Dropping Slayers Revolution

[LazerWulf]

You guys are acting like FUNimation, if it acquires the title, which it probably will if it hasn't officially done it yet, will butcher the series once they dub it. I disagree. FUNimation is one of the better dubbers out there. They did FullMetal Alchemist, and they rescued One Piece from 4Kids.

So, quit being whiny bitches now that you have to wait and pay for this series. It was bound to happen eventually.

[MogMoogle]

I heard they saved the Shakugan no Shana series after Geneon pulled out of the US market, so I'm grateful for them in doing that, so I can't say I hate them. We'll just have to wait, and with the anime business growing and becoming more popular throughout the world these days, pretty much any anime will be released eventually.

[Gabe]

DVD release? I don't expect it in 1 or 2 years... :-(

[OldSchooler]

Thanks for subbing the few episodes, I enjoyed it quite a lot. Probably have to wait for sometime for the DVDs but it should be worth it. Meanwhile by dropping Slayer's, you guys can concentrate on other projects. It is not really that much of a bad day I guess.

[Zenzen]

Well what can i say... Thank North America, now cuz of you Europe is screwed too! Nah just joking of course.

Anyway thanks for subbing it for us, you did a quality job as always.

Btw. I don't think FUNimation is smart enough to sell anime via the internet? I mean something like with mp3s, you pay for 1 mp3 and download it, you dont have to buy the whole album and the cd. It's sad that the shipping+22%tax (for my country at least) will make the DVD at least 50% more expensive :<

[Ura]

well this sucks ... i live in Poland and we NEVER get any dvd releases to buy here -.-

[twk3]

FUNimation is slowly moving towards online sales. They have their own youtube chan where you get to watch their old stuff for free (original slayers)

And they have started allowing you to subscribe to anime chapters on your phone. You can rent the stuff on netflix. It's only a matter of time.

[AoyamaMotoko]

as far as I've researched (and please prove me wrong if I am--I'll be satisfied then), they don't have the license to Revolution.  It seems little more than scare tactics.  Can someone shed some light on this?

While they don't have a distribution license, the creators of the show contracted them to act as their legal representatives for North America and enforce their copyright in this region.

Remember, even if there is no distributor for a region, copyright is a global (at least for those countries that follow the Berne Convention) right and fansubbing is indeed copyright infringement.

When it was very niche, most of the companies tolerated it because it either helped as advertising or they just didn't have the money to pursue action. Plus, it wasn't a commercial activity. With digital distribution, fansubs are now encroaching on their own local market (and helping with the production of bootlegs in the region), so it isn't surprising that there would eventually be these types of actions.

This is why we encourage all fans of a show to buy official copies of it. As fans, you should buy the Region 2 (Japanese) releases or the local region licensed edition. It encourages the creators to make more shows and shows them that fansubs don't hurt their profit as much as they might worry it would.


I have no problem stating that I have bought many series (local licenses, I don't have the money to pay for shipping on the original materials) because I liked it so much as a fansub. I have quite a few things on my list waiting for when I can budget them in.

[LinuxUserNyaneechuan]

You guys are acting like FUNimation, if it acquires the title, which it probably will if it hasn't officially done it yet, will butcher the series once they dub it. I disagree. FUNimation is one of the better dubbers out there. They did FullMetal Alchemist, and they rescued One Piece from 4Kids.

So, quit being whiny bitches now that you have to wait and pay for this series. It was bound to happen eventually.

That's very true, I hope they can pull it off like in the FMA. But still, fansubs, most of the time are better than the commercial subbed version(if they do crappy dubbing, watch with subs instead which I usually do). They do karaoke, explain trivial matters(which the commercial one doesn't do, yet) and fast releases like what ss-eclipse does ~_^.

About their business? I don't see any future in this. In the long run, copyright holders that are clinging into intellectual property rights will loose. Specially when US looses it's seat to the throne. I don't think any country has the balls to enforce what they want in other countries to make their market larger. Such bullshit such as intellectual property rights and copyright laws is a testament to this. They're fighting a loosing battle. Microsoft putting DRM(digital rights management) on copies of Vistas so they can limit what we can do with our computers. Antivirus scanners, scanning for cracks and illegal content. Who would want to install such bullcrap. I wouldn't, Vista's eye candy isn't worth the $, because its buggy, has high system requirements, and of course DRM. Such desperation from Microsoft, poor they, if people only would want such crap as the once they're clinging on(copyright law), maybe they wouldn't have to enforce such cruel and unfair rules. But reality is reality, they do charge unreasonably high and that's why some(maybe most) people dislike them. When Microsoft kicks the bucket, it's over for the rest of the corporations clinging into these rules.

Thanks for subbing SS-Eclipse, that was fun!

[acer1]

While they don't have a distribution license, ...  I have quite a few things on my list waiting for when I can budget them in.

I agree.  When news of Slayers Revolution came out I did my best to find the best price and bought seasons 1-3 by Funimation which for the longest time I was waiting for their stuff to come out anyway.  $20 - $25 per season made it a worth it deal.  Shows like Ah My Goddess 1 season for $100 is unaffordable.  Same when Gundam Wing came out which was like $200 for all 52 episodes.  Now for $30 per collection box, it was worth it.

HOWEVER.  We have to wait and wait and wait an.. it's just bullshit.  Funi hasn't acquired the license?  So we have to wait YEARS before it comes out?  And this does no good for the fans of the show.  We can watch fansubs and then buy the series since fansubs leave so many mistakes left unfixed.  Names and whatnot.  And since so much time has past by it's like watching it again for the first time.  We want to watch our shows today and be able to purchase 2 years later at a decent price.  Provided the distributor doesn't butcher the video or mess up the subtitles at all.

This is all messed up since anime isn't broadcast the same way in all countries.  Japan gets TV broadcasts for all anime and we get barely anything over here.  So we have to wait for DVD's to come out. 

Oh and it's all dubbed for broadcasts & online sites.  iTunes, youtube.. ect.  Why only the dubbed version?  It just goes to show that appeasing die-hard fans and the general public are two distinct groups with us in the minority.  Plus online video quality is a joke compared to DVD's no one should waste money on it. 

So our only option still is fansubs + DVD's.  Now if they could do us a favor and release these very delayed shows in boxsets instead of single volumn DVD releases then that would be nice too.  9 eps for Code Geass, Bandai? Um nice, but.. wtf?  *sigh*  How much longer til the full box set comes out?  God I am so sick and tired of waiting.

Now since folks like us are in the minority, how are we a money albatross to them?  That I just don't get at all.  We want to watch the show just like the folks in Japan do.  We ask too much I imagine.

One other point is that this doesn't stop Funimation's DVD's for being ripped and placed on the Pirate Bay like everything else.  It's like this little gap in-between they are trying to protect.  I just don't get it.  It stops nothing.

As for fansub groups, one major eyesore I've seen is them acting like production companies themselves as if they were the real US license distributor of that anime.  That and how donations are handled but that's something I don't want to discuss here. One solution is to get rid of fansub group websites and just have 3rd party affiliates like Anime-Suki to discuss the group & anime.  That way the fansub group is non-approachable by anyone and can do what they do best and enjoy making fansubs for their fans.  In addition to not having to deal with posts about when this or that is going to be released as well.  Heh

So it sucks that SS-Eclipse cannot sub the show but hopefully Motionless-Overshadow Subs can take over for eps 7-26 (Closed IRC release, Anon BT releases). *grin*

[Jeffehz]

Slayers was the first non-mecha I ever watched, and started my love and adoration for Megumi, I have all the current DVDs for Slayers. While I will get Slayers Revolution DVD when it comes out, I am still extremely disappointed. While Funimation had always done a decent job with the Slayers series, Lisa Ortiz is no Megumi. I wish Funimation could have lasted a little longer with going ahead with Slayers Revolution, I would have had enough time to enjoy the anime before time came to dub it. In general, I hate it when companies take an anime which are not even halfway through and go ahead and dub it so the fans can't see it in the preferred format; subbed.

[acer1]

Slayers was the first non-mecha I ever watched, and started my love and adoration for Megumi, I have all the current DVDs for Slayers. While I will get Slayers Revolution DVD when it comes out, I am still extremely disappointed. While Funimation had always done a decent job with the Slayers series, Lisa Ortiz is no Megumi. I wish Funimation could have lasted a little longer with going ahead with Slayers Revolution, I would have had enough time to enjoy the anime before time came to dub it. In general, I hate it when companies take an anime which are not even halfway through and go ahead and dub it so the fans can't see it in the preferred format; subbed.

Well no, the whole point here is no one is allowed to sub it, and Funimation doesn't own the license to release the DVD's.  So lets just pretend that Slayers Revolution doesn't exist until Funimation or whoever licenses it tells us that it does....

In two years.

[Jeffehz]

Well no, the whole point here is no one is allowed to sub it, and Funimation doesn't own the license to release the DVD's.  So lets just pretend that Slayers Revolution doesn't exist until Funimation or whoever licenses it tells us that it does....

In two years.

You might want to read that a little closer, like the entire post. I never once refuted that it would be subbed, or hinted at that I didn't understand what was going on. My complaint that we won't be able to watch subbed releases, that is proof of that I understood what was going on. FUNimation will license Slayers Revolution, they have licensed every Slayers season up to date. It won't take a long time, FUNimation has always released their Slayers DVD within the same year.

[Sadded fan]

I'm extremely saddened by this news... I have been a fan of slayers since it first came out... now, I probably have to wait 2 years before it gets released and another year before it reach my country...

Perhaps there is a way where you guys can, instead of making the fansubs, post the translation here and we the fans can make the fansubs by ourselves for our own selves...

[twk3]

@Sadded fan - while that would be a possibility, I think you have misunderstood our statement. We could do that if the reason we dropped was because we feared legal action. That is not the case, Eclipse was in charge of distro, and Eclipse has made it clear in the past that they do not care about threats.

We are dropping the series to comply with the C&D because FUNimation is not an enemy, we want to promote the industry in North America, and we also want to make a good name for fansubbers. We hope for the day when FUNimation and other companies don't even give us a chance to sub before they release because they are releasing same day.

We also want to set a high quality standard in subs, one that the industry will move towards.