Quick question, concerning how anime is licensed

[99scollings]

(Can I just say in advance that sorry if I use incorrect terminology etc, I don't know an awful lot about anime at the moment! :o )

So can anime be bought by another company and then released/re-released onto DVD straight away? Or would it have to be dubbed again by the new owning company; new/original music, new voices, the lot? You can probably guess what I'm implying, but if not it's mostly a dig at 4Kids, who can't seem (from what I've heard, anyway) to finish a DVD release to save their lives!....

Or has this never happened before? (i.e. a company buying an anime from another company)

Thanks, guys. :)

Soraya.

[Swordfish_II]

Yes, it's happened before. After Streamline folded, a bunch of thier old properties where bought by other companies like ADV (Nadia), Geneon (Akira), and Manga (Castle of Cagliostro). All of them were redubbed.

Though with the 4kids properties, I'm not sure how it would work. They could allow another company to sub-licence and release an uncut version, like ADV did with Saint Seiya. But chances are they won't.

[EscaflownePilot]

Although I don't think it's what you were getting at, it should also be noted that there's typically no reason when one company picks up another's license that the new company HAS to redub it.

For example, ADV licensed the show Tactics not long ago, dubbed it, but then dropped the license for whatever reason. Soon after, Manga bought the rights to it and simply bought ADV's dub off of them rather than dubbing it themselves.

[Hordesman]

A big part is how much the new company can/wants to spend on the anime they've picked up, how much the old dub rights would cost, etc. In the case of something like Shaman King, it might be cheaper (and faster) to start off with 4Kids' uncut dub.

[Karl Olson]

Although I don't think it's what you were getting at, it should also be noted that there's typically no reason when one company picks up another's license that the new company HAS to redub it.

For example, ADV licensed the show Tactics not long ago, dubbed it, but then dropped the license for whatever reason. Soon after, Manga bought the rights to it and simply bought ADV's dub off of them rather than dubbing it themselves.

They didn't drop it, the lost it. The contract with Mag-Garden imploded at some point from what I can tell because everything Mag-Garden they had they lost outside of maybe the Peacemaker anime.

On that note though, you have on manga side of things TPOP coming with all these titles that used to be ADV and they'll have new cover art and new translations to back that up, including Peacemaker and Aria at some point.

[Weatherman]

4Kids did have a contract for uncut DVDs of some of their stuff, I beleive with Funimation, for a little while before they killed it for some reason. For all we know it may have bene the Japanese who killed it. Japanese licensors can be very strange people.

Generally speaking though, comapnies don't sub-license their products for someone else to distribute. That splits the profits.

[99scollings]

....so basically it IS possible, but not likely? :( :crying: At least in 4Kids' case, anyways? OK thanks, guys :), I'll get back to dreaming.

Soraya.