Funimation doesn't "own" Dragon Ball, right?

[Kuwabara]

I sat in on a local college campus' "nerd/geek club" meeting and someone was hosting a quiz game that night. It was a fun time overall, but I had a problem with what was supposed to the correct answer of one of the questions...

The question prompt was, "Which two companies own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT?"

My first thought was, "Well, more than one company owns Dragon Ball, right?" I mentioned to the host, "More than two companies own Dragon Ball though, and there are several rights holders all over the world."

"There are two."

Hrm. Well alright.

So I wrote, "Bird Studio and Shueisha" on my card and said that when he called on me. The answer he was looking for was Funimation and Toei Animation.

Toei is valid enough, but I tried to explain to him that Funimation doesn't "own" the Dragon Ball property outright, but rather a license to localize and distribute the various Dragon Ball animated series in North America. The only thing they really "own" in this instance would be their own localized assets, like voice recordings and audio mixes. He told me Funimation owns the American version, and Toei Animation owns the Japanese version.

Alright, you're getting closer... But Funimation doesn't own Dragon Ball! I mean, it's like saying Towa Video owned Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles because they distributed it on VHS in Japan. I have good friends in the industry who I'm pretty sure would vouch for me here, Funimation does not "own" Dragon Ball.

I didn't engage him further because I didn't want to make a scene, but I was honestly pretty salty about it, not because of who was right or wrong, but because of misinformation in general. I'm almost positive I know why him and other people think Dragon Ball is "owned" by Funimation, but I'd rather not start a witch hunt over it because I'm pretty sure some of the people that have inadvertently perpetuated this misconception post on this very forum.

Because I was curious, I also snapped this from the Dragon Ball Z website:



I'd say everything laid out here is pretty clear cut, no?

So now, even though I already know the answer to this, I've come here for further clarification: Funimation doesn't jointly own the Dragon Ball property with Toei, Shueisha, and Bird Studio, right?

[KBABZ]

Yeah, you are correct. Toei owns everything related to the anime, and Shueisha the manga. Funimation only owns their specific dubs, but they do not own the rights to the show overall. This is why there's been no original Funimation content of Dragon Ball, it's all been dubs of the stuff they license from Toei.

Under the quizzer's logic, Pioneer and Ocean and all the other dub companies also "own" Dragon Ball. I mean, Funimation has the right credits to Toei and Shuesha at the end of every episode. So this shouldn't be in question, really.

[precita]

Typical misinformed person who thinks dubbers are owners of the franchise. It's a shame more fans weren't there to correct him.

[MajinMan]

No, Funimation doesn't own Dragon Ball. If I was in that quiz game I would've went full nerd on their ass and made a scene.

[Saikyo no Senshi]

Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z were produced by Bird Studio, Shueisha, Fuji TV and Toei Animation. The TV station's role is very important which a lot of people forget or don't know about.

Dragon Ball GT was produced by Bird Studio, Fuji TV and Toei Animation. Since, there was no manga Shueisha had no role.

Dragon Ball Super is produced by Fuji TV, Toei Animation and Yomiko Advertising.

Fuji and Toei are the main owners of the franchise. Some licensing company in some other country is of no importance to the production of Dragon Ball.

[Bajosexto]

Going by the quizzer's logic, If Toei owns the "Japanese version" and FUNimation owns the "American version", then who owns the Latin American version, Brazilian version, Spanish version, Portuguese version, Italian version, German version, etc? By his own logic, there has to be more than two companies that own Dragon Ball. Which there are (Shueisha, Bird Studio, Fuji TV and Toei Animation). You should've kept engaging with the host. Not to prove that you were right and he was wrong or anything like that, but because he was misinformed. And he also misinformed everyone on that quiz game night.

[KBABZ]

I'd say he should bring up a picture of the end of a dubbed episode of Kai or Super and show him that there's no Copyright details for Funimation anywhere.

[Gaffer Tape]

See, this is why I have such a hard time discussing Dragon Ball outside of here... because it's always full of people like that who don't know as much as they think they do, but if you say anything, you're being "that guy." But I don't want to be rude, so I just grit my teeth and try to bring the conversation to a close.

Well, I hope at the very least this topic thread has made you feel a little more validated, but I totally understand where you're coming from. I feel frustrated for you.

[KBABZ]

See, this is why I have such a hard time discussing Dragon Ball outside of here... because it's always full of people like that who don't know as much as they think they do, but if you say anything, you're being "that guy." But I don't want to be rude, so I just grit my teeth and try to bring the conversation to a close.

Should call these people Bubbles. Because they're living in their own personal bubble, and because they're acting a lot like, well, Bubbles.

[TheGreatness25]

Well if it's something that's factually wrong, you can correct them. I remember I did a DBZ quiz and it asked "Who killed Freezer" and I picked Trunks, but their answer was Goku. They also used a lot of words that I didn't know what they meant because they were fanisms.

You should correct someone if they're giving out wrong info. It might make you look a lot more knowledgable. If you broke down why Funimation doesn't own DBZ, then you'd come off as someone who knows a lot about copyright, distribution rights, etc. If it's something that's more like "Well in episode 24, Vegeta clearly stated that he couldn't believe Gohan's strength which meant he was stronger than whomever because Vegeta didn't bat an eye lash when whomever did whatever..." then yeah, I wouldn't even get into that one.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

I don't get it, people complain about misinformation yet when an opportunity arises you do nothing to inform because you didn't wanna make a scene? You did nothing then feel salty about the fact misinformation spreads? That's just...

People who want to clear misinformation are part of the problem sometimes "don't wanna be thay guy", well because you don't wanna be that guy misinformation will continue to spread, instead you come to a forum to wince about it, solving literally nothing, maybe the off chance someone here may have similar misinfo but the main root is still out there believing what they believe is accurate.

I can understand if you tried to correct someome but they were too adamant and were borderline starting to get aggressive about it then you decide to drop the subject, but to drop it so lightly come on.

[Gaffer Tape]

I don't get it, people complain about misinformation yet when an opportunity arises you do nothing to inform because you didn't wanna make a scene? You did nothing then feel salty about the fact misinformation spreads? That's just...

People who want to clear misinformation are part of the problem sometimes "don't wanna be thay guy", well because you don't wanna be that guy misinformation will continue to spread, instead you come to a forum to wince about it, solving literally nothing, maybe the off chance someone here may have similar misinfo but the main root is still out there believing what they believe is accurate.

I can understand if you tried to correct someome but they were too adamant and were borderline starting to get aggressive about it then you decide to drop the subject, but to drop it so lightly come on.

First off, it's a cartoon, not a human rights violation. If someone does not feel compelled to get into a real, heated argument with a real person over something ultimately so trivial and pointless, that's probably just good judgment. Second off, Kuwabara DID try to correct the misinformation and got rebuffed. At that point, there's really nothing else to do. You can lead a horse to water but can't make them drink. We all have our own ways to deal with the problem when we see it. My "lead the horse to water" approach is to make the kinds of factually-accurate Dragon Ball videos I would want to see. Those are then exposed to thousands of people, and they can either take that information or bitch about it in the comments. Alternatively, I'm sure there are a lot of people who just don't have the type of personality that allows them to feel comfortable confronting people about something like that in public or off-the-cuff. They might express themselves better in written media, like forums. The point is, people have different ways of dealing with this, so just because someone might not feel compelled to get into a confrontation about it doesn't make them part of the problem.

[Bullza]

I also agree that a fun little anime quiz among fellow fans should have been ruined by discussing the trivial details of who owns what.

[Kuwabara]

I can understand if you tried to correct someome but they were too adamant and were borderline starting to get aggressive about it then you decide to drop the subject, but to drop it so lightly come on.

That's actually exactly how it happened, you could have came to that conclusion sooner and saved some time. The host became really passive aggressive about the whole thing and the conversation quickly became really insipid, so I let it go.

Hopefully the fact that anyone objected at all gave some people a light bulb moment to look it up later and see that Funimation does indeed only license the franchise, but then again, I was the only one to say anything in a room of about twenty people. I've come to find that the majority of people just don't care about the details, even when it comes to pop media they claim to be infatuated with.

[KBABZ]

Hopefully the fact that anyone objected at all gave some people a light bulb moment to look it up later and see that Funimation does indeed only license the franchise, but then again, I was the only one to say anything in a room of about twenty people. I've come to find that the majority of people just don't care about the details, even when it comes to pop media they claim to be infatuated with.

Does this mean I can officially get away with saying that Gandalf said May the Force be with you to Harry Potter?

[Kuwabara]

That's a little different, they hold things like quotes and character interactions with much more reverence.

"You can't just mess up epic quotes like that!" "Ackshually, he said..." "My... My childhood!" etc. etc.

[Bardo117]

Yeah, you are correct. Toei owns everything related to the anime, and Shueisha the manga. Funimation only owns their specific dubs, but they do not own the rights to the show overall. This is why there's been no original Funimation content of Dragon Ball, it's all been dubs of the stuff they license from Toei.

Under the quizzer's logic, Pioneer and Ocean and all the other dub companies also "own" Dragon Ball. I mean, Funimation has the right credits to Toei and Shuesha at the end of every episode. So this shouldn't be in question, really.

Toei owns everything, including FUNI's dub. Toei does not have to pay a dime to FUNI for using their dub or putting it into their DVD's. FUNI simply owns distribution rights for a separate country. They simply have permission to be the one and only distributor for the Dragonball property in that language/country. FUNI has to ask permission for every single thing they do in relation to the property. Toei does not consult FUni once or ever in regards to the show.

This is a discussion that has been had over and over again in regards to the Marvel Characters. 20TH Century Fox doesn't own the X-Men, nor do they own the Fantastic 4. They simply own the exclusive rights to distribute movies based off characters created in a different medium.

[KBABZ]

Yeah, you are correct. Toei owns everything related to the anime, and Shueisha the manga. Funimation only owns their specific dubs, but they do not own the rights to the show overall. This is why there's been no original Funimation content of Dragon Ball, it's all been dubs of the stuff they license from Toei.

Under the quizzer's logic, Pioneer and Ocean and all the other dub companies also "own" Dragon Ball. I mean, Funimation has the right credits to Toei and Shuesha at the end of every episode. So this shouldn't be in question, really.

Toei owns everything, including FUNI's dub. Toei does not have to pay a dime to FUNI for using their dub or putting it into their DVD's. FUNI simply owns distribution rights for a separate country. They simply have permission to be the one and only distributor for the Dragonball property in that language/country. FUNI has to ask permission for every single thing they do in relation to the property. Toei does not consult FUni once or ever in regards to the show.

This is a discussion that has been had over and over again in regards to the Marvel Characters. 20TH Century Fox doesn't own the X-Men, nor do they own the Fantastic 4. They simply own the exclusive rights to distribute movies based off characters created in a different medium.

Huh, okay then!

[Bardo117]

Yeah, you are correct. Toei owns everything related to the anime, and Shueisha the manga. Funimation only owns their specific dubs, but they do not own the rights to the show overall. This is why there's been no original Funimation content of Dragon Ball, it's all been dubs of the stuff they license from Toei.

Under the quizzer's logic, Pioneer and Ocean and all the other dub companies also "own" Dragon Ball. I mean, Funimation has the right credits to Toei and Shuesha at the end of every episode. So this shouldn't be in question, really.

Toei owns everything, including FUNI's dub. Toei does not have to pay a dime to FUNI for using their dub or putting it into their DVD's. FUNI simply owns distribution rights for a separate country. They simply have permission to be the one and only distributor for the Dragonball property in that language/country. FUNI has to ask permission for every single thing they do in relation to the property. Toei does not consult FUni once or ever in regards to the show.

This is a discussion that has been had over and over again in regards to the Marvel Characters. 20TH Century Fox doesn't own the X-Men, nor do they own the Fantastic 4. They simply own the exclusive rights to distribute movies based off characters created in a different medium.

Huh, okay then!

It's weird lmao

[Super Sonic]

People do tend to think these things about some licensed series. Recall hearing a very common question some Funimation representatives tended to get was "When were they making Rosario + Vampire season 3?" They and the actors often had to explain how that worked.