Lucky Star might be licensed

[beau99]

This is not confirmed right now, but ChibiGoku over at Toon Zone is a pretty reliable person when it comes to these things...

http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?p=2692270

[Fish and Chips]

Lucky Star's brimming with industry self-reference, and given America's strict copyright policies, I'm raising an eyebrow over here.

And if that the English trailer, why isn't it in English?

[beau99]

Lucky Star's brimming with industry self-reference, and given America's strict copyright policies, I'm raising an eyebrow over here.

And?

And if that the English trailer, why isn't it in English?

Does it have to be?

I, for one, hope it is true, because I hate subtitles with a passion and would rather watch it in English regardless of dub quality.

[Fish and Chips]

And?

Could be a legal mess.

Does it have to be?

Does the English preview for the American license and subsequent American release have to be in English?

I should think so.

[Radical Dreamer]

Does it have to be?

Well, the trailer looks highly unprofessional. Not only have I seen that scene before, but why would a company use fansubs to promote their anime? Any YouTube-using person can put words before and after a video. And it wouldn't have been posted by a YouTube user. More likely than not, it would've been posted by a company. Take a look, for example, at the Air TV trailer, released on YouTube by ADV.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=W44rKZX9vuk

Definitely a big difference in quality. I highly doubt it's been licensed.

[Nate]

And?

Well, the problem is a lot of jokes rely on the fact that some of the voice actresses in Japanese are the same as ones from other anime. It's kinda like how in Fushigi Yugi, Miaka's voice was done by the same woman who did Chibiusa in Sailor Moon, so there was a scene where Miaka makes the Sailor Moon pose in the anime.

In the dub, since it was two different voice actresses the joke kinda falls flat. And as was mentioned in the other Lucky Star thread started by AsianBlossom, in-jokes in the Lucky Channel segment would be absolutely destroyed unless they could get ALL the voice actors from other series, such as Haruhi, Air TV, and Keroro Gunso.

I'm all in support of a dub, but the problem is the jokes just won't work so well unless they can get voice actors from different companies, which would either cost too much or be impossible for legal reasons.

EDIT: And yeah, what Fish said, since direct references are made in the anime to other series which are owned in America by separate companies, this would be a huge legal mess. Air TV and Keroro Gunso are owned by ADV, Haruhi is owned by Bandai. Initial D, Marimite, ToHeart, Gundam, Full Metal Alchemist...these are things that could end up with a huge amount of red tape as far as American licensing is concerned. And you might say "It's not that big a deal," but no, it IS a big deal, it's why Battle Stadium D.O.N. couldn't come out in North America, because DBZ, Naruto, and One Piece at the time were owned by three separate companies (it's down to two now with OP's new dub, but it's still prevents a localization).

Unless every anime company decides to become REALLY friendly to Bandai, I still don't see this getting licensed. Not saying it hasn't been, it may have. I just think it's unlikely.

[Momo-P]

It has to be licensed.

http://kadokawapicturesusa.com/animation/

Either that or the company likes to slap various anime on their page.

[AsianBlossom]

Eeeeeeeeeee! I hope so! (Then again, I'd probably only watch the sub...but I'd just be happy that I have the DVDs)

Notice in the picture on the website you posted the link for that they are holding Wii-motes? XD

[ilikegir33]

I hope so too. I wish ADV licensed it! Then there would be AD Vid Notes, which are always kinda helpful.

EDIT: I actually checked out the Kadokawa USA site and Lucky Star is in the animation section. TokiKake and Venus to Mamoru as well.

[everdred12a]

Well, the problem is a lot of jokes rely on the fact that some of the voice actresses in Japanese are the same as ones from other anime. It's kinda like how in Fushigi Yugi, Miaka's voice was done by the same woman who did Chibiusa in Sailor Moon, so there was a scene where Miaka makes the Sailor Moon pose in the anime.

In the dub, since it was two different voice actresses the joke kinda falls flat. And as was mentioned in the other Lucky Star thread started by AsianBlossom, in-jokes in the Lucky Channel segment would be absolutely destroyed unless they could get ALL the voice actors from other series, such as Haruhi, Air TV, and Keroro Gunso.

I'm all in support of a dub, but the problem is the jokes just won't work so well unless they can get voice actors from different companies, which would either cost too much or be impossible for legal reasons.

EDIT: And yeah, what Fish said, since direct references are made in the anime to other series which are owned in America by separate companies, this would be a huge legal mess. Air TV and Keroro Gunso are owned by ADV, Haruhi is owned by Bandai. Initial D, Marimite, ToHeart, Gundam, Full Metal Alchemist...these are things that could end up with a huge amount of red tape as far as American licensing is concerned. And you might say "It's not that big a deal," but no, it IS a big deal, it's why Battle Stadium D.O.N. couldn't come out in North America, because DBZ, Naruto, and One Piece at the time were owned by three separate companies (it's down to two now with OP's new dub, but it's still prevents a localization).

Unless every anime company decides to become REALLY friendly to Bandai, I still don't see this getting licensed. Not saying it hasn't been, it may have. I just think it's unlikely.

Nate basically said everything I had to say about this. Lucky Star would lose WAY too much in translation... so releasing Lucky Star Stateside would most likely turn out to be a huge mistake.

[TriezGamer]

People have said the same things about a lot of shows over the years. Most of them were well recieved and didn't 'lose' anything.

[Fish and Chips]

People have said the same things about a lot of shows over the years. Most of them were well recieved and didn't 'lose' anything.

How many of those were referential comedies?

[Alexander]

I have to side with Nate and Chips. Unless...

Could the subtitled version keep all the jokes without breaking the copyright, or not?

[beau99]

Well, the trailer looks highly unprofessional. Not only have I seen that scene before, but why would a company use fansubs to promote their anime? Any YouTube-using person can put words before and after a video. And it wouldn't have been posted by a YouTube user. More likely than not, it would've been posted by a company. Take a look, for example, at the Air TV trailer, released on YouTube by ADV.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=W44rKZX9vuk

Definitely a big difference in quality. I highly doubt it's been licensed.

Thing is, this trailer is on the latest Haruhi DVD, so...

[Nate]

Yeah, beau is right, unless Bandai wanted to open themselves up to a huge lawsuit by putting that on the Haruhi DVD, it's probably pretty much licensed. XD;;

I still don't see how this is going to work though. I don't mean the dubbing, I mean the huge references to other series that are owned by different companies in NA.

[ilikegir33]

How many of those were referential comedies?

Pani Poni Dash was released stateside and contains many anime references both verbal and visual. It didn't lose ANYTHING in the translation though.

[Fish and Chips]

Pani Poni Dash was released stateside and contains many anime references both verbal and visual. It didn't lose ANYTHING in the translation though.

And we can attest this to your fluency in the Japanese language.

[Roy Mustang]

We are just going to have to wait and see if the Haruhi Vol.4 has the trailer or not.

The latest Haruhi DVD is vol. 4 and the release date is not untill next Tuesday on November 6.


[color="Red"][font="Book Antiqua"]Col. Roy Mustang[/font][/color]

[beau99]

We are just going to have to wait and see if the Haruhi Vol.4 has the trailer or not.

The latest Haruhi DVD is vol. 4 and the release date is not untill next Tuesday on November 6.

It's on the volume 3 disc.

[everdred12a]

It's on the volume 3 disc.

I think he was looking for continuity. If the trailer is on both, it'll be easier to say whether the series is being licensed or not.

[termyt]

And we can attest this to your fluency in the Japanese language.

That was slightly uncalled for. No need to get personal. PaniPoniDash worked brilliantly in English. It was not a literal translation in all cases, but that's why they have English writers.

The same was also said of Excel Saga, whose dub was also a pretty big hit over here.

Kodocha also had copyright issues which were fixed in the dub (and original track and subtitles, too).

These problems can be overcome if the base story and characters are good and the translators/writers are clever.

[Roy Mustang]

It's on the volume 3 disc.

Disk 3 came out on Sept 25 of this year. I think if the trailer was on it, we would have heard about it by then. I just can't see every person that bought vol.3 dvd in late Sept and then wait a whole month to watch trailers on the disk.

Here is news quote from AOD.

Lucky Star Licensed? (08:48 AM EDT): Early reports are coming in from people who have received the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Vol. #4 that there is a teaser on it, which can be seen here at YouTube, in which there is a sequence from Lucky Star that highlights the Haruhi series. It finishes with a card that indicates the series will be coming to the US via Bandai Entertainment and Kadokawa Pictures USA. No official announcement from Bandai Entertainment has been released as of yet.

The people that have said this are don't do reviews for AOD, but just people that say they got their copy early, which I have a hard time believing The only reason AOD has anything on it, was because some posted it in their forum. AOD staff can't confirmed yes or no, if the trailer is on there untill they get a copy of vol.4. I would think they would get a copy, before the street date and no anime company rep that does at the board has comfirmed that its on there too.

So, I feel that it has to be a wait and see.

[color="Red"][font="Book Antiqua"]Col. Roy Mustang[/font][/color]

[mechana2015]

Is there a possibility (since peopel are so concerned about the voice actor related jokes) that the series will be released only with subs?

[Roy Mustang]

Is there a possibility (since peopel are so concerned about the voice actor related jokes) that the series will be released only with subs?

There has been a lot of talk about that and if the thing is license that, it maybe sub only.

But if Bandai was to get it. They would want a dub for the mass market and just not sell it to the sub only fans.

[color="Red"][font="Book Antiqua"]Col. Roy Mustang [/font][/color]

[Fish and Chips]

That was slightly uncalled for. No need to get personal. PaniPoniDash worked brilliantly in English. It was not a literal translation in all cases, but that's why they have English writers.

These problems can be overcome if the base story and characters are good and the translators/writers are clever.

Sorry, but off the cuff remarks like "Didn't lose ANYTHING in the translation" tend to irk me. Linguistic nuances, cultural gags, word puns, and VA relations will almost always be lost in translation. Having a clever writing staff means that they'll find a suitable replacement for American audiences, but this is fresh material, not direct translation.

And is this a bad time I say I didn't Like Excel Saga?

A minor quip, but I had to get that out there.

[Nate]

Every language has puns and gags that won't work in other languages. Example:

"Last night I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How it got in my pajamas, I'll never know."

That joke will never translate to another language because of sentence structure, different verb usages, etc. Japanese is no different.

This is not to say dubs are inferior (they're not) or that English translators can't come up with good enough replacement jokes (they can sometimes), just that you can never say "Nothing was lost in the translation." Something always is.

[AsianBlossom]

You have a point. I mean, reading the translator's notes at the end of Azumanga Daioh books 3 and 4 can prove that. However, I still got a kick out of the series, regardless of the fact that it didn't translate directly all the time. Like someone mentioned before, that's why the series has writers.

But I would still be watching the sub version mostly/only if/when they release this on DVD.

[Momo-P]

With all due respect, I don't see why people make a big deal out of this.

"The jokes won't translate over. Why are they buying it?!"

Ah...because there's actually a large fanbase for it? I mean really, if you don't like it? Good for you, but there is a large amount of people who do, me included. Will I not pick this title up just because the English version has some lines that didn't translate over well? Pft, frag no. Most anime fans I know won't avoid it either, you should know by now you will run into funky translations in any anime.

"But Lucky Star is different! It's a comedy!"

Ya, and? No offense, but I think too many people are relating this show to Pani Poni. Lucky Star didn't have that many puns that I remember, most of it's humor was very upfront. Either they outright made fun of a show or group of people, or they'd state a problem most people have.

Like I said above, yes you have stuff that won't translate, but there's not that much. Even the famous Timotei scene will be ok. Either you laugh because you get it or you laugh because you think she's nuts. It's one of those things that gets laugh no matter what.

[AsianBlossom]

I recently found out that Timotei is a shampoo...and my brother and I were laughing primarily because the way she said it was so cute and funny. *shrugs*

So you do have a point. If you don't laugh for one reason, you'll laugh for another.

[rii namuras]

[color="Red"](...Timotei's a shampoo? I thought it was just some sort of anime-related sound effect that I didn't know about. I found it funny nonetheless (for reasons stated above).)[/color]