Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Funimation Finally Licenses a Few More One Piece Episodes

After what has seem an interminable amount of time, the folks at Funimation have FINALLY announced that they have picked up the next block of One Piece episodes. They have picked up where they left off at episodes 206, and have licensed 57 more episodes up to 263. They do not expect to release these episodes until at least Summer of 2012.

These new episodes will will be presented in high-definition and in 16 by 9 aspect ratio in anticipation of a possible Blu-ray/DVD combo release. Funimation also said they will try to keep as much consistency as possible with regard to the voice acting, but that they may not be able to get all the same voice acting cast as the first 206 episodes for the dubbing of the new eps.

I guess they should not have waited so long to continue the series. At 530 total eps so far, they still have a long way to go with One Piece. As with Detective Conan, I think they may be biting off more than they can chew with some of these big shows.

1 comment:

Western Otaku said...

It's been a long standing astonishment with FUNimation with regards to their licensing practices, as well as their marketing. When combined together it should actually equal some pretty shakey ground, but despite the haphazzard mesh, still seems to pay off for them.

Observation has taught me that fans are very fickle, and apt to kick and scream whenever the slightest changes occur in their personal corners of the fanbase. Were One Piece not as popular as it is, it would most certainly have been a pipe dream for FUNimation to assume that they could tackle such a mamoth series. The fate of which would have most certainly gone the way of the Conan.

As it stands, Oda has expressed no interest in wrapping the franchise up any time soon, and that will only of course equal more episodes, which the fans here will want dubbed, which FUNimation(based on their own promises and standards to never release anything but dubbed anime) will attempt to oblige... to their detriment? To the shows failure?

Were shows like Case Closed/Detective Conan released subbed only, then the burden of cost for dubbing would have been significantly reduced, and perhaps—to some ill feedback certainly—the show may yet be a continued staple of their shows and lineup.

I'm not a fan of One Piece and am unconcerned one way or the other about its success or failure; though having said that, the success of the show would generate more trust that longer series could be successfully licensed and distributed, but a failure of the show, due to over-extended fingers and promises of way-long term dollar signs, would hurt the consumer relations with a company that already has ample strikes against them.

Of course... if all else fails, just release more Dragon Ball Z, and we can last a few more seasons, right?