Why is the UK deprived of DB?

Cosmodious · Post by **Cosmodious** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:40 pm

The series was on TV and we get every video game but not yet have we had a proper DVD. Yes, we have those terribly dubbed movies which were out for about a month and then disappeared from the face of the earth (for good reason) but no Season sets or anything like that ever as far as I know.

Are there any actual reasons for this other than the very real possiblity that whatever company that has the rights here hates us?

sangofe · Post by **sangofe** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:57 pm

AB is a French company, and has Europe rights. For some reason French people suck at English and don't want to try learning it. Maybe that's the reason? I wouldn't know. This fact's puzzled myself as well.

Catterix2006 · Post by **Catterix2006** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 3:53 pm

Mmm, the UK was annoying regarding Dragonball. We got the show in 1999, but despite really high ratings, advertising everywhere, we didn't get merchandise until about early 2001, which is a *long* time, especially when seeing all those Dragonball Z toys and DVDs in the US.

And we didn't get any DVDs until, like you said, those terrible Bridge Dub DVDs surfaced in 2004. I still see them in HMV and that sometimes.

Anyway, thankfully, FUNimation does do all their DVDs in regions 1, 2 and 4, so I've always just imported them over to the UK, I have movies 5-9 on DVD, but that's about it.

It's weird, because the audience was there, waiting for Dragonball Z stuff, but we never got it in the end.

Bura · Post by **Bura** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:26 pm

The UK isn't the only one... We here in the Netherlands get really neglected too. The anime isn't airing here anymore for ages and we never had DragonBall (the first series). Quite some years back I did spot randomly imported DVD's of the FUNimation dub, but those have completely disappeared now. The only thing we now have are the "big green" movie dubs, which are on sale for like a dollar each (they're still VHS, too).

I have to import practically everything anime/dragonball related.

The Kanzenban will be the first DB-related thing the country has seen for years (not counting the crappy first release of the manga by Glenat).

saiyanprincess · Post by **saiyanprincess** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:43 pm

I have cursed about this for years, It's totally out of order. Basically the only way we can get the DVD's is to import them. Thankfully like I have just learnt the Funi releases are now in 1,2, & 4. Other than that the other option is to purchase some dodgy bootlegs on Ebay which is really not advised! - Don't even go there!

I just find it really unfair as we had such a phenomina of Dragonball Z, and yet it just got overlooked by the big guys at Funimation. (This is what I boiled it down to.) I guess they think because we are a small country we won't make big bucks like America - Or we can just import them. However I like to think they did miss out on some decent profits.
Even France and Spain have their own releases hitting the stores, and us...

As for the dodgy movie releases... We won't speak about them. Thinking about AB makes me want to puke.

And yes, They still sell them in my HMV and Toys R Us.

- Just import them- The best prices I found were to be on Amazon as they don't rip you off on extortinate shipping prices.

ImmortalSandwich · Post by **ImmortalSandwich** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:05 pm

It shouldn't be that much of a problem getting the stuff, since we have the wonderful internet at our finger tips. It's really lame that you guys don't have a good, official release, but at least you have access to the stuff. If this were 15 years ago, you'd be really screwed out of Dragon Ball..

I live in the US, and I got to watch DB and DBZ on TV while growing up, so I can't say I feel your pain, though I can sympathize with you. I felt the same way about GT before it was showed on TV here. I played Final Bout before I even knew what GT was, and started reading stuff on the internet. I was so angry that I couldn't get a hold of the series in any store, and I had to rely on buying the stuff online, which my parents didn't like doing (I was young at the time, so I had no other options). Finally we got the show on TV (and I was actually disappointed, but that's besides the fact), and I was so happy I would get to see GT.

Maybe you guys will have some hope with the release of Kai. Since it's an entirely new series, I get the feeling different companies are going to look into licensing it, so one company can't monopolize it, like Funi in the US. Maybe you guys will get a proper DVD release of Kai?

ssjcj · Post by **ssjcj** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:40 pm

As someone who lives in the UK it hasn't been much bother. I have imported DragonBall DVDs and have purchased a multi-region DVD player. The main worry I have is when Blu-rays start geting released as we are out of both the Japanese and US region zones as there appears to be no way of getting a cheap multi-region Blu-Ray player.

TheGreatness25 · Post by **TheGreatness25** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 6:50 pm

If the UK released Ocean dubbed versions of DBZ (the rest of the series, not just the first two "seasons") in a cheap form like the Season Sets, I'd get it, just because I also have some nostalgia to the good ole Ocean dub voices. Granted that by the end of the series, they change Goku's voice and like all of the new characters that were dubbed that didn't come before the second "season" sound absolutely terrible, but I digress.

The Time Traveller · Post by **The Time Traveller** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 6:57 pm

It's not really deprived of it, as long as America or Japan gets new stuff we can get it too.

I live in England and so far I have 18 volumes of the manga, all of Dragon Ball on DVD, plus edited episodes, 4 DB movies, 4 movies, 6 Seasons of DBZ on DVD, and the first English Daizenshuu.

Just because it doesn't come out here doesn't mean we don't get it, and even though the games come out here I never buy them.

Another thing people should try is watching it in Japanese, it's superior! Better script, less fuck ups and it's more authentic.

And there's not really any problems for Blu-ray, so far none of the Blurays are just Region A, in fact most Blurays are Region Free

Kid Trunks · Post by **Kid Trunks** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 7:48 pm

It seems it a bit ridiculous that France can own the rights on behalf of all of Europe, particularly when they don't even distribute episodes on dvd to places like the UK or Ireland (not that I want the AB dub).

Cosmodious · Post by **Cosmodious** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 8:47 pm

They don't even have to do very much, they could just get the stuff from Funi, do their region stuff and throw it at us and we would eat it up. I don't think it's a license thing since they aired the Funi version of the entire series way back when.

saiyanprincess · Post by **saiyanprincess** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 5:12 pm

Kid Trunks wrote:It seems it a bit ridiculous that France can own the rights on behalf of all of Europe, particularly when they don't even distribute episodes on dvd to places like the UK or Ireland (not that I want the AB dub).

Nobody wants the AB dub! The french can stick it in their baguettes and.. and....

Just import the Funimation dub or the Dragonbox (If you can afford it.) It just sucks that we can't just pop into our local supermarket and grab the latest season with the weekly shopping. Still it's still better than not having them at all. It was good of Funimation to make multi regional discs, At least they did think of us they could have been mean and kept them region one screwing the people who don't have multi regional players.

sangofe · Post by **sangofe** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 5:16 pm

Kid Trunks wrote:It seems it a bit ridiculous that France can own the rights on behalf of all of Europe, particularly when they don't even distribute episodes on dvd to places like the UK or Ireland (not that I want the AB dub).

Indeed, it is. However, it is true, AB has the rights for all of Europe. I wonder if it is a coincidence that Plus Licenc`s full name is "Plus Licens AB". Probably not.

sangofe · Post by **sangofe** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 5:17 pm

Did the "Ocean dub" originally get produced for Canada, or the UK?

ThegreatPirateKing · Post by **ThegreatPirateKing** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:48 pm

Actually, the main reason why Dragon Ball hasn't been released in the UK is the liscening fee is... a lot. Manga are interested in releasing both Dragon Ball and One Piece in the UK (I asked at the October London Expo) but Toei's price has stopped them from buying.

Basically, blame Toei.

Bejiita · Post by **Bejiita** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 3:08 pm

I live in South London, and have been a DB fan since early 2000, and since I got into, merchandise was always a bitch to find, and once you found it, when converted to the pound, costs a lot. To be honest, mostly nothing I've found in shops isn't imported, so because it has been is why the price is high, and I mean for stuff like VHS, toys, and the books like Daizenshuu's and the manga single chapter books and the Tankoubons.

My advice, use the internet for your goods.

Piccolo Daimao · Post by **Piccolo Daimao** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 4:30 pm

Well, I live in Plymouth, UK, and I have nearly all of the DBZ manga volumes, just three DB volumes ('cos I've been mainly getting DBZ manga than DB recently), DBZ Ultimate Battle 22 & the Budokai Tenkaichi series. Since then, it's been pretty dry for me in getting DBZ merchandise. I never see any DBZ DVD sets, no action figures, nothing. I've recently just been getting manga because I can't see anything else (or maybe I don't look hard enough).

Kid Trunks · Post by **Kid Trunks** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 5:52 pm

One positive thing about not being able to find Dragonball merchandise where I live is that when I import something, it's all the more exciting for me when I finally get it.

Rory · Post by **Rory** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 6:47 am

I really don't get it, we get Death Note, Naruto, Bleach, so much damn anime. But we don't get Dragonball? I can only imagine it's a licensing issue.

MCDaveG · Post by **MCDaveG** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 9:46 am

Hey you guys, be calm)))) Here in Czech Republic there never was Dragon Ball in TV, only thing I can buy here are Dragon Ball from Gollancz manga in english (It's in the book store's foreign books section) and Dragon Ball games which are imported. Maybe finally the Dragon Ball Kai will be there.....

Seriously, If I can't understand to english, I'm pretty fucked up. I was watching DB series on Polish or German TV stations