Funimation Milking Dragon Ball Z

[JEFFMAN219]

Hey guys do you think that funimation is milking dragon ball z and do you feel that funimation does not treat the series with respect?

[VegettoEX]

Yes, they're milking the series, but never to the point of it hurting business... at least until the "Level" sets didn't work out for them. Of course, they're a business (and for a while part of a publicly-traded company), so it's their business to be a business and make money.

Treating with respect? Well, that's pretty subjective. I'd argue that cropping anything is the antithesis of "treating with respect", and certainly the way it was dubbed for many years is something I'd argue was pretty close to the same... but everything else? Yeah, can't really complain.

You almost have to separate it out into "Barry Watson-controlled FUNimation" then "Navarre-owned FUNimation" and then "today's FUNimation", all of which have slightly different answers.

[JEFFMAN219]

Yes, they're milking the series, but never to the point of it hurting business... at least until the "Level" sets didn't work out for them. Of course, they're a business (and for a while part of a publicly-traded company), so it's their business to be a business and make money.

Treating with respect? Well, that's pretty subjective. I'd argue that cropping anything is the antithesis of "treating with respect", and certainly the way it was dubbed for many years is something I'd argue was pretty close to the same... but everything else? Yeah, can't really complain.

You almost have to separate it out into "Barry Watson-controlled FUNimation" then "Navarre-owned FUNimation" and then "today's FUNimation", all of which have slightly different answers.

They released so many versions of the show that its to keep. For example when I wanted to finaly buy DBZ on DVD a couple of years ago I was confused on which DVD set to get.

[Weejus]

You almost have to separate it out into "Barry Watson-controlled FUNimation" then "Navarre-owned FUNimation" and then "today's FUNimation", all of which have slightly different answers.

What do you mean by 'controlled?. Was Watson the kind of person who had it his way or no way, and were it his decisions that made the original FUNi dub and the merchandising explosion that happened around that time what they were?

[VegettoEX]

Yeah, Barry Watson was pretty much running things. It was Gen Fukunaga's company, but it was Watson who called the shots. We know he was in charge of the initial casting, dubbing oversight, lots of other production decisions, etc.

It's no coincidence that as soon as he left, the way FUNimation treated the series suddenly took a 180.

[MarcFBR]

It is the job of every company involved with DBZ to attempt to milk the series as best they can.

This is why we get the games, various collectables, Battle of Gods, etc.

[RocktheDragon]

Certainly most would agree with your assessment that Funimation is "milking" DBZ and I'd be hard pressed to disagree. The rate at which they release new iterations of DBZ on the market is quite fast but as VegettoEX pointed out it has usually not hurt much of their sales and overall business model.

My main concern would be that Funimation keeps their eyes on the various demographics that make up the DBZ fanbase and I think they have done an adequate to good job at doing that. The Dragon Boxes reflected a concern and focus on the more hardcore components of the fan base and I'm so glad that they even released the series in that form for us. They could be doing perhaps a bit or a lot more (depending on who you ask) to remedy the conflict between all the various audiences they have to appease but as things stand now I'd say the current and future state of DBZ is on the upswing, especially compared to the early days of Funimation.

[samuraix123]

Funimation is milking Dragonball Z but their sure not milking the original Dragonball or GT (Probably because it isn't as profitable) I agree with VegettoEX by them cropping it into 16x9 twice! it isn't really treating it with respect but let's set that aside for a bit. Didn't Funimation have a poll asking ''The Fans'' what ''They'' wanted? and the majority chose cropped 16x9. Now whether you believe that poll was BS and Funimation was already planning on releasing a cropped 16x9 is up to you. but me personally, I believe it was a real poll and the fans said what they wanted and Funimation being a company did what the fans wanted. but they're not as bad and evil as people love to make them out to be. Did they not try to attempt to give us a 4x3 release that was remastered frame by frame and it didn't sell well enough for them to continue? Didn't they get us the Dragon-boxes which everyone on here loves? I think there is a few cases of them caring about the series. I'm also not defending them when they cropped the series into 16x9 but I see more good than bad. if it wasn't for them we may not have as much as we do got.

[TheBlackPaladin]

You almost have to separate it out into "Barry Watson-controlled FUNimation" then "Navarre-owned FUNimation" and then "today's FUNimation", all of which have slightly different answers.

That's interesting....I'm curious to hear your expanded opinion here. If it were me, I would have put FUNimation into two categories rather than three ("pre" and "post" Barry Warson), but perhaps that's a tad too simplistic of me. From your perspective, how do you believe "Navarre-owned FUNimation" has changed from "today's FUNimation"?

I agree with VegettoEX by them cropping it into 16x9 twice! it isn't really treating it with respect but let's set that aside for a bit. Didn't Funimation have a poll asking ''The Fans'' what ''They'' wanted? and the majority chose cropped 16x9. Now whether you believe that poll was BS and Funimation was already planning on releasing a cropped 16x9 is up to you. but me personally, I believe it was a real poll and the fans said what they wanted and Funimation being a company did what the fans wanted. but they're not as bad and evil as people love to make them out to be. Did they not try to attempt to give us a 4x3 release that was remastered frame by frame and it didn't sell well enough for them to continue? Didn't they get us the Dragon-boxes which everyone on here loves? I think there is a few cases of them caring about the series. I'm also not defending them when they cropped the series into 16x9 but I see more good than bad. if it wasn't for them we may not have as much as we do got.

That's how it struck me, too. Whereas the first time around they released it in 16x9 because they made an extremely questionable assumption that it "would just be better that way," now they're releasing it in 16x9 because that's what sales/survey data is telling them would sell the most. Most unfortunately.

[Hellspawn28]

They have been milking DBZ for over 10 years. They have to keep on making new home video releases if they want to hold on to the rights to the series.

[Ringworm128]

I think Penguintruth put it best when he said that Funimations milking allows them to licence other anime. But as for my opinion, Funimation should give DBZ a rest and maybe start trying to advertise their other shows.

[ABED]

Yes, but what's wrong with trying to get as much out of the property as possible? As long as they don't cannibalize themselves, it's all good, but that's something FUNi has to worry about, not us.

Does anyone know when Barry Watson left? I'm guessing around 2000.

[WittyUsername]

Yes, but what's wrong with trying to get as much out of the property as possible? As long as they don't cannibalize themselves, it's all good, but that's something FUNi has to worry about, not us.

Does anyone know when Barry Watson left? I'm guessing around 2000.

Much later than that actually. He left somewhere around 2005 or 2006.

[TheAldella]

Practucally nothing they've started has completed XD

Soooo....No?

[ABED]

Yes, but what's wrong with trying to get as much out of the property as possible? As long as they don't cannibalize themselves, it's all good, but that's something FUNi has to worry about, not us.

Does anyone know when Barry Watson left? I'm guessing around 2000.

Much later than that actually. He left somewhere around 2005 or 2006.

Interesting. There are extended periods where the dub is pretty accurate, such as the early Buu arc.

[WhoIsTheStrongest]

Yes they're milking. Nope I dont mind. Because without their milking and those huge numbers, maybe we wouldn't be getting to see all of the new animation we have been seeing lately.

[dbboxkaifan]

They haven't been milking it out enough to get a BD/DVD release of Episode of Bardock (yeah I know it's not that good but watchable), Battle of Gods (they acknowledged it on Rock the Dragon book and elsewhere), Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans, Goku & Friends Return, Terebiko Animation, Year-End Show and the Dragon Ball Specials (2), plus others that I forgot for the moment.

I know that all of this would require FUNimation to pay Toei Animation possibly heavy amounts of money and considering what's most profitable to them is Dragon Ball Z then we might never see any of those things with an English release, except Battle of Gods.

[penguintruth]

I think Penguintruth put it best when he said that Funimations milking allows them to licence other anime.

Yep. As a fan of so many other anime, I'm kind of glad they're raking in the dough with DBZ and using it to fund other releases.

However, as a DBZ fan, I wish when they milk DBZ, they'd do it with better quality releases than their awful "restored" 16:9 garbage that insults DBZ fans.

[Hellspawn28]

I think they started to milk DBZ more when the Ultimate Uncut run happen. By 2005, the single DVD's were finish and GT was over. So they thought re-dubbing the Saiyan saga and the first half of the Freeza saga with a better script and their voice cast was the best way to go.

[samuraix123]

I think Penguintruth put it best when he said that Funimations milking allows them to licence other anime.

Yep. As a fan of so many other anime, I'm kind of glad they're raking in the dough with DBZ and using it to fund other releases.

However, as a DBZ fan, I wish when they milk DBZ, they'd do it with better quality releases than their awful "restored" 16:9 garbage that insults DBZ fans.

Yeah but if they ever released a perfect release that is 4x3 remastered frame by frame with both English and Japanese title cards and credits would we ever buy another release?