Status of NGE merchandising rights Blu-ray and DVD

[Dataprime]

I smell a 20th Anniversary surprise announcement...

[ChaddyManPrime]

^
I really think they should, especially if that sequel theory stuff pans out.

[The Eva Monkey]

I smell a 20th Anniversary surprise announcement...

The timing is right. Not only is next year the 20th anniversary of the show's original airing, but it's also the year it's set in, and based upon the prior releases, it's likely Final will be out by then too.

[Clover]

The timing is right. Not only is next year the 20th anniversary of the show's original airing, but it's also the year it's set in, and based upon the prior releases, it's likely Final will be out by then too.

THIRD IMPACT box set shaped like Unit-01's head when?

[robersora]

THIRD IMPACT box set shaped like Unit-01's head when?

Please don't. They've proven taste with the marketing and packaging of NME, so I hope they won't go down that route.
In Anno I trust.

[TMBounty_Hunter]

Funimation can't copy a Blu-ray release that doesn't exist. That's the way it works. The anime licensing/distribution business is derivative, not generative.

Funimation's DBZ is the exception to this. They've had access to the film since forever and have been doing their own scans. They did a shitty, cropped DVD master on their own. Japan did their own Dragon Box DVD set which was superior.

When it came to BDs Funimation actually started doing things right. It was an unmolested, proper film scan, pillarboxed to keep the original aspect ratio. No DNR bullshit. It was literally the one and only time Funimation did things right.
Japan never bothered with the original DBZ. They only put out DB Kai on BD which has it's own problems.

Then Funimation remembered they're supposed to be shit. The dropped their good BD remasted and started from scratch. Cropped it again, filtered all the grain and most of the detail out of it to the point where Japan's filtering of DB Kai was looking extremely conservative. Also to the point where the Japanese Dragon Box DVDs actually have more detail.

That is the fear. While for the most part you are correct that localizers can only give you what Japan gave them, there is that one exception that makes it not impossible for them to fuck Eva in the worst way possible. The chances are extremely slim this will happen. But the fear is still there. Pray that Japan will do things properly instead of letting filthy gaijin ruin things.

[Dataprime]

I think I remember hearing that companies tend to over-vaule their series and want a insane amount of $$$ to licenses their anime.
I can't even begin to imagine what they want for Evangelion/EOE

[TMBounty_Hunter]

To be perfectly honest I will be perfectly happy if Japan never licenses it out again and just does its own thing properly. I give money straight to them without any middlemen that I'll likely hate.

I'm probably the only one.

[The Eva Monkey]

Dragonball stuff...

Speaking of exceptions that are bloody unlikely to happen again... remember that one time that M. Night Shyamalan made a movie that was actually good?

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

But didn’t they upscale Gunslinger Girl Season 1 to Blu-ray? I never saw any Japanese release of any Gunslinger Girl Blu-rays, and yet we seem to have had them at one point.

[Ornette]

I think I remember hearing that companies tend to over-vaule their series and want a insane amount of $$$ to licenses their anime.
I can't even begin to imagine what they want for Evangelion/EOE

It was different for EoE. GAINAX felt the movie was good enough that they could get major play overseas, so the licensing cost was well into the millions with prospective buyers like Sony. It's the reason why ADV didn't get the license for the movies and they had every opportunity to. There was a great explanation on ANN (I can't find the link right now) about the whole ADV/Manga licensing thing.

[TMBounty_Hunter]

Gunslinger Girls is a digital anime. Those are irrelavant to this discussion.

[Tumbling Down]

I was going to start a thread saying that since ADV no longer exists, someone else could buy the Eva rights for America. I would also ask if this would mean having to redub the series with new VAs. Then I'd suggest Funimation since they did the Rebuild movies.

I guess I did just do all of that, so speaking as though it's a hypothetical is pointless. But, uh, everything that I said would still be pointless, even if not as a hypothetical. And that itself is my point. (I wonder if that makes any sense.)

http://forum.evageeks.org/thread/16468/Eva-on-Toonami/

I just caught this thread. Eva's in licensing lock-down? Whowhathow?

[Guy Nacks]

The main reason that NGE and EOE are in limbo is that the rights for either are prohibitively expensive. Like, apparently Gainax wants around 1-2 million dollars or something for just EOE, Imagine what they want for NGE. Gainax has a reputation for being excessively money-hungry.

There is no way in hell any English-based company is going to make their money back on something that is immensely popular in Japan but really not even close in comparison anywhere else, so this might very well be indefinite.

[Tumbling Down]

I see.

Well, then, hypothetically speaking, Gainax could do their own English dub and distribute it through digital channels. They don't really need an American middle-man anymo--

wait, if what you say is true, how did the Rebuilds get licensed? Were those not Gainax?

[Guy Nacks]

I see.

Well, then, hypothetically speaking, Gainax could do their own English dub and distribute it through digital channels. They don't really need an American middle-man anymo--

wait, if what you say is true, how did the Rebuilds get licensed? Were those not Gainax?

Rebuild is produced solely by Studio Khara, which Anno himself founded for the purpose of producing those films. The original characters, I think are still owned by Gainax. So, that's why you'll sometimes see "copyright Gainax - Khara" on some materials, but it's mainly a Khara production.

Rebuild was licenced by Funimation, which is one of, if not THE, leading anime distribution company in the United States, so they have more resources than ADV films, which was NGE's original licensor and Manga Entertainment, which was EOE's. A lot of people have been speculating that Funimation will end up picking up the rights to NGE/EOE at some point, but from interviews I've listened to, it might be too cost prohibitive for even THEM to handle.

[drinian]

Evangelion's out of print in Japan these days as well. There's no way that there will be an American re-release until it happens in Japan first. Too many concerns about reverse importation killing profits for the Japanese market.

With the US and Japan in the same Blu-ray region, there's also a possibility that Gainax will go it alone and release a single Blu-ray with English subtitles for both regions. This strategy has been seen lately with a number of releases -- the Madoka films and the recent Japanese Studio Ghibli box set come to mind.

In the UK, they've occasionally gone even farther -- the UK Blu-ray of season two of Sherlock, which came out well before the US one, was released region-free.

[Tumbling Down]

Evangelion's out of print in Japan these days as well.

Woah. How the heck does that happen? I thought Eva was pretty popular there.

[thezeppo1138]

They have never come out with a good print of EOE in America. If they released a blu-ray that looked as good as the one from Japans Renewal set, it would be brilliant. It also sucks that we can't get it distributed in the US anymore cause it hinders the fanbase from expanding very much. I bought it back in the early 2000s on a whim during an anime sale at Best Buy or something and now its one of my favorite things ever. That can't happen to anybody these days which sucks for would be fans who now can't randomly come across it.

[The Eva Monkey]

Merged this in with the previous discussion.