Dubbing/Licensing News from Funi & Bandai
Some interesting & not very well known news have spilled out of the realms of Bandai Entertainment & FUNimation recently. Starting off with Bandai, it seems they have joined the rescuing anime business & have re-licensed Makoto Shinkai's amazing movie 5 Centimeters Per Second. Originally an ADV license, the movie was one of the unfortunate titles to be removed from ADV's lists even though it wasn't part of the Sojitz Arm deal. Despite those titles being rescued by Funi, it was revealed this past summer that 5cm & a few other titles were still screwed. & despite ADV arguing that its fate hadn't been fully decided yet a few months later, it now turns out that Bandai has it.
Apparently ADV head Matt Greenfield announced at a convention last year that Bandai had it, but I never heard that before. Maybe that was also at that super-secret con where they revealed the licensing of Clannad? At any rate, it seems that Bandai's even going through the trouble of redubbing the movie, as Bang Zoom voice actors have reported being involved on the project recently. Not really sure why'd they do something like that, but there you go.
Moving along to FUNimation, they've also got a new license- the short FullMetal Alchemist Premium Collection OVAs! About time they got their hands on those three shorts, sure took them long enough. Dubbing for it already started late last year, as did dubbing on their new Rebuild of Evangelion 1.01 movie. While casting info isn't known yet (please PLEASE use the original dub cast), it can be said for sure that it is being directed by directors from Funi & not Matt Greenfield from ADV, as he did for the anime series. Though he didn't direct "End of Evangelion" either, so perhaps that's not too surprising.
Finally there's strong rumors floating around about FUNimation releasing the DBZ anime series on Blu-ray. They are near to finishing their remastered DVD season sets, so I guess Blu-ray is the next logical step.
Source: http://www.fanboyreview.net/2009/01/10/stack-o-news-dbz-blu-fma-ovas-eva-10-and-bandai-5cm/