Funimation and Canada: Dragon Ball and Other Anime

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Funimation and Canada: Dragon Ball and Other Anime

Post by Cure Dragon 255 » Fri Dec 15, 2017 2:07 am

It seems like Funimation has slowly but surely taken over many dubs that started in Canada and then end up being dubbed in their Dallas studio. What do you think of this? Especially since Ocean had a major history with Dragon Ball.

Can you mention some examples? I had lots in my head but forgot them
Marz wrote: Wed Jul 21, 2021 11:27 pm "Well, the chapter was good, the story was good and so were the fights. But a new transformation, in Dragon Ball? And one that's ugly? This is where we draw the line!!! Jump the Shark moment!!"

This forum is so over-dramatic that it's not even funny.
90sDBZ wrote: Mon Jul 01, 2019 2:44 pm19 years ago I was rushing home from school to watch DBZ on Cartoon Network, and today I've rushed home from work to watch DBS on Pop. I guess it's true the more things change the more they stay the same. :lol:

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Re: Funimation and Canada: Dragon Ball and Other Anime

Post by 8000 Saiyan » Fri Dec 15, 2017 4:30 am

Shakugan no Shana and The Vision of Escaflowne (I'm pissed that Ocean didn't redub this one, since Kelly Sheridan could have improved a lot).
"It was deemed to be too awesome." - Scott McNeil on Dragon Ball Kai not being aired yet in Canada.

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Re: Funimation and Canada: Dragon Ball and Other Anime

Post by Dragon Ball Ireland » Fri Dec 15, 2017 6:18 am

I love Funimation and their dubs but I don't like the fact their monopoly in the anime dubbing industry has made it harder for Canadian studios. Ideally I'd want both to thrive and in Dragon Ball's case for the dubs from both the US and Canada to be available to a degree. I'd like to think Funi had no part in the Ocean dub of Kai ever seeing the light of day, but with business being business its hard to say or argue against from their perspective.
Do you have any info about international non-English broadcasts about the Dragon Ball anime or manga translations/editions? Please message me. Researching for a future book with Dragon Ball scholar Derek Padula :thumbup:

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Re: Funimation and Canada: Dragon Ball and Other Anime

Post by Robo4900 » Fri Dec 15, 2017 7:27 am

8000 Saiyan wrote:The Vision of Escaflowne (I'm pissed that Ocean didn't redub this one, since Kelly Sheridan could have improved a lot).
From what I understand, Ocean's Escaflowne dub was fine, and Funimation really had no reason to redub it, at least not the way they did. If they'd brought the Ocean actors back, and done more accurate translations, then yeah, it'd make sense. But as it is, from what I understand, the translation was actually a little less accurate, and most of the Funimation actors were basically just voice-matching the Ocean cast... So... This seems like another case of what happened to Dragon Ball in '99 -- same thing you got before, but now with slightly worse scripts, more voices that sounds like Chris Sabat, and Funimation can get more money for it than if they left it alone. Yay, I guess? :|

But yeah, Funimation basically eating all anime is definitely a bad thing. For one thing, all the best dubs out there have come from LA and Vancouver(LA gave us Cowboy Bebop, Vancouver gave us Death Note and Black Lagoon), so having less of those dubs is a real shame.
Ultimately, Funimation being the be-all end-all of anime isn't a good thing. Monopolies are never a good thing, no matter who's at the centre of it all. British and Canadian TV airings of the Ocean dubs of Dragon Ball always did better than Funimation's, Cowboy Bebop is praised as the best anime dub of all time, Death Note is very well-regarded... If Funimation handled everything, these exceptional dubs wouldn't have happened, at least not the way they did.

Again though, Funimation's actors are a talented bunch, and they all seem like nice people, and putting aside my personal distaste for their directing and scripting side, the business side irks me very heavily. (Again, see what happened to Escaflowne. Most fans seem to have been under the impression that they were crowdfunding the Ocean cast to come back and redub it with better scripts... Then, sudden plot twist after the crowdfunding campaign was over... :L)
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Re: Funimation and Canada: Dragon Ball and Other Anime

Post by Super Sayian Prime » Fri Dec 15, 2017 4:49 pm

It's not really exclusive to Funimation, though they'll probably do it again once NIS America's rights to the first Cardcaptor Sakura TV show expires. Viz did it with Sailor Moon, despite a vocal fan outcry. They did it with Hunter x Hunter, which most people preferred over the Blue Water cast ... Sunrise is redubbing the entirety of Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny with NYAV.

With the exception of maybe Hunter x Hunter, it really does seem like a cost issue. The vast majority of Canadian anime dubs are union productions. The vast majority of American anime dubs are not. Even Blue Water, which is viewed as Ocean's budget studio, still is signed to a union (just not the most trusted one). Any advantage the exchange rate might've had is mostly wiped away by that. This is why when people like David Kaye and Trevor Devall move to Los Angeles, you never see them in anime dubs. They didn't move countries to accept work that pays significantly less than what they left. This is also why for the last few years Ocean's anime work primarily came from companies directly tied to Japan (Bushiroad, Nippon Animation, Sunrights, TMS Entertainment, Toei, etc.).

For a brief window, it did look like Crunchyroll would be able to kickstart more Canadian anime dubs, but then that Funimation partnership was made and now everything goes through them.
"I like the money it brings in, but Dragon Ball Heroes is the worst. That's actually the real reason I decided to start working on new material. I was afraid Bandai would make something irredeemably stupid like Super Saiyan 4 Broly." - Akira Toriyama, made up interview, 2013.

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Re: Funimation and Canada: Dragon Ball and Other Anime

Post by Super Sonic » Fri Dec 15, 2017 6:42 pm

Sailor Moon wasn't Ocean, but recorded in Toronto. Hence many of the cast being in Care Bears and X-Men. Kinda annoyed with the Gundam Seed thing, but heard they're re-doing it because it was different footage rather than just what was done way back when.

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Re: Funimation and Canada: Dragon Ball and Other Anime

Post by Super Sayian Prime » Fri Dec 15, 2017 7:03 pm

Super Sonic wrote:Sailor Moon wasn't Ocean, but recorded in Toronto. Hence many of the cast being in Care Bears and X-Men. Kinda annoyed with the Gundam Seed thing, but heard they're re-doing it because it was different footage rather than just what was done way back when.
I'm aware of where Sailor Moon was recorded, I was just using it as an example of another Canadian cast getting completely erased.

And yeah, the SEED re-dubs are using an alternate cut of the footage made for the HD remaster. Doesn't change the fact that outside of Devall, they would've been able to get everyone back if they gave it to Ocean.
"I like the money it brings in, but Dragon Ball Heroes is the worst. That's actually the real reason I decided to start working on new material. I was afraid Bandai would make something irredeemably stupid like Super Saiyan 4 Broly." - Akira Toriyama, made up interview, 2013.

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Re: Funimation and Canada: Dragon Ball and Other Anime

Post by Cure Dragon 255 » Fri Dec 15, 2017 10:08 pm

Robo4900 wrote:
8000 Saiyan wrote:The Vision of Escaflowne (I'm pissed that Ocean didn't redub this one, since Kelly Sheridan could have improved a lot).
From what I understand, Ocean's Escaflowne dub was fine, and Funimation really had no reason to redub it, at least not the way they did. If they'd brought the Ocean actors back, and done more accurate translations, then yeah, it'd make sense. But as it is, from what I understand, the translation was actually a little less accurate, and most of the Funimation actors were basically just voice-matching the Ocean cast... So... This seems like another case of what happened to Dragon Ball in '99 -- same thing you got before, but now with slightly worse scripts, more voices that sounds like Chris Sabat, and Funimation can get more money for it than if they left it alone. Yay, I guess? :|

But yeah, Funimation basically eating all anime is definitely a bad thing. For one thing, all the best dubs out there have come from LA and Vancouver(LA gave us Cowboy Bebop, Vancouver gave us Death Note and Black Lagoon), so having less of those dubs is a real shame.
Ultimately, Funimation being the be-all end-all of anime isn't a good thing. Monopolies are never a good thing, no matter who's at the centre of it all. British and Canadian TV airings of the Ocean dubs of Dragon Ball always did better than Funimation's, Cowboy Bebop is praised as the best anime dub of all time, Death Note is very well-regarded... If Funimation handled everything, these exceptional dubs wouldn't have happened, at least not the way they did.

Again though, Funimation's actors are a talented bunch, and they all seem like nice people, and putting aside my personal distaste for their directing and scripting side, the business side irks me very heavily. (Again, see what happened to Escaflowne. Most fans seem to have been under the impression that they were crowdfunding the Ocean cast to come back and redub it with better scripts... Then, sudden plot twist after the crowdfunding campaign was over... :L)
I love you dude but you are maligning FUNimation too much. The Ocean dub of Escaflowne is included in the DVD's and the redub was for scenes that werent dubbed in the original dub. And I doubt they lied about not using their new cast.
Marz wrote: Wed Jul 21, 2021 11:27 pm "Well, the chapter was good, the story was good and so were the fights. But a new transformation, in Dragon Ball? And one that's ugly? This is where we draw the line!!! Jump the Shark moment!!"

This forum is so over-dramatic that it's not even funny.
90sDBZ wrote: Mon Jul 01, 2019 2:44 pm19 years ago I was rushing home from school to watch DBZ on Cartoon Network, and today I've rushed home from work to watch DBS on Pop. I guess it's true the more things change the more they stay the same. :lol:

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Re: Funimation and Canada: Dragon Ball and Other Anime

Post by Robo4900 » Fri Dec 15, 2017 10:56 pm

Cure Dragon 255 wrote:I love you dude but you are maligning FUNimation too much. The Ocean dub of Escaflowne is included in the DVD's and the redub was for scenes that werent dubbed in the original dub. And I doubt they lied about not using their new cast.
Yeah, this afternoon when I made that post, I was not in a good mood, so I was definitely a little too harsh.

Still, monopolies are never good. There's a lot of great work on anime by other companies that's kind of being pushed aside by Funimation's increasing monopoly on anime dubbing. Funimation taking over all dubbing would mean no more Death Notes, Black Lagoons, Cowboy Bebops, etc.
And I dunno about you, but even if I didn't care for Ocean's work on Dragon Ball, having alternate dubs is still a cool thing. Alternate dubs have given rise to GT having an actually good dub(Blue Water), Z and DB having two competing dubs on equal ground(Ocean vs OG Funimation), Super currently has two dubs, and while Bang Zoom's is definitely a bit iffy in some ways, it presents some very interesting alternate takes on things, and in particular, it's very cool to have the very first English Bulma returning to her role from 1989. And I'm looking forward to seeing how Ocean's Kai dub shapes up against Funimation's. :)

So... Yeah, Funimation dominating anime -- not a good thing, not because of anything specific to Funimation necessarily, but because monopolies are never good.
Cure Dragon 255 wrote:I love you dude
Thanks, man. Glad to know there are people who see through my grumpy curmudgeonly attitudes about Dragon Ball, even when I'm venting and being rather unreasonable. :lol:
The point of Dragon Ball is to enjoy it. Never lose sight of that.

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Re: Funimation and Canada: Dragon Ball and Other Anime

Post by Cure Dragon 255 » Fri Dec 15, 2017 11:11 pm

I love anyone that has a thing that they are excited and passionate about! Especially if it has to do with anime.
Marz wrote: Wed Jul 21, 2021 11:27 pm "Well, the chapter was good, the story was good and so were the fights. But a new transformation, in Dragon Ball? And one that's ugly? This is where we draw the line!!! Jump the Shark moment!!"

This forum is so over-dramatic that it's not even funny.
90sDBZ wrote: Mon Jul 01, 2019 2:44 pm19 years ago I was rushing home from school to watch DBZ on Cartoon Network, and today I've rushed home from work to watch DBS on Pop. I guess it's true the more things change the more they stay the same. :lol:

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Re: Funimation and Canada: Dragon Ball and Other Anime

Post by Super Sayian Prime » Sat Dec 16, 2017 12:05 am

Cure Dragon 255 wrote:I love you dude but you are maligning FUNimation too much. The Ocean dub of Escaflowne is included in the DVD's and the redub was for scenes that werent dubbed in the original dub. And I doubt they lied about not using their new cast.
Whether intentional or not, Funimation was dishonest about the Escaflowne Kickstarter. You can read this interview and compare what's said with the final product and see a lot doesn't really jive with reality. They overstate the importance of the additional scenes (we're talking about 8 minutes of footage that's spread out through the first 9 episodes), claim the original dub couldn't be recycled and don't comment on whether or not they'd get back the original VAs. The latter is especially dubious because they only confirmed a completely new cast two weeks into the campaign. By then it had already surpassed the base funding goal, which means they were guaranteed money as Kickstarter rules don't allow pledges to pull a campaign below a goal.
"I like the money it brings in, but Dragon Ball Heroes is the worst. That's actually the real reason I decided to start working on new material. I was afraid Bandai would make something irredeemably stupid like Super Saiyan 4 Broly." - Akira Toriyama, made up interview, 2013.

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Re: Funimation and Canada: Dragon Ball and Other Anime

Post by Cure Dragon 255 » Sat Dec 16, 2017 12:08 am

Its true you know. Funimation wasnt going to release a dub that "Stops" at certain undubbed gaps of Footage. You can complain that they didnt bring back the old ocean dub cast but no company is going to do that. And they did release the old dub too. I dont even love Funimation. They screwed over Latin America with the One Piece dub.
Marz wrote: Wed Jul 21, 2021 11:27 pm "Well, the chapter was good, the story was good and so were the fights. But a new transformation, in Dragon Ball? And one that's ugly? This is where we draw the line!!! Jump the Shark moment!!"

This forum is so over-dramatic that it's not even funny.
90sDBZ wrote: Mon Jul 01, 2019 2:44 pm19 years ago I was rushing home from school to watch DBZ on Cartoon Network, and today I've rushed home from work to watch DBS on Pop. I guess it's true the more things change the more they stay the same. :lol:

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Re: Funimation and Canada: Dragon Ball and Other Anime

Post by Super Sayian Prime » Sat Dec 16, 2017 12:53 am

Cure Dragon 255 wrote:Its true you know. Funimation wasnt going to release a dub that "Stops" at certain undubbed gaps of Footage. You can complain that they didnt bring back the old ocean dub cast but no company is going to do that. And they did release the old dub too. I dont even love Funimation. They screwed over Latin America with the One Piece dub.
Do you know how they included the original dub on the set? They didn't do the stop and subtitle thing. They just included a separate disc with the first 7 episodes dub-only (the rest of the series matches) with the HD footage edited to fit it. Given they did that, it was obviously not a massive cost or even an innovative idea. The British BD release that was announced before Funimation's Kickstarter had already planned to utilize the original in that way. That really undermines why they made a new dub in the first place. The additional footage isn't integral. Yet there they are in that interview saying it's the Kickstarter or the show gets released sub-only.

In hindsight it's really bizarre what they did with Escaflowne. This year they released Speed Racer and despite having a dub so infamous it became a stereotype (gottatalklikethistofitintheflapspleasesendhelp), they didn't re-dub it. That was a case where none of the dub's episodes overlay onto the Japanese version well. They instead just edited the HD footage Tatsunoko provided to the dub's cuts and released dub-only discs. Then they did a Collector's Edition which included the Japanese version subtitled on a separate set of discs, the dub, and a subtitled version of the 1997 Speed Racer show (which only had 13 edited dub episodes produced).
"I like the money it brings in, but Dragon Ball Heroes is the worst. That's actually the real reason I decided to start working on new material. I was afraid Bandai would make something irredeemably stupid like Super Saiyan 4 Broly." - Akira Toriyama, made up interview, 2013.

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Re: Funimation and Canada: Dragon Ball and Other Anime

Post by Super Sonic » Sat Dec 16, 2017 1:02 am

Speed Racer is a different kind of thing, where folks don't want that redubbed. Especially the old guys of my dad's generation who watched it when they were kids. They want how it was then.

As for Latin America, I think they mainly focus on a North American audience.

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Re: Funimation and Canada: Dragon Ball and Other Anime

Post by Cure Dragon 255 » Sat Dec 16, 2017 1:05 am

Yet all the dubs that arent translated by Brenda Nava use the Funimation dubs as basis. I know this really isnt their fault but it REALLY pisses me off. Viz Media always has dubs of their major franchises in Latin America. Because Funimation precisely focuses solely on the USA we will probably never see a One Piece redub here in LatAM.

Now I'm the Funimation basher. LOL
Marz wrote: Wed Jul 21, 2021 11:27 pm "Well, the chapter was good, the story was good and so were the fights. But a new transformation, in Dragon Ball? And one that's ugly? This is where we draw the line!!! Jump the Shark moment!!"

This forum is so over-dramatic that it's not even funny.
90sDBZ wrote: Mon Jul 01, 2019 2:44 pm19 years ago I was rushing home from school to watch DBZ on Cartoon Network, and today I've rushed home from work to watch DBS on Pop. I guess it's true the more things change the more they stay the same. :lol:

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Re: Funimation and Canada: Dragon Ball and Other Anime

Post by Baggie_Saiyan » Sat Dec 16, 2017 7:11 am

It's not really a monopoly or the sense people think. FUNi also distribute and stream anime alongside having their own studio and then there's also Sabat's studio too, if Ocean say for example licensed a show how are they going to release it? Why has their Kai been estranged since 2010? They don't distribute stuff, you can record something then what? It will be lost for almost a decade and waste of time for everyone involved and money.

But not even FUNi can still handle it all so what happen? They outsoure the dub outhouse. For example Mob Psycho was dubbed by Bang Zoom (not Canadian but you get the point) with scripts being sent from FUNi and Mike Macfarland.

It's not really this crazy monopoly and bad thing people above are making out. Dubs are still getting out sourced out of Dallas, this isn't like Disney trying to monopolise the movie industry it's completely different.

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Re: Funimation and Canada: Dragon Ball and Other Anime

Post by Dragon Ball Ireland » Sat Dec 16, 2017 9:27 am

I don't think monopolies are inherently bad, at best it means greater exposure for a lot of products, at worst we get less diversity.

It's great Funimation are also distributors because they can distribute anime dubs they didn't record inhouse, or at least in full (Escaflowne for example). Likewise I'm happy about Disney buying Fox as it increases the slim, but notable chance that we will one day see the unaltered theatrical cut of Star Wars on Blu-Ray.

I do agree with Robo4900 however that there should be incentives in place for alternate dubs so distributors know they have a reason to exist and be made available. We've seen this problem with MangaUK, they haven't saturated the market with Dragon Ball releases like Funimation, they could put out both the US and Canadian versions if the latter was adequately promoted to them. Everyone from TOEI (who would obviously need to approve everything), international distributors and broadcasters need to know they can make money from having separate dubs both being sold.

Competition can also push artists to give better performances. The Funimation cast grew as actors immensely when they saw what Ocean could do. Now they have a superb dub of Kai, which the Ocean cast have hopefully done their part to live up to or best.

Also, when it comes to Ocean Kai, Kix had the perfect opportunity to broadcast it until TOEI told them not to. Obviously none of us know for sure what TOEI's intention was, but I have to believe if TOEI knew they could also make money from having Ocean Kai released on TV and home video, at least in the UK (Collectors in the UK with more money than casual fans would also be likely to import if they liked what they saw of it online) they would have been more inclined. Hell, they seemed fine to take a chance with two different dubs of Super, why not Ocean Kai and earlier Canadian dub home releases too?
Do you have any info about international non-English broadcasts about the Dragon Ball anime or manga translations/editions? Please message me. Researching for a future book with Dragon Ball scholar Derek Padula :thumbup:

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Re: Funimation and Canada: Dragon Ball and Other Anime

Post by Cure Dragon 255 » Sat Dec 16, 2017 9:39 am

Dragon Ball Ireland wrote:I don't think monopolies are inherently bad, at best it means greater exposure for a lot of products, at worst we get less diversity.

It's great Funimation are also distributors because they can distribute anime dubs they didn't record inhouse, or at least in full (Escaflowne for example). Likewise I'm happy about Disney buying Fox as it increases the slim, but notable chance that we will one day see the unaltered theatrical cut of Star Wars on Blu-Ray.

I do agree with Robo4900 however that there should be incentives in place for alternate dubs so distributors know they have a reason to exist and be made available. We've seen this problem with MangaUK, they haven't saturated the market with Dragon Ball releases like Funimation, they could put out both the US and Canadian versions if the latter was adequately promoted to them. Everyone from TOEI (who would obviously need to approve everything), international distributors and broadcasters need to know they can make money from having separate dubs both being sold.

Competition can also push artists to give better performances. The Funimation cast grew as actors immensely when they saw what Ocean could do. Now they have a superb dub of Kai, which the Ocean cast have hopefully done their part to live up to or best.

Also, when it comes to Ocean Kai, Kix had the perfect opportunity to broadcast it until TOEI told them not to. Obviously none of us know for sure what TOEI's intention was, but I have to believe if TOEI knew they could also make money from having Ocean Kai released on TV and home video, at least in the UK (Collectors in the UK with more money than casual fans would also be likely to import if they liked what they saw of it online) they would have been more inclined. Hell, they seemed fine to take a chance with two different dubs of Super, why not Ocean Kai and earlier Canadian dub home releases too?
I still mantain Viz Media would have done a Redub for Latin America by now and thus bring more exposure. And its not just One Piece, no property of theirs has been dubbed for Latin America. I know they only have the USA rights, but the fact that they have the rights means no one else can dub anything from theirs.
Marz wrote: Wed Jul 21, 2021 11:27 pm "Well, the chapter was good, the story was good and so were the fights. But a new transformation, in Dragon Ball? And one that's ugly? This is where we draw the line!!! Jump the Shark moment!!"

This forum is so over-dramatic that it's not even funny.
90sDBZ wrote: Mon Jul 01, 2019 2:44 pm19 years ago I was rushing home from school to watch DBZ on Cartoon Network, and today I've rushed home from work to watch DBS on Pop. I guess it's true the more things change the more they stay the same. :lol:

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Re: Funimation and Canada: Dragon Ball and Other Anime

Post by Super Sayian Prime » Sat Dec 16, 2017 6:18 pm

Super Sonic wrote:Speed Racer is a different kind of thing, where folks don't want that redubbed. Especially the old guys of my dad's generation who watched it when they were kids. They want how it was then.
Being a Dragon Ball fan, I'm fully aware of shows that transcends the anime community to just become a thing someone watched. But what was stopping Funimation from doing a proper dub under the name of "Mach GoGoGo" and keeping the original dub available? Heck, a Mach GoGoGo dub would've been a better thing to put on Kickstarter since dubbing that show again (plus the 1997 series) would've actually been a risk.

Bringing this back to Canada, Ocean actually recorded the pilot for Speed Racer 1997. DiC picked up the show and had it done in LA, however. Their dub was altered and was cancelled after 13 episodes.
Baggie_Saiyan wrote:It's not really a monopoly or the sense people think. FUNi also distribute and stream anime alongside having their own studio and then there's also Sabat's studio too, if Ocean say for example licensed a show how are they going to release it? Why has their Kai been estranged since 2010? They don't distribute stuff, you can record something then what? It will be lost for almost a decade and waste of time for everyone involved and money.
Ocean isn't an anime distributor. They are a production studio, with a penchant for ADR. That means other companies hire them to record audio and then do the rest of post. Their status has nothing to do with Kai's non-release. That's on whoever paid for the dub to be produced and whatever shenanigans Toei and Funimation might've done. They could've sent it to NYAV or Studiopolis and gotten the same result. As such, your last doesn't make sense. Ocean worked on Future Card Buddyfight for Bushiroad and until that dub was put on hiatus (resumed earlier this fall), it was a true simuldub - as in the English dub version dropped the same hour as the Japanese broadcast.
Baggie_Saiyan wrote:But not even FUNi can still handle it all so what happen? They outsoure the dub outhouse. For example Mob Psycho was dubbed by Bang Zoom (not Canadian but you get the point) with scripts being sent from FUNi and Mike Macfarland.
Mob Pyscho 100 isn't a Funimation show. It was one of the first properties they gained through their Crunchyroll partnership. This would be like using Gintama°, which Crunchyroll paid to have dubbed in Vancouver, as a sign Funimation's willing to outsource to Ocean. The same with Kiznaiver being a sign that Aniplex of America would be interested in dubbing stuff outside of Los Angeles. That was also paid for by Crunchyroll. The problem is that these shows appear to have been put into production prior to the partnership. Pretty much every Crunchyroll x Funimation show now gets a simuldub from Funimation in Texas.
Baggie_Saiyan wrote:It's not really this crazy monopoly and bad thing people above are making out. Dubs are still getting out sourced out of Dallas, this isn't like Disney trying to monopolise the movie industry it's completely different.
Disney + Fox allegedly puts the combined company at about 40% of the box office market share. Loads of other companies produce English language movies, as well. I'm willing to guess Funimation produces more than 40% of the total amount of English anime dubs released in a given year.
"I like the money it brings in, but Dragon Ball Heroes is the worst. That's actually the real reason I decided to start working on new material. I was afraid Bandai would make something irredeemably stupid like Super Saiyan 4 Broly." - Akira Toriyama, made up interview, 2013.

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Re: Funimation and Canada: Dragon Ball and Other Anime

Post by Super Sonic » Sat Dec 16, 2017 11:31 pm

Super Saiyan Prime wrote:
Super Sonic wrote:Speed Racer is a different kind of thing, where folks don't want that redubbed. Especially the old guys of my dad's generation who watched it when they were kids. They want how it was then.
Being a Dragon Ball fan, I'm fully aware of shows that transcends the anime community to just become a thing someone watched. But what was stopping Funimation from doing a proper dub under the name of "Mach GoGoGo" and keeping the original dub available? Heck, a Mach GoGoGo dub would've been a better thing to put on Kickstarter since dubbing that show again (plus the 1997 series) would've actually been a risk.

Bringing this back to Canada, Ocean actually recorded the pilot for Speed Racer 1997. DiC picked up the show and had it done in LA, however. Their dub was altered and was cancelled after 13 episodes.
I heard the reason it was cancelled was due more to legal mumbo-jumbo with the rights holders to the franchise at the time and other things. Also with Mach GoGo, there is the thing of outside Speed Racer and Lion Voltron, older anime tends to not sell that well stateside. ADV's redub of Robotech didn't sell that well, and that had the Japanese Minmei doing her in English. Stuff like that is why when I suggested at Funimation panels that I'd love them forever if they did Dr. Slump with Laura Bailey or Luci Christian as Arale, the reps said they liked the show, but the stuff with older series, put a hamper on that.

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