Sony To Acquire Majority Stake in Funimation

[precita]

It's possible they'll fire Chris Sabat and all the VA's for Dragonball and decide their own cast.

[jjgp1112]

It's possible they'll fire Chris Sabat and all the VA's for Dragonball and decide their own cast.

We already went through this gloom and doom nonsense when Fox was in the picture a while back. Enough.

[Daimo-Rukiri]

It's possible they'll fire Chris Sabat and all the VA's for Dragonball and decide their own cast.

Doesn't make business sense, however they may be more involved in future castings of characters.

[TheBigBoy]

It's possible they'll fire Chris Sabat and all the VA's for Dragonball and decide their own cast.

I think they'll fire everyone but Sabat and just let him do every single voice. You only have to write one paycheck that way.

[simtek34]

I'm mainly hoping it means we will get some projects that FUNimation on its own wouldn't have been willing to take a risk financially, like a redub of the original Dragon Ball Z (and Ball and GT if Z was successful).

It may also mean another live action movie becomes more likely. As Sony are working on the Robotech movie they may want to keep the ball rolling with the money they will be reeling in from Dragon Ball and other popular anime titles.

I wish FUNi would do that. I really don't see DB or GT happening, but Dragon Ball Z could be possible. The way FUNimation can save money would be to reuse all the Dragon Ball Kai/Dragon Ball Kai: The Final Chapters Voice Clips, redub the cut-out filler, Put it on the Dragon Box Footage, and Voila! The Perfect Dragon Ball English Dub!

[sintzu]

I don't really see how you're coming to that conclusion.

That's what Western companies in general do, if something offends SJWs (everything does) then they drop it and go out of their way to satisfy them even though they'll never by any of their products.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

It's possible they'll fire Chris Sabat and all the VA's for Dragonball and decide their own cast.

We already went through this gloom and doom nonsense when Fox was in the picture a while back. Enough.

Yes I remember that, people thought Fox wouldn't hire FUNi and do the dubbing themselves for BoG. Lol good times.

[precita]

To be honest if Chris Sabat ever retires they'll probably recast everyone. The old FUNI voice cast are practically dinosaurs at this point, and a lot of them have already been replaced or left, like Bulma's original VA, kid Gohan, Freeza, etc.

[NitroEX]

So long as Gen Fukunaga is still in charge as CEO I get the feeling that very little will change in terms of Funimation's dubbing habits. Fukunaga has always worked very closely with Sabat who is likewise is also very close with many of the in-house cast members. Their arrangement since Kai has reeked of nepotism from the Z dub days but Sony will probably see no reason to step in and make any changes to that so long as the money keeps coming in for Dragon Ball, I doubt they'll see any benefit in redubbing old DB material either. They'll most likely just let Fukunaga continue as normal unless it interferes with their larger plans or loses them money.

I'd like to see them expand their dubbing budget for other anime properties and start using union level talent for dubs but something tells me Sony isn't going to be interested in that, they're more likely just interested in acquiring Funi's various anime licenses, potentially for future movie adaptations. They might also try to spread Funimation's anime business to other territories like the UK where Funi previously had little reach but I'm not even sure how that could work, anime companies in those regions such as MangaUK and Anime Limited already hold many of the same licenses already. Maybe Sony will just settle for TV and/or streaming dominance? It will be interesting to see what happens.

[8000 Saiyan]

So long as Gen Fukunaga is still in charge as CEO I get the feeling that very little will change in terms of Funimation's dubbing habits. Fukunaga has always worked very closely with Sabat who is likewise is also very close with many of the in-house cast members. Their arrangement since Kai has reeked of nepotism from the Z dub days but Sony will probably see no reason to step in and make any changes to that so long as the money keeps coming in for Dragon Ball, I doubt they'll see any benefit in redubbing old DB material either. They'll most likely just let Fukunaga continue as normal unless it interferes with their larger plans or loses them money.

I'd like to see them expand their dubbing budget for other anime properties and start using union level talent for dubs but something tells me Sony isn't going to be interested in that, they're more likely just interested in acquiring Funi's various anime licenses, potentially for future movie adaptations. They might also try to spread Funimation's anime business to other territories like the UK where Funi previously had little reach but I'm not even sure how that could work, anime companies in those regions such as MangaUK and Anime Limited already hold many of the same licenses already. Maybe Sony will just settle for TV and/or streaming dominance? It will be interesting to see what happens.

It'd be cool if they managed to use union voice actors, but since apparently the pay Funimation gives its actors is low I don't think the voice actors would be interested.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

So long as Gen Fukunaga is still in charge as CEO I get the feeling that very little will change in terms of Funimation's dubbing habits. Fukunaga has always worked very closely with Sabat who is likewise is also very close with many of the in-house cast members. Their arrangement since Kai has reeked of nepotism from the Z dub days but Sony will probably see no reason to step in and make any changes to that so long as the money keeps coming in for Dragon Ball, I doubt they'll see any benefit in redubbing old DB material either. They'll most likely just let Fukunaga continue as normal unless it interferes with their larger plans or loses them money.

I'd like to see them expand their dubbing budget for other anime properties and start using union level talent for dubs but something tells me Sony isn't going to be interested in that, they're more likely just interested in acquiring Funi's various anime licenses, potentially for future movie adaptations. They might also try to spread Funimation's anime business to other territories like the UK where Funi previously had little reach but I'm not even sure how that could work, anime companies in those regions such as MangaUK and Anime Limited already hold many of the same licenses already. Maybe Sony will just settle for TV and/or streaming dominance? It will be interesting to see what happens.

FUNi pretty much are here now, we have the FUNiNow streaming and FUNi are releasing physical home video via Anime Limited now since they broke up with MangaUK.

[NitroEX]

Streaming anime isn't the same as competing on store shelves. None of the UK anime distributors are affiliated with Funimation, MangaUK might package the releases the same but that's about it. Jerome Mazandarani has even said on Twitter recently that the Sony takeover is of no benefit to MangaUK at all, only Funi and Sony benefit.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Streaming anime isn't the same as competing on store shelves. None of the UK anime distributors are affiliated with Funimation, MangaUK might package the releases the same but that's about it. Jerome Mazandarani has even said on Twitter recently that the Sony takeover is of no benefit to MangaUK at all, only Funi and Sony benefit.

Anime Limited are affiliated with FUNi though, AL have been releasing and distributing stuff on FUNi's behalf for over a year now. Of course the deal will be no benefit to MangaUK FUNi have stopped sub licensing things to them anymore and thanks to AL distributing stuff on their behalf they've pretty much cornered the UK market. MangaUK are lucky that the big one's like DB and FMA etc weren't sub-licensed through FUNi, which explains why we just had yet another FMA:B re-release...

[NitroEX]

Anime Limited are affiliated with FUNi though, AL have been releasing and distributing stuff on FUNi's behalf for over a year now.

They're still not a part of the same organisation. That's just a deal they've worked out that's mutually beneficial, they also sub-license anime from Viz Media and Aniplex USA among others.

[Choujin Daizenshuu]

Makes me wonder how much more of an influence will Gen Fukunaga have in his company in the foreseeable future? Will Sony continue to keep Fukunaga on board or will they decide to give him his walking papers? Wouldn't bat an eye if it was the latter.

[sintzu]

Makes me wonder how much more of an influence will Gen Fukunaga have in his company in the foreseeable future? Will Sony continue to keep Fukunaga on board or will they decide to give him his walking papers? Wouldn't bat an eye if it was the latter.

He's making Funimation money which is the reason Sony bought them so why would they get rid of him ?

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Why do people have problem a Fukunaga? I've been reading quite a few not so nice comments regarding him.

[WittyUsername]

I don't really see how you're coming to that conclusion.

That's what Western companies in general do, if something offends SJWs (everything does) then they drop it and go out of their way to satisfy them even though they'll never by any of their products.

I have not seen any example of what you are describing. Also, "SJW" is a very broad and meaningless term. Also, isn't Funimation a Western company?

[VegettoEX]

I don't really see how you're coming to that conclusion.

That's what Western companies in general do, if something offends SJWs (everything does) then they drop it and go out of their way to satisfy them even though they'll never by any of their products.

I have not seen any example of what you are describing. Also, "SJW" is a very broad and meaningless term. Also, isn't Funimation a Western company?

Right. Let's not, please. Considering FUNimation's other bread and butter is fanservice shows, I really don't think anyone has a leg to stand on complaining about so-called "SJWs" and FUNimation's on-going and continued business practices.

[Mazingerdestro]

Will this actually mean anything?
Ok Sony has a larger share of the film industry so maybe they will allow for more cinemas to show some anime movies instead of limited runs but outside of USA, will this affect anyone else?
Will for example Funimation's app for ps4, ever be available on other places?
I know that Sony computer entertainment is basically separated from the rest of Sony but will Funimation affect other parts of Sony?
Will for example all of Funimations anime gain access to other countries?