Funimation's Early Days - A History - A look into the past of Funimation up until DBZ's mainstream success on American television

[Akashic Retard]

I remember seeing blue gender ads on my History of Trunks tape as a baby, man that shit gave me nightmares.

I was always struck by the giant pussy monsters. Never watched the show. Japanese people are fucked.

 

[General Gunther]

Chris Patton said at a convention that the majority of actors had to make long time consuming trips to Funimation to record and it is stressful.

To give you an idea of what this entails, Funimation is located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas. The ADV Films VAs who did work for Funimation in the 2000s are all based in Houston.

It's about a 5 hour drive to get from Houston to Dallas. So in the days long before remote recording/the pandemic if you had a role at Funimation and you lived in Houston you had to drive 5 hours to go record your lines and drive 5 hours back afterwards.

There's a reason why most of the VAs at ADV Films didn't work for Funimation unless it was a one time thing.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

I was always struck by the giant pussy monsters. Never watched the show. Japanese people are fucked.

Vaginas are scary to the Japanese, hence the low birthrate . 'Course, now they no longer make pussy-demons and vulva-monsters not called succubi, and I think that's disappointing. Japanese love their genital-inspired horrors, but the West has slowly infected them with the gay that's now afraid to make such suggestive imagery.

 

[Verxis]

Vaginas are scary to the Japanese, hence the low birthrate . 'Course, now they no longer make pussy-demons and vulva-monsters not called succubi, and I think that's disappointing. Japanese love their genital-inspired horrors, but the West has slowly infected them with the gay that's now afraid to make such suggestive imagery.

Vaginas should be scary to Americans. That's why they get into dangerous relationships and kill themselves when their wife takes their kids and he has to pay alimony. Like Lowtax.

 

[Scarlett Johansson]

To give you an idea of what this entails, Funimation is located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas. The ADV Films VAs who did work for Funimation in the 2000s are all based in Houston.

It's about a 5 hour drive to get from Houston to Dallas. So in the days long before remote recording/the pandemic if you had a role at Funimation and you lived in Houston you had to drive 5 hours to go record your lines and drive 5 hours back afterwards.

There's a reason why most of the VAs at ADV Films didn't work for Funimation unless it was a one time thing.

All that for what 6 hour day recording as barmaid #2 which pays poorly? Lol

 

[Martys_not_smarty]

To give you an idea of what this entails, Funimation is located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas. The ADV Films VAs who did work for Funimation in the 2000s are all based in Houston.

It's about a 5 hour drive to get from Houston to Dallas. So in the days long before remote recording/the pandemic if you had a role at Funimation and you lived in Houston you had to drive 5 hours to go record your lines and drive 5 hours back afterwards.

There's a reason why most of the VAs at ADV Films didn't work for Funimation unless it was a one time thing.

Sounds a lot like the tale of a certain lolcows two best friends Howard and John Rambo who more times than not got paid fuckall to drive hundreds of miles to Connecticut for something called Project 7 that never came out.

 

[General Gunther]

All that for what 6 hour day recording as barmaid #2 which pays poorly? Lol

With the exception of people like Monica Rial (who doesn't live in Houston anymore), it's usually for a minor recurring character. One Piece for example had both Brett Weaver and Jay Hickman in it at one point. Hillary Haag also had a role in Trinity Blood (the only Funimation dub she did).

 

[Dom Cruise]

And their forums are a cesspit now thanks to current year political hysteria and people (save for like, three) talking out of their ass as autistic weebs do.

It's hilarious how much the political hysteria affects, even the fucking DBZ community, when are people going to get the fuck over themselves?

To give you an idea of what this entails, Funimation is located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas. The ADV Films VAs who did work for Funimation in the 2000s are all based in Houston.

It's about a 5 hour drive to get from Houston to Dallas. So in the days long before remote recording/the pandemic if you had a role at Funimation and you lived in Houston you had to drive 5 hours to go record your lines and drive 5 hours back afterwards.

There's a reason why most of the VAs at ADV Films didn't work for Funimation unless it was a one time thing.

Vic talked about in an interview once how he would simply skip the long car ride and pay extra to fly between Houston and Dallas.

The relationship between ADV and Funimation was fascinating, both being Texas based companies but they did have that distance between them physically, they also took different approaches, Funimation would try to cater a little more to the mainstream, ADV would cater a little more to weirdos and hardcore nerds, but then both companies would also release stuff that was vice versa.

Funimation also put a bunch of stuff on Adult Swim, ADV would court other networks like G4 or even cable movie channels, before briefly trying to air stuff on Adult Swim (I think Super Milk Chan and Evangelion was the only ADV series to air on Adult Swim and Eva only aired once, could be wrong though)

And when it came to actors, ADV had their stable who would appear in everything they did, off the top of my head Vic was the only Funi actor who did a few ADV things, there's probably more though.

With the exception of people like Monica Rial (who doesn't live in Houston anymore), it's usually for a minor recurring character. One Piece for example had both Brett Weaver and Jay Hickman in it at one point. Hillary Haag also had a role in Trinity Blood (the only Funimation dub she did).

Cool, I forgot Hilary Haag was in Trinity Blood, forgot she did anything for Funimation.

Is there a list of which ADV actors also did dubs for Funimation?

 

[General Gunther]

It's hilarious how much the political hysteria affects, even the fucking DBZ community, when are people going to get the fuck over themselves?


Vic talked about in an interview once how he would simply skip the long car ride and pay extra to fly between Houston and Dallas.

The relationship between ADV and Funimation was fascinating, both being Texas based companies but they did have that distance between them physically, they also took different approaches, Funimation would try to cater a little more to the mainstream, ADV would cater a little more to weirdos and hardcore nerds, but then both companies would also release stuff that was vice versa.

Funimation also put a bunch of stuff on Adult Swim, ADV would court other networks like G4 or even cable movie channels, before briefly trying to air stuff on Adult Swim (I think Super Milk Chan and Evangelion was the only ADV series to air on Adult Swim and Eva only aired once, could be wrong though)

And when it came to actors, ADV had their stable who would appear in everything they did, off the top of my head Vic was the only Funi actor who did a few ADV things, there's probably more though.


Cool, I forgot Hilary Haag was in Trinity Blood, for she did anything for Funimation.

Is there a list of which ADV actors also did dubs for Funimation?

The only other examples I can think of at the moment are Rob Mungle, Chris Patton, George Manley & Christine Auten. The more prominent VAs who worked at ADV more or less worked at Funimation at some point.

Also, it should be noted that Vic at the same time was always networking and looking for opportunities (Monica referred to this in her deposition as proof that he had power and influence in the industry). At one point Vic was one of the only few Texas VAs to work on a New York anime dub back when they were still a thing, more specifically for NYAV Post. It was a 1990s title called Giant Robo: The Animation which the studio had redubbed in 2004 after it was originally dubbed in Los Angeles.

This is the character Vic voiced in case you were wondering.

It wasn't until the early 2010s that some other VAs from Texas ended up doing guest roles on Pokemon at one point when Tom Wayland was still charge of the dubbing. Vic, J. Michael Tatum and Chris Sabat are just three examples that come to mind.

 

[Madako-Tako]

Man watching those videos took me back, interesting thread

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

I was always struck by the giant pussy monsters. Never watched the show. Japanese people are fucked.

View attachment 2919309

Somehow the six cross eyed eyes seem to be more in your face than the Arby’s inspired mouth. The tentacles were just the cherry on top.

 

[MirrorNoir]

The only other examples I can think of at the moment are Rob Mungle, Chris Patton, George Manley & Christine Auten. The more prominent VAs who worked at ADV more or less worked at Funimation at some point.

Also, it should be noted that Vic at the same time was always networking and looking for opportunities (Monica referred to this in her deposition as proof that he had power and influence in the industry). At one point Vic was one of the only few Texas VAs to work on a New York anime dub back when they were still a thing, more specifically for NYAV Post. It was a 1990s title called Giant Robo: The Animation which the studio had redubbed in 2004 after it was originally dubbed in Los Angeles.

View attachment 2920328
This is the character Vic voiced in case you were wondering.

It wasn't until the early 2010s that some other VAs from Texas ended up doing guest roles on Pokemon at one point when Tom Wayland was still charge of the dubbing. Vic, J. Michael Tatum and Chris Sabat are just three examples that come to mind.

Who is the character Vic played and can you tell me more about Giant Robos and the dub?

 

[General Gunther]

Who is the character Vic played and can you tell me more about Giant Robos and the dub?

Well, as I've before it's an anime from the 90s. What I didn't mention is that it's a 7-episode OVA.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Robo:_The_Day_the_Earth_Stood_Still

While it is based on a 1960s manga the director Yasuhiro Imagawa wasn't allowed to use any of the supporting characters from the original manga or the live action version. With the mangaka Mitsuteru Yokoyama's permission, the director populated it with characters from every other work the artist had done. It's interesting and fun to watch if you're really into older 90s anime.

Two dubs exist, the original 90s one which was recorded in Los Angeles & the 2004 re-dub done in New York for Media Blasters (the company known for originally distributing Invader Zim on DVD) that Vic is in. His character first appears in the 6th episode.

 

[Dread First]

Hard to believe that Sentai Filmworks (and whatever other licensing arms of what used to be ADV) is the only competition left to Funimation. God I miss the days when I'd pop a Funi DVD in and I'd hear the whispered "you should be watching" at the beginning of every episode.

 

[General Gunther]

Hard to believe that Sentai Filmworks (and whatever other licensing arms of what used to be ADV) is the only competition left to Funimation. God I miss the days when I'd pop a Funi DVD in and I'd hear the whispered "you should be watching" at the beginning of every episode.

Tragically those days are long over ever since Sony acquired them. It was different when they were owned by an independent corporation that no longer exists.

 

[NickDigger]

Tragically those days are long over ever since Sony acquired them. It was different when they were owned by an independent corporation that no longer exists.

They're over for Sentai too seeing as they just got bought by AMC. The biggest independent US anime publisher now, in terms of both of manpower and output, is Discotek Media.

 

[MirrorNoir]

Well, as I've before it's an anime from the 90s. What I didn't mention is that it's a 7-episode OVA.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Robo:_The_Day_the_Earth_Stood_Still

While it is based on a 1960s manga the director Yasuhiro Imagawa wasn't allowed to use any of the supporting characters from the original manga or the live action version. With the mangaka Mitsuteru Yokoyama's permission, the director populated it with characters from every other work the artist had done. It's interesting and fun to watch if you're really into older 90s anime.

Two dubs exist, the original 90s one which was recorded in Los Angeles & the 2004 re-dub done in New York for Media Blasters (the company known for originally distributing Invader Zim on DVD) that Vic is in. His character first appears in the 6th episode.

Which character does Vic voice/where is he from and why couldn't they use other characters from the live action or manga versions?

 

[General Gunther]

Which character does Vic voice/where is he from and why couldn't they use other characters from the live action or manga versions?

The characters's name is Zangetsu I don't really know much beyond that. As for why they couldn't use other characters there probably is a reason but I don't think it was ever explained/elaborated on by the director.

 

[Dom Cruise]

While it is based on a 1960s manga the director Yasuhiro Imagawa wasn't allowed to use any of the supporting characters from the original manga or the live action version. With the mangaka Mitsuteru Yokoyama's permission, the director populated it with characters from every other work the artist had done. It's interesting and fun to watch if you're really into older 90s anime.

I remember Mike Toole talking about this on ANNcast back when Zac was still alive and ANN wasn't an absolute nightmare.

Hard to believe that Sentai Filmworks (and whatever other licensing arms of what used to be ADV) is the only competition left to Funimation. God I miss the days when I'd pop a Funi DVD in and I'd hear the whispered "you should be watching" at the beginning of every episode.

It was all a lot of fun.

Anime lives on but who gives a fuck about any US companies anymore? Any mystique those companies once had is gone.

They're over for Sentai too seeing as they just got bought by AMC. The biggest independent US anime publisher now, in terms of both of manpower and output, is Discotek Media.

I saw AMC owned Sentai recently and went "what!?" but I didn't know that was something recent, yeah, I wonder how that's going to change things.

 

[Jonah Hill poster]