Nigorimasen! Blog

Funimation announced their license of Ookiku Furikabutte today but they changed the name to ‘Big Windup!’ WHAT!?! I can understand changing an anime’s name to make it more accessible to American audiences as ADV did with The Ugly and Beautiful World (Kono Minikuku mo Utsukushii Sekai) and even Rumbling Hearts (instead of The Eternity You Desire/Wish For) is something fans would be able to get used to over time. But renaming can also make things confusing, like what I thought happened with Shattered Angels (instead of Kyoshiro and the Eternal Sky), which actually isn’t as bad as I first thought. I credit part of my frustration to being a baseball fan and when I see ‘Big Windup!’, I think of an announcer saying the title of a baseball video game marketed toward kids that could have broader appeal (e.g. MLB Power Pros, very good game but not so good announcer) or a in-game powerup that also sounds cheesy when spoken. I am NOT looking for the trailer Funimation puts together whenever this gets released in late 2009 (self-speculation) but am sort of anticipating its actual release.

In the meantime, I will be watching fansubs of the show to see if it’s good. (I saw the first episode a few weeks back and, though it was slow, I saw some potential in it so, like a minor league scout, I’m going to give it a chance and hope it improves.)

*sigh* OK, I did find it clever that they parodied the MLB logo to make the series’ logo but I’m still not pleased about the name. I would have been fine with Pitch Like You Mean It! or a less cheesy name I can’t think of right now.

One of the main differences between covering anime and covering films or video games is that there is a relatively short lead time - usually 1-3 months - between a title’s production announcement and its airing. Very little information surfaces about the development cycles except for the cast and the basic plot, which hampers the hype potential for most titles with the absence of previews but is likely a result of the quickness with which an anime is produced in Japan.

It takes a bit longer to get things produced for the aftermarket that is America and it has become more important to remind people about which anime are being released and why the purchasing public should care about them. That’s why I was looking forward to the debut of the Funimation Update, a monthly promotional podcast. I don’t listen to many anime podcasts and only occasionally check out Anime Today for the interviews so I figured I would check out this shorter-form, monthly video show. I actually enjoyed watching it as it reminded me of On The Spot (Gamespot’s weekly broadcast show) since the Update alternated between clearly-defined segments and related trailers.
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Two Funimation related news bits came out today: the first is that two Ouran dub roles have been revealed and the second that Funimation will launch a video podcast on Monday the 9th. Carrie Savage (Karen Ichijo in School Rumble) will voice Momoka Kuragano and Eric Vale (Yuki Sohma in Fruits Basket) has been cast as Toru Suzushima. These are definitely minor characters since Momoka first appears in episode 21 while Toru has a part of the second episode but doesn’t show up again until the school festival episode (#25). Looking at the show’s website, it seems that two more minor voices will unveiled every Friday until their one-hour panel at Anime Expo, where I would expect the main cast to be unveiled. I suck at guessing silhouettes so I’m not going to speculate on one-shot characters.

Regarding Funimation’s new podcast, it is called “The Funimation Update” and will feature original programming hosted by Todd Haberkorn. Todd is a voice actor and ADR director who seems to be doing informal PR work for the company as well, having attended Anime Boston and SakuraCon and planning to hit Anime Vegas as well. The first one will supposedly focus the adaptation of One Piece and Shin-chan as well as the general localization process. I’ll give it a shot when it comes out but I may be distracted by the WWDC keynote announcements that morning.

This week Funimation has been announcing licenses and so far all of them have involved 13-episode sets. On Monday, it was Save Me, Lollipop (aka Mamotte! Lollipop) that will come out as a 13-episode set in December and Tuesday they announced plans to release the first 26 episodes of Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple in two 13-episode box sets in 2009 without specification on the second set of twenty-six (meaning they may not have those yet). The latest was Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino-, the second anime season of the female cyborg assassin series, and those 13 episodes are going to be released as, you guessed it, a box set sometime in 2009. (Funi had put out the first season as singles in 2005 and repackaged it into a complete collection in 2006.)

It seems that they are certainly living up their plan toward more initial season sets but they are still releasing single volumes for new series like Shuffle! and xxxHOLiC, likely due to agreements with the Japanese owners. I wish I had access to sales numbers to see if this bulk packaging is actually working…

Just to give you an update on some of their previous announcements, Darker Than Black is listed as simply “2008″, Ghost Hunt’s site says Fall 2008, Ouran’s has no date but it was announced as 2008 at Otakon ‘07, and Negima!? and Planet of the Beast King (Jyu-Oh-Sei) don’t have their own sites yet but AnimeSuki lists both as 2008. So I guess we can expect some substantive details in the months ahead, maybe.

P.S. A user on the AoD forums predicts that Soukou no Strain will be announced tomorrow based on the silhouetted teaser on Funimation’s front page. And guess what, that has 13 episodes to its name as well.

ICv2 posted an interview with Funimation founder Gen Fukunaga where he was asked about many issues including the state of the US anime market, timing of releases and the impact and future of legal and illegal downloading. What follows are highlights from the question-and-answer session:

• Mr. Fukunaga began by stated the obvious, that “illegal downloads are definitely an issue” and that “the main mode of monetization of the customer [DVD sales] is definitely suffering”. He also thinks that Japanese companies has “suddenly woken up” after seeing “the huge difficulties some of [Funimation's] competitors are having” (read: Geneon) and that they are “talking a lot about this issue”.

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The first DVD volume of xxxHolic will finally hit US shelves on March 25th, according to AnimeOnDVD’s listing of new Funimation solications. I’m excited about this not because it’s a great anime but because it’s taken so long for it to come out. The delay might have due to Funimation focusing on finishing its Tsubasa releases first, which they will do on January 8 when Tsubasa Vol. 6 is released. The first volume will feature four episodes, with Colleen Clinkenbeard voicing Yuuko and Todd Haberkorn voicing Watanuki.

Last night, I was browsing through the top song charts of various countries’ iTunes Stores and I was surprised to find “Sousei no Aquarion” by Akino, the first opening theme to the anime of the same name, on the Japanese chart. I then thought to myself, “Hey, wasn’t that one of Funimation’s Kickoff ‘07 licenses?” I checked and found I was right but then I began to wondering why I hadn’t heard anything about an upcoming release. The landing page for Aquarion says “Coming Fall 2007″, which seems to be a projection that be missed since it’s almost winter and there’s still no definite word. Meanwhile the other six titles seem to be doing fine.
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Friday’s news that Shinsen-Subs has dropped Romeo x Juliet in accordance with an C&D letter sent by Funimation on behalf of Gonzo is a stark example of the deep relationship the two companies share. Funimation has previously licensed many Gonzo titles including Black Cat, Bakuretsu Tenshi, Basilisk, Desert Punk, Kiddy Grade, Samurai 7, Solty Rei, Speed Grapher, and Trinity Blood. Anyone who remembers the “Babes, Blades, Blood, Beauty” campaign from last year knows that all those were Gonzo titles. Other licensors have also distributed shows from Gonzo including ADV with recent releases Red Garden, Pumpkin Scissors, and Welcome to the NHK and less recent ones like Kaleido Star; Viz with Saikano; and Geneon with Hellsing, Last Exile, and Vandread.

One thing that concerns me about this occurrence is what Funimation said to ANN about producers’ rights:

In a statement to ANN, FUNimation said, “…[I]t is important to note that the rights owned by Japanese producers are still applicable, and enforceable, worldwide even before the anime is licensed for local distribution.”

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One of my 2007 predictions came true last week when Funimation launched its Funimation Channel on iTunes last Tuesday. That day I decided to plunk down 2 bucks to see what kind of quality the episodes are. Yes, I know they are dubbed only and I’m fine with that. I picked the first episode of Samurai 7 because I hadn’t seen it before. Now, I would have posted about this last week when it was actually news but my attempts to record a screencast came up not so good so I’ll have to settle for something more pictorial.
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Yesterday I clicked on a banner ad on ANN that sent me to the “Funimation 2007 Kickoff” website. Apparently, each weekday from Jan 22nd through 26th at noon CST (10am PST/1pm EST), a special announcement will be posted. Sure, I’ll be checking the page everyday next week but that’s not my point.

Recently there has been a trend of behavior that is starting to irritate me - that is, licensors hyping announcements. While this latest thing by Funi is not as grandiose as Bandai’s ASOS Brigade or as “clever” as Geneon’s hints at Rozen Maiden during a podcast that people otherwise wouldn’t listen to (at least I wouldn’t, I don’t know about you…), it still annoys me that they are making fans do more legwork. Call me lazy but I’d rather have companies just make a press release and surprise fans the old-fashioned way because I doubt we’ll remember years from now how Keroro took over ADV’s website for a day or two.
And yes, I do realize that I am inadvertently promoting Funi’s project by linking to it.