Industry Talk: Dub-I-Dub

Let's talk about dubs this week, specifically why some shows get dubbed while others don't. All of this should be common knowledge to longtime fans, but it's something that I want to put out for newer fans as it is important for them to know if they care about what gets dubbed or not.

Sentai Filmworks recently put out their February 2015 release slate, which includes a fairly well-known title that has been a long time coming: Space Brothers. However, this first 13-episode set of the series, and likely the rest of the 99-episode show, will not be dubbed. Meanwhile, also on the slate for that month is a re-release of Leviathan: The Last Defense, released sub-only earlier this year, but now with a dub. A number of fans have gotten quite riled up that a "crap" show like Leviathan is getting dubbed (and re-released with a dub, at that!), while a "masterpiece" show like Space Brothers gets the sub-only treatment.

So I think it's time to set some things straight. First of all, I think Leviathan is a perfectly okay show. Sure, it's exceedingly average and not something I'd consider "good" by any means, but if you're looking for a brainless, fun fantasy action show, it's perfectly fine. But that's pretty much irrelevant to all of this.

Anyway, why do some shows get dubbed while others are sub-only? Simple: dubs cost money. A lot of money, too; I don't have the exact numbers, but the numbers I've seen point to a cost of several thousand dollars per episode. Let's say it's $5,000 an episode; for a 12-episode series, that's $60,000 the show has to be able to profit in order to make up the dub cost! What this boils down to is this: a dubbed show has to sell really well.

Now, certainly, dubs increase sales. A number of anime fans are only interested in or largely prefer dubbed titles to sub-only titles, for various reasons. And anime companies wouldn't dub shows if they didn't think there was at least the possibility to bring in so much more sales with a dub that the cost of the dub is worth it (especially since dubs help improve the long-term value of a show, as well as the overall image of the company itself). However, the question comes down to this: can a show bring in enough additional sales to cover the cost of the dub?

If not, the sub-only treatment makes sense; rather than lose money on a dub, they'd rather lose some sales but still sell enough to the smaller but devoted customer base that's fine with buying sub-only shows to make a profit. And in some cases, like Leviathan, if the sub-only release turns out to sell well beyond expectations, to the point where the company can feel like a dub might be profitable, they can always go back and re-release the show with a dub.

The most important thing to remember is this: whether a show gets dubbed or not has nothing to do with how good it is. It has everything to do with how well it can sell with the crowd that primarily or exclusively buys dubbed releases. Now, there are all sorts of theories for what titles are popular with that crowd and what titles are not; generally, action-heavy shows are more likely to get dubbed, while slice-of-life shows are very likely to not be dubbed. Also, longer shows like Space Brothers are disadvantaged by the greater cost of having to dub a lot of episodes (if you thought dubbing 12 episodes was expensive, consider having to dub 99 episodes!).

The thing is to not get angry over a show you really like not getting dubbed, or a show you think is bad getting dubbed. These companies are just trying to do what makes the most business sense, and for various reasons, the shows that sell the best aren't necessarily the best-quality shows. If you really want to try to get shows you like dubbed, your best bet is to try to promote the show while it is airing and increase the streaming numbers, as those are one of the indicators companies use to determine whether a show might be popular enough to be dubbed. And sometimes, you just have to resign yourself to the fact that great shows like Non Non Biyori and Engaged to the Unidentified just will never be dubbed... at least, as an eternal fan of slice-of-life shows, that's the reality I have to live with every month...

Anime Expo 2013 Coverage, Part 2

Time for Part 2 of my Anime Expo coverage, in which I look at the more interesting things mentioned in different panels.

JAST USA Licenses Steins;Gate Visual Novel For U.S. Release

For those of you who are fans of Steins;Gate (and considering it’s currently the #1 anime on Anime News Network, that’s probably a lot of you), JAST USA has announced that they are planning to release the visual novel on which the anime is based on in the U.S. for the PC. The release is confirmed to have the original Japanese voices. (And do not worry; it is not an ero-game, so no sex scenes.)

Crunchyroll to Be Available on PS Vita, Announces Avalanche of New Simulcast Titles

For those of you with a PS Vita, Crunchyroll will soon be available on that handheld console. They also took the time to announce a bunch of other titles they will be simulcasting this season: Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist, The Eccentric Family (Uchouten Kazoku, written by the same author behind The Tatami Galaxy), The World God Only Knows: Goddesses, Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stories, Sunday Without God (Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi), WataMote – No Matter How I Look At It, It’s You Guys Fault I’m Not Popular!, andSilver Spoon. Most of these titles already have their first episode available on Crunchyroll, so check them out if you’re interested.

On a non-AX note, they have recently announced a simulcast for Gatchaman Crowds as well.

Kodansha USA’s Attack on Titan Manga Releases to Speed Up To One Every Month

To explain the title more, previously the manga was being released at a rate of one every three months. This new release plan means fans of the manga will get their Titan fix three times as fast.

In addition, they will start offering titles on Kindle and other eBooks starting July 16^th.

Funimation Details Ghost In The Shell: ARISE Import Edition Details

Aniplex of America is not the only company doing import releases now, as Funimation has joined in with the very recent Ghost In The Shell: ARISE OVA series. The release will be a subtitled-only Blu-ray including a Japanese O-card, film strip, and an English-translated art book. The release will go for a retail price of $70, and only a limited print run of 2500 copies will be offered. If none of this interests you, don’t worry; Funimation also plans to release a standard version with a dub (and likely a much cheaper price).

Other News: Funimation’s other titles announced are Hal and 009 Re:Cyborg, both films. They also will be streaming the anime adaptation of Hyperdimension Neptunia, which when added to their earlier announcement of the streaming of Danganronpa, makes two games for which NISA holds the US game license and Funimation holds the US anime streaming license.

Oh wait, did I forget to mention that…

NIS America Licenses Danganronpa Murder Mystery Visual Novel For PS Vita

There, now I mentioned it.

They also have Demon Gaze. Both games will be available early 2014.

Extra: Sentai Filmworks Announces Home Video License For Various Summer 2013 Titles

As has been the trend lately, Sentai Filmworks has taken an early stake in a number of titles that are currently airing this season (the reason for this is primarily having good working relationships with the Japanese publishers of these anime). Of the various anime airing this season, the ones Sentai Filmworks has announced licenses for are: Stella Women’s Academy, High School Division Class C3, Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East Season 2, Dog & Scissors, Rozen Maiden ~ Zurückspulen, Fantasista Doll, Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya, Kinmoza! (Kiniro Mosaic), Sunday Without God, and WataMote. There will likely be more where those came from (I’d be very surprised if they don’t pick up the new season of The World God Only Knows).

Extra: Little Witch Academia Episode 2 Kickstarter Meets Goal In Less Than Five Hours

Never underestimate the passion of anime fans when it comes to throwing money at the shows they like. Time of Eve is a recent example of a very successful anime Kickstarter devoted to bringing the movie to the US, and now we have Little Witch Academia, the 30-minute OVA that has reached the US$150,000 goal of completing episode 2 in less than five hours after the campaign started early Tuesday. Studio Trigger already had the funds for creating a 20-minute episode and the Kickstarter funds will add 15 minutes to the final run time.

The campaign is still going on, so anyone who wants to donate can still do so here. It remains to be seen what kind of “stretch goals” the studio has for additional funds.

(On a personal note, I have seen the first episode. It is very well-produced overall and has a fun story with some potential to go deeper should more be made.)

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So that is all for Anime Expo. What were your favorite announcements from the convention?

Reverse Importation and How It Affects the NA Anime Industry

During my post about the Puella Magi Madoka Magica movies' import release, I talked a bit about reverse importation, the practice of Japanese anime fans' importing US releases of anime in order to save on the cost of buying anime Blu-rays, which are oftentimes ridiculously expensive. As an example, the average 12-episode anime will require you to buy 6 individual volumes that have an MSRP of US $80 each!) Needless to say, it's much cheaper to wait for the US's $70 release of that same show in its entirety, ask your overseas friend to buy it and ship it to you, then just pay him the cost plus shipping and in the end pay probably about a sixth of what you'd normally pay.

It should be noted that this problem even goes back to the days of DVD, where anime DVDs in Japan were also rather expensive and it would be much cheaper to buy a Region 1 compatible DVD player and import US releases. But with Blu-rays making the US and Japan share a region, it's just that much easier to reverse-import for any penny-pinching Japanese anime fan. Unfortunately for the producers of the anime, this means much less revenue for them, which is a Bad Thing, and of course, in their minds, they need to do whatever they can to make sure as many people buy their own domestic releases as possible, which makes sense.

That said, without any solid sales numbers, it's hard to say just how much of an impact reverse importation has on the Japanese industry. It's possible the problem isn't that bad and the companies are just being paranoid. One good indicator that it is something to be concerned over, though, is that if you search for various anime on the Japanese Amazon site, oftentimes the US release will be near the top as one of the more popular items.

In the end, though, the Japanese are concerned about it, and as such, it affects how anime gets released here in North America. In this post, I will go over the various ways which reverse importation affects these releases.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica Films on Blu-ray and Aniplex of America import releases

The latest news on the North American anime-on-home-video front comes courtesy of Aniplex of America, who have announced that the first two Puella Magi Madoka Magica films will be available on Blu-ray on July 30^th, 2013. For those who have heard of Madoka Magica but don’t know too much about the films, these two films, spanning a total of 240 minutes (4 hours), basically retell the entire TV series in a somewhat more streamlined way. I have yet to actually see the films, but I have seen the TV series, and as many others can attest to, it is a great series that turns a lot of typical “magical girl” tropes on their heads, while the ending is one of the most beautiful endings I have ever seen in anime (and for Christian viewers, it even reflects the Gospel to some extent!).

But this isn’t so much a post about Madoka Magica as it is an anime industry post (the first on this blog), so let’s talk about this upcoming Blu-ray release of these movies.

Just from hearing about it, I’m sure Madoka Magica fans will get excited at first; after all, Aniplex of America (henceforth referred to as AoA) just conducted a bunch of screenings across the continent; having the Blu-ray release come so soon… that has to be too good to be true, right?

Well… maybe. You see, the July 30^th Blu-ray release of these films will be the latest of AoA’s import releases.