The Intrcacies Of Anime Licensing

[wolfx]

Ok, 1st off let me say that I'm from Malaysia and there's no anime licensors for this country but there are stores that sell anime as "originals" approved by the government when in fact they are just repacked HK bootlegs. This gets me annoyed cause here there's no chance for you to get original anime unless you import region 1s from the US which will cost you a bomb for a single DVD. Are these copies that the shops are selling off as "originals" really illegal?

Then last weekend i was down at Singapore, i was amazed at the wide selection of anime they had. They were all at affordable prices, and they seem to be locally licensed by this brand called ODEX. They don't really have the cool stuff they package in region 1 like t-shirts, box sets etc. They come in some cheap-a** plastic boxes and they're all the same save the box-art. My question is, is this ODEX company a LEGAL licensor and distributor of anime that actually pays royalties to the anime creators? Cause if they did, it seems any anime under the sun is licensed by them. Won't this cost them a bomb? Even in US, different companies license different titles, and considering the cost they charge for a DVD, the licensing MUST be expensive, right?

[Renato]

Ok, 1st off let me say that I'm from Malaysia and there's no anime licensors for this country but there are stores that sell anime as "originals" approved by the government when in fact they are just repacked HK bootlegs. This gets me annoyed cause here there's no chance for you to get original anime unless you import region 1s from the US which will cost you a bomb for a single DVD.  Are these copies that the shops are selling off as "originals" really illegal?

Then last weekend i was down at Singapore, i was amazed at the wide selection of anime they had. They were all at affordable prices, and they seem to be locally licensed by this brand called ODEX. They don't really have the cool stuff they package in region 1 like t-shirts, box sets etc. They come in some cheap-a** plastic boxes and they're all the same save the box-art. My question is, is this ODEX company a LEGAL licensor and distributor of anime that actually pays royalties to the anime creators? Cause if they did, it seems any anime under the sun is licensed by them. Won't this cost them a bomb? Even in US, different companies license different titles, and considering the cost they charge for a DVD, the licensing MUST be expensive, right?

375165[/snapback]

Not necessarily. From what I know of the situation in Australia, Madman has pretty much a monopoly on the entire market.

[wolfx]

Yes...australia too. But you realise Madman stuff are basically just repackaged ADV/MangaEnt. stuff. And thus the prices for those DVDs are around the same price as the US region 1s. These anime DVDs here in m'sia and s'pore are dubious ones though.

[Wes]

It depends on the Japanese companies. Supposively they don't even think of export revenue when they're making a series, so they charge whatever they think they can get. I don't think it's even alot in the US unless there's a bidding war, so there can be alot of profit in it if you put out a hit. If you're from a small country, I doubt they have any expectation to make alot of money.

[the white drew carey]

Wes has hit on a point here. Licensing is a multi-tiered procedure and what a one company in the U.S. has to pay for a license will be completely different from a company in France or Singapore.

Licensing is all about wheeling and dealing.

So, if ODEX is a legit company and they do license a bunch of titles, maybe they are able to to bargain for these licences on the premise that, possibly being the only company in Singapore actually willing to pay a licensing fee, the original producers can either make a deal with them, or not get any money out of the rampant bootleggers.

[JsARCLIGHT]

A quick cursory glance around the internet seems to point to ODEX being a legit licensee of anime for SEA. It also seems their licenses are directly influenced by the North American market as I saw a few stories claiming ODEX's releases are limited in scope due to prior license agreements the original anime producers have with R1 houses.

[azrael]

ODEX probably gets a bulk licensing agreement from US companies.

Licensing anime ranges from the hundred thousand mark to the millions. And it depends on a lot of things. Popularity, demographics, sub-licensing, etc. US companies try to go for profitable series. If a series is not deemed profitable, then most companies will avoid it like a plague. Let's pick on "Kodoma no Omocha". For the longest time, that series was not licensed. It was popular, so that means that Japanese companies have an advantage in requesting how much they want for the license. The series ran for 102 episodes. That's production costs there. At 4-5 episodes/DVD that's still 20+ DVDs to produce for the series domestically. That really cuts into costs. But eventually, it got released but only after years of waiting, almost 10 years.

[Spatula]

I remember getting my first few anime series (very old ones...like Kenshin, Gundam X... and a few others) in these "original" boxes which had the Malay import sticker declaring them as "Japanese Cartoons". My cousin finished these VCDs up, so I watched some of them. *CRAPPY* quality control, and most were subbed in Cantonese, so that didn't help.

Heh

Keranamu Malaysia, I can't proper anime there....lol

Even here in Canada, I still refuse to buy anime unless they're selling it like dirt cheap *and the orginal original*....

[wolfx]

Spatula, you malaysian? Didn't know that.

Well in any case, perhaps ODEX is legit, but gosh a whole shop filled with anime licensed by ODEX makes you think, why does US have to pick their anime whereas s'pore just grabs them all? And they're heck of alot cheaper too, although they come in generic looking crappy plastic boxes.

This is probably a stupid question: but when a US company picks up an anime title, they're picking up international distribution rights? Is this true? This was something i vaguely understood from the HG Licensing thread in regards to Macross.

[wolfx]

ODEX probably gets a bulk licensing agreement from US companies.

Why do they get it from US? Don't they get it from the producers in Japan?

[azrael]

This is probably a stupid question: but when a US company picks up an anime title, they're picking up international distribution rights? Is this true? This was something i vaguely understood from the HG Licensing thread in regards to Macross.

Depends. They could get international rights or they could not. It's one of those things that is spelled out in the contracts.

Why do they get it from US? Don't they get it from the producers in Japan?

It might be cheaper and less hassle getting it from the US than directly from the Japanese. If they get it from the Japanese, they would have to go through all the mess that US companies go through. It might not be profitable at that point. And since most US companies get most of what is needed, why itemize what you want and just get a packaged deal.

[Spatula]

Spatula, you malaysian? Didn't know that.

375253[/snapback]

Born there, raised here.

TUAN TUAN DAN PUAN PUAN, SELAMAT DATANG!

Edited March 1, 2006 by Spatula

[ComicKaze]

Ok, 1st off let me say that I'm from Malaysia and there's no anime licensors for this country but there are stores that sell anime as "originals" approved by the government when in fact they are just repacked HK bootlegs. This gets me annoyed cause here there's no chance for you to get original anime unless you import region 1s from the US which will cost you a bomb for a single DVD.  Are these copies that the shops are selling off as "originals" really illegal?

Then last weekend i was down at Singapore, i was amazed at the wide selection of anime they had. They were all at affordable prices, and they seem to be locally licensed by this brand called ODEX. They don't really have the cool stuff they package in region 1 like t-shirts, box sets etc. They come in some cheap-a** plastic boxes and they're all the same save the box-art. My question is, is this ODEX company a LEGAL licensor and distributor of anime that actually pays royalties to the anime creators? Cause if they did, it seems any anime under the sun is licensed by them. Won't this cost them a bomb? Even in US, different companies license different titles, and considering the cost they charge for a DVD, the licensing MUST be expensive, right?

375165[/snapback]

I would say that outside of shopping in Japan where 90% of the stuff is legit. Anywhere else in Asia, the opposite is true.

[Spatula]

As well, anime in Japan isn't really cheap. I remember seeing the first DVD of GITS: SAC with episodes 1-4 (subtitled only in Japanese and Chinese with Japanese dialogu) for about 4500 yen at the HMV in Ikebukuro. This would be about 3 years ago. It's probably now down a few yen, but still.

[JB0]

Ok, 1st off let me say that I'm from Malaysia ... Are these copies that the shops are selling off as "originals" really illegal?

You would be in a better situation to know that than most of us.

I have no clue whatsoever how Malaysian copyright law works, or if it even exists.

I know in many countries it's impossible for a foreign entity to get a copyright. In such a case the bootlegs would be illegal.

Many others legally acknowledge foreign copyrights, but do nothing for enforcement, making them illegal in writing only.

[Spatula]

Malaysian copyright law

375370[/snapback]

That's just too funny.

Edited March 2, 2006 by Spatula

[rikiryou]

Lol last time I went back to Malaysia, which was last year, I saw those HKDVDs slapped with ORIGINAL! CERTIFIED BY THE GOVERNMENT etc. stickers all over them, and this has been the case since the previous time I was there around 1999 (up to that point I lived in the country). I suppose the system works by someone paying the authority, and they get the OK sticker without a proper check (if any at all), particularly when it comes to anime. Mangas and comics even get pirated, too, it's hilarious.

Anyhow, I don't think ODEX actually goes through the US counterparts and gets sublicences in most cases, some of you might've known of ODEX's existence from some time back. They had certain releases in the market before the US even had them licenced, e.g. Boys Be... which, if I recall correctly, was released by ODEX early 2000-ish. I think ODEX is able to get away with cheaper releases as they keep them nice and simple; without dubs. Hence probably why they might look fake with the packagings. Speaking of which, I haven't seen one of their packagings before, are they gatefolds?

Legit HK anime DVDs and VCDs are actually quite cheap, too. Let's not forget that certain anime DVDs in Malaysia are legit, wolfx. The most recent probably being Naruto, but too bad such releases lack subtitles and you have to suffer with the horrid dub, or watch the Japanese audiotrack not knowing what's going on.

As for Madman, man, I think they're really making a killing. I mean, they're just repackaging the stuff, changing the format to PAL, and perhaps mess with the menus. (I'm not sure if that's about the same case with the UK market though. Do they have the same procedure going?) They charge Au$30 to 40 a single DVD, quite ridiculous, really.

You even have to wait quite a while sometimes for certain stuff, particularly older ones, to release. Might as well find a good R1 site and get a good deal, it works out the same, and even cheaper in a lot of cases, less the wait.

It's interesting to point out that some anime releases are actually by other companies here, but that's a very very very tiny portion. I think it was Now & Then, Here & There which I saw, and it was selling at a really cheap price as opposed to what you might find with the same amount of DVDs in a boxset distributed by Madman. Hmm, I wonder if more competition here might make the prices a bit more balanced and fair.

Edited March 2, 2006 by rikiryou

[Panon]

Just to clear it up, Odex are legitimate, and they do not sub-license titles from the US.

The reason for their comparitive cheapness is simple, they're not America. Smaller market, small licensing fees.

I think ODEX is able to get away with cheaper releases as they keep them nice and simple; without dubs.

Odex releases do have dubs, just not English dubs.

[wolfx]

Legit HK anime DVDs and VCDs are actually quite cheap, too. Let's not forget that certain anime DVDs in Malaysia are legit, wolfx. The most recent probably being Naruto, but too bad such releases lack subtitles and you have to suffer with the horrid dub, or watch the Japanese audiotrack not knowing what's going on.

375407[/snapback]

Really? So Naruto is really licensed by someone in Malaysia? Well i'm not interested in Naruto thus not really informed about it.

I guess they may be malay dubs then....horrid horrid malay dubs. Funny fact about Malaysian dubbed anime. Seems like every show from Doraemon to Sakura Taisen and Naruto have the same 3-4 voice actors.

[Spatula]

Watching Gundam W in Malay was hilarious, to laugh at, that is.

It's just weird.

[rikiryou]

There's Gundam W in BM? Didn't know that O_o. When was this? I know they were showing Gundam SEED last year though, and that was awful stuff, too. Dubbing Ultraman and Kamen Rider's also pretty funny, they should just leave them and sub the stuff.

Ah, Odex stuff has dubs? Didn't know that. Is this a recent thing? Can't really imagine Singaporean Chinese dubs. Or are they dubs taken from Taiwanese and/or Cantonese releases?

[Spatula]

Yeah Gundam W in Bahasa Malay. This was perhaps last Sept when I made a trip home (KL) then to NYC for a week. LOL, I'm surprised that the opening theme Just Communication wasn't altered. I've seen the entire series here in Canada dubbed in English thanks to YTV like ...what 6 years ago?

Along with that....stuff like Star Ocean EX or something like that.