The Licensing Hell Thread

[Lord Dalek]

The following are series that either have not or will not see a US release due to various circumstances...

SNOWBALL IN HELL-LEVEL (Never gonna happen, get over it)

Macross Franchise (Harmony Gold's not quite legal claim on the trademark + music clearances)
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (Warner Home Video has not offered the license for sale; Roundabout)
Angel's Egg (The OVA that INVENTED Licensing Hell)
Kodomo no Jikan (allegedly Zac Bertschy scared everybody away, who knows the real reason)
Brave Saga
Legend of the Galactic Heroes (music clearances)
Ro-Kyu-Bu
Nodama Cantabile
Kodocha (Considering all the trouble Funi went through to put out the parts they did dub...)
Lensman (TV Series and Movie) - Surpressed by Estate of original creator E.E. Doc Smith

Not exactly but close (IE: Money Reasons, Xenophobic Distributors, Bad Reputations; unlike the previous catagory, these shows could be licensed though)

Gundam Franchise (Sunrise allegedly charging an arm and a leg for the lot)
Higurashi Naka Koro Ni (first season bombed in the states when Geneon had it)
Hunter X Hunter (Failure of first series plus poor manga sales have given Viz cold feet on the rest; this ship has sailed. ADDENDUM: Rumored that Madhouse refuses to license the show until they've finished animating it...which is probably baloney since HxH 2011 has been dubbed into French.)
Neon Genesis Evangelion (attempts to relicense the tv series and End of Eva have apparently been thwarted by Gainax themselves)
Black Rock Shooter (Funi licensed this for streaming as part of their noitaminA deal, may have run into difficulties with Aniplex over the video rights)
El-Hazard: The Magnificent World [The blu ray finally came out in Japan last week, balls in Nozomi's court I guess]
Space Battleship Yamato (Yoshinobu Nishizaki)
Robot Carnival
Welcome to Irabu's Office (Cinedigm apparently got the "unlicensible" Mononoke, so who knows... Depends on if Mononoke actually sells...)
Dog Days (licensed, and promptly shelved)
Precure franchise (with the exception of the first series, although Saban may have grabbed Smile)
Undubbed Zatch Bell episodes

Expired but salvagable

Various 4Kids Licenses (Sonic X, Tokyo Mew Mew, Magical DoReMi, Shaman King, Dinosaur King, etc.; does not include One Piece)
Zoids
Megaman NT Warrior
Megaman Star Force
Non-Gundam Bandai licenses
CPM Catalog (various titles reissued by Funimation, Sentai Filmworks, Nozomi, and Discotek Media already)
Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross
Genesis Climber Mospeada
Super Dimension Century Orguss
Super Dimension Century Orguss 02

List to be expanded on as more come in.

 

[Classic Speedy]

Sentai licensed Ro Kyu Bu!, which they cancelled soon after licensing. Did they get cold feet from the younger characters in the show?

Re: Cutie Honey should've been licensed years ago but Toei and Gainax don't seem to want to get along?

 

[Lord Dalek]

Sentai licensed Ro Kyu Bu!, which they cancelled soon after licensing. Did they get cold feet from the younger characters in the show?

Wouldn't surprise me. That show is a bigger pedo trap than Dateline NBC.

 

[Gold Guy]

You should add the original Sailor Moon anime series. Toei has that one locked up.

 

[macattack]

The problem may not be Toei with Sailor Moon. The original creator, Naoko Takeuchi has a lot of control over the franchise and she was extremely unhappy with how Toei handled the original series. She's apparently an extremely difficult person to work with, and she could very well be the reason why it's been taking so long to get the reboot of the franchise released.

 

[Daikun]

What about Zoids? Does Viz still have that franchise?

 

[Gold Guy]

As far as I know, no. Viz also lost the rights to Megaman NT Warrior, Mega Man Star Force, and I believe Zatch Bell recently, so I would not be surprised.

 

[MadMan400096]

Sentai licensed Ro Kyu Bu!, which they cancelled soon after licensing. Did they get cold feet from the younger characters in the show?

Actually, that probably had nothing to do with it; the original Japanese producers yanked the home video rights from all licensing companies outside of Asia, including Sentai (who still has streaming and TV rights, BTW). They never specified why, though.

Also, many 4Kids licenses (i.e. Shaman King, Magical DoReMi, Mew Mew Power), have vanished as well, though some (Ultimate Muscle, Kirby: Right Back At Ya) appear to have reverted to the Japanese producers' international branches. On that note, while most Geneon and several Bandai licenses have been rescued by FUNimation, Sentai, and others, there are still a few popular series from both that still have yet to be rescued (notably Higurashi from the former and Haruhi Suzumiya and Lucky Star from the latter). Finally, FUNi appears to have lost Kodocha a while back.

 

[Soul]

[Post Deleted]

 

[Harmonie]

I'm not very knowledgeable in this area, but I do know that when mentioning Nodame Cantabile I've been told many times that it is in some kind of licensing hell. At least for DVD release. The first season is up on Crackle for free for the US, but nothing beyond that. (Although I find that strange that it's even available for us there given that it's supposedly in licensing hell?)

 

[Classic Speedy]

Actually, that probably had nothing to do with it; the original Japanese producers yanked the home video rights from all licensing companies outside of Asia, including Sentai (who still has streaming and TV rights, BTW). They never specified why, though.

I stand corrected. Whatever the reason, though, we won't be seeing that one for quite some time unless the issues are worked out.

Does this topic count manga? Because Kodomo no Jikan (or Nymphet, as they were going to call it) won't be coming out anytime soon either.

 

[GWOtaku]

Considering that Sailor Moon was picked up for DVD all the way through even Sailor Stars in parts of Europe through Viz Media's associated businesses in that part of the world, my guess is that barriers to it have more to do with money at this point.

Princess Mononoke *was* in a licensing hell but thankfully is not so anymore, with the movie back in Disney's hands and distributed anew on DVD. Blu-ray shouldn't be far behind.

 

[Mr. Anime]

Let's see...

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

All Star Battle is being released over here so it's not in the realm of complete impossibility. Though the chance of it actually happening is indeed very, very slim as JoJo has never done well over in the US.

Brave Saga

GaoGaiGar was released by Media Blasters, it didn't sell well and they had to abandon the dub half-way through it but a bit did come over here. So again its in the realm of very unlikely instead of the totally impossible. It would't suprise me if Discotek licences it someday as their into Super Robot series that are old.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes

The new anime version that was recently announced may have a chance. The original version on the other hand? Yeah.

Kenji Nakamura Toei Series (Mononoke, Welcome to Irabu's Office)

Geneon got Ayakashi when they were still around, so again not impossible.

Sailor Moon Franchise

No one thought the Manga would get relicensed yet it did, the anime version will have to follow suit sooner or later especially with the arrival of the new anime version. Toei cannot keep that door shut forever.

Gundam Franchise

Funimation or Sentai may get them eventually though it will be a long up-hill battle.

Hunter X Hunter

For what I've heard Madhouse won't license out HXH 2011 version until their finished animating all of it.

Neon Genesis Evangelion

I'd say it's only a matter of time until Funimation gets it.

Space Battleship Yamato

Funny, I heard that Yamtao 2199 was getting a dub under the guise of Starblazers 2199.

 

[GWOtaku]

Funny, I heard that Yamato 2199 was getting a dub under the guise of Starblazers 2199.

This is unfortunately uncertain for the moment. The decision to release it subtitled first has a lot of people wondering, though there was also a pilot dub of the first two episodes being shopped around in 2013 - hence Bang Zoom being credited in the production.

But I presume the inclusion of Yamato in this thread has to do with classic Yamato, which I don't bet on seeing at this point after years of us having access to Star Blazers exclusively. At this point I'd take a subtitled localization of the Blu-ray releases for the five Yamato movies for Japan eventually, which would be a truly massive leap ahead of the old and very dated DVDs from years ago.

 

[Lord Dalek]

All Star Battle is being released over here so it's not in the realm of complete impossibility. Though the chance of it actually happening is indeed very, very slim as JoJo has never done well over in the US.

Well that and you've got the hassle every installment of JoJo's has had of Araraki freely using music artist's names without asking them.

GaoGaiGar was released by Media Blasters, it didn't sell well and they had to abandon the dub half-way through it but did a bit did come over here. So again its in the realm of very unlikely instead of the totally impossible. It would't suprise me if Discotek licences it someday as their into Super Robot series that are old.

The problem has always been Takara. They want more money than what Sunrise would normally charge for a show. GaoGaiGar was highly demanded that Media Blasters blew a huge wad trying to get the rights. Considering said company is now 78% deceased, you can see how well it went for them.

Genon got Ayakashi when they were still around, so again not impossible.

There actually is some red tape surrounding those two shows I mentioned.

No one thought the Manga would get relicensed yet it did, the anime version will have to follow suit sooner or later especially with the arrival of the new anime version. Toei cannot keep that door shut forever.

Well Funi wants it but as we all know Toei never plays fair with with anybody (especially Funi)

Funimation or Sentai may get them eventually though it will be a long up-hill battle.

Sentai doesn't have the money and Funi probably doesn't want to spend that kind of money for only a few shows with a guaranteed solid return.

For what I've heard Madhouse won't license out HXH 2011 version until their finished animating all of it.

Considering how utterly lazy Togashi is, good luck with that.

I'd say it's only a matter of time until Funimation gets it.

They want it but Gainax is playing hard to get. I think its partially the fault of ADV's aborted live action movie that's holding things up on the other end.

Funny, I heard that Yamtao 2199 was getting a dub under the guise of Starblazers 2199.

I'm referring to the original show, which the estate of the producer, the late Nishizaki, controls in all regions as a result of winning his legal dispute with Matsumoto in 2003, and only wishes to release the old dub of in the United States. Furthermore, as the Starblazers 2199 blurays are just going to be repackaged Japanese imports it looks like, that new dub seems to have stalled.

 

[Light Lucario]

The problem may not be Toei with Sailor Moon. The original creator, Naoko Takeuchi has a lot of control over the franchise and she was extremely unhappy with how Toei handled the original series. She's apparently an extremely difficult person to work with, and she could very well be the reason why it's been taking so long to get the reboot of the franchise released.

I thought that it had more to do with Naoko Takeuchi being unhappy with how the series was dubbed rather than with Toei. Although, considering that the series has been re-released in other countries, I imagine that it's just a matter of time for the series to be available here, especially with the manga already being re-released and the new series on the way.

I'm also pretty sure that Saban has the rights to Sonic X considering that it's still airing on their Vortexx block. All of the other licenses that 4Kids had have expired or have gone to other companies though. I wouldn't be too surprised if Viz lost the rights to Zoids. That's too bad when I enjoyed the first two series and I don't think that they released that new Zoid series either.

 

[SpecialColorfull]

I think Toei is delaying the remake to reap the success of the original anime a while longer. I hope it does come to the USA again.

 

[ChibiGoku]

From what I understand with what happened with the Sailor Moon license, it seems to be an issue based off each territory. Apparently Europe's license of the franchise has been pretty straight forward (just like any typical license), from what I recall licensers have mentioned with the acquisition. However, on the flip side, Latin America apparently had a several year approval process for the Sailor Moon rerelease in that territory, as Naoko Takeuchi wanted to approve everything that they were planning to do. My guess is the Americas, as a whole, is lumped together as some sort of "mistrust", so to speak. Even though Latin America and other parts of the region did not heavily alter the series like the US originally did, they seem to be lumped together as a whole with how North America was treated, hence why I think the reason the North American release is being held up is not so much a matter of money, but rather a series of approval processes. There is a possible chance someone already has it (statements seem to point to FUNimation having it), but ultimately what could be holding everything up is every single thing that's being done to the show, might be one long approval process.

 

[SpecialColorfull]

I hope that if that's the case, the new dub will be awesome!

 

[gmster]

Saban Brands inherited the license to Sonic X as part of the 4Kids buyout.