doesn't mean a thing or benefit anime at all.

Also, statistically dubs generally do outsell the sub. A bunch of die-hard fans attending conventions doesn't provide an accurate assessment of what the fandom in general wants. That's like going to the Republican National Convention to run a poll to see who's going to win. Die-hards may dislike dubs, sure, but then again some actually still like the dubs. Casual fans often prefer dubs, and like it or not, as with any industry, it is often the casual fans that keep it alive. I've been an anime fan for a long long time, but honestly, if they stop providing dubs then I'll stop providing funds. I'm not about to hand money to an industry that isn't capable of providing a product worth paying for.

Do english VA's get rockstar status? No. But that's more related to cultural difference than anything. Animation is, as is pointed out so regularly, just not that big of a deal here. No matter how big these anime conventions get, they still pale in comparison to other markets in the US, and anime is still very much a niche market no matter how much you would like it to be otherwise. Heck, a good sports team drawn in as many people or more on a nightly basis here in the US.

Obviously here in America people aren't going to raise anime voice actors to "rockstar" status no matter how good they are, because in the US most people generally don't care about anime, let alone the people who act in the shows. Then even within the fandom they have to go up against purists and sub actors, something the sub actors don't have to deal with. So honestly, it's apples to oranges guy, I hate to break it to you. The problem is you're looking at it from a very 1-dimensional point of view, but the picture is always larger than most people account for. You can't compare 1 to 1 when the circumstances are so incredibly different.

VA can get rock star status but if the US market actually make voice acting AGENCY for them, which something like this is never going to happen. Since they rely on Distrobutors like ADV, Ocean Group, Bandai Visual.. etc. Majority of them being overshadowed by Hollywood and big name celebrities, which makes them nothing.

Dodging the issue. Of course we shouldn't expect a Blu Ray for a Ghost in the Shell/Evangelion/Gundam/what have you in the United States before Japan -- but, amazingly enough, not all anime are popular franchises made to print money. Taking a stance that Japan doesn't want it out on Blu Ray here before it's available domestically has been proven to be untrue.

What are you talking about. It's stated in the video that early on in the partnership they knew that there would be difficulties.

"One of." You're dodging the issue again.

They've even acknowledged the difficulties with their manga division in a recent press release (and consequently spat in the fans' faces).

In this case, I'm mostly witnessing frustration at a company that has completely failed to have good PR and has consistently squandered their assets and goals with little respect to stability and the future.

Gatsu, a company does not just sour their relationship with another and lose all of their licenses with little to no negotiations in a matter of a few days.

For that matter, Gen Fukunaga himself stated that Sojitz came to FUNimation earlier this year in regards to their titles -- that's not just a mere correlation.

Curious: do you actually have sources with reliable numbers to back that claim up?

bradc wrote:

VA can get rock star status but if the US market actually make voice acting AGENCY for them, which something like this is never going to happen. Since they rely on Distrobutors like ADV, Ocean Group, Bandai Visual.. etc. Majority of them being overshadowed by Hollywood and big name celebrities, which makes them nothing.

Mostly all VAs in the US are in the Screen Actors Guild whether they appear on screen, or not, and nearly all have their own agent finding them work. I got that from personally speaking with 2 of them. BTW they seem to get the "star" treatment when ever they come over to the UK conventions. Maybe they should consider moving over here then.

Well if ADV do carry on i find it a waste of time i for one will never go back to them after the whole Newtype/PIQ fiasco and not giving the 15000 subscribers a refund this and John Ledford blaming fansubs only for 2 months later to put NHK on crunchroll which made him look an idiot.

Did no1 ask them about the newtype/piq mess and if people will be getting a refund?

- Mutineer's Moon is still in the works? Yuh-huh.

Fans are not a small amount.

The number of people going to anime conventions grow each year, and conventions get a lot of revenue for hosting it yearly. Most and majority do prefer Japanese Seiyuu, who are more popular than the English VA here, where the English VA doesn't even get the status of a rockstar, nor have their own magazines where the Japanese do.

I'm not really dodging the issue, since you're basically making the same point as me, except for the last argument. Japan clearly wants certain anime which it thinks will make money on DVD/Blu-Ray in Japan first, unless the licensors are too lazy to manufacture the dvds themselves, or unless the show has niche appeal.

No, I'm not dodging it. Their manga line was never that successful in the first place, and so it takes less priority than their anime line, plain and simple.

If they were spitting in the fans' faces, they'd flood the market with OEL titles, while canceling manga titles which actually made money for them.

It's that things didn't work out, in spite of them playing the game the same way as everyone else.

Geneon did just that with ADV.

Yes, and Toei came to 4Kids only a few months after FUNimation tried to get the rights to One Piece. That situation had no bearing on FUNimation any more than your example had any bearing on ADV.

My point being that there are certain titles that Japan is going to want to have released on Blu Ray domestically, but that obviously other titles are free to go elsewhere. ADV is denying that fact.

Yeah, they probably saw little profit from Yotsuba&!, Evangelion: Angelic Days and Cromartie... Oh, wait.

It still doesn't make any sense that a company the size of ADV, not to mention constant concerns over their manga division, would have someone at the head have NO IDEA how it's doing.

ADV's PR is just outright disappointing. Read pages two to three.

Playing the same game would result in the successes that FUNimation, Bandai Entertainment, Media Blasters and The Right Stuf are seeing right now.

You nor anyone else on here -- excepting perhaps ANN staff -- have any idea the exact details of that situation, who backed out first and who said what. There is no basis for your assumption, other than your bias against Geneon.

Incomparable. FUNimation never had the rights;

4Kids teased more money and promises in front of Toei and got the show.

ADV has been having problems all year with direct statements alluding to this and various other clues, all of which you seem to ignore.

Most and majority do prefer Japanese Seiyuu, who are more popular than the English VA here, where the English VA doesn't even get the status of a rockstar, nor have their own magazines where the Japanese do.

Okay, I just have to ask: can anyone out there explain to me the difference between a "seiyuu" and a "voice actor"? Obviously there must be some important distinction to necessitate the use of different terms for two groups of people who do THE EXACT SAME THING: stand in front of a microphone and read scripts so that animated characters have a voice.