I don't think Media Blasters would dub Queen's Blade if it fallen off. I think Sentai filmworks and Bandai is just being cheap.

Wow Stef, those are a good read for insight into dubs. So where does a Mississippian go to learn Japanese? This is the boondocks, and all I've ever seen in schools is Spanish. Although my school did have German for about 2-3 years LOL.

I admit that was initially a bit down after reading Chris Beveridge's editorial but I pondered the matter a bit and decided that it's likely a bit of savvy editorializing on Mr. B's part as much as anything. True, if dubbed anime truly dies, then it won't be long until it reverts to it's short-shelf role of yesteryear in both brick and mortar operations, online stores and the various rental storefronts (virtual or otherwise) but I truly don't think things are as dire as they seem.

Above all, Funimation has proven that the dubbing model works, even during a market decline compounded by a recession. Bandai's conservative play, on the other hand, is a preamble to a prolonged bleed-out of their US operations in the end. Media Blasters is a bit of a black box but they seem to be taking a similar approach to Bandai's (but I'm guessing they're somewhat more likely to dub a more middling series than Bandai but only time will tell). It's a mixed feeling with Viz. The general consensus is that they'll remain on the dub track, which is fantastic, but their cutting short of prior series may sabotage any goodwill generated with dub fans. And of course Sentai is the wild card right now. A lot of fans (including me) presume that, once the ex-ADV veterans get back on their feet, they'll make efforts to restart their original dubbing engine that first proved that anime could be both affordable and dubbed.

Some companies will grow, others will shrink or perish..all market forces that would have occurred [to an admittedly lesser degree] even in a healthy market. Perhaps my optimism is warranted or maybe it's a reality I refuse to face but the only other choice is to give up on anime and move on to other things. To hell with that I say!

I'm not a big fan of Beveridge or AOD-but I really don't think dubs are dead-sure they have dwindled and thinned out a lot. But a lot of things (not just anime) have gone to the edge and come back and I don't think there's any difference here.

I'm not sure if I'd go so far as to say that Funi's dubbing model works since it has a revenue stream from Dragonball that can basically bankroll all the dubs of their other series.

Funi really seems to be the only company that is producing a lot of dubs and releasing a large number of series at the same time. They also have adapted quickly to the requests/demands of retailers and modified the way they release series, eliminated most packaging and "unnecessary" extras, re-authored DVD's to save on production costs, etc.

IMO, their model more closely represents quick adaptation to a changing market and "if you have a mainstream title for sale in wal-marts and targets around the country you can afford to do a lot of things that others can't" model.

In the past year or two Funi also got a lot of "free" dubs from the ADV/Sojitz separation.

Viz is behaving almost too cautious... in a manner that wreaks of being burned in the past or expecting the bottom to fall out at any moment. Having Naruto/Bleach/Death Note would lead me to believe they could be more aggressive than they currently are.

I think right now companies are having to gamble on quality vs. quantity. Release 3-4 dubbed series per year and hope they are popular enough to make a profit, or release 12 sub-only series and try to stay afloat for better times.

Perhaps, but having spoken with a Funi rep a few weekends ago at a convention, it's seems to be a common misconception among fans that DBZ can somehow fund an endless stream of no-profit dubs. Rather, according to them, they are able to take a few more risks with DBZ backing them but they "absolutely never consider licensing a title that isn't likely to generate profit". Of course I immediately asked why they would license a sports anime (Big Windup) then. They weren't able to answer [not because they didn't have one] but I believe I successfully guessed that it was part of a license bundle.

It's also interesting to note that, while weren't sharing any numbers, they also mentioned making a decent bit of ad revenue from their streaming efforts.

My original point was simply that they've proven that it works and I think it's fair to say that it isn't just speculation on my part. Funimation hasn't mysteriously grown because of a new generation of DBZ fans but because they have used that steady revenue stream, plus the revenue from their other properties, to propel a proven business model.



In keeping with the subject of the viability of dubs, their strategy has remained unchanged, no?



It's also worth noting that, of the "free" dubs they benefited from, they also only got second-run sales so I'd imagine the expenditure saved vs. profit lost roughly matched.



By all measures they *should* be an absolute juggernaut. I'm not exactly sure how they aren't able to leverage their "triple-DBZ" lineup better. Perhaps their target audience hasn't reach the critical-mass age at which they have a genuinely significant disposable income. Maybe in a few years those titles will be pure gold like DBZ is now for fans who saw it 5 or 10 years ago.

I know they couldn't keep the doors open without having titles that can consistently sell, but at the same time it is rather a large safety net to have. You can sense when companies are in that "one false move can sink us in a year or two" mode and oftentimes they accelerate their own demise by being too conservative.



Considering how many changes that they've undergone with their packaging and release procedures I'm not sure there really is a model to work from right now. I completely believe that dubs are a necessary part of anime in North America, but IMO, it seems more like they are rewriting their model as needed by economic and retail changes and making necessary adjustments with great speed and foresight. There's been enough examples of what not to do over the past few years to learn from.

Eventually DBZ sales will dwindle to the point where it isn't a backing force. I am aware that it isn't the only thing that keeps them going, but at the same time having a franchise that can clear 6-figure sales when most franchises struggle to break 5-figures. Bad decisions can always sink a company.



I wish there was some data to go off of here. I have been curious on this point actually, especially how they planned their release schedule around it. I felt they waited a bit too long to bring out a few of the box sets... like, longer than it usually takes to bring out a box set after the singles have been released... almost long enough for people to forget about the series (with the possible exception of those who never got all of their volumes released).



I agree. I never quite understand what they are doing. The titles stocked in Target and Wal-mart should definitely be putting forth 5 to 6-figure unit sales figures (Target yanks anything that doesn't clear 10k units within 2-4 weeks). I tend to question their decision making quite often, especially their ultra-mega-super-deluxe-limited-edition death note volumes when everyone else is shying away from those types of releases.

The problem here is that my definition of "death" and Chris' are two separate things.

I don't call something dead, unless it's been completely phased out. Personally, I don't believe dubs are going to go completely away. There's just going to be less of them for the niche titles. That's all!