Anime & Manga General Anime/Manga Discussion

Captain X

Well-known member
Osaul
So, given what's happened with Right Stuf being bought out by Sony, I'm kind of tempted to give it a shot creating a new company in the same vein, starting out by going after stuff that had been licensed by companies that have since gone bankrupt, and stuff that hasn't been licensed yet. The question is, how would one even get started? Some kind of crowdsourcing? After all, those licenses might not have been picked up because of cost. And what kind of business? A streamer? Or selling physical media?
 

Agent23

Ни шагу назад!
So, given what's happened with Right Stuf being bought out by Sony, I'm kind of tempted to give it a shot creating a new company in the same vein, starting out by going after stuff that had been licensed by companies that have since gone bankrupt, and stuff that hasn't been licensed yet. The question is, how would one even get started? Some kind of crowdsourcing? After all, those licenses might not have been picked up because of cost. And what kind of business? A streamer? Or selling physical media?
First you will need some form of legal entity and a business plan.
I think you will need a shit ton of money to do this to begin with.
Find a lawyer that understands copyright law in both the USA and Japan.And somebody who knows something about translation and/or localization.
Actual industry knowledge would also be good.For example, would most anime studios and other IP holders actually be willing to license their stuff to what is a small start-up, Japs do have the huge company that has been around for 5 generations fetish, but with the current situation with the JPY tumbling some might be a bit more flexible, so who knows.
Physical media would mean reprinting all of the stuff after it is translated, with all of the fun and quality control and shipping that that entails.
I mean RGE and a few other people that are connected to Comicsgate have a lot of fun stories about shipping,and printing and the like, maybe you should really concern somebody who has gone through the whole process beforehand.

So the streaming route will probably be best and lower your costs, since you can just use Public Cloud or some hosting provider, you'd still need at least one developer and one ops person to to build the site/service, buy a domain and set up a dozen other things related to what you are doing.

What subscription model will you use, what tiers will you have and the like.
 

Val the Moofia Boss

Well-known member
I would first dig through ANN's answerman articles, as there are many posts that go into detail about the history of anime licensing and distribution and the hurdles involved.

Assuming titles could be acquired in the first place, I'd be thinking about how to get the word out. Internet advertising can be expensive, and most of the internet forums that are still left prohibit advertising. I guess you would try getting a booth at a convention and hope that word of mouth spreads, or pay Youtubers to shill for you.

Streaming sounds like it would be expensive. Setting aside server costs, I wouldn't know how one could acquire a streaming player for your users to use. Are there streaming players anyone can license for a fee? It seems that everyone uses a proprietary player, which means the expense of trying to find a good programmer worth his salt who can develop it. Or you could try negotiating to get on to some sort of streaming bundle and make use of their player (ie, VRV). Also, people usually subscribe to a streaming service because there is a lot of stuff they're interested in. If you only have a half dozen titles at first, I don't imagine people would be very enticed to sub, so perhaps physical would do better. Let people buy the stuff they are interested in, and if you accumulate a large catalog, then perhaps streaming would make sense.

As for physical distribution, I think you might have some trouble, since the Japanese milk otaku really hard when it comes to physical releases, and dislike their domestic customers buying physical releases of the show from overseas for relatively cheap (there was an Answerman post that discussed that, don't remember which one off of the top of my head).
 
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bullethead

Part-time fanfic writer
Super Moderator
Staff Member
As for physical distribution, I think you might have some trouble, since the Japanese milk otaku really hard when it comes to physical releases, and dislike their domestic customers buying physical releases of the show from overseas for relatively cheap (there was an Answerman post that discussed that, don't remember which one off of the top of my head).
Wouldn't be surprised if it mentions Infinite Stratos - that one was a notorious case of reverse importation for one of its seasons.

Don't remember how exactly that came to be, but it was fucking funny.
 

Buba

A total creep
At 1:34 we see four girls behind Captain Butthurt.


Who is the curvaceous, ginger haired beauty with pigtails? The first on the right?
 

Val the Moofia Boss

Well-known member
I just now learned of "Legend of the Galactic Heroes", I really wish I knew about this glorious setting sooner.

The OVA series is overrated but still pretty good. Great aesthetics. The remake series is... okay, is a little better in some places but overall not as good as the OVA series. Doesn't feel as epic and lacks the aesthetics.
 

Agent23

Ни шагу назад!
Only Royal Family! others are space Rei Ayanami :)
And,they are cosplaing as ancient Japan.
So,space Japan it is !
Um, their outfits were pretty right and latexy for space Japan.At least the space elf princess's one was.
 

ATP

Well-known member
You asked for Space Prussians, I gave you Space Prussians. :D

chinees space prussians.Would be funny,if they were white power too,but you could not ask for everything.

Um, their outfits were pretty right and latexy for space Japan.At least the space elf princess's one was.

Space Japan princess could wear whatever she like!

You weeb! Also Japan in Space is pretty prolific already. Prussia in space is well, that's the only series I can think of that does that.

Heretic! and,i am fairly sure,that i saw other anime with space prussians or at least germans,but...forget title,as usual.
 

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