So by now many probably know about the whole Gundam 00 and Gurren Lagann licensing by Bandai Entertainment, and if not then they do now. If you go here you can see a page with two links to “Something Awesome” and “Something Incredible”, but unfortunately nothing to “Something Awful”. Great website that last one by the way. Anyways, Something Awesome takes you to the information on Gundam 00’s license and Something Incredible takes you to Gurren Laganns. I find the later particularly amusing because this is the second time ADV has had a popular series stolen out from under them, the last being Funimations quick move to snatch up the Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid license. This one was arguably even bolder though as ADV had already announced the license, then did nothing and now it’s in the hands of Bandai Entertainment. Of course Gundam 00 was a given and it was only a matter of time before it made it to North America, but the latter one is hilarious. Oh well, that’s what ADV get’s for slacking. Hopefully somebody will steal away some of their inactive Manga licenses from them (for the love of god not Tokyopop thouhg please, I like coherency in my graphic novels and not have to read into what the characters probably actually said), specifically Jinki Extend. One can only hope.
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I have to admit, I chuckled when Bandai got the license off ADV.
They’re seemingly being reasonable this time too with the GL DVDs. You just don’t get a dub though that’s not really a loss if it would have ended up anything like ADV’s trailer (I know I wouldn’t be able to handle men screaming GRAN LOGON in my face).
Bandai Visual’s the one that gouges and doesn’t give a dub. Bandai Entertainment is a North American company and not a branch so one can expect a dub. They are probably also going to try and get Gundam 00 and Gurren-Lagann on TV. I expect 00 on YTV Canada by the end of next year.
Bandai are really making moves and have some great properties. They got Code Geass, Lucky Star, Gundam 00 and Gurren Lagann getting prepped and the following year they will have Code Geass R2, Haruhi 2 and Gundam 00 Part 2.
Hmm, makes me wonder, how do you “steal” a title from another company? Do you make an offer earlier to the original license holder before the other company gets a chance, or was ADV outbid for the title?
Well you generally have to nullify the terms of a licence agreement either deliberately or by misuse in order to have it revoked so either they themselves dropped it or did something to have it taken away from them. I know historically that Dic broke the terms of it’s licence agreement for Sailor Moon with Toei and thus had it revoked. You might have noticed back in the day when suddenly the series stopped airing in it’s butched form partway through Sailor Moon R and then eventually was allowed to continue to the end before being handed off to a one shot company called Cloverway.
Of course the number of things you would have to do before Toei would revoke your licence starts at outright butchery of the product, a loss in profit margin and a difference in opinion on the course it should take in North America. Toei is infamous for doling out their licences to companies like 4Kids, the old Funimation and just about anybody regardless of misuse as long as they see a profit.
With Gainax, a company that would slam an online forum before caving into anyones demands, it could have been just about anything ADV did. A loss in confidence would do it following ADV’s apparent near bankruptcy a little while back.