Anime Limited made some good announcements in the past few weeks for UK fans in how they’ll be getting acceses to a lot of Funimation titles in the near future quicker than they used to there. With Anime Limited handling the distribution there, they’ve put together a pretty good basic Q&A as part of their latest blog piece that digs into what can be expected from the titles in terms of formats and compatibility as well as some of the general fun that comes with multi-regional licensing and distribution with so many hands in the pie.
FUNIMATION TITLE UPDATES
Last time in the Newswire we told you about the first few titles that will be coming out and set out the plan of where things will be going. There are no title specific updates to bring you this week, so instead what I’ve done is correlated the most recurring questions we’ve received via social media and email below.
Q: Will you be bringing out Limited Edition sets of Funimation titles like you do with AllTheAnime titles?
As things stand, no. However as time progresses that may change depending on the title in question. Currently, excluding Fairy Tail which is DVD only, we will be releasing these as Blu-ray/DVD combi packs.
Q: Is there a chance you will release Fairy Tail on Blu-ray?
It’s something we’re looking into but as things stand it will be DVD only releases of the 12-episode ‘Part’ sets specifically starting with Part 10 in August.
Q: Will you be distributing series like Toriko, Dragon Ball or One Piece?
All three of the titles listed in this question are unique cases, as these are not part of the Funimation distribution arrangement and these are licenses of Toei Animation specifically. Dragon Ball titles and One Piece is being distributed by Manga Entertainment in the UK. As to whether Toriko might be a possibility, we honestly don’t know at the moment. But if an opportunity comes about with this it’s certainly something we’ll look into.
Will the content be the same on these discs as the Funimation versions in the USA?
All titles are subject to BBFC certification, which is required by U.K. law and is unavoidable, so unless something has to be omitted following that process the on-disc content will be the same, yes. But we want to stress we have absolutely no desire or plans to change/alter on-disc.
Will DVD discs be PAL or NTSC?
All DVD discs as part of our Funiamtion releases will be NTSC.
How soon are you looking to release [insert name of title] following its release in the U.S,A.?
Our hope is that we can cut down the time significantly between its release in the U.S.A. and it’s release over here in the UK. But as we get the ball rolling on releasing Funimation titles it may take few months before you start to see significant reductions in release times. To add context from our point of view, currently it’ll likely workout as being within a few weeks of release in the U.S.A., but our ultimate goal is to release them day in date with the U.S.A release.
Are you doing any special packaging for these release, like with your AllTheAnime Collector’s Editions?
Using an earlier answer as a point of reference, in short no. There may be exceptions the rule as time goes on but the plan is to release the titles, unless otherwise stated, as Blu-ray/DVD combi packs. They will be packed inside an amaray case and it will be as simple as that.
To add to this, our goal in the early going it to bring as many titles to the UK as quickly as we can, as we appreciate there was a fairly big gap when it came to Funimation titles being brought over here. But as I say, this isn’t set in stone for how all titles will be released going forward. We are following the model established by Funimation in the U.S.A. in the early going, but this can always be reevaluated at a later time.
Will the FunimationNow streaming service impact your releases in any way?
Am honestly not sure how it could impact these releases, so the simple answer to this is no.
Funimation released [insert title] in the U.S.A., but [insert name of distributor] released it in the UK. Does this mean you’ll be releasing it now?
More than likely no. This would ultimately depend on the terms of the licensing agreement with the distributor in question. What it will come down to is whether Funimation have the home video rights for the United Kingdom and Ireland. Sometimes they may only have home video rights for a title in the U.S.A., while having the streaming/simulcasting rights for U.S.A. and the United Kingdom.
