A question about Naruto and licensing

[Lefty]

Not if Kishimoto has anything ot saty about it. He still has owner ship of Naruto, if they cut anything from the US release that comapany will be sued so fast and so hard they won't know what hit em. Anyway mnost campanies have stoped the Recutting and eciting of anime since the midnintes. Look a EVA we got that little gem totaly uncesord and unedited. Only 4 kids edit thier stuff beyond recognition. Funimation makes tv freindly releases but their DVD are unedited so as long as Naruto isn't lisenced by 4 Kids or Viz we're safe.

[joker-kun]

I would say it hasn't been licensed cause you make more money i think if you license a series after it is over. Also, maybe cause the show is so good their asking price is too much. DBZ was the most popular anime North America [atleast one of them] and Japan. Had the most hits EVER on like 5 search engines, and I don't *think it got licensed till the end or near the end.

[Lefty]

DBZ ended in like 1989 and GT finished in like 93. It was major old when it was picked up in what 96-97 even later than that. But yeja it will be a while before naruto will be picked up.

[LeCKeY]

Well the anime is not that good went on to long and most likly to many pieces of it are owned by diff companys so it might be hard to get them all to agree to one publisher to move them to the usa and well it sucks.... why would you want this translated to english dubb lol the show would be even worse other then that it is the lack of popularity/company % ownage i would figure are slowing down the process

[KameronFrye]

Simply because you do not enjoy dubs does not mean that a company could not put a quality dub together. Again, I hope for the best whenever this gets licensed, and I know the distinct possibility that we could get it over here and have Naruto saying "Art of the Doppleganger!" everytime he does shadow replication, and that thought is unsettling. But it's just that for the 30k+ of us that are watching it, there are another million people here that are not. I talk to anywhere between 5-15 people a day that watch a lot of anime, many of whom are interested in Naruto and want to see it over here, but are incapable of getting anime because their computer is too slow, internet connection is slow, no HD space, etc. It's ok for us, because we're all already in the middle of it. But think about the other people over here reading anime magazines and hearing about how good this series is who have no outlet to see it. This is what licensed anime is for, those people who are not us. Simply saying "screw anime companies" is basically also saying screw anime fans, because a lot of them rely on these companies to bring out DVDs. And yes, some like the dubs, but some like the dubs too. If Kishimoto is holding on to it to strive for the highest quality on the series translation, I applaud him. I would want this show to have the best presentation here and not end up like an Inu Yasha clone. But it'd be nice to walk into Toys 'r Us and actually get figures for the series that weren't released in Japan, because American toy companies are nuts about series too. There's 3 actual action figures (not counting the unposeable figs that have backgrounds and such), an American toy company would have double that for the first series of figures. Granted, later series would probably be the same as some of the earlier figures, but you could have more than 3. I collect action figures, and I'd like to see some more, in addition to the games in English.

[Samurai Maddy]

well guys, Funimation might be coming close to Naruto.

here's an interview with a guy from Funimation. it's mostly about FMA but they give some comments towards Naruto and if it might, in the future, be picked up by Funi.

Funimation talks about FMA, Case Closed and Brings up Naruto

man that sucks.
I was hoping ADV if it was licensed at all.

[KameronFrye]

In all honesty, ADV should be the next to last company you want to license Naruto, the last being 4Kids.
If ADV has the title, there will be no easy method to getting fansubs, what with their witchhunt department. FMA is still relatively easy/painless to get, and it's taken by Funi. Funi are mainstream enough to where they can afford little losses on the few people that outcry against buying licensed anime because they have an excellent marketing department. Dragon Ball Z and Yu Yu Hakusho are two testaments, and soon you'll see it in FMA. The drawback to Funi is that they may limit it down on the number of episodes per DVD, but they're using the $19.99/DVD formula on FMA, which I'm a little more eased about. Also, Funi are very punctual about timely releases. DBZ ran once a month, only skipping an odd month here and there, and that was 2 volumes at a time. So, if you collect anime from them, you can expect on time releases every 4-6 weeks. They're also pushing a lot of their anime for the Adult Swim block, which means less of the anime will be harshly edited come DVD time. Blue Gender suffered minimal edits for broadcast, and was nicely done on DVD. The subbing/dubbing was even decent for BG; however, in all fairness, they did not have to tackle Japanese-oriented attacks like "Chidori" and "Kage Bushin No Jutsu" for BG, so that leaves a little uneasiness in my stomach. But they will leave the Japtrack on their current licenses, which is good enough for me. I can easily ignore subtitles like that and focus on what I know their attacks to be, as long as it isn't dubbed (or dubbed bad).

[PSJ]

this is stupid who would want naruto licensed?

[KameronFrye]

As stated above, I would. There's more to licensing than simply a show. It would mean games, toys, etc., and they wouldn't be $30/figure nor $60/game, and I could have them that day instead of having to send money overseas, waiting 2-3 weeks sometimes, and games would be in English. I actually buy anime, I use BT to know what I like and what I don't. The series I like, I buy to support anime here. Simply watching anime does not mean you support it, it means you freeload. You may enjoy watching it, sure; there's a lot to like in anime. But watching anime and supporting it are two different things. Sharing titles and recommendations is a good step, but buying helps companies to believe more anime is worthwhile to bring over. As much as it would pain me, I would buy Viz versions of Naruto, should it be licensed, simply to support it. I would be happier if anyone other than Viz/4Kids got it, even if it took longer to get the releases, but in the end I would support the show simply because I like it.
I understand that not everyone can afford to buy all the anime that is released, but I feel you should support the ones you like by actually purchasing the American releases. And again, the ANBU releases of Naruto get 30k+ in hits per episode. There's easily 40k+ people that watch the show online. Now think of how many other anime fans out there that have no way other than DVD releases to watch anime. You can't say they aren't fans simply because they buy the DVDs that you simply download. There's hundreds of thousands of people that don't do this for whatever their reasons may be. Not licensing a show as popular as this can kill them; simply think about how we feel week-to-week, but magnify that by the fact that some people may have only seen a few episodes at a convention, expecting a release on it soon. Then think about the fact that it isn't licensed. This may be hard for you to see, since you don't buy any anime you can't watch online. I, on the otherhand, deal with 10-30 people per day that do this. I sympathize with them, and the others across the nation, who really would enjoy this show, and maybe a few other animes based on their enjoyment of this show. This is true of many other titles, licensed and non. But Naruto is an epic scaled show, we're coming up on 100 episodes with no immediate plans of it wrapping up, and I still look forward to Thursdays because of this. Is it unfair to want to share that feeling with the rest of the world's otakus, even knowing that many can not have the access to anime that we have?
Also, don't give me the spiel about "just burn it off", it takes a half spindle of CDs to burn the whole show to current off, and DVDs take too long/cost too much. This is in addition to the wear-and-tear that it puts on a computer to do so. If you burn all of this off for people, chances are that they don't have room for it on their computer in the first place. And the likelihood of them sharing the same stuff with others is minimal. Not to mention I would lose my job if I were handing out CDs/DVDs of anime to the people at work who enjoy anime, simply because my company would look at that as piracy, even if I weren't charging money for it, and even in lieu of the fact that the stuff is not licensed. They look at it as giving away something that they could be selling one day, I've already had the discussion. It would simply be easier if it were over here.

[Ryuji]

Originally posted by: KameronFrye
Inu Yasha got licensed after it hit the point where Naruto is now, it seems like. If not this point, then very close to. Is it possible that someone sublicensed it, as Viz does with that company that brought them crap like Megaman NT and such, and is holding out for the big cash? Because if so, they'll dilute the license over things like the games... waiting too long to release it here will mean that the GCN/PS2 games would have to be remade for newer systems, given that the second GCN game isn't recommended to be played until you're into Naruto after 60+ episodes, which would take over a year to get to even if fast tracked. The show has too much underground popularity (i.e. IGN focusing reviews/previews of games, the Naruto GBA hardware preview, the fact that anime cons are overrunning with Narutards) too have gone completely unnoticed, and anime companies are mum when asked about it. I figured Bandai America would have taken it, given that they developed in in Japan and are establishing a somewhat independency from Pioneer/Geneon and this would be the current DBZ to run with. Shit, if I could afford to open an anime distro company, I'd do it and open with Naruto, simply because I know it would succeed. The prices on Ebay for Naruto stuff says that alone. Thoughts?

Too bad your the only one that thinks that you retard.

[kentarre]

Originally posted by: KameronFrye
Inu Yasha got licensed after it hit the point where Naruto is now, it seems like. If not this point, then very close to. Is it possible that someone sublicensed it, as Viz does with that company that brought them crap like Megaman NT and such, and is holding out for the big cash? Because if so, they'll dilute the license over things like the games... waiting too long to release it here will mean that the GCN/PS2 games would have to be remade for newer systems, given that the second GCN game isn't recommended to be played until you're into Naruto after 60+ episodes, which would take over a year to get to even if fast tracked. The show has too much underground popularity (i.e. IGN focusing reviews/previews of games, the Naruto GBA hardware preview, the fact that anime cons are overrunning with Narutards) too have gone completely unnoticed, and anime companies are mum when asked about it. I figured Bandai America would have taken it, given that they developed in in Japan and are establishing a somewhat independency from Pioneer/Geneon and this would be the current DBZ to run with. Shit, if I could afford to open an anime distro company, I'd do it and open with Naruto, simply because I know it would succeed. The prices on Ebay for Naruto stuff says that alone. Thoughts?

there are multiple reasons why an anime isn't liscensed ... yes Naruto has enough popularity in North America to make it a significant interest to most North American liscensing/distrubuting companies. but you also have to consider if the Japanese developer is even offering to sell a North American liscense of Naruto, and even if they are the price could be too high for a North American company's taste.

and give the companies more credit, if they are active enough to pursue and shut down a group's distro of particular liscensed anime, then they certainly know what anime is popular among fansub viewer's in the state. there is the idea of letting fansubs continue in order to spread knowledge and popularity of certain animes, its nothing unheard of.

[Shi_No_Shikaku]

Originally posted by: Pervert-Sennin Jiraiya
this is stupid who would want naruto licensed?

He's right

[Assertn]

Originally posted by: KameronFrye
As stated above, I would. There's more to licensing than simply a show. It would mean games, toys, etc., and they wouldn't be $30/figure nor $60/game, and I could have them that day instead of having to send money overseas, waiting 2-3 weeks sometimes, and games would be in English.

where do YOU buy your naruto stuff? there are plenty of import places in the US, and even ones overseas you can just pay with a credit card and its exactly the same as if it was for someplace right in your area. You'd be surprised how fast some of their shipping can be too. $30 a figure? wtf? ive managed to find figures for just a few bucks easy enough. as for the game, well....fighting games dont need alot of translation, and i dont mind the extra $10, especially since there's no guarantee that it'll show up even IF naruto gets licensed.

I actually buy anime, I use BT to know what I like and what I don't. The series I like, I buy to support anime here. Simply watching anime does not mean you support it, it means you freeload. You may enjoy watching it, sure; there's a lot to like in anime. But watching anime and supporting it are two different things. Sharing titles and recommendations is a good step, but buying helps companies to believe more anime is worthwhile to bring over. As much as it would pain me, I would buy Viz versions of Naruto, should it be licensed, simply to support it. I would be happier if anyone other than Viz/4Kids got it, even if it took longer to get the releases, but in the end I would support the show simply because I like it.
I understand that not everyone can afford to buy all the anime that is released, but I feel you should support the ones you like by actually purchasing the American releases. And again, the ANBU releases of Naruto get 30k+ in hits per episode. There's easily 40k+ people that watch the show online. Now think of how many other anime fans out there that have no way other than DVD releases to watch anime. You can't say they aren't fans simply because they buy the DVDs that you simply download. There's hundreds of thousands of people that don't do this for whatever their reasons may be. Not licensing a show as popular as this can kill them; simply think about how we feel week-to-week, but magnify that by the fact that some people may have only seen a few episodes at a convention, expecting a release on it soon. Then think about the fact that it isn't licensed. This may be hard for you to see, since you don't buy any anime you can't watch online. I, on the otherhand, deal with 10-30 people per day that do this. I sympathize with them, and the others across the nation, who really would enjoy this show, and maybe a few other animes based on their enjoyment of this show. This is true of many other titles, licensed and non. But Naruto is an epic scaled show, we're coming up on 100 episodes with no immediate plans of it wrapping up, and I still look forward to Thursdays because of this. Is it unfair to want to share that feeling with the rest of the world's otakus, even knowing that many can not have the access to anime that we have?

i understand, but in other countries, anime is alot more expensive than it is in japan. In fact stuff like naruto people in japan can just watch with whatever cable provider they may have. The $30 you spend on a dvd of maybe 4 episodes could easily pay for a cable service that provides 4 weeks of plenty of televised anime series. So in this regard, its more unfair for us than it would for those who ARE paying for it as we speak. It's mainly the crappy way that companies go about with licensing that make dvds so expensive, but i wouldnt mind it as much if i wouldnt have to purchase about 50 dvds to complete a series!!! There's alot more that i can do with $1500

Also, don't give me the spiel about "just burn it off", it takes a half spindle of CDs to burn the whole show to current off, and DVDs take too long/cost too much. This is in addition to the wear-and-tear that it puts on a computer to do so. If you burn all of this off for people, chances are that they don't have room for it on their computer in the first place. And the likelihood of them sharing the same stuff with others is minimal. Not to mention I would lose my job if I were handing out CDs/DVDs of anime to the people at work who enjoy anime, simply because my company would look at that as piracy, even if I weren't charging money for it, and even in lieu of the fact that the stuff is not licensed. They look at it as giving away something that they could be selling one day, I've already had the discussion. It would simply be easier if it were over here.

dvd burners are dropping in price......in fact if you searched hard enough you could find one for $50 or less. DVDs do NOT take too long to burn, as my roommate confirmed this by filling entire dvds in a matter of 10 min or less per dvd. Keep in mind, that even though a dvd burning rate may be like, 8x vs a cd burning rate of 52x, the dvd drive still rotates much faster than a cd one does, therefore the 8x is amplified like, 8 times more (somethin like that, i forget what the # is exactly). Besides, having 20+ eps per dvd is alot less of a hassle than 4 per dvd. Especially since nobody watches naruto in just spurts of 4 eps if they have the opportunity to see more.

[KameronFrye]

[quote]
Originally posted by: AssertnFailure

where do YOU buy your naruto stuff? there are plenty of import places in the US, and even ones overseas you can just pay with a credit card and its exactly the same as if it was for someplace right in your area. You'd be surprised how fast some of their shipping can be too. $30 a figure? wtf? ive managed to find figures for just a few bucks easy enough. as for the game, well....fighting games dont need alot of translation, and i dont mind the extra $10, especially since there's no guarantee that it'll show up even IF naruto gets licensed.

It depends on the stuff... the little gashopons aren't more than a few dollars, maybe $20-30 a set. But those more than likely wouldn't make it over here. The figures I have so far are Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi. Each one has a different head, multiple hands for things like holding weapons or doing hand seals, etc. Those were the ones that sold for about $30/pop. I collect things like that, though I also like some things like the UFO catchers (Plushes) and such. I bought a ton of DBZ stuff, but never got into the vehicles and such (aside from the time capsule). I would just like to see an American toy, basically because it would mean every one of the characters from the series would get a figure. Sure, it'd mean getting 2 different Kakashi's, Naruto, etc... but it'd mean a Rock Lee figure, Guy Sensei, Ino, Zabuza, etc.

i understand, but in other countries, anime is alot more expensive than it is in japan. In fact stuff like naruto people in japan can just watch with whatever cable provider they may have. The $30 you spend on a dvd of maybe 4 episodes could easily pay for a cable service that provides 4 weeks of plenty of televised anime series. So in this regard, its more unfair for us than it would for those who ARE paying for it as we speak. It's mainly the crappy way that companies go about with licensing that make dvds so expensive, but i wouldnt mind it as much if i wouldnt have to purchase about 50 dvds to complete a series!!! There's alot more that i can do with $1500

And again, this is where licensed anime helps out too. Adult Swim ran DBZ, runs Inu Yasha, it introduced me into Blue Gender and a couple other shows I've liked. Yes, they run commercials on the T.V. version. Yes, they put it out dubbed. But it's also a good way to check out a show to see if you like it, and all you have to do is the same thing as Japanese people do: pay your cable bill. If you like the show, buy the DVDs.

dvd burners are dropping in price......in fact if you searched hard enough you could find one for $50 or less. DVDs do NOT take too long to burn, as my roommate confirmed this by filling entire dvds in a matter of 10 min or less per dvd. Keep in mind, that even though a dvd burning rate may be like, 8x vs a cd burning rate of 52x, the dvd drive still rotates much faster than a cd one does, therefore the 8x is amplified like, 8 times more (somethin like that, i forget what the # is exactly). Besides, having 20+ eps per dvd is alot less of a hassle than 4 per dvd. Especially since nobody watches naruto in just spurts of 4 eps if they have the opportunity to see more.

And on the other end of the argument, the prices of anime DVDs are dropping and the number of episodes are increasing. Bandai is doing their series in 6 DVDs for 26ers. Gundam Seed is going to have 4-5 episodes per DVD. Average non-sale prices have dropped $5-10, box sets are also dropping in price. Hell, I got Ghost in Shell: SAC volume 1 at Best Buy for like $17 on the first day. It can be expensive, yeah. Which is why you don't buy all the anime they have, you buy the ones you like. They're also putting things like interviews with series creators/musicians/etc on it, for those who have interest in it. I never see things like that on BT and I have interest in seeing what goes into making a series, or interviews with the manga artists.


As for anyone else who can not come up with anything constructive to say, don't run your mouth. I don't make posts simply to hear one person say I'm retarded and then 4 people agree to it. That's not a discussion, it's more like a lynching. Forums are made to share thoughts and opinions about a subject, and this topic is not on my mental stability. So if you can't say anything other than "your dumb" (which, by the way, it is "you're", as in "you are"), stfu.

[Lefty]

Kame brings up several good points. the anime industry with in america has been getting better with translations, dvd releases, number of eps per DVD and the prices of the dvds. Fuck I remeber before we had dvd's, back in the good old days of VHS. when I bought Eva is spend about 24 dollars for the dub tapes and 28 dollars fro the sub and thas was for only two ep's, thats 350 dollars for all 13 tapes(I would know becasue I have them all.). For the same price your get three to five ep's, a dub and sub track, and extra features. Naruto will be liscensed, hopefully by funimation. I can't wait for that, then everyone in the US will get to enjoy the series as much as i do.

[Assertn]

Originally posted by: KameronFrye
And again, this is where licensed anime helps out too. Adult Swim ran DBZ, runs Inu Yasha, it introduced me into Blue Gender and a couple other shows I've liked. Yes, they run commercials on the T.V. version. Yes, they put it out dubbed. But it's also a good way to check out a show to see if you like it, and all you have to do is the same thing as Japanese people do: pay your cable bill. If you like the show, buy the DVDs.

if only the anime they'd air on adult swim werent dubbed, then i wouldnt be able to argue that

And on the other end of the argument, the prices of anime DVDs are dropping and the number of episodes are increasing. Bandai is doing their series in 6 DVDs for 26ers. Gundam Seed is going to have 4-5 episodes per DVD. Average non-sale prices have dropped $5-10, box sets are also dropping in price. Hell, I got Ghost in Shell: SAC volume 1 at Best Buy for like $17 on the first day. It can be expensive, yeah. Which is why you don't buy all the anime they have, you buy the ones you like. They're also putting things like interviews with series creators/musicians/etc on it, for those who have interest in it. I never see things like that on BT and I have interest in seeing what goes into making a series, or interviews with the manga artists.

have they been dropping in price? all i know is that the manga these days are still a ripoff compared to prices in japan, and the trigun dvds i bought back when that series was just comin out were abotu $28 each.

if they are dropping alot, then thats good.....but if you assume there'll be maybe 200 eps of naruto...then it would still come out to almost $1000

personally, i just buy dvds of series that arent more than 26 eps

[Voltage]

Think of all the butchering and editing that will happen when Naruto gets licensed. I don't think Naruto is a show aimed at elementary school-aged children who look foward to saturday morning and weekday afternoon cartoons. Wonder what they would do about Naruto's Sexy-No-Justu... But that's when they decide to put it on air. DVD wise, i have no comments, just a little doubts about the dubbing.

[KameronFrye]

[quote]
Originally posted by: AssertnFailure

if only the anime they'd air on adult swim werent dubbed, then i wouldnt be able to argue that

I couldn't agree more. I'm hoping with the steady increase of interest in anime that AS or Tech TV will start running anime in Japanese. I'd like to see them do that and test the waters with some shows that haven't been licensed, maybe just send over a few bucks and pick up the first couple episodes of random shows and run them subbed, for the sake of the fans.

have they been dropping in price? all i know is that the manga these days are still a ripoff compared to prices in japan, and the trigun dvds i bought back when that series was just comin out were abotu $28 each.

if they are dropping alot, then thats good.....but if you assume there'll be maybe 200 eps of naruto...then it would still come out to almost $1000

personally, i just buy dvds of series that arent more than 26 eps

A lot of series have dropped in price. I felt the pains of buying the Triguns at $30/pop, and I wasn't happy when the box came out about 6 months later for about $200. It was worth it since I had no other way of seeing the show, because I fed off that 6 week gap on things like Kenshin, Bebop, Gundam, etc. I'd buy an anime per week, and that'd be my fix. Naruto was the first show I downloaded, and I didn't get into it until the Rock Lee/Gaara fight. I watched the first three episodes at a friend's house, burned off 16 episodes, and downloaded another 30+ in 4 days. I made it through that in less than a week. And I will buy it, no matter who licenses it, because it's a shareable goodness. Back to the point, though...

Anime has significantly dropped in price. Most companies are shooting for a $24.99 price point, some are going for a $19.99. Geneon keeps some of theirs up to $30. The good thing, though, is the first week or so the titles can be $19.99 or less on sale, which makes it a little easier. I'm more inclined to pick up a DVD for $20 than I am for $30, even with discount. Older, more popular series like Trigun are being released as Signature titles for $20, Hellsing should drop turn of next year when all of the Soultakers hit $20.

As for manga... the Japanese are always going to beat us there. They pay a few dollars a week to get a book full of that week's releases, and it'll have dozens of mangas in it. I hate the pricing here, and most companies can't really hit the manga the way anime hits me. I do love some, Azumanga Daioh for instance, but the price point is going to suck on those. I see their end on trying to make money on it, but I don't collect many mangas. Books for me are generally American comics, a la Calvin and Hobbes or Get Fuzzy; I get more into short panel comics rather than manga/comics nowadays. But mangas are still respectably good.

[winnydapoo]

As usual everybody promoting licensing as wonderful for the fans forgets that not all the fans live in the US, and alot ofcountries outside the US and UK may not EVER see naruto released in their country, and may not have the means to import it either. Not all fans benefit from licensing. In places like Australia and certain parts of SE asia and some of the european countries, downloading is the only way to see decent anime.

[KameronFrye]

Licensing anime does not mean that it doesn't still get torrented. I'm looking right now at torrents for Gundam Wing, Kenshin, and other series that have been licensed. I won't say I condone downloading them personally, as the DVDs are here for Americans, but I can see the side of other countries where they do not have these released. *shrug*