the new japanese ratings

[Claymore]

I realize how childrens anime will beat out the adult content in Japan. However, when looking at the weekly ratings, how does One Piece smoke Naruto Shippuuden? Both are cross over animes (kids and adults, thought one piece is more kiddyish). Bleach hasn't shown up in three weeks.

With all the troubles anime companies have been having I am scared they will go like mp3 and start the lawsuits. I am amazed that the anime companies have not figured out there is a demand for their product in japanese or english as long as released immediately.

If I ran an anime company, I would make both the original, sub & dub at the same time, then sell it. Unfortunately they think licensing & crappy dubbing 14 months after the series ends is the way to go.

If they would realize you sub at the same time offer up your series for a nominal price we would pay for it.

to GONZO and the other anime companies, you are not losing money from fansubbing, you are losing money because this season has been crap and you are not smart enough to market yourselves worldwide.

I mean english/spanish/canadien you would be able to sub at the same time, they feel they have to stuff dubs down our throats with crappy voice actors.

Well drunk and back to my beer. If you figure out my rant please explain it to me when I am sober.

[Faraz]

It would be quite difficult for them to release dubs simultaniously with the original showing on Japanese TV since they don't have the infrastructure for it in place. Not saying it can't be done, but it's going to require some major changes to how they do business with the North American lisensing companies that do their dubs. I just don't see this happening.

However, showings subbed versions simultaniously is very easy and wouldn't cost that much. I mean heck, we have fansub groups doing it for free, in many cases hours after the initial premier. I'm also just as surprised as you are as to why they don't do this unless for some reason they really have no idea what sort of demand exists for the fabsubs online.

Frankly I have no idea how much it would cost for them to setup sattelite channels that cover non-japanese countries but the demand in North America alone should be enough to warrant an invistigation into Japanese anime producers broadcasting their shows subbed in North America on the same day that it is shown in Japan. One can only dream.

As to why they have to dub things in the first place, there's two reasons. If Gonzo (for example) doesn't dub things, what is it going to do? They might as well shut it down since you can't compete with free fansubs (even if you made it illegal). They dub things, because that's what they do; that's their product and that's how they make money. The second reason is that they're trying to get new audience as the current anime audience in North America perhaps isn't as big as they like compared to the potential market. And we shouldn't kid ourselves; someone who's never seen an anime is not going to even consider watching it in another language and bother reading subtitles (unless it is forcefully suggested to them by a friend or something).

I don't like to see dubbing fail or abandoned because I also believe good dubs are the only way to expand the influence of anime in North America and as an anime fan I would very much like to see that happen. The quality of dubs has increased significantly during the past few years. Heck I saw the first episode of Black Lagoon subbed because I missed it on TV, then saw the second episode dubbed and stuck with the dub since it was so nicely done. It was so good I kept finding myself rewinding it to just listen to the conversations; not sure who did the dub but they did a fantastic job.

Dubs are getting better and better and they deserve the anime community's support as that's the only way we can see our beloved hobby becoming mainstream.

[Molenir]

[Faraz]

Well, the test is simple. Just compare the general dub quality and number of good dubs today to how it was 4 or 5 years ago and the trend becomes obvious. Now imagine how it would be 4 years from now if it continued.

[kevinchaosvs]

Sigh, this is what happens when economy and politics get in the way ...
and all we wanted was to enjoy Anime... ...