Funimation dvd discussion II ( UPDATED 8/4/12, FIRST POST FOR F.A.Q)

[Barny_Baliber]

Obviously it's not as big as Otakon or Anime Expo, but there is an anime con coming up in Wichita this weekend called AFW7. I don't think FUNi has ever made any announcements or anything there, but Eric Vale will be there as a guest, so some open ears and carefully-worded questions might yield some new info on One Piece? Maybe? Troy Baker will be there too, but I don't think he's involved with One Piece.

It doesn't have to do with One Piece, but I feel like I should share this next bit anyway. The third guest was going to be Cassandra Hodges, a 28-year-old voice actress just getting started on her career at FUNimation, but tragically, she passed away on the 27th of June. :sad: I was checking the AFW site for updates today and I couldn't believe it. I mean…she's just so young, and she was in a great place to land some lead roles in a year or two. She's done voice work in Hell Girl, Glass Fleet, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Hetalia: Axis Powers, and Mushishi.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-06-30/voice-actress-cassandra-hodges-passes-away

I checked out the forum on it at ANN, and it got worse. Apparently she took her own life. :sad:

The con is being held in her memory and the people running it have set up a memorial fund to help Cassandra's family with the funeral costs. If anyone here wants to donate, here's the link: http://www.midwestguests.com/cassi

Again, I'm really sorry for being off-topic like this, and if this should be posted somewhere else please feel free to move it to the correct place.

[Lil Kis]

Yeah I read that she passed away on animenewsnetwork.com and the Funimation forums. It's really sad news.

[Daichi]

Wow, it's crazy to see how an actor can emotionally put so much into a role while still being emotionally unwell. Sad to hear.

[Krillin]

This post is deleted!

[Samwize78]

My heart sank when I first found this out. And it was suicide? Wow. I was hoping she didn't go like Ryan Dunn did, but apparently it was worse.
@Krillin:

Wish her back with the dragonballs

Too soon.
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#OnTopic: FUNimation' survey won't be on that much longer so anyone who hasn't taken it needs to!: urlOPsurveylink

DEMAND OUR SEASON 4

[firecrouch]

I don't see the point in demanding season 4 on the survey, they know we want it. Give them new ideas.

[Samwize78]

I asked for the movies but still it can't hurt.

[Barny_Baliber]

I asked for Unlimited Cruise on the survey, though as someone pointed out to me in the "Surver" thread, it's really more Namco Bandai's call than FUNimation's on whether that gets localized and released stateside. Still, it doesn't hurt to put the idea in their head, right?

Also, does anyone have any suggestions for things to ask Eric Vale at the con this weekend? I doubt he could respond to something direct like "When will we hear an announcement about Season 4 of One Piece?" but I figure if I ask something like, "Is there anything One Piece fans can look forward to before the end of 2011?" I might get a vague response of some kind. And if anyone has any questions they'd like me to try asking either Eric or Troy Baker that aren't One Piece related, I can see what I can do with those too. If you give me enough questions I'll be able to pretend I'm a journalist and take notes and stuff, which would be pretty cool. XD

[firecrouch]

This would definitely not be his department, but at this point all I'd ask anyone about more "One Piece" would be why it's taking a while.

[Kylor]

I'm sorry, I'm terribly sorry, and I know this might be insensitive, and it's certainly off-topic now, but still.

I can't recall a single role Cassandra Hodges has ever played. Can someone please enlighten me?

[firecrouch]

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=63350

This is all I could find.

Your request doesn't seem really insensitive to me. You seem to be holding Cassandra in high regard since you want to know what she's done. It's important to remember and care for those that passed away, their work included.

[MarcelloF]

This post is deleted!

[MarcelloF]

I've never heard of her before. Who did she play in One Piece?

[Lil Kis]

She didn't play anybody in One Piece. She played roles in Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Hell Girl, etc.

I hope she is in Heaven right now.

[Maron]

This post is deleted!

[Gentleman Skeleton]

@Lil:

She didn't play anybody in One Piece. She played roles in Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Hell Girl, etc.

I hope she is in Heaven right now.

Evidently, she did have some incidental roles in One Piece, albeit in very minor roles such as members of a crowd and whatnot.

[Lil Kis]

I didn't know that…

[Barny_Baliber]

I won't be able to try finding anything out about One Piece from the voice actors until the Q&A tomorrow, but I do have some reasonably good news to report today about One Piece in general.

So last year, there was barely a speck of One Piece merchandise in the dealer room. There might've been a handful of tiny figurines packaged with Dragonball Z figurines, but nothing really major as far as collectibles go. This year, though, One Piece was everywhere! Well, perhaps everywhere is a bit of an overstatement, but it was easily one of the more highly represented anime series in the room. If I had to guess, I'd say that One Piece was one of the most heavily featured series, though Hetalia, Soul Eater, and Final Fantasy were also pretty widespread throughout the room.

There were One Piece themed phone straps, plushies, flags, T-shirts, posters, figurines, pillows, and I'm pretty sure I even saw a replica of one of Zoro's swords. My friends had to practically drag me away from a Laboon plushie and I nearly blew all of my money on a POP DX before I managed to convince myself that having a statue of Whitebeard on my TV wasn't worth skipping the rest of the month's meals. I was pretty pleasantly surprised, too, when I found the phone straps and smaller figurines, because for every collectible from another series that was on display there were probably three from One Piece. I ended buying a Sogeking figurine and a phone strap of Trafalgar Law (though for a while I was considering getting Mihawk because he looked SO CUTE in his chibi form), though tomorrow I might end up buying something else because I'm apparently an impulse buyer.

I mean, if that Laboon plushie is still there then finding out the price couldn't hurt, right?

[Lil Kis]

Where is this that they sold that stuff?

[Daichi]

Laboon plushie would make me hand over my wallet.

[Gentleman Skeleton]

@Lil:

Where is this that they sold that stuff?

Mostly conventions, I'm sure you could find the stuff online if you looked hard enough.

[Electrivire]

Not anything earth-shattering, but it looks like Funimation recently changed their Facebook page to be like other corporate pages. As in, fans can't write on their walls anymore, though they can still comment on the articles and stuff they put up. I'm guessing they got one too many "make another season of ______!1!!" comments. (I lol'd every time at the people who thought funi made anime instead of merely dubbing and distributing it)

Looks like you can still post stuff on Toei's wall, though they don't really answer back on questions like Funimation did on their page.

Edit: looks like they changed it back to what it was previously.

[Samwize78]

Of course not. Toei's only posts are "watch this week's One Piece", or "watch this week's Toriko". I liked posting on FUNi's wall though. Too bad but yeah it was probably because of all the harrasment.

[Barny_Baliber]

I ended up caving and buying that Laboon plushie after all, along with a flag featuring all the Straw Hats' wanted posters and two more volumes of the manga. I was about to buy a T-shirt too before I realized the $20 I had left needed to be used on food. With all the money I've spent on One Piece merchandise at this con, maybe I should've bought that Whitebeard POP DX for $135 after all?

Anyway, I wasn't really able to ask Eric Vale about anything coming up in regards to One Piece, and most of the questions were about his role in Hetalia as America, and Troy's role in Soul Eater as Excalibur. I was disappointed that Troy didn't sing the Excalibur song. D: Anyway, the only One Piece stuff at the Q&A was that Eric met the Japanese voice of Sanji a few weeks ago at a convention and he enjoyed Sanji's character because he can be both cool and lovey-dovey. Also, it's not completely related, but apparently Eric has stopped writing scripts for anime because, as he explained, "it's really boring." And apparently it is. Some stuff would probably be fun, but most of the work involved writing down the precise timing when lines start and stop and who says them, even for grunts and noises, then placing the translated script there and then reworking it to fit lip flaps, then tweaking it some more to flow better. An average episode takes him more than 22 hours of work time altogether. O.o

So yeah. If I hear anything else tomorrow I'll let you guys know.

Oh, and one more thing: although the figurine, flag and phone strap I bought are all clearly Japanese products, that Laboon plushie doesn't seem to be imported, as the tag uses FUNimation's gold One Piece logo and is in English. And it also mentions FUNimation's name. The best part, though, is the bit that says it's "not for children under 15 years." Apparently he's a very dangerous plushie whale.

[Badass SnoCone]

@Barny_Baliber:

The best part, though, is the bit that says it's "not for children under 15 years."

What. Why? It seems like a harmless, safe plushie to me: http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalogmgr/8usxzpDMwxwwy-f1io/browse/item/92181/4/0/0

[Rebecky_Mo]

Dammit SnoCone, you tease. resists the adorable whale plushie…for now

I'm all caught up with the One Piece Voyage releases, but I'm still curious about these new collections (mostly for the sake of my shelf space, but I suffered with 32 YYH dvd's on my shelf forever, I can deal with OP taking over). Do they have info regarding any extra commentaries or stuff on them, because amazon.ca has nothing save the most basic info on them.

[Lil Kis]

You would buy the whole One Piece collection over again even tohugh you already have it? I guess that's good it will help Funimation release season 4…So we will find something out July 29th?

[Gentleman Skeleton]

@Rebecky_Mo:

Dammit SnoCone, you tease. resists the adorable whale plushie…for now

I'm all caught up with the One Piece Voyage releases, but I'm still curious about these new collections (mostly for the sake of my shelf space, but I suffered with 32 YYH dvd's on my shelf forever, I can deal with OP taking over). Do they have info regarding any extra commentaries or stuff on them, because amazon.ca has nothing save the most basic info on them.

It's First and Second Voyages in a new package. There's nothing new to the box set except maybe it's a bit more generous shelf-space wise.

[Daichi]

@Gentleman:

It's First and Second Voyages in a new package. There's nothing new to the box set except maybe it's a bit more generous shelf-space wise.

And the new art on the box and possibly on the DVD cases.

[Shift]

@Daichi:

And the new art on the box and possibly on the DVD cases.

"New" as in pulled from S1V3 and S1V1, respectively.

@Badass:

What. Why? It seems like a harmless, safe plushie to me: http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalogmgr/8usxzpDMwxwwy-f1io/browse/item/92181/4/0/0

Is that drawing Luffy did made of toxic paint?

[Barny_Baliber]

@Badass:

What. Why? It seems like a harmless, safe plushie to me: http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalogmgr/8usxzpDMwxwwy-f1io/browse/item/92181/4/0/0

Reading the tag more closely, apparently the plush "contains small parts" and that's why it's not suitable for anyone under 15. I remember that when I was fourteen I had a habit of eating small stuffed animals when we ran out of Doritos, so that's probably why, though I wouldn't consider Laboon small unless you cut him in half…and you'd need some kind of knife to do that, and children under 15 shouldn't be trusted with sharp objects. Thus, Laboon isn't safe for children. That, or...

@Shift:

Is that drawing Luffy did made of toxic paint?

Upon even closer inspection of the tag, I discovered the plush was in fact made in China. :ninja:

Putting aside the dangers of plush toys for now, no news of One Piece reached my eyes today either, and I didn't end up buying anything else because I ran out of money yesterday.

EDIT: Nor did such news reach my ears, hands, tongue, or nose.

[Gentleman Skeleton]

Hey, this might be good news for us even though it involves Sailor Moon:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2011-07-11/great-eastern-lists-u.s-sailor-moon-merchandise

Great Eastern is a company that does a lot of merchandise for major anime companies, most notably FUNimation. If this is FUNimation's doing, then it means the gears are once again between FUNimation and Toei.

[Crystalice1]

@Gentleman:

Hey, this might be good news for us even though it involves Sailor Moon:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2011-07-11/great-eastern-lists-u.s-sailor-moon-merchandise

Great Eastern is a company that does a lot of merchandise for major anime companies, most notably FUNimation. If this is FUNimation's doing, then it means the gears are once again between FUNimation and Toei.

If Funi did got Sailor Moon, I'd be a happy camper :happy:

[firecrouch]

One of the pieces of merchandise has Great Eastern's and Toei Animation's logo on it, but not FUNimation. Hmmmm…

[Arcadia080]

Was at an Anime store this weekend and they had Laboon and Chopper plushies so I got em. The Strawhat flag on the front of Laboon is a patch embroider thing rather than paint. Pretty nice. I took a picture but don't know how to post it. I'll post pics of the Collections when they arrive if I can figure out how.

[Badass SnoCone]

@Arcadia080:

Was at an Anime store this weekend and they had Laboon and Chopper plushies so I got em. The Strawhat flag on the front of Laboon is a patch embroider thing rather than paint. Pretty nice. I took a picture but don't know how to post it. I'll post pics of the Collections when they arrive if I can figure out how.

Upload them to Imageshack.us and link them.

[Arcadia080]

Laboon and others.

[Daichi]

@Arcadia080:

Laboon and others.

[qimg]http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/8024/laboon.th.jpg[/qimg]

[qimg]http://imageshack.us/content.php?page=blogpost&files=img233/8024/laboon.jpg[/qimg]

I have that same chopper plush, I'm gonna look into getting the Laboon plush now.

[Samwize78]

Since this has nothing to do with FUNimation perhaps this conversation about plushies should be taken to the One Piece Merchandise thread.

[Badass SnoCone]

@Samwize78:

Since this has nothing to do with FUNimation perhaps this conversation about plushies should be taken to the One Piece Merchandise thread.

These products are licensed by Funimation.

[Kaiolino]

@Badass:

These products are licensed by Funimation.

That doesn't matter, it CLEARLY interferes with our discussions about FUNimation DVDs we don't even have yet.

[Badass SnoCone]

@Kaiolino:

That doesn't matter, it CLEARLY interferes with our discussions about FUNimation DVDs we don't even have yet.

You're right. Sorry.

So do you guys think Funi will dub Season 4? What if they don't? What if they drop it? BUT. What if they do?

[Kaiolino]

We don't have those answers yet, let's wait for the next con.

I'm sure we'll get an announcement then!

[Samwize78]

NO!!! SONOFABITCH!!! We're way past that at this point!!! I'm really sick of coming to this thread and reading the same topics over and over again, I'm not personally attacking anyone, but it seems we just repeat ourselves here. "Does FUNi have Season 4?", "Will FUNimation keep dubbing One Piece?". We know that they have no plans to drop the series but they don't have it yet.

And then more topics like "why don't we get anymore One Piece games?", and the answer is because Unlimited Adventure and all the other games tanked in the U.S., so they won't make more of what doesn't sell.

I understand the importance of this thread but I feel like we don't get anywhere here. I hope FUNimation pulls that license through so we have more things to discuss.

[Badass SnoCone]

Hey, why don't we get any more One Piece games?

[Yonkou255]

Okay lets talk about something else then!

Who are you looking forward to seeing dubbed the most?

[Kizaru sama]

@Samwize78:

NO!!! SONOFABITCH!!! We're way past that at this point!!! I'm really sick of coming to this thread and reading the same topics over and over again, I'm not personally attacking anyone, but it seems we just repeat ourselves here. "Does FUNi have Season 4?", "Will FUNimation keep dubbing One Piece?". We know that they have no plans to drop the series but they don't have it yet.

And then more topics like "why don't we get anymore One Piece games?", and the answer is because Unlimited Adventure and all the other games tanked in the U.S., so they won't make more of what doesn't sell.

I understand the importance of this thread but I feel like we don't get anywhere here. I hope FUNimation pulls that license through so we have more things to discuss.

Well it would already help if naruto and bleach came to an end soon

But i'd say it would be weird if Funi is not going to contune One Piece i'm sure there where pepole waiting to own in series on dvd untill they had a good release of the series 26 is fine for me and i already pre-orderd it but i just wasn't up for 13 episodes box sets from such a gigantic series and i'm sure more folks where.

For that reason they might not going to do season 4 but release the series like this way and pull on the movies at the same time to get something new out there.

As for the games it's not really making a lot of sense to me if they can even sell those in local stores in my country that does say something so why not in the US :blink:

[Arcadia080]

It's a bad time to be a One Piece fan.
We have an official manga release that is over a year behind. We have a simulcast that for the past year has shown the worst that One Piece anime has to offer. I've got a friend that watched the simulcast and thought that Luffy had moved on from his crew like how Bleach moved on from Chad and co. or how Yamcha became a background character from DBZ. I myself have taken a break from the manga for at least the rest of the year because the past few months have shown so little of the crew.
Then there's this void from the English release. Even if Funimation announced today that they had season 4. It will still be over a year before we get the season to it's completion. In the meantime we get a rerelease from content over 10 years old.
We got a treat from the One Piece Podcast guys in the form of a voice actor interview. Thanks guys for that. I needed some fan support. At the end he said please continue to support One Piece. I'd like to somehow. I'm more excited about the upcomming My Little Pony season than I am about anything upcomming from the series that is One Piece. Best I could do was buy a licensed Plushie.
Hows THAT for being a downer

[TheCook]

I got a dude on PSU4Ever.com Forums hooked on watching One Piece, and he probably watched all 506 episodes in about 1.5 months or so.

I tell him he should watch the current episodes when they are released on Saturday night on the official stream, which I told him was higher quality, more accurate subs, and loaded faster, but he told me that he still preferred using the site he watched the previous episodes on, which is Watchop AFAIK.

It is stuff like this that pisses me off though, you enjoy the series that much, yet you won't support it by sitting through just a couple of ads on the official site? :sad:

[Samwize78]

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