Do you think Viz secretly has the rights to the old dubs?

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sapphire91

Stella Nova
Jul 6, 2018
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#21
Everyone is moving towards blu-ray and ideally DVD would already be a thing of the past entirely but on their current website DVD still drastically outnumbers their blu-ray releases from what I saw of their catalog. A lot of anime fans who do care about because they are AV nerds do nothing but pick apart Blu-ray releases like Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z and say the DVD releases are superior anyway. A lot of Blu-rays have only recently come out or are just now coming out in Japan. I personally find it hard to believe that a product that already exists with demand for it is really that difficult to deliver on but thats just my personal opinion. If Viz cared about the fans they would put out a survey or something but the problem is they don't care. They don't want to know what fans want they just want to force shoddy products at us because we don't have any other options.
The fact few people want it doesn't mean most fans do. It has been so many years people hating and bashing on it everywhere. Most fans from what I'e seen through the years hate the old dub guts so i is normal for VIZ to think of that as bad investment. Plus Toei/ Naoko/ Kodansha might never approve the dub to be re-released, considering the fact they wanted some control over the production of the new dub and Kodansha translating the manga as faithfully as possible. Because this what most people want.Instead of lamenting that, a way more important thing is to press them release the show with an actual video quality on point with the rest of the world and not a muddy mess.
 

blondibear_17

Lumen Cinererum
Mar 3, 2017
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#22
The fact few people want it doesn't mean most fans do. It has been so many years people hating and bashing on it everywhere. Most fans from what I'e seen through the years hate the old dub guts so i is normal for VIZ to think of that as bad investment. Plus Toei/ Naoko/ Kodansha might never approve the dub to be re-released, considering the fact they wanted some control over the production of the new dub and Kodansha translating the manga as faithfully as possible. Because this what most people want.Instead of lamenting that, a way more important thing is to press them release the show with an actual video quality on point with the rest of the world and not a muddy mess.
I feel at this point it's redundant to argue about who wants what because I personally feel that many people want the Dic dub but numbers are a whole other thing we can't know because there is no product out there that we can measure that by. Hell I think people would be happy if they even had the opportunity to stream it or purchase it digitally but thats not an option either. I personally have been well over the idea that Viz would ever put out the product which is why I got over it and purchased both the old releases and bootlegs what I spent on that was a hell of a lot more than what I would have spent if Viz had made it available. It's still being brought up because a lot of people do actually still want it. I mean I guess I can't be too surprised if this is too much trouble for Viz because the fact of the matter is they can't even get their own release right.
 
Oct 11, 2003
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#23
I feel at this point it's redundant to argue about who wants what because I personally feel that many people want the Dic dub but numbers are a whole other thing we can't know because there is no product out there that we can measure that by. Hell I think people would be happy if they even had the opportunity to stream it or purchase it digitally but thats not an option either. I personally have been well over the idea that Viz would ever put out the product which is why I got over it and purchased both the old releases and bootlegs what I spent on that was a hell of a lot more than what I would have spent if Viz had made it available. It's still being brought up because a lot of people do actually still want it. I mean I guess I can't be too surprised if this is too much trouble for Viz because the fact of the matter is they can't even get their own release right.
Assumptions / personal feelings / observations of what you think seem to be the case based on Ebay auctions / Bootleg sites is irrelevant.

Viz as a big company cares about cold hard sales units simple as that.

Qualitative evidence does not make a business case for a company as large as Viz to do something - get a petition with 10,000 signatures and you have qualitative evidence to present to Viz.
 

sapphire91

Stella Nova
Jul 6, 2018
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#24
You are right, there is no official data and we are just speculating. I believe that if the dub was uncut, just censured it could have been added as a bonus or something. But this is not the case for the first two season. Probably like a lot of people mentioned the masters and materials needed for it to be released separatly are just not or partially available. Viz couldn't produce a decent upscale of the show, so i really doubt they could pull of a recreation of the footage used in the past. Plus the have every right to assuke not a lot of people want it as people have begged and petitioned for the show to get new dub and uncut release true to the original version.
 

JayD22460

Aurorae Lunares
Dec 20, 2011
1,398
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New York
#25
Get a change.org petition with 10,000 signatures + - 20,000/30,000 is better then you might persuade Viz thats its worth spending their time on it.
If you definitely believe there is a market for it - go make a change.org petition and get the 20,000 / 30,000 signatures - if you can do that you might be able to make a case to Viz to spend the time / money on doing a release...till then all available evidence says it ain't happening
Like I said if you want to prove to Viz that it's worth them spending time / people hours on re-releasing the dubs start a change.org petition with a few thousand unique signups and then maybe you might get somewhere.
Like I said if you're thant convinced that there is a market for it - start a change.org petition and get signatures. Get enough and Viz might start taking notice / do a kickstarter perhaps ?
That's why I said - if you want to convince Viz there is a SUFFICIENT market for them to work on the release make a petition.
Qualitative evidence does not make a business case for a company as large as Viz to do something - get a petition with 10,000 signatures and you have qualitative evidence to present to Viz.
Guys, I think he wants us to start a Change.org petition. :mudkip: You've mentioned this in every single post of yours in this thread lmao.

Here's the thing: it would be great to see the old dub re-released, and I think Viz is within their legal rights to do so. But they clearly cannot do this right now, or they don't want to, or a combination of both, for a variety of reasons. That's basically what you're saying, but less condescending.

Seriously, I understand that it's frustrating because it seems like people aren't listening to you, I mean right after your first post it was like the next user didn't read anything you wrote and that sucks -- but when you start off with "oh God please let this topic die" and passive-aggressively *sigh*-ing in your posts, it makes it seem like you just want to preach to the crowd instead of have an actual discussion. The constant repetition of your talking points adds to this, as does the rather obnoxious name-dropping as if we all know who/what you're talking about. Yes, many of us are aware you work in the industry, but name-dropping a "Justin" before linking to the Answerman blog is just kind of rude and it really takes away any relatable or down-to-earth feelings from your posts on this topic. You've taken on this condescending air of conversation before, in public and private conversations alike, and it makes it difficult to engage with you on all sorts of topics.

You're not saying anything incorrect but come on, man.

Again I don't see why if fans want the old dub so bad, why they just don't get a bootleg. That is what we fans of the original version had to do before the Viz dub so they should do no different.
I'm fine with downloads or a bootleg, but I'm also a collector (of both Sailor Moon and anime in general), so it would be nice to have an official old dub product that won't cost me an arm and a leg for collecting purposes. Japanese Blu-rays are already costing me an arm and a leg, lmao.
 
Likes: Memento

Memento

Stella Nova
Mar 8, 2012
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#26
I mean... Do change.org petitions ever even do anything? I find it doubtful that companies really pay attention to them. Viz knows there's demand/interest for a re-release of the old dub. They get plenty of tweets, comments on their FB page, and questions at panels and in interviews about it. For whatever reason, it's not something they're pursuing at the moment. I don't really care; I already have the original dub on DVD, I'm not interested in giving Viz any of my money, and it's not like the original dub cast would get residuals from a re-release anyway. However, again, there's really no need for Viz to spend lots of money on recreating the old dub, remastering it, and/or putting out a DVD/BD release. They could just grab some DVD-rips for the DIC dub (and rip the audio from the DVDs for the movies and the S & SS dubs and apply them to the remastered footage which they could easily do in a week) and put them up for streaming. People would much rather watch the old dub on a reliable, official streaming site than on sketchier sites where the episodes might not stay up, or be in really low resolution, or where they might risk getting viruses or being inundated with pop-up ads. Since Viz goes around taking down old dub clips anyway, I don't see why they shouldn't put the old dub up on Hulu/Neon Alley/whatever themselves. They'd get a lot of publicity out of it, it would drive traffic away from illegal/unofficial streaming, and they'd make ad money off it.
 
Likes: blondibear_17
Oct 11, 2003
550
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#27
Guys, I think he wants us to start a Change.org petition. :mudkip: You've mentioned this in every single post of yours in this thread lmao.

Here's the thing: it would be great to see the old dub re-released, and I think Viz is within their legal rights to do so. But they clearly cannot do this right now, or they don't want to, or a combination of both, for a variety of reasons. That's basically what you're saying, but less condescending.

Seriously, I understand that it's frustrating because it seems like people aren't listening to you, I mean right after your first post it was like the next user didn't read anything you wrote and that sucks -- but when you start off with "oh God please let this topic die" and passive-aggressively *sigh*-ing in your posts, it makes it seem like you just want to preach to the crowd instead of have an actual discussion. The constant repetition of your talking points adds to this, as does the rather obnoxious name-dropping as if we all know who/what you're talking about. Yes, many of us are aware you work in the industry, but name-dropping a "Justin" before linking to the Answerman blog is just kind of rude and it really takes away any relatable or down-to-earth feelings from your posts on this topic. You've taken on this condescending air of conversation before, in public and private conversations alike, and it makes it difficult to engage with you on all sorts of topics.

You're not saying anything incorrect but come on, man.



I'm fine with downloads or a bootleg, but I'm also a collector (of both Sailor Moon and anime in general), so it would be nice to have an official old dub product that won't cost me an arm and a leg for collecting purposes. Japanese Blu-rays are already costing me an arm and a leg, lmao.
I wouldn't exactly call Justin Sevakis a minor figure in the industry / an unknown - he did found Animenewsnetwork and he's responsible for putting out a lot of official licenses products and writing the Answerman column

Yes I am grouchy when it comes to this particular topic as it just keeps on coming up again and again but nobody seems to take any affirmative action about it.

If people want the old dub to be released so badly then go and prove it to Viz with hard numbers. Comments on FB / Twitter / questions at conventions doesn't prove a thing / is not an indicator of actual sales. It might not seem like it but I'm sure it would take at least $30,000 - $50,000 of capital to re-release the old dub on disc not to mention the approvals process that they have to go through and Viz aren't just going to spend that time and money without any reason.

The best you can hope for is to get Viz to run a kickstarter to raise the funds needed to re-release it. If they know they have backing then they're more likely to go and do it.

EDIT - OK here you go -> Sign the Petition

Lets see how many signatures it gets :) ( Not that I'm personally interested in having a copy of the dub but hey ho I'm interested to see if this can get any traction )
 
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Memento

Stella Nova
Mar 8, 2012
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#29
Exclusive Interview: Viz Media's Charlene Ingram and Josh Lopez on Sailor Moon

Seems like I mis-remembered what they said a bit ^_^'

Speaking of that, based on this announcement, you don't have the DIC dub, you don't have the old syndicated television version of the show and it will not be made available at least through you, correct?
Charlene: It's just not available.

So what you're saying is, "please don't ask us about it ever again"?

Josh: (laugh) There's absolutely nothing wrong with a comparison to the old dub or to what DIC put out, especially because that's what some people can recall loving about the title and that's just fine. We're not trying to just do things different from them, what we're trying to do is make something that pays honor and respect to the original version of this, and that means we're offering everything to fans this time. It's not going to be censored, we're not going to hold back any episodes or seasons, you're getting everything.

Charlene: That's the thing, the original dub cut and spliced episodes together, shortening them, changing genders, changing relationships, changing a lot of stuff. There were complete episodes never shown before. So this will be the first time all 200 will be fully intact.
It's possible they said something more to the effect of what I was remembering in a different interview, but this is all I could find at the moment. "It's just not available" could mean they don't have the license, it could mean the materials aren't available/complete, it could mean anything. Re-reading this interview, my main takeaways are 1) Josh and Charlene have horrible grammar, and 2) There's something really condescending/irksome about they way they speak about the old dub.
 
Sep 6, 2014
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#33
I’m hesitant to say that would have been a good idea giving the low quality of the old S/SS dubs (and yet somehow still better then Viz when compared directly) they definitely should have included the old Optimum track as an option for the release of the movies.



It’s a shame we couldn’t have just gotten the old cast to redub the show. Even if they used the old dic/cloverway scripts as a basis for the English dub.
 
Sep 11, 2014
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#34
How can they do that if the old dub is cut and has not just whole scenes but several skipped and merged episodes?
They could easily include the original dub tracks for the movies, S, and SuperS since those were uncut. The first two seasons would need a separate release, though.
^ Yeah the first two seasons would be more difficult, but they could totally release the later 2 seasons with east
 

sapphire91

Stella Nova
Jul 6, 2018
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#35
Well, I'm not a native speaker and still I start to get worried about my sanity. Viz dub is not perfect, no dub is, but to say Cloverway dub is better is something that has never come to my mind... Linda Balentine used to be a fuel for my nightmares the second I heard her and until now I thought there is not a person in this world who would find this voice normal, fitting or better for Usagi. The old dub of Sailor Moon was the reason for me to avoid watching anime with English dub for near a decade and I'm surprised there are people who find it better than Viz new dub, which I find serviceable, Nostalgia is a very strong phenomenon...
 

blondibear_17

Lumen Cinererum
Mar 3, 2017
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#36
Well, I'm not a native speaker and still I start to get worried about my sanity. Viz dub is not perfect, no dub is, but to say Cloverway dub is better is something that has never come to my mind... Linda Balentine used to be a fuel for my nightmares the second I heard her and until now I thought there is not a person in this world who would find this voice normal, fitting or better for Usagi. The old dub of Sailor Moon was the reason for me to avoid watching anime with English dub for near a decade and I'm surprised there are people who find it better than Viz new dub, which I find serviceable, Nostalgia is a very strong phenomenon...
When the CWI dub is at it's worst its the worst but some of the casting I think was more fitting than Viz.
 
Sep 6, 2014
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#37
Well, I'm not a native speaker and still I start to get worried about my sanity. Viz dub is not perfect, no dub is, but to say Cloverway dub is better is something that has never come to my mind... Linda Balentine used to be a fuel for my nightmares the second I heard her and until now I thought there is not a person in this world who would find this voice normal, fitting or better for Usagi. The old dub of Sailor Moon was the reason for me to avoid watching anime with English dub for near a decade and I'm surprised there are people who find it better than Viz new dub, which I find serviceable, Nostalgia is a very strong phenomenon...
It has nothing to do with nostalgia so drop it. I stated quite clearly the cwi dub was poor quality. It’s still at its best (mid-S to SuperS) better than Viz (which has done little to improve)


^Here’s an example. I’m not fond of Pluto’s valley girl voice and Linda still isn’t Tracey or Terri but it still sound like a professional product

Viz still sounds like it was put together by a group of fans in their basement
 

sapphire91

Stella Nova
Jul 6, 2018
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#38
I try but still cannot understand what do you mean - Pluto's Cloverway voice sounds like a fan to me, Linda will never be taken seriously by me, Eudial voice is horrible. I cannot find anything wrong with the way Viz dub sounds. Sure it s not perfect, but no dub is. However for me Cloverway has been cringy, though some voices are ok - for minor characters mostly. Dic did a much better voice casting, while Viz only screwed Shingo and Naru for me, the rest of the cast is totally fine.
 

Memento

Stella Nova
Mar 8, 2012
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#39
Linda's voice is a little too deep, but she really grew on me. By the time of the episode in that clip LifeGaveMeLemons posted, I feel like she had settled into the part and made it her own. I think of the three voice actresses who played Serena in the original dub, Linda was the best at playing the dramatic scenes. If I were in charge of the redub, would I cast Linda to play Serena again? No... But if I were in charge of a new series or movie about Sailor Cosmos, Linda would absolutely be my first pick.