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Old 2008-04-28, 10:41   Link #61
4Tran
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Onizuka-GTO View Post
you know, if they have trouble licencing Macross 7 because of all the songs, i dunno what that's gonna say about Macross Frontier considering there is a lot of singing in that too. Maybe not on the scale of Macross 7, but it's certainly going to more then the original or that was featured in Plus and Zero.
From what I gather, the problem with Macross 7 isn't that it has a lot of music, but that the music rights are considered a separate license from Victor Entertainment; and that the asking price for this music has been said to double the price of the license. Similar situations came up when Funimation couldn't secure the music to the OP, or when Bandai Entertainment couldn't get the theme songs for Zeta Gundam.

I don't know if Macross Frontier is in the same boat (it probably isn't since Victor Entertainment produced the music for Macross Plus and a lot of other shows as well), but that snippet of Fire Bomber that we heard in episode 2 might be a problem in the future.

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Originally Posted by Onizuka-GTO View Post
Seriously, i don't want to sound terrible, (sorry Robotech-heathens) but i hope there IS something that is wrong with the licence to Warner Brother.

we need something to force this issue to be resolved, and it's gonna take a wrangle over little details then so be it.
That's why legal action of some kind might well be a good thing. Right now, there's too much doubt surrounding Macross licenses for any R1 company to take a risk (although I've heard that the only thing preventing a re-license of DYRL is the asking price). A clear cut settlement of some kind would clear up that confusion, and open the doors for Macross.
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Old 2008-04-28, 12:17   Link #62
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Originally Posted by Onizuka-GTO View Post
bandai/yamato sell robotech merchandise?
no, i said i have always preferred to buy the macross (bandai/yamato) toys and figures rather than the robotech ones (toynami/revell/matchbox) because the robotech ones are made a lot cheaper (and that's being nice). there is also a lot more to buy (if you can find them). the robotech toy collection sucks big time.

Last edited by yadango; 2008-04-28 at 12:27.
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Old 2008-04-28, 18:00   Link #63
Tak
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Originally Posted by 4Tran View Post
That they gave the rights to Warner Brothers surprised me quite a bit, but it's still unclear whether the movie will have much to do with Macross. I think that the Japanese companies are also waiting to see if it is. In any case, it's probable that if it does come down to a legal battle, it'll be with Warner Brothers, and they have awfully deep pockets for such a fight. The upside to all of this is that a legal proceeding can also clear up the rights issue once and for all - perhaps even allowing the other Macross works to get licensed (except for Macross 7 of course ).
All the buzz surrounding 'Robotech' seems to indicate it will be based on the first 36 episodes of Macross. Although I personally don't see how it could be made any other way, except, perhaps, a few references here and there to the other shows. Still, we shall cross our fingers and wait.

It is true, that HG steered away quite a bit from 'Macross' for quite a bit now, and Shadow Chronicles may be an indication of that. Although they did license the word 'MACROSS' in the United States and have yet to give it up. Therefore, yes, they are still claiming some sort of ownership.

Although I am uncertain how the rights is transferred to Warner Bros, it is essentially just as baseless as HG's claim to it. That is, despite Warner Bros' potential in funding a prolonged lawsuit. The Japanese studios aren't exactly small fries, either.

But I guess we will have to wait and see.

- Tak
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Old 2008-04-28, 20:46   Link #64
dahak
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Originally Posted by Tak View Post
In Macross, Hikaru eventually weds Misa and had a daughter. Except over here you said it yourself, 'General' Rick Hunter weds 'Admiral' Lisa Hayes. It is common sense that 'Generals' don't simply become 'Admirals', and 'Generals' do not commandeer fleets.
Depends on your military. The Canadian's have from memory experimented with such.

SF militaries can get extrodanarily creative with rank structures. Stargate SG1 has a General commanding a starship squadron [since he's Air Force.]. The Serano Legacy has abolished Captain as a Naval Rank [replaced with Major] rather than post. Starship Troopers has command of a regiment in battle and seperate command of a capital ship in battle as the prerequisites for the rank of Sky Marshall [One of Johnny's classmates at OCS has done one and is studying for a prerequiste rank for the other.] Both Battlestar Galacticas have Colonels as capital warship XOs who are junior to Commanders who are junior to Admirals.

In Robotech REF and SC Generals command Capship squadrons. There are implications they hold this rank due to having commanded veritech wings in the past [For which the REF command rank is Colonel as in Wolfe,Edwards and Stirling.]

REF General Gunther Reinhardt is an example at Reflex Point. SC General Emmerson was an earlier example.

In this case it may be as simple as the REF having both Army and Navy ranks to a certain level to distinguish specilisations and then just Admirals above that. Possibly since all the commanders of the RDF were Admirals.

Look a bit further down for some of the reasons it wasn't a simple promotion.

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Right, and in midst of alien invasions, rebuilding the planet and new problems arising on a daily basis, I am sure he has all the free time in the world to be immersed in experience gaining and ranking-in. It doesn't even matter if 'Lisa' died in between, why should he even bother with fleet-works when he has his own mess to handle?
Possibly because as on of the RDF's few senior surviving pilots rank was going to hit him. By 2020 He is a Major General.[Which rank he appears to have recieved in the week before his Wedding and taking formal command of the SDF-3's Fighter Wings]

By 2030, He and Lisa have helped lead a multispecies War against the Regent [and later Edwards] as part of the Sentinels. Since thier main strike force were Veritechs and similar Rick took a greater role in planning the various planetary invasions than Lisa and Lisa took a more diplomatic role [Getting the various Races to work together and training in the traditional Praxian martial arts.]

By the jump off point for Mars Division, the Plenepotentiry Council has 4 senior officers to choose from [Max and Miryia having retired to raise ever stranger children, Wolfe having returned to Earth and Edwards having died]. All four were involved in the Sentinels.

Vince Grant. Engineer. Commanded the GMU.
Lisa Hunter. Capship Commander. Went native on Praxis. May like Miriya suffer from mental side effects caused by the Garudan atmosphere. Suffered the crippling or lose of her first two ship commands in thier first battles [SDF-2 lost, SDF-3 Crippled]. Has not won a capital ship engagement since 2012.
Rick Hunter. Fighter wing commander. Planned and lead the invasion of multiple Invid held planets.
Breetai. Has had more conflicts with the Plenepotentiry Council than the other three put together. Not a member of the REF since Edwards tried to enslave him.

Which would you choose? Rick has more relevant experience than Vince [or Reinhardt, who sat out the Sentinels war on the SDF-3] and unlike Breetai and Lisa isn't technically an alien [Breetai being Zentradi and Lisa having become adopted as a Praxian]


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Originally Posted by Tak View Post
No doubt those were a shabby attempt to connect the three shows that should not have been forcefully connected in the first place!

Once again, if it does not mean to sense, it does not make sense!

I would have a lot less problems if Robotech was a stand-alone original work by HG, except it wasn't, and I would have no problems if HG wasn't holding onto something that is simply not theirs to begin with.

- Tak
Thats a circular arguement. You don't like Robotech so you pick holes based on a events that happen in a Robotech episode set in 2040 based on the Macross version of events that end in 2012 and ignoring the material provided in various bits of Robotech. Its tricky for something to make sense if you don't accept that it could have explainations that are not direct maps to a seperate version. Especially if you are going to try and compare the two versions.

Your arguements are like complaining that Nova Wildstar can't be Captain of the Andromeda II based on Yuki having died when Yamato rammed the Black Dreadnought.

Robotech =/= Macross the same as New Battlestar Galactica =/= Old Battlestar Galactica. Its a different Universe the same as the three seperate ones that make up Macross.

Complaining that Macek's version welds three seperate series together [when that was the point, none of them being long enough to sell seperately] when that is the point of what he was doing and additional footage was produce to help do just that seems to miss the point. Harmony Gold couldn't sell Macross [after more than a year of trying] because it wasn't long enough to provide a full episode a day season. Such was the American TV market in the mid 80's. So they did something with the rights they had which would sell.

They didn't actually have to change that much between SDFMacross / SDC Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospaeda to get to Robotech. Many of the changes are modification for a younger age group [Which would have happend to a Macross translation by HG in that period.] rather than plot and the core themes come across unchanged. [Baring Minmei's atrocious singing in Robotech.] I'm not seeing the shabby compared with Battle of the Planets and if you truly want a shabby hack job to complain about try Johnny Destiny: Space Ninja.

Disputes over what rights HG might have over Macross didn't start until after Robotech II had been killed by the US Dollar collapsing against the Yen and the Sentinel Novels had been written. This is backstory thats been around for twenty years now.

The Legal Tangles are something seperate from the show. They didn't stop me watching any of the various bits of Macross and enjoying them any more than Yoshinobu Nishizaki and Leiji Matsumoto's legal fraca stopped me enjoying Yamato. Slightly less in fact since the latter seems to have killed both Diyamato Zero and Yamato 2520 rather than providing two different series to watch.

As for what deal Big West and Tatsunoko did with Harmony Gold and each other both in the 80s and after this decades litigation and thus what rights to what material each have. No one outside the companies knows the full story and it is possible that even they don't know.

I was under the impression there are no lawsuits outstanding. Big West and Tatsunoko have settled thier differences over who can do what with Macross and Harmony Gold can do what they wish with Robotech.
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Old 2008-04-28, 21:39   Link #65
Tak
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Originally Posted by dahak View Post
Which would you choose? Rick has more relevant experience than Vince [or Reinhardt, who sat out the Sentinels war on the SDF-3] and unlike Breetai and Lisa isn't technically an alien [Breetai being Zentradi and Lisa having become adopted as a Praxian]
In Macross, Vrlitwhai (Breetai) was promoted as the Commander of the UN SPACY. This made sense, because he had more experience commanding large fleets than anyone alive and most ships in service were mostly Zjentohlauedy in origin. Regardless, it simply shows that in Macross, people had absolutely no problems with Zjentohlauedy commanders sitting on top of the military hierarchy, as they have been cultured and no longer a threat. In fact, Vrlitwhai later commandeered the new UN SPACY navy against many 'rogue' Zjentohlauedy fleets for many decades. Since no record of him being mortally wounded exists, he is assumed to be still alive and still acting as the commander of the UN SPACY.

Too bad in the Robotech universe, the world still discriminate against Zentradis, even though the latter would have technically OUTNUMBERED humans by a million to one! And the Robotech universe never indicated OTHERWISE!

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Originally Posted by dahak View Post
ignoring the material provided in various bits of Robotech
The fact is, these so-called materials were published AFTER 'Robotech' had achieved unexpected success, and HG went on to hastily capitalize it by attempting to produce 'relevant' materials, although they were anything but 'relevant'. As glyph mentioned earlier, HG didn't even realize what they were doing until well into the middle of the show.

If HG didn't want anyone to pick on plot-holes, then don't leave holes that big! It left obvious answers to questions unanswered, and relied on horrible writing and bad capitalist practice to ruin the rest.

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Robotech =/= Macross the same as New Battlestar Galactica =/= Old Battlestar Galactica. Its a different Universe the same as the three seperate ones that make up Macross.
Because the New BSG was a brand new production, an original creation with a brand new production crew. ROBOTECH was anything BUT an original creation. It was nothing more than a dubbed anime airing on US TV, with almost all the source materials nearly UNALTERED but forcefully combined to befit whatever freakish reasons CM had in mind. Worse, CM barely heeded the original creator of the series. So in short, HG did not create the original characters, nor did they fabricate the original concept, except loosely stringing them together into three shows and forcing a non-existent connection on them.

If they wanted Robotech to truly stand out as a separate universe, perhaps they should have considered ORIGINAL WORK to begin with. Like Stealth (the movie), which its director admitted to influence from Macross PLUS (and Yukikaze), but despite influences was an original piece of work nonetheless.

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I was under the impression there are no lawsuits outstanding. Big West and Tatsunoko have settled thier differences over who can do what with Macross and Harmony Gold can do what they wish with Robotech.
There isn't a law suit because none has been initiated. With BW and TATSU finally settling their differences only recently, they still need to cooperate with BANDAI (the source of all related merchandise), who is blocking any attempt for Japanese exporters from communicating with HG regarding exporting MACROSS-related goods to the states. HG, even now, is demanding royalties for Macross goods being sold in the US. Contrary to popular belief, HG is STILL sending cease-and-decease letters.

You know, in just about every single one of my posts in this thread, I have pretty much indicated that my primary problem with HG is the fact that they are holding onto the Macross license and barring any related materials from coming in.

What they do with Robotech is their problem, but don't let that interfere with Macross. Due to HG's insistence (out of greed, obviously), we are unable to see the likes of Macross 7 or Macross Zero being officially released in the states, including associated merchandise. And that, to me, is an affront to my sensitivities.

- Tak
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Old 2008-04-28, 22:20   Link #66
4Tran
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Tak, you have to realize that of Harmony Gold's continuance of the Robotech story effectively makes it a very different animal from the Macross universe.

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All the buzz surrounding 'Robotech' seems to indicate it will be based on the first 36 episodes of Macross. Although I personally don't see how it could be made any other way, except, perhaps, a few references here and there to the other shows. Still, we shall cross our fingers and wait.
I would assume so as well since none of the other stories seem particularly suited for a theatrical release. Moreover, the initial press release seems to suggest that Warner Brothers is trying to create the first segment of a multiple movie franchise; and that would apply better to Macross (at least in the beginning) moreso than the others.

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Although I am uncertain how the rights is transferred to Warner Bros, it is essentially just as baseless as HG's claim to it. That is, despite Warner Bros' potential in funding a prolonged lawsuit. The Japanese studios aren't exactly small fries, either.
While the Japanese studios aren't necessarily small fries in general, I think that Studio Nue and Big West are tiny compared to a massive entity like Warner Brothers. If they could bring Bandai into the picture, then things change.

As to the basis of the movie license, it's largely due to what kind of rights were granted to Harmony Gold to begin with. My understanding is that it was a sweeping set of rights, and that they were given free reign to create other media based on it - hence the Sentinels, the Robotech Battlecry game, and the Shadow Chronicles. If that's the case, there's no reason they wouldn't be able to pass the movie rights to Warner Brothers. As such, it's not a baseless claim at all - it's merely one that is now considered overly generous, but it may well have been originally negotiated in good faith.

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Originally Posted by Tak View Post
There isn't a law suit because none has been initiated. With BW and TATSU finally settling their differences only recently, they still need to cooperate with BANDAI (the source of all related merchandise), who is blocking any attempt for Japanese exporters from communicating with HG regarding exporting MACROSS-related goods to the states. HG, even now, is demanding royalties for Macross goods being sold in the US. Contrary to popular belief, HG is STILL sending cease-and-decease letters.
Are they still doing that? Do you have any links to that effect?

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You know, in just about every single one of my posts in this thread, I have pretty much indicated that my primary problem with HG is the fact that they are holding onto the Macross license and barring any related materials from coming in.
That seems to be true only to a degree; the problems with Do You Remember Love and Macross 7 have been rumored to be more due to a high asking price than any legal wrangling.
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Old 2008-04-28, 22:28   Link #67
Tak
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Are they still doing that? Do you have any links to that effect?
I got one approximately 3 years ago when I was still operating a small-time online shop with my overseas partner importing Macross-related goods (along with other stuff). It was sent to my E-mail as a warning. Three years aren't terribly long ago, that was around the time of Mac Zero.

That, and Bandai threatened to take away licenses from Japanese retailers if they paid even a cent to HG as royalties.

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That seems to be true only to a degree; the problems with Do You Remember Love and Macross 7 have been rumored to be more due to a high asking price than any legal wrangling.
DYRL made it to the states, but dubbed as 'Clash of the Bionoids'. Its horrible quality regardless, the fact that it already made it meant it could be remastered as a DVD release in the US, uncut. I am sure the fact that it wasn't might have something to do with HG. Moreover, the original version also saw release in Europe.

Besides, who is asking for the high price? Certainly not Big West/Bandai & associated parties. Macross PLUS and MACROSS II all made it to the states without much trouble until their popularity made HG smack down the sledgehammer. Obviously, if it wasn't for HG's meddling, Macross 7 or ZERO might have made it to the states a long, LONG time ago.

Robotech's original Japanese licenser never gave HG more rights than merely broadcasting the show, but Robotech became a different animal clearly due to negligence and legal loopholes.

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Tak, you have to realize that of Harmony Gold's continuance of the Robotech story effectively makes it a very different animal from the Macross universe.
Whatever they want to do with ROBOTECH is their problem, just STOP F*CKING AROUND with Macross, and LEAVE IT BE.

- Tak

Last edited by Tak; 2008-04-28 at 22:43.
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Old 2008-04-28, 22:46   Link #68
4Tran
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I got one approximately 3 years ago when I was still operating a small-time online shop with my overseas partner importing Macross-related goods (along with other stuff). It was sent to my E-mail as a warning. Three years aren't terribly long ago, that was around the time of Mac Zero.
I see. I wonder if anything has changed since then. I have the feeling that it may have been deemed a necessary for protecting their intellectual property. That doesn't keep it from sucking though.

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DYRL made it to the states, but dubbed as 'Clash of the Bionoids'. Its horrible quality regardless, the fact that it already made it meant it could be remastered as a DVD release in the US, uncut. I am sure the fact that it wasn't might have something to do with HG. Moreover, the original version also saw release in Europe.
The negotiations I'm talking about were for the recently remastered version of Do You Remember Love. The older versions' licenses have long since lapsed (they never even made it to DVD, if I recall correctly).

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Besides, who is asking for the high price? Certainly not Big West/Bandai & associated parties. Macross PLUS and MACROSS II all made it to the states without much trouble until HG smacked down the sledgehammer. Obviously, if it wasn't for HG's meddling, Macross 7 or ZERO might have made it to the states a long, LONG time ago.
You're talking about events that took place right around the time of the FASA vs. Playmates lawsuit. It's the events that happen afterwards that put the clamp down on further Macross licenses.

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Robotech's original Japanese licenser never gave HG more rights than merely broadcasting the show, but Robotech became a different animal clearly due to negligence and legal loopholes.
That doesn't seem to be the case. From the Macross Legalities thread:
Quote:
Later on in the series production, Tatsunoko found that what they agreed to would not cover the production costs, so they decided to renegotiate. Big West gave Tatsunoko the international distribution and merchandising rights in order to compensate them further.

Tatsunoko later sold those rights into a joint ownership with American company, Harmony Gold.

This worked out well for most involved for a very long time, until around 2001 when Yamato, a toy company that had nabbed the Macross Plus toy license in Japan, was given Big West's permission to sell those toys in the Unioted States where Macross Plus had garnered a lot of attention after it was released by Manga.

Harmony Gold's new management decided to put an end to this threat to their soon to be revived Robotech franchise. They sent Toycom, Yamato's American distributer, a cease and desist letter and claimed they owned rights to all things Macross.
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Whatever they want to do with ROBOTECH is their problem, just STOP F*CKING AROUND with Macross!
That's part of the problem. If a company doesn't aggressively defend its intellectual property, it may well lose the ability to profit from it. You can largely blame the outdated copyright & trademark system for that.
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Old 2008-04-28, 22:55   Link #69
Tak
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That's part of the problem. If a company doesn't aggressively defend its intellectual property, it may well lose the ability to profit from it. You can largely blame the outdated copyright & trademark system for that.
Yes, thus I refer to that very act frequently as the 'worst practice of capitalism'. HG knows fully well that ROBOTECH is dying. Making it into a movie and transferring rights were HG's last hurrah. If the Macross license is released, Robotech would relegate into nothing more than a fading memory.

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That doesn't seem to be the case. From the Macross Legalities thread:

Later on in the series production, Tatsunoko found that what they agreed to would not cover the production costs, so they decided to renegotiate. Big West gave Tatsunoko the international distribution and merchandising rights in order to compensate them further.

Tatsunoko later sold those rights into a joint ownership with American company, Harmony Gold.
Yeah, that was the problem with the Japanese companies. Thus the recent law suit regarding MACROSS' ownership, and all that jazz. Some elements within the Japanese licenser did not believe HG had more rights than to broadcast the shows. Even Tatsu didn't see that coming. Nobody expected Robotech to suddenly branch off as a separate universe while sidelining Macross in the United States. CM originally contacted his Japanese licenser for the production of a possible sequel to 'Robotech', or rather, 'Macross', the Japanese side were awfully surprised at the changes made in Robotech. It would appear, that they were never notified.

Quite unfortunate, if you ask me.

- Tak

Last edited by Tak; 2008-04-29 at 11:10.
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Old 2008-04-30, 02:28   Link #70
4Tran
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Yes, thus I refer to that very act frequently as the 'worst practice of capitalism'. HG knows fully well that ROBOTECH is dying. Making it into a movie and transferring rights were HG's last hurrah. If the Macross license is released, Robotech would relegate into nothing more than a fading memory.
Robotech has enough older fans that it won't go away for a long time to come - after all, American companies made a new Go Lion show, and a new Speed Racer movie with little more than nostalgia as a basis. Likewise, Harmony Gold will probably still hold onto Mospeada, and all of their future ambitions seem to be focused there anyways.

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Yeah, that was the problem with the Japanese companies. Thus the recent law suit regarding MACROSS' ownership, and all that jazz. Some elements within the Japanese licenser did not believe HG had more rights than to broadcast the shows. Even Tatsu didn't see that coming. Nobody expected Robotech to suddenly branch off as a separate universe while sidelining Macross in the United States. CM originally contacted his Japanese licenser for the production of a possible sequel to 'Robotech', or rather, 'Macross', the Japanese side were awfully surprised at the changes made in Robotech. It would appear, that they were never notified.
In that case, those Japanese companies didn't do enough research. The first is that American companies have historically implemented huge changes to localized anime (witness stuff like 7-Zark-7), the second being that American copyright law essentially forces the holder to aggressively clamp down on anything that might vaguely infringe on that copyright.
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Old 2008-04-30, 12:07   Link #71
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Originally Posted by 4Tran View Post
In that case, those Japanese companies didn't do enough research. The first is that American companies have historically implemented huge changes to localized anime (witness stuff like 7-Zark-7), the second being that American copyright law essentially forces the holder to aggressively clamp down on anything that might vaguely infringe on that copyright.
not surprised.

In some ways, some of the Japanese business strategy is surprisingly outdated, in regards to its goals they have a short-sightedness to only focus on markets within their borders.

nothing wrong with that, except that the really need to start thinking on a global scale considering that the domestic market is suffering from a downturn that is affecting the whole industry, from manga to anime.

Personally, shows like Real Diver, CGR2 and MF are remarkably equipped to deal with a global distribution. They certainly feel to have a more international touch.....
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Old 2008-04-30, 15:32   Link #72
Tak
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nothing wrong with that, except that the really need to start thinking on a global scale considering that the domestic market is suffering from a downturn that is affecting the whole industry, from manga to anime.
The Japanese companies do have a broader goal/objective. However, for the longest time (and still is), that focus had always been centered upon East Asia, where a more familiar corporate ethnic is practiced. This familiarity would allow Japanese products to be localized very fast. Take Taiwan for example, the newest comic-zines in Japan usually take approximately 24 ~ 72 hours before a localized version is produced. Furthermore, the newest tankoban in Japan is available in bookstores within 24 hours if readers chose not to wait for the localized version. The same time-frame could be applied to other media, such as music and/or movies.

But on this side of the shore, things take forever to publish, and we all know for a fact that licensing in the US is a complete pain in the rear. Its such a pain that you will never ever see the kind of 'doujin' culture of Japan ever taking root here. If it did, expect to see lots of lawsuits. There are so much one has to go through for licensing, its almost ridiculous!

Another thing is experience. Anime was simply not as popular as it is today in the US. Throughout the 60s ~ 70s ~ 80s and even 90s, there were numerous material being shown in the states, but none ever proved overwhelming successful. The simple fact is, Japanese licenser or American investors never expected to see an anime boom. Then finally came the first sign of a major boom in the form of Tomogachi eggs... and suddenly, POKEMON.

So on one hand, yes, you can perhaps observe Japanese 'practice' as shortsighted, but on the other hand, there is a lot more to it than simply transferring material from one shore to another.

- Tak

Last edited by Tak; 2008-04-30 at 16:20.
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Old 2008-05-06, 21:44   Link #73
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Japan explored the idea of broadening the anime/manga infection to the US/Europe but it simply cannot emulate the comic book scene here.

Comic book is already a dying hobby in the US, today's kids are not into self nurturing hobbies like reading comic books and building airplane models.

They rather show off who is the biggest attention-whore on facebook/MySpace. Anime/manga are consider freebies here.

That's why Japan is not really policing the anime piracy here, they don't think they can build a profitable business here selling anime related products and services.
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Old 2008-05-07, 00:41   Link #74
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Originally Posted by vision33r View Post
Japan explored the idea of broadening the anime/manga infection to the US/Europe but it simply cannot emulate the comic book scene here.

Comic book is already a dying hobby in the US, today's kids are not into self nurturing hobbies like reading comic books and building airplane models.
I believe that you're not really basing your statements on the facts. While anime DVD sales seem to have stagnated, manga sales have increased steadily, and quite a few titles have made it on bestseller lists. Manga already make up the lion's share of graphic novel sales:
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At its Graphic Novel Conference at New York Comic Con last Thursday, the ICv2 retail news source announced its findings for the American retail graphic novel market in 2007. While the overall graphic novel market and the manga segment both grew in 2007, manga grew at a slower rate than in years past. The 2007 sales stood at US$210 million, which is 5% higher than 2006's US$200 million. Bookstore sales of manga rose, but direct market sales in comic book stores dropped. ICv2 cited the saturation of manga titles for the comic book stores' shift in priorities. The overall graphic novel market in the United States rose to US$375 million in 2007.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...r-rate-in-2007
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Old 2008-05-08, 20:57   Link #75
vision33r
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Originally Posted by 4Tran View Post
I believe that you're not really basing your statements on the facts. While anime DVD sales seem to have stagnated, manga sales have increased steadily, and quite a few titles have made it on bestseller lists. Manga already make up the lion's share of graphic novel sales:


http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...r-rate-in-2007
No doubt, manga sales are gaining popularity in America, my point is it's incomparable to the manga popularity in Asia.

You have many manga cafes in Asia that people pay by the hour just to read manga.
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Old 2008-05-08, 21:42   Link #76
Tak
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Originally Posted by vision33r View Post

You have many manga cafes in Asia that people pay by the hour just to read manga.
Heh, you have manga LIBRARIES in Asia where you can read manga for... FREE!

- Tak
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Old 2008-05-11, 07:56   Link #77
Onizuka-GTO
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Originally Posted by Tak View Post
Heh, you have manga LIBRARIES in Asia where you can read manga for... FREE!

- Tak
Well, not exactly free, it's Manga Cafe.

so you can go in and just read, but they ar hoping you'll be a little bit hungry and thirsty so end up buying a drink and some snacks.

A bit like having Starbucks in Borders (Bookstore) you just go in, sit down with some books/magazines which you can read and not pay.

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Old 2008-05-11, 08:21   Link #78
Tabris
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Oh God, I love the Borders in Leeds. I can spend hours in there just reading books and magazines.

I always feel bad if I do that and don't buy something though Or take something into the Starbucks part which I haven't payed for.
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Old 2008-05-11, 08:31   Link #79
ReddyRedWolf
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Originally Posted by Onizuka-GTO View Post
Well, not exactly free, it's Manga Cafe.

so you can go in and just read, but they ar hoping you'll be a little bit hungry and thirsty so end up buying a drink and some snacks.

A bit like having Starbucks in Borders (Bookstore) you just go in, sit down with some books/magazines which you can read and not pay.

Well there also those manga cafe with Meido greeting Okaerinasaimase, goshujinsama!.

Not that I've been ever been in one.
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Old 2008-05-11, 12:40   Link #80
Onizuka-GTO
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Originally Posted by Tabris View Post
Oh God, I love the Borders in Leeds. I can spend hours in there just reading books and magazines.

I always feel bad if I do that and don't buy something though Or take something into the Starbucks part which I haven't payed for.
Don't worry, with the size of their manga section there, the guilty feeling will disppear after a few series....





But to get back on topic, i'm going to have a RIOT into how some of those older die-hard robotech heathens will slobber over M-Frontier, yet be in conflict as it does not fit into their corrupted universe....muwahaha...oh...it's making me so happy.



But the fact that someone mentioned something about Bandai Visual licensing this to blu-Ray.

That is certain to be speculation, until they sort out the licensing thing, no way would a company announce something like this.

I guess it also boils down to how will the Hollywood adaptation will run with it.....

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