FUNimation acquired by Crunchyroll - chance for better DVD/BD releases?

[coola]

FUNimation anime home releases (especially DB/DBZ ones) often had some issues https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2 ... ay/.176354 hopefully now that it's gone, future DB/DB/DBGT DVD/BD releases will be better quality, or get outsourced to different company, would love to get at least Movies from Discotek

[MasenkoHA]

Crunchyroll didn't acquire Funimation. Sony acquired Funimation in 2017 then Sony acquired Crunchyroll in late 2021 then Sony decided to consolidate both their anime acquisitions under the Crunchyroll brand name.


The chance of better home video releases are zero to none.

If anything Sony/Crunchyroll seem perfectly content keeping their titles as streaming

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

If anything Sony/Crunchyroll seem perfectly content keeping their titles as streaming

Crunchyroll are starting to get into the home video market. I imagine it was mutually decided by both themselves and Funimation to merge their operations to cater to both the SVOD and collectors markets.

As a home release enthusiast myself I am hoping for better, more ambitious releases, but I won't count on it.

[MasenkoHA]

If anything Sony/Crunchyroll seem perfectly content keeping their titles as streaming

Crunchyroll are starting to get into the home video market. I imagine it was mutually decided by both themselves and Funimation to merge their operations to cater to both the SVOD and collectors markets.

As a home release enthusiast myself I am hoping for better, more ambitious releases, but I won't count on it.

I stand corrected on Crunchyroll's interest in the home video market.


Though it's doubtful this brand consolidation will somehow translate to better video releases for DBZ or Dragon Ball and GT being remembered.

[Lance Freeman]

If anything Sony/Crunchyroll seem perfectly content keeping their titles as streaming

Crunchyroll are starting to get into the home video market. I imagine it was mutually decided by both themselves and Funimation to merge their operations to cater to both the SVOD and collectors markets.

As a home release enthusiast myself I am hoping for better, more ambitious releases, but I won't count on it.

I stand corrected on Crunchyroll's interest in the home video market.


Though it's doubtful this brand consolidation will somehow translate to better video releases for DBZ or Dragon Ball and GT being remembered.

I mean... the time for Funimation to fix the DVDs was in 2007, after the first brick came out and literally everyone on the internet was telling them "This is NOT what we want.". It's been two steps forward, two steps back and a hop, skip and jump to the side on that front ever since.

[eledoremassis02]

If they gain access to sonys resources, yes. But if they keep the funi people, then business as usual

[KPike87]

I do hope the merger puts more eyes on the DB franchise behind the scenes, and maybe, possibly, some of them are actually passionate about the franchise and want to put out a good product; being under Sony whilst being merged with Crunchyroll *surely* would have the possibility of an increased budget compared to when the Level Sets first came out. Getting a Level Sets-like remaster would be exciting, but I'd bust a nut if they ever did the same for the original Dragon Ball.

Not to derail the thread, but I did always wonder if there's anybody behind the scenes at Funi who thinks their treatment of this series' presentation is bullshit. I'd love to hear from that hypothetical individual. I'm only bringing this up because whenever asked about their decisions for these home releases, it always sounds like a unanimous agreement over there, which just can't be the case.

[coola]

Not to derail the thread, but I did always wonder if there's anybody behind the scenes at Funi who thinks their treatment of this series' presentation is bullshit. I'd love to hear from that hypothetical individual. I'm only bringing this up because whenever asked about their decisions for these home releases, it always sounds like a unanimous agreement over there, which just can't be the case.

I remember when they announced Dragon Box, after they showed trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWZ5uWY4ERM Chris Sabat said "It's original Dragon Box and we didn't changed a DAMN thing" so I'm sure they all know

[TheGreatness25]

Not to derail the thread, but I did always wonder if there's anybody behind the scenes at Funi who thinks their treatment of this series' presentation is bullshit. I'd love to hear from that hypothetical individual. I'm only bringing this up because whenever asked about their decisions for these home releases, it always sounds like a unanimous agreement over there, which just can't be the case.

I remember when they announced Dragon Box, after they showed trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWZ5uWY4ERM Chris Sabat said "It's original Dragon Box and we didn't changed a DAMN thing" so I'm sure they all know

Depends who knows. The people promoting the releases aren't the same people working on the releases. This isn't a mom-and-pop shop--this is a big company (regardless of what banner they're under) and there are probably hundreds of people separating those that make the decision on how to make the release from those that actually work on the release to the mouthpieces promoting the release.

This is why I was pretty sure that handing off the broadcast audio to Sabat would result in absolutely nothing, and I have been shown to be correct. It's like handing your homemade jam to a manager at Target and expecting the jam to be sold at Target from then on.

I do believe that somewhere deep down inside, the right people at Funimation did know what people wanted, but then they had their finance and video people telling them what could and couldn't be done. They released the Dragon Boxes because they knew what fans wanted... but also because they really didn't have to do anything. Just spend the money, release the product. Seems like anything that they have to do themselves doesn't turn out right because they probably have way too many things to consider.

I imagine it goes something like this:
Funi Exec: "You hear those fans online? Make it like that!"
Video Person: "That is extremely time-consuming. We need $X."
Funi Money: "We won't give $X, we will only give $Y."
Video Person: "Well, we can cut corners here, here, and here."
Sabat: "Hey, I've got this audio!"
Funi Exec: "Who let this guy in?"

[coola]

Not to derail the thread, but I did always wonder if there's anybody behind the scenes at Funi who thinks their treatment of this series' presentation is bullshit. I'd love to hear from that hypothetical individual. I'm only bringing this up because whenever asked about their decisions for these home releases, it always sounds like a unanimous agreement over there, which just can't be the case.

I remember when they announced Dragon Box, after they showed trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWZ5uWY4ERM Chris Sabat said "It's original Dragon Box and we didn't changed a DAMN thing" so I'm sure they all know

Depends who knows. The people promoting the releases aren't the same people working on the releases. This isn't a mom-and-pop shop--this is a big company (regardless of what banner they're under) and there are probably hundreds of people separating those that make the decision on how to make the release from those that actually work on the release to the mouthpieces promoting the release.

This is why I was pretty sure that handing off the broadcast audio to Sabat would result in absolutely nothing, and I have been shown to be correct. It's like handing your homemade jam to a manager at Target and expecting the jam to be sold at Target from then on.

I do believe that somewhere deep down inside, the right people at Funimation did know what people wanted, but then they had their finance and video people telling them what could and couldn't be done. They released the Dragon Boxes because they knew what fans wanted... but also because they really didn't have to do anything. Just spend the money, release the product. Seems like anything that they have to do themselves doesn't turn out right because they probably have way too many things to consider.

I imagine it goes something like this:
Funi Exec: "You hear those fans online? Make it like that!"
Video Person: "That is extremely time-consuming. We need $X."
Funi Money: "We won't give $X, we will only give $Y."
Video Person: "Well, we can cut corners here, here, and here."
Sabat: "Hey, I've got this audio!"
Funi Exec: "Who let this guy in?"

Somehow, i thought Sabat position was pretty strong in Funimation when it came to decision, there was also this rumor Funimation planned to use DBZ dub for Kai, and it was Chuck Huber who convinced them to record new dub, so i thought at least some VA opinions mattered...

[MasenkoHA]

I remember when they announced Dragon Box, after they showed trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWZ5uWY4ERM Chris Sabat said "It's original Dragon Box and we didn't changed a DAMN thing" so I'm sure they all know

Depends who knows. The people promoting the releases aren't the same people working on the releases. This isn't a mom-and-pop shop--this is a big company (regardless of what banner they're under) and there are probably hundreds of people separating those that make the decision on how to make the release from those that actually work on the release to the mouthpieces promoting the release.

This is why I was pretty sure that handing off the broadcast audio to Sabat would result in absolutely nothing, and I have been shown to be correct. It's like handing your homemade jam to a manager at Target and expecting the jam to be sold at Target from then on.

I do believe that somewhere deep down inside, the right people at Funimation did know what people wanted, but then they had their finance and video people telling them what could and couldn't be done. They released the Dragon Boxes because they knew what fans wanted... but also because they really didn't have to do anything. Just spend the money, release the product. Seems like anything that they have to do themselves doesn't turn out right because they probably have way too many things to consider.

I imagine it goes something like this:
Funi Exec: "You hear those fans online? Make it like that!"
Video Person: "That is extremely time-consuming. We need $X."
Funi Money: "We won't give $X, we will only give $Y."
Video Person: "Well, we can cut corners here, here, and here."
Sabat: "Hey, I've got this audio!"
Funi Exec: "Who let this guy in?"

Somehow, i thought Sabat position was pretty strong in Funimation when it came to decision, there was also this rumor Funmation planned to use DBZ dub for Kai, and it was Chuck Huber who convinced them to record new dub, so i thought at least some VA opinions mattered...

Sabat is pretty high up but I doubt he has much say in how the show is released or how any remastering process should look

The rumor Funi was just gonna splice in the audio they recorded for Z when doing Kai always seemed doubtful to me.

[TheGreatness25]

Spoiler:

I remember when they announced Dragon Box, after they showed trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWZ5uWY4ERM Chris Sabat said "It's original Dragon Box and we didn't changed a DAMN thing" so I'm sure they all know

Depends who knows. The people promoting the releases aren't the same people working on the releases. This isn't a mom-and-pop shop--this is a big company (regardless of what banner they're under) and there are probably hundreds of people separating those that make the decision on how to make the release from those that actually work on the release to the mouthpieces promoting the release.

This is why I was pretty sure that handing off the broadcast audio to Sabat would result in absolutely nothing, and I have been shown to be correct. It's like handing your homemade jam to a manager at Target and expecting the jam to be sold at Target from then on.

I do believe that somewhere deep down inside, the right people at Funimation did know what people wanted, but then they had their finance and video people telling them what could and couldn't be done. They released the Dragon Boxes because they knew what fans wanted... but also because they really didn't have to do anything. Just spend the money, release the product. Seems like anything that they have to do themselves doesn't turn out right because they probably have way too many things to consider.

I imagine it goes something like this:
Funi Exec: "You hear those fans online? Make it like that!"
Video Person: "That is extremely time-consuming. We need $X."
Funi Money: "We won't give $X, we will only give $Y."
Video Person: "Well, we can cut corners here, here, and here."
Sabat: "Hey, I've got this audio!"
Funi Exec: "Who let this guy in?"

Somehow, i thought Sabat position was pretty strong in Funimation when it came to decision, there was also this rumor Funimation planned to use DBZ dub for Kai, and it was Chuck Huber who convinced them to record new dub, so i thought at least some VA opinions mattered...

Depends who knows. The people promoting the releases aren't the same people working on the releases. This isn't a mom-and-pop shop--this is a big company (regardless of what banner they're under) and there are probably hundreds of people separating those that make the decision on how to make the release from those that actually work on the release to the mouthpieces promoting the release.

This is why I was pretty sure that handing off the broadcast audio to Sabat would result in absolutely nothing, and I have been shown to be correct. It's like handing your homemade jam to a manager at Target and expecting the jam to be sold at Target from then on.

I do believe that somewhere deep down inside, the right people at Funimation did know what people wanted, but then they had their finance and video people telling them what could and couldn't be done. They released the Dragon Boxes because they knew what fans wanted... but also because they really didn't have to do anything. Just spend the money, release the product. Seems like anything that they have to do themselves doesn't turn out right because they probably have way too many things to consider.

I imagine it goes something like this:
Funi Exec: "You hear those fans online? Make it like that!"
Video Person: "That is extremely time-consuming. We need $X."
Funi Money: "We won't give $X, we will only give $Y."
Video Person: "Well, we can cut corners here, here, and here."
Sabat: "Hey, I've got this audio!"
Funi Exec: "Who let this guy in?"

Somehow, i thought Sabat position was pretty strong in Funimation when it came to decision, there was also this rumor Funmation planned to use DBZ dub for Kai, and it was Chuck Huber who convinced them to record new dub, so i thought at least some VA opinions mattered...

Sabat is pretty high up but I doubt he has much say in how the show is released or how any remastering process should look

The rumor Funi was just gonna splice in the audio they recorded for Z when doing Kai always seemed doubtful to me.

Yeah, even if Sabat has a lot of pull from the dubbing/directing/staffing side, the remastering and distribution is a totally separate department.

I never heard that Funimation planned to use the Z dub for Kai--doesn't even seem possible. I don't know if Chuck Huber passed that story around, but I'd imagine even if they started off thinking they'd just splice in the Z dub, I think about 20 minutes into working on it, they'd come to their own realization that it wasn't working out.

[Lance Freeman]

Not to derail the thread, but I did always wonder if there's anybody behind the scenes at Funi who thinks their treatment of this series' presentation is bullshit. I'd love to hear from that hypothetical individual. I'm only bringing this up because whenever asked about their decisions for these home releases, it always sounds like a unanimous agreement over there, which just can't be the case.

I suspect a lot of people at Funi knew how badly they messed up Z, since only DBZ branded releases ever got messed with. Every other catalogue franchise they had the rights to never went through the same faux-remastering process, including the other two DB series. 2008 was about halfway through the terrible orange bricks, and suddenly here comes a largely untouched release of GT and Yu Yu Hakusho, so they knew.

[TheGreatness25]

Of course someone out there must know, but they're not necessarily fans or might not think it really matters or might just not want to rock the boat at their workplace.

[MasenkoHA]

Kind of seems like Dragon Ball Z is a victim of its own popularity tbh. A too many cooks type thing. Dragon Ball and GT aren't popular enough so Funimation doesn't put any effort in them which means they end up relatively unscathed in the remastering process.

All the various releases of Z and the only time Funimation could have been said to got it right is the Dragon Boxes.

[TheGreatness25]

Kind of seems like Dragon Ball Z is a victim of its own popularity tbh. A too many cooks type thing. Dragon Ball and GT aren't popular enough so Funimation doesn't put any effort in them which means they end up relatively unscathed in the remastering process.

All the various releases of Z and the only time Funimation could have been said to got it right is the Dragon Boxes.

Yeah, but that also means that all we have is the old singles and the blue bricks. In the very least, we have plenty of ways to watch Dragon Ball Z.

[MasenkoHA]

Kind of seems like Dragon Ball Z is a victim of its own popularity tbh. A too many cooks type thing. Dragon Ball and GT aren't popular enough so Funimation doesn't put any effort in them which means they end up relatively unscathed in the remastering process.

All the various releases of Z and the only time Funimation could have been said to got it right is the Dragon Boxes.

Yeah, but that also means that all we have is the old singles and the blue bricks. In the very least, we have plenty of ways to watch Dragon Ball Z.

Plenty ways to watch Dragon Ball Z and they almost all suck. And the non-sucky options aren't viable for other reasons.

With Dragon Ball (and GT I guess but I don't care about GT) its more the principle than anything. It would be nice if Funimation acknowledged those series exist with a blu ray upscale or something. But the dvd season sets are fine with my main quibbles being things Funimation would never fix anyway

[Shorty GZ2]

Short answer, no. And while some might be aware, better releases prob ain't happening.