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Answerman - Is Funimation Entering the UK Market?

The UK market has a lot of its own unique challenges [...] perhaps most importantly, fees associated with the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), which is a mandatory ratings process for all home video product that charges by the minute of content. Those fees can really add up!

thing is i really hope this is true because Fairy Tail has parts 10, 11 and 12 have shown up on Amazon UK under the funimation lable too and i really want to get more Fairy Tail

Thank you for answering a question entirely about our territory! The fact we are seeing content like this on the main ANN site can only bode well.

Quote:

The UK market has a lot of its own unique challenges [...] perhaps most importantly, fees associated with the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), which is a mandatory ratings process for all home video product that charges by the minute of content. Those fees can really add up!

I sometimes wonder whether the economic case could be made for rendering BBFC ratings optional for smaller distributors. Under a system more resemblant of those used in the United States or Australia, smaller publishers would face less of an obstacle to releasing their titles in print. Furthermore, niche content tends not to enrage the Daily Mail doom-mongers as much as it may once have done.
spoiler[To illustrate the problem of the status quo, the BBFC's London offices seem suspiciously plush whenever I walk past them, whereas I have yet to see any employee of a British anime distributor wearing a suit.]

I think the question was more directed at the fact that a number of titles (Some the US already has, but also several that still aren't solicited in the US) have actually popped up on Amazon UK recently with Funimation's name attached, and whether or not this means they're expanding into physical UK sales (assuming it's not a fluke, of course).

Example:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Show-Rock-Complete-Season-Blu-ray/dp/B01EVFG2E2/

However, included among these are at least two titles that belong to Anime Limited (Brother's Conflict and Ninja Slayer). It could just be that they'll be picking up the slack on Funimation titles now, though it's odd that they're all listed under Funi's name, unless they're just distributing Funimation releases as-is or something, rather than producing their own sets.

This is actually an interesting point. In another example, Code Geass: Akito the Exiled is listed on Amazon UK with an English dub, although from Kaze UK. It was going to be released in March, but is now going for a December release. I can assume Funimation will release theirs before then, but they refused to comment when I asked.

Thank you for answering a question entirely about our territory! The fact we are seeing content like this on the main ANN site can only bode well.

Quote:

The UK market has a lot of its own unique challenges [...] perhaps most importantly, fees associated with the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), which is a mandatory ratings process for all home video product that charges by the minute of content. Those fees can really add up!

I sometimes wonder whether the economic case could be made for rendering BBFC ratings optional for smaller distributors. Under a system more resemblant of those used in the United States or Australia, smaller publishers would face less of an obstacle to releasing their titles in print. Furthermore, niche content tends not to enrage the Daily Mail doom-mongers as much as it may once have done.

Gemnist wrote:

This is actually an interesting point. In another example, Code Geass: Akito the Exiled is listed on Amazon UK with an English dub, although from Kaze UK. It was going to be released in March, but is now going for a December release. I can assume Funimation will release theirs before then, but they refused to comment when I asked.

Releasing an Funimation title before Funimation released it is just bloody stupid lol. Yea Madman Aussie, Im talking to you xD.

It gets a dub, no doubt.

Kaze licenced it directly off Japan (I believe Sunrise is the licensor), so it's not a Funimation title in the UK. Any dub Funimation produce automatically and contractually belongs to the licensor and not Funimation. Why the heck shouldn't the UK get it first? How bloody entitled...

That second one makes no sense. Funimation produced the dub, why wouldn't it be theirs. It's not Toei owns all one million English dubs of DBZ (even the Big Green one). The thing with Sunrise makes some sense though. As for why America should have before Britain, again, they would produce the dub, so naturally it should be ready for them first. I just really hope it gets dubbed, although Sunrise seems to want to license it for themselves (a la Gundam IBO), which is why Buddy Complex never got dubbed. FYI though, Micah and Trina should totally play Akito and Leila respectively.

We have also been receiving some questions about the usage of the new English dub in other territories, Please note that contractually, any dub that is created for Escaflowne, even one created by Funimation and funded by fans through Kickstarter, is still owned by Sunrise, and access to and usage of the dub in various territories is not controlled by us. (This is actually part of the reason we even get access to the original Escaflowne dub in the first place!)

Releasing an Funimation title before Funimation released it is just bloody stupid lol. Yea Madman Aussie, Im talking to you xD.

That second one makes no sense. Funimation produced the dub, why wouldn't it be theirs.

We have also been receiving some questions about the usage of the new English dub in other territories, Please note that contractually, any dub that is created for Escaflowne, even one created by Funimation and funded by fans through Kickstarter, is still owned by Sunrise, and access to and usage of the dub in various territories is not controlled by us. (This is actually part of the reason we even get access to the original Escaflowne dub in the first place!)