Hello Sangofe
I must emphasize I given replies from a business perspective, and I fully do understand your views as a core fan will differ.
Furthermore I am bound by confidentiality thus have given replies on what I can share.
MY REPLIES IN CAPITAL LETTERS.
Best regards
Maria Örnryd
Media Director Nordic & Eastern Europe
*Contact info edited out due to privacy reasons.*
Hello, my name is Sangofe, and I have been a big Dragonball fan since I discovered it in France while living there during the late 80's. Since I care for the series wholeheartedly, I am also very much interested in the international sub licenses, and this is why I am grateful of you allowing this interview.
According to my research, Plus Licens is a «license broker» for Toei Animation and covers all of Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland), and Eastern Europe (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania and FYR Macedonia). Which contries already have a dub of either DB, DBZ, DBZ Kai, or DBGT? I am pretty sure I read that Hungary, Croatia and Serbia do – but yet they have no releases?
[b]YES CORRECT. DB Z IS RIGHT NOW ON AIR IN LITHUANIA, DENMARK, RUSSIA, SERBIA MONTENEGRO, CROATIA, AND HUNGARY. THE LITHUANIAN, DANISH, RUSSIAN, FORMER YUGOSLAVIAN DUB IS NEW, THE HUNGARIAN ONE IS OLDER, APPROX 8 YEARS IN HTE MAKING.
DB GT IS ON AIR IN SUBTITLED on AXN – ANIMAX
•Territories: Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Moldova, Slovakia, Czech Rep, Poland, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Albania
•Airing start date: January 2012
•64 episodes approved
•Subtitled in local languages
PREVIOUSLY DURING THE 90’S THE DBZ SERIES WAS ON;
•MTV Oy / SubTV in Finland
•DR in Denmark
•TVN in Poland
•POP TV in Slovenia
•Channel 1 in Romania
Also see enclosed sales sheet
I know Sweden and Denmark had DVD releases of movies 1-9, and the two DBZ TV specials, so you can skip that one
SF RELEASED THEM, BUT HAVE DESTROYED THE TAPES .THERE IS NO DVD PARTNER INTERESTED IN RELEASING THE DVDS, TO SMALL SALES VOLUMES CONTRA COST
You're covering a lot of countries, but would you be able to give me a run down of the current situation in each country in regards to getting Dragonball/z/z kai/GT on TV, and or sub/dub DVD/BluRay releases?
NO DVD RELEASES ON ANY OF OUR MARKETS ARE PLANED FOR 2012. THERE WILL BE DVD PARTWORKS IN RUSSIA 2013. DVD IS NOT A LUCRATIVE PRODUCT ANYMORE - SALES DROPPED 55% LAST YEAR.
Would it be possible to make releases that contain multiple dubs or subs? Since I love to compare Dragonball dubs, I think that would be really cool.
IN THEORY YES, BUT THERE IS NO ONE INTERESTED IN THIS TYPE OF BUSINESS.
On the subject of Danish dubbed DBZ, you told me earlier that «DR is evaluating to dub, but it is a huge cost, 80EUROS a minute approx..» – any updates on this subject? How about DBZ Kai? I know Danish fans have been asking about that, and the fanbase in Denmark is certainly huge enough to have a DVD market.
FOR A LOCAL DANSIH RELEASE WE NEED TO SELLL 50 000 UNITES AT LEAST TO DO ANY PROFIT. AS YOU KNOW YOU CAN ALSO FIND THE ENGLISH SUBTITLED VERSIONS, THIS IS MAKING MORE SENSE AS YOU CAN REACH VOLUMES COVERING ALL EUROPE, BUT PLUS LICENS DOES NOT HAVE ENGLISH LANGUAGE RIGHTS.
WE CANT USE THE KAI VERSION IN THE NORDIC AND EASTERN EUROPE FOR NOW- IS TOEIS CALL. LIKELY KAI WILL BE ON AIR IN POLAND 2013. DR DOES NOT WANT TO BUY KAI.
Since I was able to watch a few episodes of the Danish Dragonball Z dub, and I mostly understand Danish, I am very interested in knowing if there is any hope of getting DVD releases of this dub? And if not, why? It is really strange that they broadcast this without any profit…
NO DVD. TO PRODUCE COSTS MORE MANY THEN WHAT THE SALES WOULD GENERATE OF A PHYSICAL PRODUCTS AT RETAIL.
Also, since I am from Norway, I am interested in knowing why it is so hard for you to get anyone interested in the anime TV series – especially considering the manga sold really well.
NORWAY iS VERY CONSERVATIVE, AND THERE IS NOT THAT MANY FREE TV CHANNELS, MAKES IT EVEN HARDER TI SELL AN OLD SERIES LIKE DBZ.
In which other countries have you tried to get interested partners, without luck?
ALL TERRITORIES WE REPRESENT.
Which countries have upcoming dub/subs? Is there any hope for Scandinavia? If not, why? Is there anything the fans could do?
NO HOPE FOR NORDC
IF more countries are getting more dubs, would it be possible for them to get uncut Dragonbox footage, and not the old, censored AB materials, with scripts based on the original Japanese dialogue? Or even start the dubbing with Dragonball Z Kai? N/A
If you guys have anything to do with the dub scripts, I have to warn you that some manga releases (for example the Norwegian one) were based off translations of other language translations: english -> german, german -> danish, danish ->swedish, swedish-> norwegian, so using manga dialogue would be not advised. Rather have someone translate from Japanese to the original language, or in very worst case translate from FUNimation's english sub scripts, which are very accurate.
I am thinking that a petitions to get any Dragonball series on TV in more countries would be a good idea, combined with fact sheets about how well the TV ratings have been, and the international sales. Would you use the results of such petitions, or do you think fans who believe in petitions are living in a dream world?
SORRY BUT I DONT THINK THIS WOULD HELP. I FORESEE THER EWILL BE NEW HOT ANIME SERIES IN THE FUTURE THAT WILL BE ON AIR, BUT IT WILL NEVER BE SUPER HYPED IN THE NORDIC AGAIN AMONG THE COMMON PEOPLE. WE HAVE Beyblad, BAKUGAN SO FORTH THAT IS ON AIR MORE OR LESS ALL OVER, AS THEY ARE NEW SERIES THAT CAN COMPETE FOR SLOTS AND DRIVE SALES FOR TOY STORES AND MERCHANDISING.
Thank you for your time to answer all of these questions, and may Dragonball live on forever and get many, many more dubs and releases!
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But what does that second sentence means? Who's/What's DR?
