Toonzone Talkback - FUNimation Licenses "Vampire Bund" and "Baka and Test"

[Funkatron]

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/press-release/2010-03-04/funimation-entertainment-acquires-baka-and-test-and-dance-in-the-vampire-bund-for-north-american-release

Early episodes begin streaming Friday March 5th and new episodes will stream close to thier Japanese air date starting the 10th

[Classic Speedy]

TZ write-up. (http://www.toonzone.net/news/articles/32878/funimation-licenses-vampire-bund-and-baka-and-test) Haven't seen either show. From the descriptions and art, neither really excites me, though...

[GWOtaku]

I'd rather see an announcement for Durarara already instead of Baka and Test, but hey. This means that all the remotely significant new winter season titles got early streaming, I believe (except for Heartcatch Precure I guess). Here's hoping that the spring season sees some early acquisitions too.

Is there a vampire show that hasn't been licensed at this point? Hmm.

[Funkatron]

I'd rather see an announcement for Durarara already instead of Baka and Test, but hey. This means that all the remotely significant new winter season titles got early streaming, I believe (except for Heartcatch Precure I guess). Here's hoping that the spring season sees some early acquisitions too.

Is there a vampire show that hasn't been licensed at this point? Hmm.
Was the Vampire Knight anime licensed?

[Mesousa]

Uh...why not Durarara?

Seriously surprised that BakaTest got licensed this early.

[Funkatron]

Uh...why not Durarara?

Seriously surprised that BakaTest got licensed this early.
Early? Its on Episode 9 of possibly 13. This is pretty late, imho

[Classic Speedy]

I'd rather see an announcement for Durarara already instead of Baka and Test, but hey. Unless Baccano did exceptionally poorly in sales, I can't imagine Durarara not being licensed soon. And I hope it does; I liked Baccano and wouldn't mind seeing more from the same production team.

[GWOtaku]

Agreed Speedy. Speaking of which, I should probably buy Baccano now...


Was the Vampire Knight anime licensed?

Yup, Viz snapped it up a handful of months ago.

[Naruto D.Luffy]

Already wrote my complaint on the ANN forums. Really a swing and miss acquisition in my view.

[TheMP3000]

Not interested in the least for either. Yet again, they disappoint.

[Shredhead]

Yeah I really dont have any intrest in these Baka and Test sounds like Yu-Gi-Oh GX but instead of card monsters they get cute chibis yeah thats not something I care for. The Vampire series the second I saw what looked like a ten year old girl in lingerie I didn't even bother reading what its about. I may be a pervert but even I got my limits.

[GingaDaiuchuu]

I wasn't expecting this announcement 3/4 of the way into the winter season, but new licenses from FUNimation are never a bad thing unless the anime are really bad, and these are the only 2 anime not simulcast on Crunchyroll this season that I've actually heard good things about. Still, it would be nice if next season, all the new anime series got simulcasts, even though (or especially since) it's the spring season and has so many new series. As for the simulcasting itself, I would rather Crunchyroll get them all, since I can't watch the FUNimation video player. It would be fine if FUNimation uploaded them to their YouTube at the same time, but since there's no mention of that on there, I'm guessing they're not going to be on there at all. Still, at least with FUNimation licensing them, we already have a guaranteed future bilingual DVD release. In the case of Durarara!!, it will definitely get licensed by FUNimation. The only reason they're grabbing these up now is so they can simulcast at least part of each series. Durarara!! is already being simulcast on Crunchyroll, so they can wait to acquire/announce that. Honestly, I'm still a little surprised that FUNimation didn't license Durarara!! before it premiered to simulcast that, but I guess they just weren't looking at doing that early enough, which would explain why they're just now announcing these, and why Crunchyroll got to simulcast Durarara!!, a series which absolutely had to get a simulcast. So in summary, I'm a little surprised at the timing of these announcements and I'm disappointed that I won't be able to watch these series as the episodes go up, but it doesn't really change my current situation, and it's good to see FUNimation license more anime that I've heard are good.

[Taoku]

Early? Its on Episode 9 of possibly 13. This is pretty late, imho

The show started 2 months ago. That's pretty early to me.

[GingaDaiuchuu]

The show started 2 months ago. That's pretty early to me.
It's early for a standard license announcement, but late for a simulcast of a one-season series.

[garfield15]

Uh...why not Durarara?
Cause it's on CR and we all know FUNi said that they don't really go after CR stuff? (at least not while it's still simulcasting

Honestly,people I think BakaTest is hilarious. I'm not 100% on Vampire Bund but BakaTest is definitely Number 3 of the Winter season.

[soundmonkey44]

meh, they both look like rents to me....& if it wasn't for the fact bund was a shaft show..I would probably pass it....(as you all know, not big on thngs like ecchi, loli, etc) Honestly I'm alittle suprised Funi Got Bund....considering the controversy around loli as of late...given it was a truly bad kind of it....but still,

anywho...they both look...OK but I'm really hoping for funi to rescue more retro series like they did with FLCL & Trigun this year...still hoping we get a Sailor Moon annoncment sometime this year.

but yea, these look like shows that are at least watchable...a heck of alot better then that Martial/platonic Hearts BS they annonced back in january. lol!

[Taekmkm]

It's only controversial if they can't easily prove she's a) human and 2) below 18.

[Karl Olson]

It's only controversial if they can't easily prove she's a) human and 2) below 18.

Well, the other thing is that with some of the recent cases now somewhat more resolved (and the law behind them clear,) it's seems clear that something like Bund wouldn't get slapped with obscenity. This is because Bund does have artistic merit by virtue of the story, allowing it to pass the Miller Test. Just barely in some people's eyes, but it's there.

Might not fly in Australia though...

[soundmonkey44]

Might not fly in Australia though...


......naturally everyone knows Kangaroos & Koalas are very protective of content of their homelands media.



Yeah, I know, bad joke......but I can see why some countries would be against it...I agree with you on artistic merit thought...watched the Opening online awhile back, it doese indeed look artistic (but then again shaft is an artistic company.) & I guess if the story & art are good enough, I'm sure it might be a decent show. Even if it is somewhat lolish......:sweat: but yea as a sucker for supernatural type shows, I'll probably end up giving it a watch, i just hope their is more focus on art/story & action, then loli fanservice.

[D.Shaffer]

Dance in the Vampire Bund is really not my cup of tea. I'm glad that the fans of it are going to be able to grab it.

Baka Test however? That's one of the funniest things I've seen in the last couple years. The draw to me is the utterly hilarious screwed up relationships between the cast. Like Shoko, her taser, and her yandere stalking, or how they keep playing with Hideyoshi's gender issues.

[GWOtaku]

So apparently the stream of Vampire Bund is edited, and we can expect the same for the DVD release as well. Here's a statement given to Anime News Network, who presumably asked them what was up:


FUNimation Entertainment is known for releasing the titles we license in their original, uncut form, as their creators intended. However, after viewing the unedited as well as the Japanese broadcast edit of the series Dance in the Vampire Bund, we have determined the series contains controversial elements which, when taken out of context, could be objectionable to some audiences.

With this in mind and with approval of the licensor, we will edit select scenes from the series in streaming and home entertainment release. These are scenes which are inappropriate for U.S. viewing and are not essential to the storyline.

Dance in the Vampire Bund is a complex and dark drama cited by press and fans as one of the best anime series out of Japan this season. Its strong story is what brought the series to our attention and why we are bringing it to the U.S.

While I don't necessarily disapprove, I find this very surprising considering that they were willing to go 100% uncut with Strike Witches. Can those in the know comment on whether the different treatment makes sense?

[TheMP3000]

I always thought my "Funimation is dead to me" joke was always going to be such, now its turned into reality. What a shame. :sweat:

[Taekmkm]

Maybe it's the nun rape or the incest molestation. Editing for loli seems a bit weird when they already ran Evangelion (twice!) and Strike Witches.

[Jacob T. Paschal]

Welp, those DVDs ain't going to be pushing much. At all.


Good job on pushing over toward the R2s, FUNi. :sweat:

[garfield15]

Aw crap, now MAL has more ammo...

Dance in the Vampire Bund” is a complex and dark drama cited by press and fans as one of the best anime series out of Japan this season.
Nah, it's actually slow, boring and pretty inferior to the manga at this point.

(You know what sucks about this, I just did this whole thing on MAL about how FUNi never edits anything.....)

[soundmonkey44]

Frankly I commend Funi for editing the show....Yea it'll piss people off...but if it keeps them from getting slapped with a lawsuite for localizing child porn...then its for the best....and in all honesty Bund is probably one of those shows that does have pointless loli fanservice & other things in need of editing.

I don't really see why people would complain over this.....:sweat:

[Jacob T. Paschal]

Frankly I commend Funi for editing the show....Yea it'll piss people off...but if it keeps them from getting slapped with a lawsuite for localizing child porn...then its for the best....and in all honesty Bund is probably one of those shows that does have pointless loli fanservice & other things in need of editing.

I don't really see why people would complain over this.....:sweat:

...Because they could've just not licensed the show to begin with and avoided controversy in the first place.

[Taekmkm]

It was probably a cheap license.

[GingaDaiuchuu]

The first impression I got from this show was "it's about a naked loli whose nipples are always visible", but FUNimation is always about everything being uncut, especially on DVD, even the uncut version of Strike Witches, which wasn't the broadcast version. Now they're editing this on all platforms right after picking it up? Why would they even license it in the first place?

[Kouji Tamino]

So apparently the stream of Vampire Bund is edited, and we can expect the same for the DVD release as well. Here's a statement given to Anime News Network, who presumably asked them what was up:



While I don't necessarily disapprove, I find this very surprising considering that they were willing to go 100% uncut with Strike Witches. Can those in the know comment on whether the different treatment makes sense?

I still don't think that Strike Witches is all that 'controversial' compared to what's been released here so far, but if you insist: look up screenshots for episode 2 of Bund. (NSFW, etc.)

[Gokou Ruri]

...Because they could've just not licensed the show to begin with and avoided controversy in the first place. This is just a theory with no evidence to back it up, but maybe they licensed/edited it so they could market it better to the Twilight demographic. Some sexy vampireness to hook a bigger mainstream crowd, but not too much for it to get hanged, I guess.

[GingaDaiuchuu]

This is just a theory with no evidence to back it up, but maybe they licensed/edited it so they could market it better to the Twilight demographic. Some sexy vampireness to hook a bigger mainstream crowd, but not too much for it to get hanged, I guess.
But FUNimation has prioritized uncensored DVDs above all else for years. I don't think they'd license a show just because it has something in common with Twilight then censor the DVD release despite releasing uncensored DVD releases of anime that have nothing in common with Twilight but also have content that would have to be censored by these standards.

I was planning to purchase the title but no longer will. Not because I wanted it for naked lolis, but because one of the reasons I have supported FUNimation so much for the past few years is how much they have prioritized uncensored DVDs.

[Classic Speedy]

Wow. I wasn't interested in the Bund license, but this really sucks for those who are. Censorship, regardless of the content involved, is not cool. Better that they just not release the title at all.

[purplehairedwonder]

This is just a theory with no evidence to back it up, but maybe they licensed/edited it so they could market it better to the Twilight demographic. Some sexy vampireness to hook a bigger mainstream crowd, but not too much for it to get hanged, I guess.From the little I know about Vampire Bund (which is, admittedly, just enough for me to know to avoid it), with nudity and violence it seems like it could aim more at the True Blood audience rather than the Twilight crowd. And in that case, censoring makes no sense, considering True Blood is an HBO series and most viewers are adults while the Twilight demographic is mostly tween/teen girls.

[Zipp_Rezzeppa]

Edited, blurred or not Vampire Bund is just awful. And that comment isn't coming from someone who read the manga, I went into VB with no concept of what it was supposed to be and left feeling queezy and disoriented. I was under the impression I was supposed to be taking it seriously even though I couldn't, that's were the disorientation came in. As far as the queezy? Hey, as I always say to each his/her own I'm not here to judge, having said that.....the loli fan-service was way too creepy for me to get past. Hey call me a prude if you will, but I have a line and Vampire Bund crossed it.

That doesn't mean I'm cool with the edits for better or worse I say let the people decide, but at the same time if VB came in a package deal and they had no choice but to release it I can definitely see the corner FUNi was pushed into. Do you risk alienating part of the fan base or do you risk pissing off a group with political power. FUNi is dancing a fine line with Rin and SW but an unedited Vampire Bund could be the straw that broke the camels back. Again I'm not condoning it, but without knowing all the details I'm not going to demonize FUNi either. The internet makes it too easy to throw stones.

[clipeuh]

With this in mind and with approval of the licensor, we will edit select scenes from the series in streaming and home entertainment release. These are scenes which are inappropriate for U.S. viewing and are not essential to the storyline.

What the hell?

That is one of the stupidest move in recent anime history. They're drawings *******it, why are we so puritan about everything? If you think this show is "inappropriate for U.S. viewing" then don't license it! :shrug:

Who are they to decide what is "inappropriate for U.S. viewing"? I wasn't interested much in the show but hey, I'll download some episodes to see if it's that inappropriate. Hopefully I won't go blind.

[Marvin Tikvah]

Wow, what a stupid decision. Thanks for deciding what is appropriate for me to view in the privacy of my home and protecting me from being exposed to obscene cartoons, Funimation.

[Naruto D.Luffy]

So fail licenses, everyone?

[TheMP3000]

So fail licenses, everyone?

More like Failmation. Ohohoho. /old joke is old.

[Taekmkm]

Okay-dokey, I think that's bashing enough. For those honestly thinking about buying Vampire Bund before this incident, continue on.

EDIT: To clarify, how about waiting until someone reviews the whole series and judge if the censorship is that much detrimental. I can't believe with any sort of money that you people would buy anime, especially a new property, on the first day before a review or Rightstuf having a sale on it.

Otherwise someone recommend me Baka And Test. This one I haven't seen at all yet.

[garfield15]

Very, very, VERY recommended. It's very hard for me to find anime gut-bustingly funny and this is one of them (probably the only other ones are Gintama and Seto no Hanayome). A lot of the humor really revolves around the Easter eggs and stuff that happens to the main character.

[Karl Olson]

On the editing: Of all the titles I would've expected Funimation to spend some of their fan-approval on, a weaker Shaft title that shares parallels with a previous Shaft title that wasn't that successful for them (Moonphase), didn't strike me as a likely candidate. Still, while I understand fully why they'd cover their bases, they probably would've been better off finding some way of not having to take the title on.

Bund seems like something Media Blasters would've knocked out uncut with subs-only, and relative to their adult catalog, wouldn't be that controversial. If anyone tried to bring them up on obscenity charges, they could use shipment data to prove that in probably any given locality in the US, they've pushed out worse to enough people to get the case thrown out (Kite's shipment data alone would probably get them out of any trouble.) It's also bizarre because the manga has made it's way over into bookstores mixed the rest of the manga unwrapped and rated a mere 16+/Older Teen, and the manga is pretty intense too from what I've seen of it.

Oh well, I wasn't going to buy it anyway, but I hope this doesn't be come a crutch for Funimation. Last thing they need to do is have this become some standard means of getting less than interesting lolicon titles into the states. It burns up fan respect for nothing.

[bigddan11]

I wasn't expecting this announcement 3/4 of the way into the winter season, but new licenses from FUNimation are never a bad thing unless the anime are really bad, and these are the only 2 anime not simulcast on Crunchyroll this season that I've actually heard good things about. Still, it would be nice if next season, all the new anime series got simulcasts, even though (or especially since) it's the spring season and has so many new series. As for the simulcasting itself, I would rather Crunchyroll get them all, since I can't watch the FUNimation video player. It would be fine if FUNimation uploaded them to their YouTube at the same time, but since there's no mention of that on there, I'm guessing they're not going to be on there at all. Still, at least with FUNimation licensing them, we already have a guaranteed future bilingual DVD release. In the case of Durarara!!, it will definitely get licensed by FUNimation. The only reason they're grabbing these up now is so they can simulcast at least part of each series. Durarara!! is already being simulcast on Crunchyroll, so they can wait to acquire/announce that. Honestly, I'm still a little surprised that FUNimation didn't license Durarara!! before it premiered to simulcast that, but I guess they just weren't looking at doing that early enough, which would explain why they're just now announcing these, and why Crunchyroll got to simulcast Durarara!!, a series which absolutely had to get a simulcast. So in summary, I'm a little surprised at the timing of these announcements and I'm disappointed that I won't be able to watch these series as the episodes go up, but it doesn't really change my current situation, and it's good to see FUNimation license more anime that I've heard are good.
FUNimation has been uploading all the shows on their site to You Tube and Hulu two weeks after they premiere on FUNimation's Video Player. They haven't announced any of the shows except for FMA: Brotherhood that way, but it seems that will be FUNi's typical practice from here on.

Baka and Test has me interested solely because the avatars are so funny and the characters are so unpredictable. The test system they are using is also an interesting concept, and having a teacher off to drag them to remedial studies if they lose all of their avatars health is classic. I almost wis a real computer avatar were so simple.

[GingaDaiuchuu]

FUNimation has been uploading all the shows on their site to You Tube and Hulu two weeks after they premiere on FUNimation's Video Player. They haven't announced any of the shows except for FMA: Brotherhood that way, but it seems that will be FUNi's typical practice from here on.
One Piece isn't on YouTube, and the YouTube schedule for FMA: Brotherhood is less consistent than that.

[macattack]

I'm betting that Vampire Bund isn't necessarily something they wanted to have, but something they HAD to have because of contracts.

That being said I haven't watched the anime beyond the first two episodes, and while I understand their reasoning for editing the anime I think this is going to hurt whatever sales FUNi would get out of the title. Unless they're going to shoot for a younger demographic (a teen demo instead of the adult demo) this doesn't make a lot of sense.

But I think FUNi's going to shoot for the teen demo in this one, and try to make it their Vampire Knight. Good luck to them with that, I suppose.

[garfield15]

I'll tell you one thing. This news sure has brought more than a few true characters to light.

"It's not like I was watching this for the deep story since it sucked big time. I wanted my bare loli chests and now it's ruined! Screw you FUNi"

..is just a standard example of such a quote.

[Zipp_Rezzeppa]

I'll tell you one thing. This news sure has brought more than a few true characters to light.

"It's not like I was watching this for the deep story since it sucked big time. I wanted my bare loli chests and now it's ruined! Screw you FUNi"

..is just a standard example of such a quote.

Makes me feel bad for those people who are truly against this in principal regardless of content. Some people will admit to being angry for shallow reasons but who knows how many people are crying censorship to disguise the fact that they're just pissed they lost fanservice material, not to mention the people who just hate FUNi period and can't wait to dog-pile them at any opportunity. Wait, what am I saying! Of course this is all a noble fight against censorship with no other intentions! :shrug:

[Quarkboy]

I'll tell you one thing. This news sure has brought more than a few true characters to light.

"It's not like I was watching this for the deep story since it sucked big time. I wanted my bare loli chests and now it's ruined! Screw you FUNi"

..is just a standard example of such a quote.

Don't be so easily trolled...

[Classic Speedy]

I'll tell you one thing. This news sure has brought more than a few true characters to light.

"It's not like I was watching this for the deep story since it sucked big time. I wanted my bare loli chests and now it's ruined! Screw you FUNi"

..is just a standard example of such a quote.
Makes me feel bad for those people who are truly against this in principal regardless of content. Some people will admit to being angry for shallow reasons but who knows how many people are crying censorship to disguise the fact that they're just pissed they lost fanservice material, not to mention the people who just hate FUNi period and can't wait to dog-pile them at any opportunity. Wait, what am I saying! Of course this is all a noble fight against censorship with no other intentions!
Regardless of one's main reason for not wanting Bund edited, it's still censorship, which is bad because you're not getting the full product as expected, and as has been mentioned, FUNi's basically telling you what's offensive instead of letting the consumer decide for themselves, which in and of itself is pretty offensive.

Plus, it's a potential slippery slope. If they edit scenes in Bund (and keep in mind, FUNi hasn't made it clear exactly WHAT will be edited; everyone's just assuming it will be the loli-looking main character's nudity, but Taekmkm mentioned other scenes as well), what's to stop them from making other edits on future shows? They may eventually get to something you DO care about. And it doesn't even have to be nudity/sex we're hypothetically talking about, either.

And, according to the quote from FUNi: "we have determined the series contains controversial elements which, when taken out of context, could be objectionable to some audiences." But context is everything! You can take ANYTHING out of context and make it look bad.

AND, as has been mentioned over at AOD (where their thread on this topic is much, much longer- not making value judgments on us, just stating a fact), this is going to look bad for FUNi because now every time a new license is announced, the fans are going to wonder if it's uncut or not. For a long time, FUNi worked to build a good reputation after their apparently less-than-stellar early days. And it worked, and that's part of why they're #1. But a move like this could throw all that work out the window.

I'm not going to boycott all of FUNi's titles or anything, but I'll be avoiding this particular release on principle. (Well, that and the fact that, like I already said, I wasn't really that interested in it anyway, but even if I was, I'd be avoiding it)

[GWOtaku]

I can't say that I'm worried about the slippery slope angle. We do have the years of uncut releases to look back on, and they've released titles like Afro Samurai and, more recently, Rin. What puzzles me is that in terms of content Rin is supposedly beyond Vampire Bund, just as Vampire Bund is supposed to be edgier than FUNimation's other releases (I'm taking this on the word of others, mind you--I haven't seen either and don't care to). That's the one part of this that I have difficulty understanding.

In any event, it seems pretty clear that they consider Vampire Bund a very special case. But I think that if a company thinks that they have to edit a show to make it acceptable, they might as well not bother.

[Zipp_Rezzeppa]

Regardless of one's main reason for not wanting Bund edited, it's still censorship.

I never said it wasn't, just pointing out a couple hollow reasons for why some people have decided to "Fight the Good Fight" against censorship. If people want to say intentions don't matter and we welcome as many people on the Justice Train as can fit, hey that's great, All Aboard! but watching some people put on the cloak of nobility for less than noble reasons leaves me underwhelmed with the process as a whole. But hey, again, that's just me.

[Karl Olson]

I can't say that I'm worried about the slippery slope angle. We do have the years of uncut releases to look back on, and they've released titles like Afro Samurai and, more recently, Rin. What puzzles me is that in terms of content Rin is supposedly beyond Vampire Bund, just as Vampire Bund is supposed to be edgier than FUNimation's other releases (I'm taking this on the word of others, mind you--I haven't seen either and don't care to). That's the one part of this that I have difficulty understanding.

In any event, it seems pretty clear that they consider Vampire Bund a very special case. But I think that if a company thinks that they have to edit a show to make it acceptable, they might as well not bother.

I don't get why they had to take a package deal on it really. They're the biggest player in this market, they should be in the position of telling their Japanese partners "we're going to take a hit on this if we've got to buy this, and that'll be bad for both of us in the long term - shop it to someone else." Maybe they're editing explicitly because it won't sell then, and they can tell anime producers with hard numbers that this stuff doesn't work in the US.

[Mesousa]

Does this mean that BakaTest will be edited?

I mean, one of the characters is a shotacon bait.

[garfield15]

First of all, I think if they were editing BakaTest, they would have said it in the article.

Second, if they dare edit Hideyoshi, they shall know fear and terror. :p

[Mesousa]

First of all, I think if they were editing BakaTest, they would have said it in the article.

Second, if they dare edit Hideyoshi, they shall know fear and terror. :p

Think about it, if they don't edit BakaTest, that's just one step closer of Boku no Pico being licensed on the near future.

You don't want that, do you?

[soundmonkey44]

My fInal Verdict on the Situation for.....

THE BUND ULTIMATIUM!!! (http://soundmonkey44scybervine.blogspot.com/2010/03/bund-ultimatium.html)

(has a Nice ring no)

but yea, I dedicate my rant to the Funi Forums, in all their overreaction & just pure Awsomeness (& no thats not sarcasm Funi forums are great, but they do have alot of overreaction going on, as I'm sure many other forums do.):sweat:

[Jacob T. Paschal]

Think about it, if they don't edit BakaTest, that's just one step closer of Boku no Pico being licensed on the near future.

You don't want that, do you?

That would be terrible because...?

[Mesousa]

That would be terrible because...?

Child pornography.

FUNi edits Vampire Bund to prevent child pornography, right? Well, that's why they should really should do the same to BakaTest.

[GWOtaku]

Yeah...that sarcastic analogy really doesn't work.

Key, a moderator over at ANN's forums, raised some decent points:


For those who have commented that they don't see anything wrong with what's been aired so far: do keep in mind that you're only seeing the edited-for-Japanese-TV version. Completely unedited fansubs are not available because no Japanese TV station, to my knowledge, is broadcasting it unedited. (Unlike with SnQ, where exactly one channel is broadcasting it later than the others in unedited form, so "director's cut" versions are coming available at a delay.)

For those who are saying "it's just child nudity:" if it was only that, and in proper context, that would definitely not be an issue. I can name several other anime which had such things but never took grief for it because of how it was used. Most people who have seen it who have a problem with it have that problem because the content in question is quite clearly designed and intended to be provocative. (And if you don't think that's clear then you aren't paying attention.) I could see legitimate arguments that it could be considered art, as some could claim (albeit weakly) that it is intending to show adult sexuality carried out through a child's body, but that doesn't make it any less creepy for some of us.

And for those complaining most vociferously that Funimation should be releasing this unedited if they release it at all: yes, you're correct that attempts at legal action vs. Funi in a case like this, if they were attempted at all, would be unlikely to succeed. However, even if there isn't a prosecutable legal issue, do you really want that kind of negative attention being drawn towards anime? There are still a lot of people who have a negative enough impression of anime as a medium as it is. Why give them even more reason to distrust and/or bring unwanted attention to anime?

[D.Shaffer]

Dance with the Vampire Loli getting edited? *shrug* Not a series I was that interested in seeing, so I'm not personally worked up about it. On a more philosophical level however, I wish they'd rather have just not grabbed the license if they were going to edit it.


FUNi edits Vampire Bund to prevent child pornography, right? Well, that's why they should really should do the same to BakaTest.
...If there was anything even CLOSE to child pornography in BakaTest you might have a point. As is, your entire chain of logic completely escapes me here.

[Marvin Tikvah]

However, even if there isn't a prosecutable legal issue, do you really want that kind of negative attention being drawn towards anime? There are still a lot of people who have a negative enough impression of anime as a medium as it is. Why give them even more reason to distrust and/or bring unwanted attention to anime?

Didn't people say the same thing when Funimation got the license for Strike Witches?

[GWOtaku]

Didn't people say the same thing when Funimation got the license for Strike Witches?

They did, but the point seems to keep being made that it and Vampire Bund aren't really comparable.

[Mesousa]

For those people who still don't believe me about the BakaTest thing: (it's from the 5th episode)

http://blog.seiha.org/images2/bakatest5/bakatest5_97.jpg

NOW you understand?

[Taekmkm]

You have GOT to be kidding me. Have you not seen Vampire Bund at all? That's absolutely nothing compared to Bund.

[garfield15]

For those people who still don't believe me about the BakaTest thing: (it's from the 5th episode)

http://blog.seiha.org/images2/bakatest5/bakatest5_97.jpg

NOW you understand?
Stop it Meso. This is what I was afraid of. Once they censor one anime, we'll start thinking they'll censor everything because of a few images. Trust me, Vampire Bund is just a special case.

[Karl Olson]

They did, but the point seems to keep being made that it and Vampire Bund aren't really comparable.

well, especially these days. if the whole worry now is whether a drawing would fail the miller test, it'd be very easy for strike witches to be in the clear while as funimation said, if you took the right scenes out of context, they could get slapped for bund. it's stupid, but i can see where recent rulings may have their legal team worried.

that, i still don't rule out this being funi trying to kill the show to send the message to the studio that they don't want to deal with package deals that include unmarketable titles.

[bigddan11]

Vampire Bund and Baka and Test- Summon the Beasts were both added to FUNimation's You Tube collection today.

[D.Shaffer]

For those people who still don't believe me about the BakaTest thing: (it's from the 5th episode)

NOW you understand?
...Not really. For starters, they're made it QUITE clear that Hideyoshi's a guy. They play this up for laughs. It might be a double standard, but showing a guy half naked doesnt have the same issues as it does with a girl. Additionally, even if Hideyoshi was really a girl, he's still not showing any objectional bits. I can think of hundreds of other anime series that are many times worse then that image, done for pure fanservice, and no one really bats an eye at it. We've seen non-animated films that depict teenagers in worse ways. Your analogy is just flawed all over the place.

[Jacob T. Paschal]

FUNimation will think about releasing an uncut version (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-03-10/funimation-comments-further-on-vampire-bund-edits). With only seven episodes aired they can't even release a full set yet, so they might as well wait until it is over before releasing any episodes on home video.

Speaking of which, is the series capping at the usual mid-twenties?

[GWOtaku]

Speaking of which, is the series capping at the usual mid-twenties?

My impression is that it is only 12 episodes, at least for now.

[garfield15]

12 episodes for now, but SHAFT subtly introduced one or two elements from later arcs in the episodes so a second season may/may not be coming. (They still haven't explained anime-only Meirin and the current arc looks like it could wind down the remaining episode so...meh.)

I liked this post from ANN

1. Create controversy to garner attention
2. Frankenstein's monster created
3. Word spreads
4. Announce an unedited version
5. ???
6. PROFIT!!
Where's my pic of Gen Fukunaga with a "Keikaku doori" balloon?

[Jacob T. Paschal]

Ah, well then...at twelve episodes there's still time for a home video release only being done unedited.


12 episodes for now, but SHAFT subtly introduced one or two elements from later arcs in the episodes so a second season may/may not be coming. (They still haven't explained anime-only Meirin and the current arc looks like it could wind down the remaining episode so...meh.)

I liked this post from ANN

Where's my pic of Gen Fukunaga with a "Keikaku doori" balloon?

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a238/YBM/GenFukunaga-Exactlyasplanned.jpg

[Karl Olson]

Well, I doubt it'd be an intentional marketing move, but if they did back off on this do to fan outcry, it would actually build more cred that they started with in someways.

Funimation: We listen to fans.

Nice play, even though it's probably completely accidental.

Besides, I still say something like Kite Director's Cut which was widely distributed gives them perfect cover to put this out. It's as arty, it's more sexual and it's sexual in the same way from the legal standpoint (underage characters, rape.) Yeah, Bund uncut might be such a hard MA they can't get into Best Buy, but the fandom for Bund is so narrow, making it con/online-exclusive wouldn't hurt sales significantly. If you say "TOO HOT FOR STORES" that's a marketing point, and you'd at least come out ahead of a widely-available but entirely unwanted edited version.

Of course, they directly cite current US law this time, which mean Funi understands that:

-There is a worry a drawing/animation could fail the miller test. Bund may run afowl of that.
-They could be tried for obscenity in an unfavorable locality.

Basically, stuff is gray - very very gray - right now, and they are being upfront about that now.

[garfield15]

Thanks JTP.


Funimation: We listen to fans.

Nice play, even though it's probably completely accidental.
I was just thinking about that.

Well, at least they did say something which is more than I can say for other companies (So Viz, why am I not getting uncut Zatch Bell/Megaman/etc.?)

[TnAdct1]

12 episodes for now, but SHAFT subtly introduced one or two elements from later arcs in the episodes so a second season may/may not be coming. (They still haven't explained anime-only Meirin and the current arc looks like it could wind down the remaining episode so...meh.) Also, when you consider how some of SHAFT's other "12-13 episode" shows (i.e. Hidamari Sketch, Sayornara Zetsubou-Sensei) have mutliple seasons, it's most likely that Vampire Bund with be following the same path as well.

[Karl Olson]

Also, when you consider how some of SHAFT's other "12-13 episode" shows (i.e. Hidamari Sketch, Sayornara Zetsubou-Sensei) have mutliple seasons, it's most likely that Vampire Bund with be following the same path as well.

Which again brings up: Why would they take this package deal if they know they may have to return to the well later on, and thus risk further problems? I guess it must have come cheap. Funimation will buy anything if the price gets low enough they figure they can monetize it.

[Marvin Tikvah]

Alternately, Funi could be filling the void left by ADV and Geneon by licensing whatever they feel like regardless of whether the audience is big enough to support such an endeavor.

They're likely much smarter than that though.

[Jacob T. Paschal]

FUNimation will likely see an increase in sales, at least in terms of across the year, with the Dragon Ball Kai, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Dragon Ball Z Dragon Box releases hitting full-force across the year. Hardcores like myself will without doubt work to make sure FUNimation knows they can expect Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball GT Dragon Boxes get released (not to mention an entire set for the seventeen films), so I don't foresee any hit from the more niche titles causing any detrimental damage, although any failures might move them away from these sort of series'.

[Karl Olson]

Oh, Funi definitely isn't drift-net licensing. They do a lot of research and know exactly what it takes to get in the black on a title and won't pay a cent more than that, and if title doesn't pan out, well, the unlicensed second-halves of various titles are proof they won't stick with a loser.

Given that, this package had to have come cheap or they think the other titles in the deal will be very brisk sellers, because they have to know edited titles are dogs on the shelf, and yet they took a deal where they might have to edit one of the shows, which means that they must figure that even edited, the package at least would pay for itself.