A western OVA 4 release?

[antvasima]

Does anybody know if there are plans to release OVA 4 as a collection for western audiences yet? I would like to buy it to support the franchise.

[WarOmnimon]

There still hasn't been word, unfortunately.  I'm also waiting on word for OVA 4 getting licensed myself.  I remember someone here mentioning a couple of months back that because of OVA 4 focusing so much on side characters that Funimation might not even be interested in bringing it over, and might actually let the license run out.  But personally, I think it's more because of the fact that Ai Tenchi Muyo! bombed in Japan (Remember, Ai was the first iteration of Tenchi to never get licensed), so Funi got cold feet with anything Tenchi related.  Believe it or not, this is actually a legitimate excuse, and I'll reference what happened with Power Rangers in 2015 as an example.

After Power Rangers Megaforce / Super Megaforce, Saban adapted decided to adapt Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger (Which became Dino Charge / Dino Supercharge) instead of Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters.  And guess what Go-Busters has in common with Ai?  Yup, that's right... it bombed.  Short version, a single season of anything bombing hard CAN impact its western release / localization as a whole.  For Power Rangers, that meant that the bombed season in question (Go-Busters) got skipped in favor of the next one.  For Tenchi, that meant that the bombed season in question (Ai) more than likely caused Funi to get cold feet with the entire franchise going forward.

With that explanation out of the way, back to the topic at hand.  Hopefully, Photon getting relicensed means that the same will happen to Tenchi sooner than later.  I'm really sick of the fact that Funimation has cold feet in regards to anything Tenchi because of Ai.  And I'll say it now... as excited as I am for the new Pretty Sammy, if that somehow gets licensed before OVA 4, I'm going to flip a table.  ESPECIALLY if Funi is still the license holder.

[antvasima]

Okay. Thank you for the reply.

[EcchiOujisama]

Buying a western release has nothing to do with supporting the franchise. Any profits from the sale go to the licencee, not the creators. When you purchase a western release you are supporting bad dubbing, shoddy translations and sickeningly cheap corner cutting in reduced bitrate (i.e. lower quality) video*, and sometimes even lower quality audio steams, to save pennies per disc that could even be passed on to the consumer to produce a quality product. If they cared enough to make a quality product that is. Now, if you prefer these low rent imitations to the genuine article and/or are masochistic enough to get off on the aural sodomy that is English dubbing, by all means support it with your money.

If you want to support the franchise that means buying new Japanese products from Amazon.co.jp or another legitimate Japanese retailer that will ship outside of Japan. Those are the only sales that count when it comes to determining whether or not something is a success and/or warrants a sequel. It's also the only way the people who made it get paid.

*The only exception I know of to this rule is AnimEigo's incredible release of Otaku no Video, where they got everything there was to get out of a BD50 to make a disc that is actually superior to the Japanese release.

[Tensami]

Seeing Funimation's recent track record, it's probably just as well. Anyone want to hear Ryoko calling Tenchi a misogynist?

[Gaston]

Washu should complain the patriarchy takes her child away.

[Ricin]

Buying a western release has nothing to do with supporting the franchise. Any profits from the sale go to the licencee, not the creators. When you purchase a western release you are supporting bad dubbing, shoddy translations and sickeningly cheap corner cutting in reduced bitrate (i.e. lower quality) video*, and sometimes even lower quality audio steams, to save pennies per disc that could even be passed on to the consumer to produce a quality product. If they cared enough to make a quality product that is. Now, if you prefer these low rent imitations to the genuine article and/or are masochistic enough to get off on the aural sodomy that is English dubbing, by all means support it with your money.

If you want to support the franchise that means buying new Japanese products from Amazon.co.jp or another legitimate Japanese retailer that will ship outside of Japan. Those are the only sales that count when it comes to determining whether or not something is a success and/or warrants a sequel. It's also the only way the people who made it get paid.

*The only exception I know of to this rule is AnimEigo's incredible release of Otaku no Video, where they got everything there was to get out of a BD50 to make a disc that is actually superior to the Japanese release.

Honestly, I would not be surprised if they just used the torrents that we helped finance for their translation.

I can't watch Tenchi dubs anymore. Then you know anything about the characters and see it completely written out in dubs it is too much for me.

[WarOmnimon]

Seeing Funimation's recent track record, it's probably just as well. Anyone want to hear Ryoko calling Tenchi a misogynist?

You know, I, umm... I'm gonna have to agree with this.  I'll even give a very good example from Funi's recent stuff... the dub of Kantai Collection.  Yeah, the Japanese sub track is handled correctly with good translations, but hoo boy did they mess things up with the dub's script (Unnecessary added or changed jokes at the most cringeworthy moments ahoy!).  An outright shame given that about more than 75% of the voices they got for the dub fit their characters very nicely... and then the dub's script ruins it moreso than the voices.

I can't watch Tenchi dubs anymore. Then you know anything about the characters and see it completely written out in dubs it is too much for me.

I can't watch the Tenchi dubs anymore for the same reason, but some people also tend to forget that pretty much every anime released under the sun has both dub and subs in the same release nowadays.  I'm certain it would be the same for OVA 4.

TLDR My biggest problem with English dubs nowadays is the changes to the scripts rather than the voice actors and actresses, who I've noticed actually fit their characters lately... but yeah, a bad script can definitely ruin ANYTHING, regardless of who's working on it.

[Eff Efferson]

I'd watch ova 4 funimation subs... if they did it shinchan style.