Why the 3 month gap between releases?

[SSJFrogGinyu]

Forgive my ignorance. For some reason I feel like I should know this already, but I was wondering why there is such a huge gap in the release schedule. When I started collecting the Kai DVDs I was pretty lucky because at that point, the first five sets were already out; I currently have the sixth pre-ordered and scheduled for delivery on release day. But I was pretty shocked and kind of disappointed when I discovered that there would be a THREE MONTH gap between parts six and seven, just like all the other releases. I guess I'll have to make this new set last a long time...

By the time the new sets come out, the episodes on them have already been translated, dubbed, edited for broadcast, and have long since been aired on Nicktoons. That means all the work has been done and the episodes are ready to be released. FUNimation doesn't care about extras, so all they'd have to do is throw the uncut episodes in a box and send them out... but why the long wait? And what's the point of making the butchered versions of the episodes available first before the uncut version? They didn't do this during the VHS days when the new seasons were airing on Cartoon Network.

[JulieYBM]

FUNimation releases more than just Dragon Ball, so they have to make sure not to flood the market each month.

[VegettoEX]

I have to imagine that one big reason is the giant music shift that had to be done for every single episode. We have no way of knowing just how fast Toei was able to get updated music & SFX tracks out to their licensees, which episodes they finished up ahead of other episodes, etc. Remember that even "Part 5" had a delay, so the schedules were probably updated and accounted for accordingly.

The episodes aren't necessarily "ready" to be released just because the TV version is done, either. Keep in mind that there are separate takes on voice performances on the FUNimation English dub side of things, so it's likely that the home release version isn't even touched until they know they're done with the TV broadcast version (which has a deadline to deliver to their TV partners).

The point of having the censored versions done on TV first? To... well... promote the franchise as a whole and all of its merchandise. It's pretty basic Marketing 101 stuff. They didn't always do it in this order back in the "Cartoon Network days" for a variety of reasons, including the fact that it was all entirely new to them, there was a huge home format shift in process (VHS to DVD), and they didn't exactly know what the bloody Hell they were doing half the time .

There may also be timing restrictions in their contract from Toei. Sure, the entire series is released in Japan as-of this month, but Toei and the entire Japanese market have always been deathly afraid of reverse importation, and with our releases being dirt-cheap, they're likely still propping up their asinine business model by forcing FUNimation to wait on releasing certain episodes.

Also... like Jacob said... yeah, more than just DragonBall for them .

[Cipher]

In addition to all the things VegettoEX has mentioned, even if FUNimation were only releasing Dragon Ball, even if there were no edited TV version, even if there were no Japanese owner stipulating time tables, it still doesn't make sense to release portions of a series much more closely than a few months apart. You don't want to inundate the market with several volumes in a short time span. You want each to have its own shelf life, and you want fans to be able to (both financially and time-wise) be able to keep up with your release.

Three months is a very, very reasonable time span.

[SSJFrogGinyu]

You're right, I never considered all that. How silly of me.

It is a bit daft to wonder why FUNimation takes so long with Kai, forgetting that they have an entire catalog of licenses to balance, licenses they had to begin with and also ones they acquired from defunct translation companies.

And I suppose waiting on releases is no big deal. I do admit that impatience is a flaw of mine, but when it comes to waiting on anime and manga, I'm more than used to it. I did it in the 90s when I had to wait a month or two before I could get new Slayers tapes, and I did it when Tokyopop was still around and there was a timed delay between releases of various manga books. It always made "release day" more exciting for me, and yeah, at the time I wouldn't have had enough disposable income to walk away with four books or tapes.

[DanielGClapp]

Toei and the entire Japanese market have always been deathly afraid of reverse importation, and with our releases being dirt-cheap, they're likely still propping up their asinine business model by forcing FUNimation to wait on releasing certain episodes..

I was wondering about this. I already stated my speculation about reverse importation here, but you pretty much just confirmed it for me. I was wondering, though, why are R2 releases in Japan so much more expensive? I mean I know that the packaging is almost always vastly superior, but If I were a Japanese fan I would rather buy the cheaper NA releases than to waste all of my money on the domestic ones. As far as I know, the NA releases do not lack in picture quality compared to the Japanese ones.

[AgitoZ]

I was wondering about this. I already stated my speculation about reverse importation here, but you pretty much just confirmed it for me. I was wondering, though, why are R2 releases in Japan so much more expensive? I mean I know that the packaging is almost always vastly superior, but If I were a Japanese fan I would rather buy the cheaper NA releases than to waste all of my money on the domestic ones. As far as I know, the NA releases do not lack in picture quality compared to the Japanese ones.

That's what they're afraid of, that's one of the big reasons region codes are even used.

As for why it's so much more expensive it's probably because the DVDs don't sell that well. Over here the show is the product, while in Japan it's more of an advertisement, especially if it's one of the big shonen fighting series like DB. If people want the series they'll most likely get the manga. But since there are a couple who want the show why not get as much as possible? They know it won't sell as well as some of there other merchandise so better charge more per releases.

[KaiserNeko]

I'm sure it also has to do with making sure they don't jump ahead of the TV airing of it. Notice how around the time they stop showing the episodes on Kai, the next DVD with those episodes comes out?