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Answerman - Will Manga Go Public Domain?


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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 9:42 am Reply with quote
Justin wrote:
...or are about things that can obviously be turned into toys (every mecha show ever made).


Well, almost every anime ever made. The eva units from NGE were deliberately designed to be impossible to turn into toys. Of course, Bandai did it anyway with an ingenious layered-armour design.
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Utsuro no Hako



Joined: 18 May 2012
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 9:58 am Reply with quote
There's one other class of anime worth mentioning, and that's the ones produced by the NHK (to turn people into Hikikomori). Being government owned, turning a profit isn't such a high priority, so they're willing to do long running series that don't necessarily become mega hits and sell a ton of discs or toys, like Baby Steps, Phi Brain and Log Horizon.
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Paiprince



Joined: 21 Dec 2013
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 10:16 am Reply with quote
Utsuro no Hako wrote:
There's one other class of anime worth mentioning, and that's the ones produced by the NHK (to turn people into Hikikomori). Being government owned, turning a profit isn't such a high priority, so they're willing to do long running series that don't necessarily become mega hits and sell a ton of discs or toys, like Baby Steps, Phi Brain and Log Horizon.


Err, I wouldn't say any of those are "long running." They still typically follow the 2 (3 for Phi Brain) season format.
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GVman



Joined: 14 Jul 2010
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 10:34 am Reply with quote
Quote:
By that time the original series was a decade old and had already been published overseas (though not in English).


Thankfully, things have changed since 2012; the manga is now available in English digitally from Manga Reborn under the name "Give My Regards to Black Jack": http://en.mangareborn.jp/creation_series/410
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Errinundra
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Joined: 14 Jun 2008
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 10:54 am Reply with quote
What makes the OP of Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight so great are Yoko Kanno's songwriting gifts and the wall of sound production that not only compensates for Maaya Sakamoto's limited singing abilities but also generates tremendous power. The middle eight, with Maaya Sakamoto's multi-tracked vocals, continues to give me shivers even after many listenings.
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ChibiGoku



Joined: 29 May 2004
Posts: 686
PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 11:39 am Reply with quote
Paiprince wrote:
Utsuro no Hako wrote:
There's one other class of anime worth mentioning, and that's the ones produced by the NHK (to turn people into Hikikomori). Being government owned, turning a profit isn't such a high priority, so they're willing to do long running series that don't necessarily become mega hits and sell a ton of discs or toys, like Baby Steps, Phi Brain and Log Horizon.


Err, I wouldn't say any of those are "long running." They still typically follow the 2 (3 for Phi Brain) season format.


NHK is well known to take breaks with their productions, but ultimately they have done series that have gone on for awhile. I think one notable title that's been running since the early 90s is Nintama Rantarou. That one does do breaks, but it's still in production to this day.
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Paiprince



Joined: 21 Dec 2013
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 12:04 pm Reply with quote
^
No denying that, but I was just pointing out that the earlier examples hardly come close to the juggernaughts with a 100+ episodes. It's also interesting to note that NHK shows are more likely to receive third seasons regardless of their popularity.

[Edit]: removed unnecessary nested quotes. Please read the quoting guidelines. Errinundra.
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 12:07 pm Reply with quote
Also, no show expects to be long running--
Even the very first "Emperor Pilaf" season of Dragon Ball:Classic was a closed 13-episode arc, before it caught on.

When we talk about "long-running series", we're either talking about fight serials, that never write their manga an ending in the first place, or established classics like Doraemon, Shin-Chan and Sazae, that have been around since the days when anime WAS mainstream for kids' afternoons, and stays the common-denominator default when everyone else goes niche.
If "TV anime is for kids", as the Japanese believe, well, the kids have to have something normal to watch.

(Oh, and apart from personal stunts by the author, the safe answer to the question "Will (anything in Japan) go Public Domain?" is usually NO. Be assured of that much.)
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Tenchi



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 1:01 pm Reply with quote
Will the rights to some of the earliest manga ever lapse into the public domain or can the publishers keep on renewing the copyright indefinitely, even if the mangaka has been dead for decades?

Of course, I'm not exactly familiar with pre-Tezuka manga, so it's entirely possible that some of those manga are already public domain, especially if they're from publishers that shuttered at least half a century ago.
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HeeroTX



Joined: 15 Jul 2002
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 1:21 pm Reply with quote
Tenchi wrote:
Will the rights to some of the earliest manga ever lapse into the public domain or can the publishers keep on renewing the copyright indefinitely, even if the mangaka has been dead for decades?

Once something is produced, the clock starts (or once the creator dies, depending on the law). But really, the answer is "it depends on the government". The primary reason Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny and others haven't gone public domain is because the US government keeps pushing the copyright duration back.

To use a GOOD example, when JM Barrie died, he gave the rights to Peter Pan to charity (a children's hospital actually). The copyright eventually expired and the original story is technically in the public domain but there's some complications surrounding the play. (also, according to wikipedia, apparently the UK government gave the hospital perpetual right to collect royalties on it, but I assume that SPECIFIC case is a major exception considering who's really gonna fight to keep from giving money to a children's hospital?)
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PurpleWarrior13



Joined: 05 Sep 2009
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 1:22 pm Reply with quote
EricJ2 wrote:
Also, no show expects to be long running--
Even the very first "Emperor Pilaf" season of Dragon Ball:Classic was a closed 13-episode arc, before it caught on.


Only the manga. The anime was greenlit a year later and was expected to run longer all along. Also, there are plenty of series that are planned to be long runners, even if they run even longer than those plans. One Piece was first planned to run a good 20-odd volumes before it proved to be a giant hit.
From what I've heard, the Pokemon anime was originally planned as a 26-episode series as well. I believe it was extended after it was sold overseas.
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samuelp
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Joined: 25 Nov 2007
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 1:27 pm Reply with quote
Tenchi wrote:
Will the rights to some of the earliest manga ever lapse into the public domain or can the publishers keep on renewing the copyright indefinitely, even if the mangaka has been dead for decades?

Of course, I'm not exactly familiar with pre-Tezuka manga, so it's entirely possible that some of those manga are already public domain, especially if they're from publishers that shuttered at least half a century ago.


I can say being a former Tezuka Productions employee that the people there are definitely keeping the time limit for his original works to fall into the public domain in mind. It's one of the big motivating factors to continue to make sure there are new versions of his most well know characters and IP, because sooner or later the original manga will be in the public domain. It's not the only reason (they truly want to make sure new generations are exposed to Tezuka's vision and works), but it's there, that's for sure.
I don't think they'll pull a Disney and lobby the government for extensions (there might be some internal debate about whether Tezuka-sensei would want such a thing since it's still a family owned company), but in the end it might happen...
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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 1:43 pm Reply with quote
What does he mean by "earliest and best of the genre" as far as I know Record of Lodoss War is a fantasy adventure show, something that has been around forever.
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 1:45 pm Reply with quote
Tenchi wrote:
Will the rights to some of the earliest manga ever lapse into the public domain or can the publishers keep on renewing the copyright indefinitely, even if the mangaka has been dead for decades?


One way companies keep their copyrights around past the usual duration is to "update" things and make tweaks. For instance, many of Disney's movies are based on public domain works, but Disney has protection because they've made versions that are considered distinctly Disney. Doing that doesn't keep others from using the same basis for their own work, but it does mean that others have to be careful not to stray too close to that newer version.

However, as someone else mentioned, the biggest protection a company has is convincing law makers to extend the time limit, though usually that extension only carries back to works created after a certain date, so the idea is that things will age-out of protection eventually.
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PurpleWarrior13



Joined: 05 Sep 2009
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 2:02 pm Reply with quote
It will be a long time anyway. I'm not familiar with Japanese copyright law, but over here it's supposed to be about another 10 years before the stuff from 1930 becomes public domain, which means we've still got a few decades before Osamu Tezuka's works do.
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