Welp, May 2020 solicits are out. No One Piece. That's officially two years of no new episodes on DVD.
That’s crazy to think about. If they’d kept recording and releasing DVDs as consistently as they used to we’d already be in the latter half of Dressrosa by now.
Hopefully we’ll be lucky enough see some episodes from that arc dubbed this year
That is disappointing, but I guess it is what it is. On that note, any idea when the January 2020 solicitations are released? If they don’t announce something tomorrow that’ll probably be the next thing for us to look forward to
I’m certain the dub isn’t in imminent danger. I’m still sticking to my prediction we’ll get an announcement about the new season around the time of the anniversary, and it’ll start being released sometime early next year. We’re getting Episode of East Blue in September so we’ll likely get Episode of Skypiea in December, followed by the new season shortly after that
I'm still gonna stand by my previous prediction of Episode of Skypiea in December with Season 10 next spring after an announcement this fall (prolly October around the anniversary). That being said though I'd love to be proven wrong, Season 10 along with these specials would be a real treat.
While that’s true that still doesn't change the fact that using previously recorded dialogue isn't an entirely viable option. Even if they could get away with using some of the original dialogue I guarantee it is not a practice they could rely too heavily on. As I’ve said before:
But even in 3D2Y there was still plenty of dialogue in those flashbacks that wasn’t reused from the original episodes. And in regards to Episode of East Blue, there is dialogue from some of these characters (Yasopp for certain) that didn’t exist at all in the original episodes, meaning they wouldn’t be able to avoid recasting.
Agreed. I'm definitely not counting on them reusing old recordings, just thought I'd shed some more light on that process.
I'm excited for this special to hit our shores. As I've said before it's animated very well and more close to the manga and a good nostalgia trip.
Physical release sales in all forms of media have been declining in recent years as well though. Even if this dub hiatus doesn’t have anything to do with DVD sales and the dub returns this fall I think FUNimation should probably still think about planning ahead with other ways to expose their DVD-only releases like One Piece to as many online markets as they can to avoid having eventual drops in DVD sales cause another hiatus or cancellation in the future, whether that be reopening the discussion of a simuldub like we’ve been talking about or putting the dub on subscription based streaming services other than their own. Even though that ANN article turned out to be fake, I don’t think cable TV is the way to go, regardless of what Toei may believe.
Also, to shed more light on the Episode of East Blue recast discussion: I saw a twitter convo today with Terri Doty where she explained that anime voice actors get paid for the amount of hours they spend recording in the booth and do not get any shares of the residuals for that property’s releases, so FUNimation could use Vic and the other VA’s previously recorded dialogue without having to worry about paying them.
Wait has EPisode of East BLue been confirmed to be getting dubbed?
On FUNi’s One Piece podcast they talked with the guy who makes the trailers for One Piece and he talked about making one for Episode of East Blue, probably not knowing it hasn’t been announced yet. So while FUNimation themselves haven’t made an official announcement of it yet that pretty much confirms it. Probably coming out in September judging by their release schedule of these specials.
I personally enjoyed Episode of East Blue, it’s a fun lil recap and actually animates some things exactly like the manga i.e. Luffy cutting his face in front of Shanks, Luffy finding out about his devil fruit powers by Shanks pulling his arm instead of being held upside down, etc. If anything it’ll make you guys feel nostalgic about the earlier arcs. It’ll be interesting to see how the recasts go if they choose to go that route as opposed to using archival stuff. Though I’m not sure if there are any legalities involved with using those actors voices with them being convicted of those serious crimes
Yeah I don’t believe any rumor of the dub being cancelled. For multiple reasons:
1.) Why would they wait to make an announcement “soon”? If the rumor was true and FUNimation was going to leave people in the dark and not say why they were canceling the dub it seems pretty redundant they would wait at all to do it. Also I can’t see them making an announcement like that and not giving some sort of explanation. It’d be quite ridiculous if they made an announcement of that magnitude just a single sentence and nothing beyond that.Also it’s been over a week now so unless FUNi’s definition of soon extends beyond 10+ days there’s no announcement coming.
2.) As mentioned a great number of times they’ve already got a good chunk if not all of Season 10 dubbed already. I understand there’s nothing stopping the powers that be keeping it from coming out if they wanted to, but all signs in that department point toward the dub still being in production even if it’s moving at a snails pace, or even at all right now.
3.) The VA’s all talk about it on twitter like its still going on. It would seem strange for them to talk about a show like they were just in the booth with it yesterday if it were over for them. It could be true that they have no idea either but if the rumor’s originator’s alleged source, a voice actor, is in the know I can’t see the main cast not being either.
So yeah, I think it’s highly unlikely the dub is flat-out cancelled. No way to know for sure, but if they cancelled the dub I would be legitimately surprised.
Also Episode of East Blue coming out this fall (most likely September) doesn’t come as a surprise. I still think they’re going to round out 2019 by releasing Episode of East Blue in September and Episode of Skypiea in December but announce the new season around the anniversary. Or maybe they’ll bless us with a new season in the fall along with the specials, that would be pretty dope.
I could see them at the very least announcing season 10 on the anniversary, with a planned release for early next year. If they continue releasing these TV specials every three months then they can release Episode of East Blue in September and end the year with Episode of Skypiea in December. Then maybe release whatever TV special comes out this summer in March and then begin season 10 in May or June which is normally when FUNimation begins releasing a new One Piece season
But what do they gain from sitting on Punk Hazard? Wouldn’t a cushion be more comfortable?
To be honest I don't think they've finished dubbing the arc. Whether that's due to actor unavailability or Toei giving them a difficult time over something, I have no idea.
I’d love a source for this. My worry is that I haven’t heard any news where they said they they aren’t able to talk about it, which strongly implies their in negotiations. If that’s the case, I’d feel better. What I’ve seen instead is pure silence, which could mean anything. That’s worrying.
The source was this very thread actually, I want to say around end of last summer. Someone said they asked them something in regards to the next One Piece season and got that type of answer. It might just be the way said poster interpreted the answer but they made it sound like it wasn't any cause for concern
Just caught up with this thread. I liked the Episode of Sabo trailer, looking forward to watching it!
Regarding a few other points:
The dub is definitely not cancelled. They're still releasing One Piece content, just not the main story. I reckon once Episode of Sabo is released there probably won't be any further One Piece released until later in the year where they'll release maybe another TV special or two or something along those lines. Hopefully by then they'll have already announced Season 10 during one of the big summer cons or on their blog.
Straw Hat VA's have mentioned dubbing the body switch parts of Punk Hazard so they have definitely started dubbing it if they haven't already finished it. It will come out, it's just a matter of time. When that will be is anyone's guess. Personally I'd like to see it start releasing this year but I can also see them sitting on it until 2020 unfortunately.
As for Toonami, DeMarco said on his ask.fm a while back that currently there are no plans for them to put One Piece back on Toonami, however he did say that it wasn't impossible that it might one day return.
Someone also mentioned it being strange that FUNimation keep the simulcast but not the dub, but I remember back in 2011ish when it was still up in the air if FUNi would get Season 4 and beyond (man remember that wait?) that they stated they would continue to simulcast the series until it's completion regardless if there was a continued English dub or not.
As for asking them straight up, I don't think they'll answer stuff like that publicly. I remember reading that someone had asked them at a con and got a "can't talk about that right now" kinda answer so that gives me hope this is just a temporary hiatus and they're releasing these TV specials to try and boost One Piece profits before going back to the Voyage releases where profits will most likely return to what they were.
