The Coffee God wrote:



Yeah it seems kind of early right now. I'm taking it as they are working on the details as much as getting the site to work that way.

slickwolfie wrote:



It could have been one of two things.

From the live blog I was following it seemed more like the crowd wanted Sentai Filmwork news. Unless not many people came by the booth the first day. I could be wrong though since I was not there. Then everyone I've talked to said as your other post said the internet and phone signal was complete crap there.


Maybe if they are not to sad about all the negativity in this section of the forums. We might get a blog or post about what happened at NYCC.

psychopuppet wrote:

I'm not going to be negative. AN has been good to me throughout the years. I have the online subscription, and that's been the best experience I've had in any type of subscription service. That's why I'd recommend that over any SVOD.
Slick

www.icv2.com/articles/news/21263.html

maybe more bad news for TAN....

shadzar wrote:


Yeah, here you go...

www.theanimenetwork.com/component/option.../func,view/id,97926/

what is most interesting, is not everyone has Funi channel, f it exists or not...i dont know, never seen it...

so what Funi is doing, is what i always thought of TAN doing...being the only anime TWC users have ANY access to outside of Adult Swim, NickToons, and Disney...which are likely Viz, Funi or Bandai titles.

it seems odd TAN going the other way around and trying to nickle and dime everyone to death with a cost for previewing something like a 12 episode series, as the recent PV TWC scam.

it seems TAN is doing things bass ackwards and it is REALLY costing them by not positioning themselves properly in the world.

i am not sure that the move to link cable subscription to online viewing will REALLY do much for TAN considering not everyone has that option.

TAN, ADV, Sendai, etc have dropped the ball long ago and are now in their death spiral and trying severely to claw their way out; and Funi just gave them a push with a 10' pole back farther down into the hole they were trying to climb out of...

the TAN news about the streaming just seems too little to late, and like beating a dead horse... it aint going anywhere, its dead so leave it alone. or pull out a magic wand and do something totally outlandish to bring the horse back to life. which this cable/streaming thing isnt really.

DBZ sold VHS and DVDs because of its visibility in MOSTLY free manner..and still does.

paying for a preview of something isnt really going to get interest.

in the age of mobile device viewing, the cable/streaming connection wont really offer much for people that want to view things AWAY FROM HOME, so its like taking baby steps at the level technology is today. this should have been done 10 years ago. now...it really is too little too late on TANs part.

The Coffee God wrote:


I like this part: Definitely not a "death spiral".

SpaceCobraJoe wrote:

I agree Space Cobra Joe. I don't see this as a death spiral at all. Also, Funimation has VOD offerings, and you have to pay for most of them. I'm not going to dump on An because they are trying to improve their product and their earnings. Free VOD is nice, but if you don't have an actual channel, like CBS, NBC, etc..., I don't see how that really helps TAN unless they are on all cable and satellite companies.
Slick

shadzar wrote:


Hmmm... let's see: increasing the number of series they've been licensing. Dubbing more series and movies than they had in the past. Adding more simulcasts each season. Anime Network has been expanding on to more providers and appears to even be working its way back onto Comcast. They've been expanding their digital distribution. They're doing more and more bluray releases, with nearly all the dubbed releases getting one. Hell, even Robert at Anime Corner has jumped on the Section 23 bandwagon, because they're the only R1 label that is regularly releasing new titles each month (unlike a certain other company whose release schedule consists primarily of re-re-releases month after month.) Not to mention they are the only R1 label that is continually able to hit their street dates on time (unlike one or two other companies that regularly delay every release anywhere from two to five times.)

I really fail to see how any of this constitutes a death spiral. And if it does, I'd have to wonder how bad that makes things for Funimation, Media Blasters, and Bandai.

Personally, I think the deal with Nico was done primarily because Funimation now lacks the deep corporate pockets it once had access to. It also spent a lot of money to acquire several titles from Geneon Universal that due to materials delays are nowhere to be seen. That's an awful lot of money to spend with no return as of yet. Don't forget that they've been extremely quiet on the licensing front the past year, especially compared to years past.

And as others have said, the deal with Funimation and Nico is probably going to affect Section 23, Sentai, and Anime Network the least. The two groups of companies have similar scope and reach, though Funi can't touch Anime Network's VOD provider reach. They also primarily license from different sets of Japanese rights holders. As others have noted in the past, the vast majority of TBS and Showgate licenses come from Sentai, while Funimation gets shows the majority of shows from Kadokowa, Kodansha, and other producers. Then you have companies like TV Tokyo, Aniplex, and others whose licenses seem to be split among several of the R1's.

what dubs and where?

i see NOTHING form S23 or whatever in Walmart, Target, Best Buy, etc. everything i have seen on TAN VOD has been subbed and i have vague ideas what is going on in the shows because i cant read that fast with those words pissed onto the screen. some excuse about "that is what THEY want with yellow lettered subs". i wouldnt buy anything subbed like that because if i wanted to read something i would buy a book, not a video product.

where is this stuff at that gives them glaring good health?

the only way i CAN read subs in the format they exist in is on crunchyrol and i have CLEARLY expressed in the past that i dont like sitting in front of a computer watching videos...not even utube.

maybe where you are has good anime selections and stuff, but here, its disney, dragonball z, naruto, avatar, and the like is about it.

remember the "studio" in part chooses WHERE video products go and the warehouse for Walmart, Target and the like sends them to select location, not ALL locations.

i dont buy from online for fragile thing like DVDs, blueray is worthless as HD offers me nothing except parts of a screen i cannot see, so i ignore ALL of that crap.

so your location may impact greatly how you view things, as mine does how i view them, and from HERE...ADV and the rest died except for TAN VOD existence back when ADV split into those 4 companies, because you dont see anything form them.

it doesnt matter what they have a license for, if you cant find it to buy, they might as well not have it. THUS the reason nothing is dubbed that i can tell other than old shows like Abenoboshi, and then only other things on TAN is Guin and Night Raid.. and they are pretty lackluster shows compared to some of the other titles with better or more interesting plots.

also how many of the shows are they getting to put online or elsewhere are more than a single season of 12/13 episodes or two? where are the long running titles that put s23/whatever out there for all to see, and even air on TV for much greater exposure?

remember it was by accident i even found TAN website before TWC got it in my area, otherwise Record Town and stores like that was the ONLY places to find ADV titles.

and now with the 4 companies, i couldnt keep track to tell who is what if i were to see it only, thus when i bought Shingu, i thought it WAS an ADV/whatever title.

so this Funico things will affect TAN et all since so MANY people view nico like those that view youtube. and with the hulu, crunchyroll, veoh, etc becoming less popular and all that jazz when they went down a bit...nobody that doesnt already know about them and WHAT they might find on them wouldnt have an easy time finding anything.

this website needs more than an overhaul, the old website layout and forums were MUCH better, without all this flash junk here or there, and EVERYTHING about the former ADV could be placed here for quick reference if it isnt already.

where to find legal streaming at even IF it isnt behind the TAN firewall so people CAN become exposed to more of what s23 has, as well as become interested in it.

i just dont think the "cable link" will do enough for TAN, when the same shows appear to be legally on totally free sites. that seems as insulting as the hidimari being on free VOD and PPV at the same time.

i mean awsant it VMP, one of those 4 ADV became that decided this PPV bit with TWC? talk about nickle and diming...might as well be messing with TWC price gouging twice, or worse its almost like the cell phone data and bandwidth charges people have of $16,000 trying to scam people out of money with "fine print".

its just insulting.

get dubs in the mainstream media...then tell me the former ADV is doing well.

Even Funimation and Viz have been failing to get many of their shows on "mainstream TV". I'd hate to break it to you, but anime is not mainstream. Even shows that do run on "mainstream TV" run on niche channels such as G4 (the ratings are low enough that many providers are dropping it) and Adult Swim/Cartoon Network (which is struggling to the point they are considering rebranding both.) Viz hasn't even been able to seal a deal for InuYasha The Final Act yet, despite the first series being relatively popular on Adult Swim. The only two series Funi has made TV deals for were sequels or remakes or existing properties, and those have not been a successful as the originals.

As for Walmart and Best Buy, they only carry an extremely small percentage of anime titles and of those, most get returned to the distributors. (I know this from first hand experience.) It doesn't do any good if you sell two thousand copies of DVD in Best Buy, if you have ten thousand returned. Being over dependent on B&M retailers did a lot of damage to companies like ADV and Bandai. Most of the R1 anime distributors are now focusing on online retailers like Amazon, Right Stuf and even Walmarts website (which carries most current anime titles) as that is where the majority of their sales now originate and the sendbacks are much, much lower and often non-exsistant. Plus let's not forget that Best Buy has drastically but back their DVD and movie selection, especially anime.

It doesn't matter how long a show is, or whether it's dubbed or not. They need to make a profit on those shows. That's why movies and OVA's are more likely to get dubbed, as the cost is much lower. Something like GinTama which has limited appeal in the US and a large number of episodes, so it makes no sense to dub it. While something like Angel Beats has only 13 episodes, but a large fanbase in the US, so it could justify a dub. The vast majority of the series Funimation licenses are also only 13 or 26 episode series, with only a few being longer.

High School of the Dead is only 13 episodes, yet it was the top selling anime and horror bluray on Amazon for weeks, and it is probably the most heavily reviewed anime title in recent months there. It was also Sentai's first series that the bluray outsold the DVD. Bluray may not matter to you, but the sales of the medium are growing while DVD sales are falling. Not to mention, that the anime market has one of the highest percentages of bluray users as well as purchasers that buy media online. The entire home video market doesn't revolve around your personal tastes.

Upcoming Dubs:

ICE OVA Series
Loups=Garous
Princess Resurrection
Broken Blade Movie Series
Mardock Scramble Movies Two and Three
Persona 4
Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere
Rozen Maiden Overture OVA
Coicent/Five Numbers
Towa No Quon Film Series
The World God Only Knows Seasons 1 and 2
Golgo 13 Season 2

These are the ones that have only been announced in recent months, not to mention the number of series they released dubbed in 2010 and 2011. Most of these titles will be released in the first quarter of the year. Anime Network also stated at NYCC that even more series will be dubbed in 2012. The only R1 label that has produced more dubs in recent years has been Funimation. Viz licenses a very few select shows, while Bandai and Media Blasters only dub select shows as well and acquire much less than Sentai.

Currently Released Dubs

Angel Beats
High School of The Dead
Needless
Xam'd
Canaan
Clannad
Clannad After Story
Clannad the Movie
Tears to Tiara
Demon King Daimao
Appleseed
Ghost Hound
Blue Drop
Night Raid 1931
Samurai Girls
Legend of the Dark King
Guin Saga
Golgo 13 Season 1


Also, Sentai streams on a number of sites and digital services, including YouTube, Hulu, Amazon, Netflix, PSN, Zune, and now Crunchyroll. In addition, they offer download to own on iTunes, PSN, and Zune (Xbox) Marketplace.

If they were really dead like you say, then where are they getting money to acquire and dub major series like High School of The Dead and Clannad (which was one of the most expensive licenses of 2008)? If they were really bleeding money and dying as you suggest, they would have ran out of cash long ago. I suggest you listen to the commentary track on Demon Hunter Yohko. It gives a pretty interesting look into how ADV started and a lot of it seems relevent to Sentai/Section 23 today. Particularly the part where Matt Greenfield mentions how they started releasing everything subtitled only, then as each show turned a profit they put the money into new shows and started going back and dubbing older shows as well as newer ones.

If you really do believe that Section 23 and Anime Network are dead, then why do you bother coming here? Do you just enjoy annoying others?