I predict that in the next 10 years, if Funi continues down this route of blaming others for them not being as competitive as they thought that they'd need to be in a niche market, that they'll become dangerously close to being the next ADV. C'mon, Funi. It's art. Anime (and the dubbing thereof) is art, and doesn't need a bigger budget than everyone else to make it work. You just gotta perform better is all.

I've been digging a bit in the anime community here in Italy and the off mic word from those within the industry is that the redbub is happening mainly for time reasons, as Netflix has a very strict schedule to put the stream out for Spring and dealing with countless other parties (190 nations isn't a joke) is not practical and also in many cases it's just cheaper to make a new dub.

Also Netflix has only bought the streaming rights, so the home video, TV and theatrical rights are still available [and a publisher here is negotiating those with khara].

^So there's still a chance Funimation could get those? IIRC they did the English home video releases of The Seven Deadly Sins even though that was a netflix exclusive.

Joseki wrote:I've been digging a bit in the anime community here in Italy and the off mic word from those within the industry is that the redbub is happening mainly for time reasons, as Netflix has a very strict schedule to put the stream out for Spring and dealing with countless other parties (190 nations isn't a joke) is not practical and also in many cases it's just cheaper to make a new dub.

Also Netflix has only bought the streaming rights, so the home video, TV and theatrical rights are still available [and a publisher here is negotiating those with khara].

That makes me feel a lot better and that one day there will possibly be a dvd and blu ray set of the series in region 1, 2 and possibly region less. With the old ADV dub and maybe netflix's dub as well (Assuming that its not terrible as I've heard some of netflix dubs have not been great)

The understanding is that any other publisher could purchase the home video rights and publish a Blu Ray with their own dub if they can agree on a deal with khara, yes.

I think this had been discussed before, but yeah, we knew for a while that Netflix’s deal was in absolutely no sense an exclusive one. This further makes me question why Funimation is just rolling over in defeat over this streaming nonsense. Funi can still roll out an absolutely stunning box set for NGE (you know, instead of their typical mediocre releases for their other titles), they just won’t be the only ones in the game anymore.

So why are they being so petty over it?

Funi did the recent new release of EscaFlowne pretty well, with a new dub that they funded (easily) through Kickstarter. (I have the UK version which is similar to the Funi packaging, but not quite identical.)

FreakyFilmFan4ever wrote:So why are they being so petty over it?

Streaming is a better source of revenue than home video right now, and considering how popular Eva is in the US maybe home video/theatrical rights simply aren't worth the money khara want. Netflix essentially took Funimation's biggest source of revenue (and also the less expensive for them) away.
Would Funimation be able to market a possible home video/theatrical NGE run to an audience big enough to make the entire operation a commercial success?

My first experience with Eva was in 2013 in a theater, I was going in to watch Star Trek: Into Darkness and there was this 1m30s ad for a Jo/Ha theatrical marathon. There were Eva ads in theaters before big Hollywood/domestic movies for at least 3 months, and even some cross promotion with the AKIRA 25th anniversary (the first 6 minutes of Q were screened before it).
The operation was a commercial success as the marathon grossed ~275k$ and Q grossed ~342k$, that is double of what it did in the US in market that is 1/5 of the US market [and it just highlight how poor the US result was imo].

I only have second hand experience with funimation, but to me they don't seem very prone to invest to market their products, and their products (Eva related) aren't that great either: the Jo/Ha/Q Blu-Ray are very poor products that also look poor. Just look at the inconsistent mess that is the packaging.

They do have success with DragonBall as far as I know, but DragonBall is pretty much granted to make a lot of money everywhere in the world.

BlueBasilisk wrote:They have Funimation Now, which is their own service, and they used to have partnerships with Crunchyroll and VRV, but they ended the Crunchyroll partnership not too long ago in favor of one with Hulu.

Yeah IMHO, Hulu sucks as a streaming service because you have to pay more to avoid dealing with ads when Amazon and Netflix give you streaming without ads in the base price, so Funimation really have screwed themselves aligning with them.

FreakyFilmFan4ever wrote:I think this had been discussed before, but yeah, we knew for a while that Netflix’s deal was in absolutely no sense an exclusive one. This further makes me question why Funimation is just rolling over in defeat over this streaming nonsense. Funi can still roll out an absolutely stunning box set for NGE (you know, instead of their typical mediocre releases for their other titles), they just won’t be the only ones in the game anymore.

So why are they being so petty over it?

They can get far more money in ad revenue with streaming it (via Hulu) than people buying box sets in North America. Plus, if they have to compete with another new dub already streaming on Netflix they'll potentially lose more revenue by a lack of interest in differing dubs, especially of Netflix somehow ends up making a great dub. But something tells me Khara may hold back on selling the home distribution rights until after Netflix airs their dub to see how good or bad it is.

Neither Funimation nor Fukunaga will ever get any sympathy from me for missing out on any chance to rerelease NGE.
Never forget that Fukunaga actually went into business with a rampant homophobe not too long ago.

DarkBluePhoenix wrote:But something tells me Khara may hold back on selling the home distribution rights until after Netflix airs their dub to see how good or bad it is.

I would like to know how much khara cares about the quality of the dub honestly. Translating, localizing, casting, voicing, mixing in a very few months smell like rushed project.

Joseki wrote:I would like to know how much khara cares about the quality of the dub honestly. Translating, localizing, casting, voicing, mixing in a very few months smell like rushed project.

It's entirely possible that they've already cast roles and have been working on the dub for weeks if not more. The Netflix distribution deal was probably inked months ago, so it's also likely that they've already done a bunch of preproduction work on the new dub. Assuming it's already been cast, the people involved probably can't say anything because of NDAs until Netflix does their own press release about it.

Joseki wrote:I would like to know how much khara cares about the quality of the dub honestly. Translating, localizing, casting, voicing, mixing in a very few months smell like rushed project.

Well, in all honesty the difficult part of the anime series was done already - the animation. Translating and recording aren't difficult, and Netflix has a few studios they're familiar with, so casting from those groups wouldn't be overly taxing either. Sound mixing and syncing the audio however do take time, but EVA is only 26 episodes at about 22 minutes each, plus the two films, so that would be hurdle, But not one that would take too long to complete given the show isn't currently airing new episodes, but is an already completed series.

Guy Nacks wrote:It's entirely possible that they've already cast roles and have been working on the dub for weeks if not more. The Netflix distribution deal was probably inked months ago, so it's also likely that they've already done a bunch of preproduction work on the new dub. Assuming it's already been cast, the people involved probably can't say anything because of NDAs until Netflix does their own press release about it.

I agree, there was no release on when Netflix signed the deal, and perhaps they didn't release the trailer until they had everything settled on their end, rather than just after signing the agreement.

Khara has a history of being very controlling over their English dubs. But, as I stated before, that might have resulted in a blundered marketing/special features stunt from Funimation in the first place. I don't know if Khara would have actually cared too much about the dub one way or the other if a debacle like that hadn't happened to begin with.

FreakyFilmFan4ever wrote:So why are they being so petty over it?

As Joseki said: Because streaming is where the money's at. Yeah, enthusiast will gladly fork out cash for a boxset, but you can direct a lot of people to your exclusive streaming service if you own a big enough show.

Either way, I'm curious about the Netflix dub. They don't have a good track record. But maybe they'll try harder for an important show like this. Though Amanda Win Lee's blessing kinda worries me.

DarkBluePhoenix wrote:Well, in all honesty the difficult part of the anime series was done already - the animation. Translating and recording aren't difficult,

lol, this is kinda arrogant and kinda wrong. Especially as a fan of Eva you should know that.

BlueBasilisk wrote:^So there's still a chance Funimation could get those?

Technically, yes. But I don't think Khara will be happy to hear the public bitching of Funi's president... (if they even still negotiate - maybe Funimation either wanted all the rights or none at all?)

Guy Nacks wrote:Never forget that Fukunaga actually went into business with a rampant homophobe not too long ago.

I hate that I have to put the disclaimer here. But I am gay. And I think it's important to leave people space for improvement. Also, we don't know, maybe they really needed the money to stay afloat. That being said, all of their products range from shit to mediocre, so that should be the first and foremost reason to boycott them.

robersora wrote:Either way, I'm curious about the Netflix dub. They don't have a good track record. But maybe they'll try harder for an important show like this. Though Amanda Win Lee's blessing kinda worries me.

Oddly enough, Amanda Winn Lee's D&R and EoE dubs are the only Eva dubs that Gainax/Khara never took issue with. (Matt Greenfield failed a couple times with the "brain damage," and Mike McFarland failed his Eva Q dub.) 10/10, perfect dubbing.

FreakyFilmFan4ever wrote:Oddly enough, Amanda Winn Lee's D&R and EoE dubs are the only Eva dubs that Gainax/Khara never took issue with. 10/10, perfect dubbing.

At least not that we know of... Might have been a reason for ADV not being able to get the movie rights back in the Platinum days...

FreakyFilmFan4ever wrote:Khara has a history of being very controlling over their English dubs. But, as I stated before, that might have resulted in a blundered marketing/special features stunt from Funimation in the first place. I don't know if Khara would have actually cared too much about the dub one way or the other if a debacle like that hadn't happened to begin with.

I tried googling this event (specifically the video you were talking about - people laughing at the gays). I didn't find anything. Where do you have this info from?
I also think Khara might be pissed at how poor of a job Funi does with Eva. And how poor of a job ADV did. They've just been burnt too many times.

I seem to remember Funimation themselves announcing audience reaction footage as a special feature on the disc, but a lot of Funi's posts have been deleted since since then. (ANN articles link to Funi tweets that don't exist anymore when it comes to other aspects of their initial Funi 2014 Blu-ray release.) But I found this reddit link about the experience to sit through it in theaters.

^That particular thread makes it sound like there were a lot of immature douches in the audience more than any particular problems with the dub, unless I'm missing something?

^ Some in that thread mentioned that the subbed versions didn’t get nearly as bad of a reception as the dubbed version, and that the dubbed version was a lot more suggestive. So it’s probably a little more than a few assholes being themselves.

I wish I could find the list of special features announced for Funimation’s initial 2014 release window, though. Can’t seem to find any evidence for anything other than just the film on a disc anymore.