Utawarerumono is licensed

[PGilis]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

I WANT MY POWERFUL HAREM FIGHTS (specially KARURA) BAAAAAAACK!!!

God, i can't wait more one or two years to see the ending... IF they really decide to release the ending.

[sazan fan]

Hmm... License a show just as the fans are really into in in the fansub community... not sure if ADV did this on purpose, but if they did, they are quite smart for doing so. I will assume that the majority of people don't know how to get fansubs outside of Animesuki, and since the majority of fansubbers will stop fansubbing licensed shows, it would mean that the only way to satisfy the Uta-hunger is to buy the dvd from ADV. Using the fansub community to boost commerical sales, like I said, smart.

If I am not mistaking, Utawarerumono could also mean "not quite human" which is the premise of the show. Changing it... Not sure if I am all that pleased with that.

[Newprimus]

As I said in the other thread,

there is no love in the world.


You are all dead to me!!!! *points at no one in particular*


EDIT: Now what would really shock me is if they licensed Higurashi. That would make my day.

[Zaris]

Originally Posted by AnimeSuki.com

When anime is "licensed" it means a US anime company has bought the rights to put the anime series on DVD or TV in the US (and elsewhere). Please note that it is AnimeSuki's policy not to list licensed anime. Once anime is licensed, we will promptly remove it from the site.

I didn't quite understand what the big deal was with licensed anime until after digging around through several references on half a dozen websites. To be perfectly honest, I have mixed feelings about this. Half my skepticism comes from when I had a college roommate that was really into Ghost in the Shell. He bought both the first and 2nd season of the anime on DVD and we use to watch it together when he was free. Unfortunately, the english subbing on it was terrible - incomplete sentences, misspellings, grammatical errors. I'm glad I understand Japanese and Chinese (at least in Chinese, it was more accurate) otherwise I would've been bitter about it the whole two series.

Now that Utawarerumono, the show that pulled me back into anime again, is licensed, I'm expecting a similar happening.

Originally Posted by AnimeSuki.com

The original purpose of fansubs
As recent as about 10 to 15 years ago anime was not easy to get outside of Asia. The few anime companies that existed could only bring out a few titles as they lacked the funds and the market for licensing more shows. To get more anime and also to encourage certain titles to get licensed in the US, some anime fans started to make fansubs: series which were taped of Japanese television with subtitles added. These fansubs were distributed on VHS tape. One of the self imposed rules the fansub groups adapted was that once a series was licensed in the US, distribution of the fansub should stop. After all, the fansub had served it's purpose.

Eventually the popularity of anime grew in the US and with it the market for anime grew, which in turn resulted in more money to be available to license even more shows. It is probably this reason why in the past few years more and more shows are getting licensed. The popularity of fansubs also grew explosively with the introduction of digisubs: digital fansubs which could be easily distributed over the internet.

This part made me understand the situation a little more clearly. Companies like Funimation or ADV exist to make anime more commercial to an American audience. The problem, as I see it, is that these companies don't do a very good job and keeping quality in check. Already, I'm hating the new title "Shadow Warrior Chronicles". It is irrelevant and doesn't coinside with the central plot of the series. There are no chronicles, and these warriors certainly aren't followers of the dark side, as that is the impression the title will give to the average joe shmoe. In short, the title already presents a misinterpretation of the series, as I presume ADV and/or Funimation have already done to hundreds of other anime, Ghost in the Shell included.

A couple questions for you avid anime fans: up until this point, wasn't Utawarerumono licensed in Japan to begin with? There must've been a company in Japan that held absolute copyright of the material. What makes fansubs any more illegal now than they were before?

Also, does this mean Utawarerumono is no longer airing in Japan? Is it technically US material now? Or am I getting that point wrong?

Anyone with an ounce of Japanese knowledge knows that Utawarerumono isn't a hard phrase to pronounce. 'Mono' means thing or one. 'Utau' is the verb meaning to sing. Adjust the verb a little and you get 'Utawareru'. Not hard at all. I would be content with the direct translation, "the one being sung", but that's their decision now. <sigh>

[NightWish]

Originally Posted by Zaris

up until this point, wasn't Utawarerumono licensed in Japan to begin with? There must've been a company in Japan that held absolute copyright of the material.

In short, no, but yes. It doesn't need to be "licensed" in Japan because the company that made it is based in Japan and has an established distribution channel in that country. By owning the copyright they already have world-wide distribution rights -- it is their copyright material they can do what they like with it.

What they don't have is the structures (money, contacts, infrastructure, people, etc.) needed to translate and distribute the work in other countries... so they allow other people to do it. The license is there to allow another company (that doesn't normally own the copyright) to distribute the show. The license normally applies to a limited region of the world (i.e. the USA), but doesn't have to. There may also be other limitations on what the company can and cannot do with the copyright material...

Originally Posted by Zaris

What makes fansubs any more illegal now than they were before?

Nothing. They were illegal before and continue to be so, as it says in our Licensed Anime document. The difference is a purely moral and subjective one. We like to convince ourselves that fansubs are justifiable morally, if not legally, when they are NOT licensed. You quoted the origins of this idea, so I assume you've already read our documents on the subject.

Originally Posted by Zaris

Also, does this mean Utawarerumono is no longer airing in Japan? Is it technically US material now?

No, it will continue to air in Japan as before... and the copyright isn't transferred (at least not normally, I'm not privy to the contracts though, so it is impossible to say 100% what ADV are allowed to do and not.)

... and before this thread gets off-topic, please try to keep discussion of fansub illegality and morality out of this thread. It is about Utawarerumono being licensed not licenses in general (we have other threads for that hot-topic).

[Varion]

Zaris:
Yes, it was licensed by the creators to begin with, and the whole 'legality of fansubs' issue you're mentioning has been discussed to death in a bunch of different forums here. Warrior is singular, so while they're definitely not 'on the dark side' or anything Hakuoro definitely has that side to him in recent episodes. And yeah, it's still being aired in Japan of course, and most likely people will continue to fansub it, we just won't hear about it on this site so it's up to you if you want to hunt them down or not

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Zaris

Unfortunately, the english subbing on it was terrible - incomplete sentences, misspellings, grammatical errors. I'm glad I understand Japanese and Chinese (at least in Chinese, it was more accurate) otherwise I would've been bitter about it the whole two series.

Well, it sounds to me like your friend got a bootleg and not an official product. Official R1 releases (such as those by Funimation and ADV) don't have Chinese subtitles on them. Needless to say, bootlegs are not well-known for their high quality... The translation and quality of official R1 releases are, of course, not perfect, but way better than what you describe...

Originally Posted by Zaris

Anyone with an ounce of Japanese knowledge knows that Utawarerumono isn't a hard phrase to pronounce. 'Mono' means thing or one. 'Utau' is the verb meaning to sing. Adjust the verb a little and you get 'Utawareru'. Not hard at all.

It's a bit of a tongue-twister to a lot of (most?) English speakers, because it's composed of a lot of syllables that don't usually go together in English without any clear "stops". So, even those with an ounce of Japanese knowledge may very well find it hard to pronounce - not to mention those with no Japanese knowledge at all. I personally think it was pretty much a given that it'd have to go by a different name. Whether you like the current pick or not is another matter...

[Catgirls]

Originally Posted by Furudanuki

I don't have a :barf: emoticon, or I would use it.

Here, allow me to help you out.

Shadow Warrior Chronicles

[FatPianoBoy]

Originally Posted by Shinova

EDIT: Now what would really shock me is if they licensed Higurashi. That would make my day.

Be careful what you wish for. After retitling Utawarerumono like they did, Higurashi may end up being called "Demon Slugger Saga" or something

[Varion]

Originally Posted by FatPianoBoy

Be careful what you wish for. After retitling Utawarerumono like they did, Higurashi may end up being called "Demon Slugger Saga" or something

I reeeally don't think ADV will touch Higurashi

In other news, even 2chan seems to be talking about this. Haven't got a clue what they're saying though... probably agree with us.

[Sorrow-K]

Interesting license. I certainly wasn't expecting this. I actually think in part it's a semi-knee-jerk reaction from ADV getting beaten to the punch on a lot of big action titles recently by Funi and Geneon, particularly FMP:TSR. They probably need another big title with Shadow Warrior Chronicles' (lol) demographic, considering such titles were their bread and butter several years ago, and they arguably had a semi-monopoly on the thing.

But the name change is terrible. I don't think there's any argument there. I will say a name change was necessary, but "Shadow Warrior Chronicles"? Can they think of a more trite name? I agree with most in this thread, "The One Being Sung" would have been a far more fitting name for this.

[FatPianoBoy]

Originally Posted by Valdra

I reeeally don't think ADV will touch Higurashi

In other news, even 2chan seems to be talking about this. Haven't got a clue what they're saying though... probably agree with us.

True. If anybody does, it'll be Geneon.
[/off-topic]

Link? 2chan is a big place, and I've had nightmares about getting lost there

[Varion]

Originally Posted by FatPianoBoy

True. If anybody does, it'll be Geneon.
[/off-topic]

Link? 2chan is a big place, and I've had nightmares about getting lost there

http://may.2chan.net/b/res/22506552.htm

[raphaël]

Licensed... And I downloaded ep.1 yesterday... I swear...
Some will say I do it on purpose but... I don't...

I just thought "yeah, it might be time for me to take a look at utawarerumono" and bang...
Fjck, I'm in a very bad mood again...


Well, I guess there's nothing to do about it. I'm hopeless.

*note for today : buy a DVD writer! (I still don't have one, so I throw too many things away, and I don't download batches)...


*sighs again...

[Deathkillz]

Originally Posted by raphaël

Licensed... And I downloaded ep.1 yesterday... I swear...
Some will say I do it on purpose but... I don't...

I just thought "yeah, it might be time for me to take a look at utawarerumono" and bang...
Fjck, I'm in a very bad mood again...


Well, I guess there's nothing to do about it. I'm hopeless.

*note for today : buy a DVD writer! (I still don't have one, so I throw too many things away, and I don't download batches)...


*sighs again...

i feel for you...just to say NEVER put things for later...its better to do it now and regret then to never have done at all

[raphaël]

Originally Posted by Deathkillz

i feel for you...just to say NEVER put things for later...its better to do it now and regret then to never have done at all

lol, yeah I know but...

OK, a little anecdote : I named my HD "Kaonashi" on my OS. Don't know if you remember the "Faceless" in Miyazaki's "Spirited Away". Well, when I bought my computer I really didn't know it could be that full. But now I can tell you it's very close to puking everything it has inside him.



That's why I don't (can't) download as much as I want.


So I was thinking about raising funds among animesuki fans to get myself a DVD writer. Lol, yeah, I'm very poor.


Thanks for the compassionate post anyway. ^^

[FatPianoBoy]

You were right about the similar reactions

Some of the shorter (read: takes less mental energy to translate) and more interesting comments:

"Don't they seem like shadow warriors?"

"Are you serious?"

"That's awful."

"It's hard for them to accept Japanese culture over there, eh?
What about the expansion in the second half? Anyone know?"

Whoa, some information on the English names?

"Hakuoro →　Hary
Eruruu →　Edna
Aruruu →　Anna
Touka →　Tania
Karura →　Karla
Oboro →　Odelo
Kamyu →　Keith

This is how it seems, Hakuoro-san"

Probably speculation, since 'Keith' is a male name

To paraphrase the next few comments: They don't much like the names (or America's nasty habit of changing names).

I suppose that's enough. Thanks for the link, it's insightful

[eggplant]

Although I find the title Shadow Warrior Chonicles to be run of the mill, at least they didn't use "The One Being Sung", as it would be incorrect.

If they wanted to be literal, Utawarerumono うたわれるもの (謳われるもの者) would become "The Acclaimed/Praised One", which has no connotation to the homonymous utawareru (歌われる/唄われる/詠われる/唱われる) meaning "sing" (in respectful form), which would not make sense when used with mono (者=person/物=thing).

I suppose the usage of "sing the praise" or even "unsung one" in the English language are factors contributing to this potential misunderstanding, therefore I'm relieved ADV didn't botch it by naming it that way.

[Sister Princess]

When I read the title, I thought this is going to be a sequel of Shadow Warrior PC game.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/sh...ior/index.html (may contain very violent pictures that can be on par with GTA series)

[Shiroth]

The name might suck to hell, but at the end of the day its just the name - we'll still be getting the anime we're watching atm, and are all loving - that in its self is brilliant news.

Still, i'll probably buy the R2's instead. ^^;