The Dragon Ball Rights Dispute: Shueisha, Capsule Corp Tokyo, and the Toriyama Estate

[Cure Dragon 255]

Where do the home entertainment rights factor into this dispute? I wonder if this is why we haven't received any announcements for English Blu-Ray releases of the original Dragon Ball and/or GT (even a new release of DBZ original/Kai)?

That reminds me, NO HOME RELEASES. God this is an scary situation. We might be seeing the end of Dragon Ball being readily legally available.

[HarveyPlissken]

Where do the home entertainment rights factor into this dispute? I wonder if this is why we haven't received any announcements for English Blu-Ray releases of the original Dragon Ball and/or GT (even a new release of DBZ original/Kai)?

They would be through Toei Animation, but the lack of Blu-rays in the US would be due to Crunchyrolly simply having no use for Blu-ray releases fo those series.

I see. If only there's any good official release to support. Somehow, I've made the right choice to make my own Blu-Ray sets, because of BS like this. Both Toei and Crunchyroll are lazy and don't want to put in the work. It once again reinforces the fact that the fans put more effort to this franchise than the actual rights holders.

[TechExpert2021]

Where do the home entertainment rights factor into this dispute? I wonder if this is why we haven't received any announcements for English Blu-Ray releases of the original Dragon Ball and/or GT (even a new release of DBZ original/Kai)?

They would be through Toei Animation, but the lack of Blu-rays in the US would be due to Crunchyrolly simply having no use for Blu-ray releases fo those series.

I see. If only there's any good official release to support. Somehow, I've made the right choice to make my own Blu-Ray sets, because of BS like this. Both Toei and Crunchyroll are lazy and don't want to put in the work. It once again reinforces the fact that the fans put more effort to this franchise than the actual rights holders.

I think there is a risk of getting prosecuted if someone makes their own Blu-ray sets of copyrighted material without permission, right?

[HarveyPlissken]

They would be through Toei Animation, but the lack of Blu-rays in the US would be due to Crunchyrolly simply having no use for Blu-ray releases fo those series.

I see. If only there's any good official release to support. Somehow, I've made the right choice to make my own Blu-Ray sets, because of BS like this. Both Toei and Crunchyroll are lazy and don't want to put in the work. It once again reinforces the fact that the fans put more effort to this franchise than the actual rights holders.

I think there is a risk of getting prosecuted if someone makes their own Blu-ray sets of copyrighted material, right?

If that someone sells them for money, then maybe so. But thankfully, I have no plans to sell any of mine. Therefore, they (Toei & Shueisha) should have nothing to worry about. It sucks though, because if they did make official releases of them, I would absolutely support them any way I can. And this ridiculous lawsuit isn't making things better for the future of Dragon Ball on home video.

[JulieYBM]

Where do the home entertainment rights factor into this dispute? I wonder if this is why we haven't received any announcements for English Blu-Ray releases of the original Dragon Ball and/or GT (even a new release of DBZ original/Kai)?

They would be through Toei Animation, but the lack of Blu-rays in the US would be due to Crunchyrolly simply having no use for Blu-ray releases fo those series.

I see. If only there's any good official release to support. Somehow, I've made the right choice to make my own Blu-Ray sets, because of BS like this. Both Toei and Crunchyroll are lazy and don't want to put in the work. It once again reinforces the fact that the fans put more effort to this franchise than the actual rights holders.

It's not about laziness (a concept that doesn't even exist), it's about the perceived profitability of Blu-ray sets.

[HarveyPlissken]

Let me state for the record that I didn't mean for this to be about piracy or anything like that. The topic of the legal dispute between Iyoku's Capsule Corp and Toei/Shueisha has gotten me thinking about the state of any future DVD & Blu-Ray releases for the series.

[nineko]

Not here to derail the thread, but regarding the planned Dragon Ball theme park, why is it being constructed in Saudi Arabia?

Read more: viewtopic.php?t=48750.

[Vegard Aune]

I do feel like, if this dispute is resolved in such a way that Shueisha and Toei aren't just somehow excluded from making decisions about the anime in the future, Moro and Granolah anime adaptations are likely to follow soon after. Just because like... even if they were primarily written by Toyotaro, Toriyama was still involved, (moreso with Granolah than with Moro from what I understand?) and at this point just saying "New Toriyama material that has not been animated!" would probably be a pretty good advertising hook given the man's recent passing.

...Wow, saying it like that it almost feels kinda cruel. "Oh shit the author is dead! Let's animate everything he worked on because surely a lot of people will be eager to see whatever he did now that we know there's never going to be any more!" Feels very much like a Corporate Executives kinda move though.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

In terms of home video and other avenues, i don't know if this would turn out like what happened with Sailor Moon back in the early 2000's once Takeuchi took a more direct involvement with the rights/licensing and it lead to a decade or so long hiatus where the series just wasn't available on TV, home video or otherwise. Particularly here in the US, where the series' broadcast run on CN/Toonami had already wrapped up back in mid 2002, the DVD's that ADV released of the DiC dub and their lackluster sub only sets of Seasons 1 and 2 went out of print sometime in 2004 or so and dubbing of the show stopped after Cloverway finished the dub of SuperS and the last couple of movies thus Sailor Stars was effectively stuck in limbo (until 2013 when Viz got the rights) and it was more or less the same way other parts of the world outside of Japan.

I dunno if this rights dispute here would end up similar to the one that went on back then with Sailor Moon, but we shall see how this all goes.

[Fizzer]

So who had the rights to the Super anime? Which of these companies is producing Daima?

Something I've been confused about since the first Daima trailer is that it doesn't seem to have any references to Super, like it's carrying on where Z left off and overwriting Super. Super did that to GT obviously, but a lot more time passed between those two and Toriyama was at least somewhat involved in Super.

Am I mad for wondering if this dispute is why the new Dragon Ball sequel seems completely disconnected from the Dragon Ball sequel that's less than ten years old and still ongoing in manga form?

[Xeogran]

Super did that to GT obviously

No it didn't, for all intents and purposes Super happens before GT in the timeline, nothing was overwritten.
And if someone says it doesn't fit, let's realize that so far it feels like Daima doesn't fit with Super either. DB has different timelines/universes/continuities.

[Grimlock]

DB has different timelines/universes/continuities.

No, it doesn't. You are overthinking it. This wasn't the writers intention, Dragon Ball is a linear story that doesn't branch off or anything. Dragon Ball also isn't Marvel with their "Multiverse bullcrap" or whatever. Dragon Ball Super overwrites Dragon Ball GT because we, the fans, say so. GT doesn't fit anywhere. It takes place before GT? So what? In the logic we all live by, it still overwrites it, it's that simple. Please don't overthink or be argumentative about this, thank you.

And no amount of rights dispute will change this reality.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Super doesn't overwrite GT, nor will Daima overwrite Super. The Japanese don't care about canon, all that matters is what will sell. If they need to revisit any storylines because its deemed that will help shift toys, games and merchandise that's what the powers that be will do.

Even if we take end of Z, it's not all that believable that portion of the manga/anime could exist in the same continuity as Super. Is a kid who could be as powerful as Kid Boo really all that impressive at that point? There's also the issue that it was 5 years since Bulma seen Goku, and as of this point they last met in age 780 (Super Broly), which is 4 years before the 28th Tenkaichi Budokai.

[sangofe]

Please stay on topic. It sucks when interesting topics get closed.

[miguelnuva1]

I wonder how Iyoku even got the rights passed Toriyama liked him and was good friends with him.

Best thing for the series I would say is let Iyoku did the anime going forward, let Shueisha do the manga and make two separate teams that split the profit.
It shouldn't be this hard to make money off Dragonball when both sides want to increase output.

[Fizzer]

Maybe I made a mistake saying "overwrites" which made it about cannon, but that's not what I'm getting at.

I'm just suspicious that after spending all these years on the multitudes of characters and concepts in the BoG-present era, the new series looks like what we'd expect it to be in a universe where none of that material ever existed, a new arc launching off the back of the Buu arc and it's worldbuilding. It's not about continuity or whether that's worth exploring (it is, and the reason might be as simple as that) but I was wondering about the rights dispute being part of it.

What I mean is it wouldn't surprise me if there's an element of "well that was Shueisha's sequel, this is Capsule Corp's sequel and won't acknowledge theirs", but I don't know enough about the ins and outs of all of this.

A new name and branding distinct from the old one, a completely separate story. Wasn't there also something about whether or not Super Hero used the "Super" moniker as well?

[sangofe]

I'm really curious how long this is going to take, how it will affect the coming months and years, and what the outcome will be.

[GreatSaiyaman123]

Maybe I made a mistake saying "overwrites" which made it about cannon, but that's not what I'm getting at.

I'm just suspicious that after spending all these years on the multitudes of characters and concepts in the BoG-present era, the new series looks like what we'd expect it to be in a universe where none of that material ever existed, a new arc launching off the back of the Buu arc and it's worldbuilding. It's not about continuity or whether that's worth exploring (it is, and the reason might be as simple as that) but I was wondering about the rights dispute being part of it.

What I mean is it wouldn't surprise me if there's an element of "well that was Shueisha's sequel, this is Capsule Corp's sequel and won't acknowledge theirs", but I don't know enough about the ins and outs of all of this.

A new name and branding distinct from the old one, a completely separate story. Wasn't there also something about whether or not Super Hero used the "Super" moniker as well?

This would make a lot of sense if Shueisha weren't the ones behind both DBS and Daima. Though that was before Iyoku left, so he might have been the one pushing for Daima.

[dragonballhero]

Maybe I made a mistake saying "overwrites" which made it about cannon, but that's not what I'm getting at.

I'm just suspicious that after spending all these years on the multitudes of characters and concepts in the BoG-present era, the new series looks like what we'd expect it to be in a universe where none of that material ever existed, a new arc launching off the back of the Buu arc and it's worldbuilding. It's not about continuity or whether that's worth exploring (it is, and the reason might be as simple as that) but I was wondering about the rights dispute being part of it.

What I mean is it wouldn't surprise me if there's an element of "well that was Shueisha's sequel, this is Capsule Corp's sequel and won't acknowledge theirs", but I don't know enough about the ins and outs of all of this.

A new name and branding distinct from the old one, a completely separate story. Wasn't there also something about whether or not Super Hero used the "Super" moniker as well?

This would make a lot of sense if Shueisha weren't the ones behind both DBS and Daima. Though that was before Iyoku left, so he might have been the one pushing for Daima.

I've had a similar thought about a month or so after Daima was revealed. It might seem weird, but I honestly feel like Daima might be taking place in an 'alternate continuity' of sorts, separate from what Super has been giving us.

In fact, I've been of the belief that, as long as TOEI/Shueisha/whoever DOESN'T fiddle (heavily) with Toriyama's OG Dragon Ball story (i.e. anything between and including Goku and Bulma's first meeting to Goku and Uub leaving the 28th W.M.A.T.), they're allowed to come up with their own Dragon Ball story.

[Jord]

Super already contradicts Z so I don't think so.