About Licensing the other Gundam animes

[Mendou]

I'm pretty sure there are already other threads about this, but i'll ask anyway.

Also please forgive me if i'm not even making this topic in the right area.

Now then, i consider myself a pretty big Gundam fan( I'v seen quite a few, sadly only own The Zeta series, F91 and Chars counterattack)

I finished going through the Zeta series a second time and i must ask. Will ZZ Gundam EVER see the light of day in the states? Will it ever be dubbed and released on Region one DVD? I would really like to see what happens after the events of Zeta. I'v already seen the first 12 episodes of it. But i would like to hear it dubbed.

I would like to know if V Gundam, Gundam X and Turn A Gundam is getting dubbed as well.

Any facts or real info on any of this? Has Bandai announced that a ZZ license is or not in the works?

[Albireo_818]

*mind reading powers activate*
I predict this thread will soon be moved...to Anime and manga, possibly.

I dunno. I'm from Aust, and we only have WIng, and SEED and SEEd Destiny dubbed and released over here.

Anyway, i live in hope...

[mcred23]

And this thread shall be moved!

And to answer the question...

Will ZZ Gundam EVER see the light of day in the states?

Honestly, nobody can answer that. Currently, the odds are against it, but it might happen someday.

Will it ever be dubbed and released on Region one DVD?

If it comes out, it'll probably be Region One. Dubbing is another matter, it depends on what company would put it out. Bandai Visual, for example, doesn't dub the DVD's they put out (Like MS IGLOO). There are a number of factors with the fate of it being dubbed or not, and I'm probably not the best person to answer that part...

I would like to know if V Gundam, Gundam X and Turn A Gundam is getting dubbed as well.

All are likely in the same, or similar, situation as ZZ: Nobody really knows.

Any facts or real info on any of this? Has Bandai announced that a ZZ license is or not in the works?

I don't recall hearing anything about ZZ, or rather, anything from a reliable source; there are always BS things floating around on the internet.

[Yuusha Tokkyu Might Gaine]

Then again, ZZ was featured in a few Gundam games, and ZZ And Turn A was used in Dynasty Warriors Gundam.

[mcred23]

Then again, ZZ was featured in a few Gundam games, and ZZ And Turn A was used in Dynasty Warriors Gundam.

That is true, but I doubt the people in charge of bringing the animated series over pay much attention to whether or not that series had a few of it's mecha/characters show up in a few games over the course of the years (They're more interested in other things, like money related to licensing).

[Mendou]

And this thread shall be moved!

And to answer the question...

Will ZZ Gundam EVER see the light of day in the states?

Honestly, nobody can answer that. Currently, the odds are against it, but it might happen someday.

They might as well, they dubbed Zeta out of the blue. (which i'm glad they did of course)

I'm gonna be pissed if they decide to ignore all the ones i mentioned and License Gundam 00 once it finished it's run in Japan.

It looks alright, but can't compare to the classics.

[Chris]

Honestly, nobody can answer that. Currently, the odds are against it, but it might happen someday.

They might as well, they dubbed Zeta out of the blue. (which i'm glad they did of course)

I'm gonna be pissed if they decide to ignore all the ones i mentioned and License Gundam 00 once it finished it's run in Japan.

It looks alright, but can't compare to the classics.

At this point I really doubt it. Zeta was licensed way back in 2002, and the situation for Gundam in America was very different then. Also, I don't doubt that 00 will be licensed before old series do. When you say it "looks alright" it sounds like you haven't seen it, and if that's the case, you can't say it "can't compare to the classics," especially since it's not even over yet. You have to remember that Bandai is here to make money, not to appease a small group of Gundam fans. It may suck, but that's reality. Something brand new like 00 has an infinitely higher chance for success than something old and dated like ZZ or V.

[Kavik Ryx]

Strange enough as it seems, the Gundam fanbase is not as small as it seems, and I'm not in anyway referring to fans of Gundam Wing. The fans probably span a several times greater than members of this forum. Though people just assume that it is incredibly niche. If Ban Dai knew there was a sizable fanbase out there, old Gundam series would be flying in as we speak. I'm not saying to create a petition, but it never hurts to send a message to Ban Dai Ent regarding your concern. Address their promise, the fanbase that has been waiting dormant for more releases, and that it's just a good idea. And if you think it may work, tell someone else who agrees with you to do the same. As long as it's done civilized and not like a bunch of insane fanatics, customer feedback can work miracles.

[Chris]

Strange enough as it seems, the Gundam fanbase is not as small as it seems, and I'm not in anyway referring to fans of Gundam Wing. The fans probably span a several times greater than members of this forum. Though people just assume that it is incredibly niche. If Ban Dai knew there was a sizable fanbase out there, old Gundam series would be flying in as we speak.

Fans tend to overestimate how big groups are. For argument's sake, even if the American Gundam community is five or six times the size of Mecha Talk's active posters, that's still nowhere near enough to make it profitable for Bandai to release old series here. The old axiom of the American anime industry still rings true 100% - old things don't sell. There's a few exceptions for series that have nostalgia value like Voltron or Robotech, but Gundam doesn't have that here. I'm sure that if Bandai did some polling on how many people would actually buy old shows like ZZ, V, X and Turn A, it would be far lower than the industry profitability standard of 20,000 units sold of a DVD.

[Marcis]

I would like to add my question since i think it does belong to this topic:
What is wrong with MS Igloo? It is licensed, but large internet shops like amazon.com do not have it.
Has it been postponed or what?

[Chris]

I would like to add my question since i think it does belong to this topic:
What is wrong with MS Igloo? It is licensed, but large internet shops like amazon.com do not have it.
Has it been postponed or what?

Until it collapsed, Geneon was serving as Bandai Visual's distributor (before that it was Image Entertainment). Because Geneon is gone, BV has no distributor for brick-and-mortar stores or even most online stores. Right now, I think you can only buy things directly from BV's website, or from Right Stuf.

[Mark064]

Strange enough as it seems, the Gundam fanbase is not as small as it seems, and I'm not in anyway referring to fans of Gundam Wing. The fans probably span a several times greater than members of this forum. Though people just assume that it is incredibly niche. If Ban Dai knew there was a sizable fanbase out there, old Gundam series would be flying in as we speak. I'm not saying to create a petition, but it never hurts to send a message to Ban Dai Ent regarding your concern. Address their promise, the fanbase that has been waiting dormant for more releases, and that it's just a good idea. And if you think it may work, tell someone else who agrees with you to do the same. As long as it's done civilized and not like a bunch of insane fanatics, customer feedback can work miracles.

The problem is Gundam is varied greatly. It's not as simple as something like Nartuo or Cowboy Bebop. Even if the Gundam fanbase is half as big as you think it is how many are going to buy a specific release? So let's say the Gundam fanbase is 10,000 fans in North America as they are the important ones in this discussion. How many of those 10,000 fans would buy a specific series? Especially when that specific series is ZZ Gundam, Turn A, Victory or X. Not saying these are bad series but are the lower end of popularity. So how many people out of that 10,000 will buy the ENTIRE ZZ Gundam, Victory, X or Turn A? Not very many. Attempts to talk to Bandai about it won't help unless you get a ton of people, and quite frankly that is not going to happen. If you get some measly number like 100 you just show Bandai that they are right and it's a waste of money to release ZZ, Victory, X and Turn A. If you get 10,000 people to ask Bandai it's a different story.

[Mendou]

I see your point, i doubt the DVD sales of Zeta were very good. ZZ isn't even as good as Zeta so chances of it being a success are rather slim...

Oh what a cruel fate, while Seed and the fail that is Destiny are being dubbed. Classics are left behind.

[Quiddity]

Honestly, nobody can answer that. Currently, the odds are against it, but it might happen someday.

They might as well, they dubbed Zeta out of the blue. (which i'm glad they did of course)

I'm gonna be pissed if they decide to ignore all the ones i mentioned and License Gundam 00 once it finished it's run in Japan.

It looks alright, but can't compare to the classics.

Well they didn't just dub Zeta out of the blue. Bandai officially announced that it was going to air on CN, which of course never ended up happening (and what was it, 2 years after that announcement when it finally came out? ) Had they known in advance that it'd never air on TV, it may not have been dubbed, or heck, maybe not even released at all! Sure happy they dubbed it though, as it turned out to be a really good one, even if there wasn't continuity with MSG and CCA.

As long as there are new Gundam series for Bandai to release here, I can't see any of the other stuff coming out. Why release a show from 1986 when you got one that was just made? Perhaps if we get a stretch of a few years with nothing new from Japan we might have a better chance. And when I say better I mean maybe 30% instead of 5%. Unfortunate that one has to be so negative, but after the disastrous mistakes CN made with Gundam Seed, it's been all downhill with Gundam here in the US

[Leroy Landers]

I doubt we'll see any of the older Gundam series anytime soon due to low sales, and it's not just stuff like Gundam that is suffering from low sales the whole industry is. Since you can get almost any anime for free these days who is gonna pay for them? Why buy when you can get it for free? Look at what happened to Geneon the whole anime industry is being torrented into oblivion. I even have doubts if 00 will get released and I really hope if it does that Bandai Ent. will get ahold of it instead of Bandai Visual USA since BV likes to charge $50 a volume with two episodes and no dub!

[Zeonic Glory]

Bandai Visual hasn't even liscenced a series that long before (assuming that 00 will be close to the usual Gundam series length). I'd love to see V come here, but I know it probably won't happen...

[Kavik Ryx]

Another thing is that anime in general, not just Gundam, would be fortunate to have a spot on TV. While some do, not all of us have On Demand, I never had cable and besides Toonami is long gone, and all that's on Network is essentially Pokemon.
Though I wonder, on Network TV, there has been raunchy animated shows like Family Guy, Insane yet surprisingly real comedies like the Simpsons, and even King of the Hill which has a level of maturity that the others don't. The American public has obviously accepted that animation is not just for kids; however, for some reason anime is still probably looked at like it's just Pokemon. That may be the issue, cause if a Gundam series was actually on TV and given the proper respect a TV show deserves, it might just make it.

[Leroy Landers]

Zeonic Glory said:
Bandai Visual hasn't even liscenced a series that long before (assuming that 00 will be close to the usual Gundam series length). I'd love to see V come here, but I know it probably won't happen...

From what I understand 00 will be split into two seasons around 26 eps each BV has licensed SRW Divine Wars which is around that length so it is a very real possibility that BV USA could get a hold of 00, I really hope not though since they don't do dubs and engage in what I think is price gouging.

Kavik Ryx said:
The American public has obviously accepted that animation is not just for kids; however, for some reason anime is still probably looked at like it's just Pokemon. That may be the issue, cause if a Gundam series was actually on TV and given the proper respect a TV show deserves, it might just make it.

To some people know matter how hard you convince them anime will never have a special place in their hearts it will just be "that Japanese thing". that's a huge hurdle to leap across.

[MGS05]

Another thing is that anime in general, not just Gundam, would be fortunate to have a spot on TV. While some do, not all of us have On Demand, I never had cable and besides Toonami is long gone, and all that's on Network is essentially Pokemon.
Though I wonder, on Network TV, there has been raunchy animated shows like Family Guy, Insane yet surprisingly real comedies like the Simpsons, and even King of the Hill which has a level of maturity that the others don't. The American public has obviously accepted that animation is not just for kids; however, for some reason anime is still probably looked at like it's just Pokemon. That may be the issue, cause if a Gundam series was actually on TV and given the proper respect a TV show deserves, it might just make it.

What do you mean by "proper respect"? If you mean "give Gundam mainstream airtime among the likes of Family Guy and The Simpsons," I'd imagine you would have a pretty big disaster on your hands. The success of shows like Family Guy and The Simpsons (U.S. programming that is animated yet aimed at older audiences) does not in anyway serve as a viable basis for bringing anime like Gundam out of the dregs of On Demand and late night immediately into the prime time spotlight. It's simply not realistic to expect the Gundam franchise, despite the long downward spiral it has been stuck in for the past few years, to suddenly spin into ratings heaven simply because it's been stuck in a more popular time slot (though that's not to say airing it at 1:00 AM is any better...).

I'm not exactly sure what your assumption concerning the American public's view of animation is based on either, but I think it's pretty clear that adult-oriented animation in the U.S. is still very much dominated by comedy that revels in the fact that it is animated. The shows hardly take themselves seriously, and though they do often address adult themes, the raunchiness and irreverence with which they tackle them necessitates their animation. Can you imagine a live-action Family Guy? Voice overs for Stewie and Brian? An actor delivering Peter's lines? Not too funny.

But Gundam does not make use of animation in the same way. You could have live-action Gundam I suppose, but you could also have G-Saviour...or worse, a disconnect with the franchise as a whole. Before CGI could make a live-action Gundam production even feasible, robot animation had already developed a huge following in Japan. I think that the fervor and nostalgia associated with animated Gundam and its importance to anime as a whole (not to mention, again, the failure of G-Saviour...) is a definite reason behind Gundam's continued use of animation. The success of Gundam in Japan is largely rooted in this sort of nostalgic fandom, which simply does not exist in large enough numbers in the U.S. to justify prime time airing. An older American audience accustomed to their animation being riddled with raunchy, satirical comedy would be totally alienated by the relative seriousness of Gundam.

[Kavik Ryx]

I'm not suggesting anything that rash, that would be a train wreck. Heck, even if it were given a crappy time slot, at least an honest attempt at airing a more mature anime on a more feasible medium. Hell, it would be interesting if a station decides to take the risk to even a small degree, just giving it a try.