servo101010 wrote:Well, it's nearly two months now since the Japanese release of Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, and still no news on any International Release whatsoever. Yet the Evangelion fan community is increasing in numbers and the reception of the first movie has been mostly high. The movie even has official english subs as of October 12, 2007, ready to be viewed by the mass majority of english speaking members.
You know, I've been questioning on what
"development hell" is for international releases and adaptations coming from Japan. Especially if it's a distributor who has no established international relations prior to production, such as KlockWorx and Khara, the distributors behind Rebuild. Having experienced the conflict of international adaptation many times in the past before, is it possible that development hell for adaptation won't get any better, despite Japan's increasing power of personal distribution?
Maybe I'm just bitching here, and maybe it is only two months after release. Maybe I'm over anticipating something that's bigger than it really is. But one thing's for sure, theatrical release for the first movie as of now is for Asian audiences only, let alone Japanese. No hope for outsiders to witness the Rebuild experience.
All n' all, this is an example of how money ruins the experience of movies. The movie itself is ready to be shown to outsiders. The outsiders themselves are ready to see the movie. But apparently the corporates themselves aren't ready for the experience.
No wonder piracy is an obligated practice.
I feel like Bart Simpson when denied his opportunity to witness the Itchy and Scratchy movie. Only to stay home and listen to his little sister juxtaposition his situation to denial of witnessing the moon landing.
A) Despite being subtitled, chances are English-speaking audiences would rather see it dubbed. Those who don't mind fansubs wouldn't care one way or the other, but viability of such obscure titles (like it or not, to mainstream America Eva is obscure, as is most anime, Miyazaki somewhat excluded) hinges on wide acceptance, and subtitles only appeal to a niche market. A movie has to be several orders of magnitude more noteworthy to attract an audience that will simply put up with something that isn't
spoken in English. Little less come
en masse.
B) Chances of seeing it, even in fansubbed form, are very slim until it gets released on DVD over there. And average wait time between Japanese theatre premiere and release on DVD is usually around 7 or 8 months
at the least (judging from things like Advent Children, or the FMA and Bleach movies). Having a domestic American release, theatre or not, will inevitably be later, due to licensing logistics. Few films have the clout (mainly due to big-name staff, see Miyazaki again) to get broad international distribution prior to the standard English licensing dance.
C) How is this different from any other property? No matter what level of popularity Eva has within anime fandom or in Japan in general, that doesn't translate to having good enough chances of surviving in Western theatre markets. Considering the relationship between GAINAX and Kadokawa (and disputedly KlockWorx, if Haruhi is any indication), it wouldn't surprise me if Kadokawa USA has something to do with whatever American company gets it. The Japanese companies will probably have little to do with releasing the movie internationally.
The only plausible remedy I can see for B and C (and A in some respects) is if it gets the Blu-ray treatment at release time. The upcoming Japanese Blu-ray release of Utawarerumono has English subtitles and audio - whether it's the ADV-produced subs and audio, I don't know. Part of this is probably because of the series having already been released here (which makes it likely the English tracks are sourced from ADV), and because both Japan and the U.S. are in the same Blu-ray region.