There are a few reasons for this, and they're all related to one another, but here are the big ones:NitroEX wrote:The whole dubbing situation in LA confuses me so I won't say much about that but I do know Funimation acquires a lot of the popular new anime and chooses to dub it in Texas rather than outsourcing to companies like Ocean.
-FUNimation is the kingpin of the English anime dubbing industry. Whether people like their dubs or not is subjective, but what's not subjective is that, when talking about the business that anime dubbing companies get, FUNimation is easily the biggest name in the business. They get the lion's share of it. Between Dragon Ball's success, their business reputation, and being a non-union dubbing company, they've earned a solid reputation among studios as a cost-effective way to produce good dubs. As for why FUNimation doesn't outsource them, well...it's one of those things where...why would they? They have a huge talent pool now. Dallas, where FUNimation is based, is now considered the dubbing capital of North America. If they have a ton of actors right where they live, they don't see the need to slow things down by hiring a dubbing company somewhere else.
-Speaking of unions...Ocean uses mostly union actors (in this case, ACTRA, the Canadian union). While there certainly are exceptions, union actors tend to be better....but they also cost more, and there's more paperwork involved so that contributions can be made to health insurance and pensions (which is not the case with non-union dubs). Unfortunately, the anime business has been hit very hard by piracy. It has earned a reputation among studios, licensees, and investors as an art form that fans don't pay for. So, studios have to cut costs in response. They're afraid that union dubs will be too much of a hassle and won't make a profit, so they ask for non-union dubs instead. Since Ocean uses union actors, that only leaves so many animes for them to dub. FUNimation will do a union dub on rare occasions, but the only reason they'll do that is if they've acquired a sequel/spinoff/continuation of a previous anime that was a union dub and they want to get the original cast back.
-As for Los Angeles dubs...Los Angeles is a big city for union actors. See above. It has suffered a decrease in work over concerns of making a profit. There used to be around ten union dubs, if not a little more, a year in Los Angeles. Now it's usually 3-5 a year. They still happen, thankfully, but not nearly as often. Heck, even the non-union dubs in Los Angeles tend to cost a little more in general than other non-union dubbing studios.
