Let's Try and Get Tokyo Zombie Subtitled, Shall We?

maybe we could get someone fluent in nihongonese to write up a template letter we could all send them, im sure it might even make more of a difference ^^

some key phrases and information that will be useful :

English : 英語字幕 (as in subtitles!)
Tokyo Zombie : 東京ゾンビ (as in the title of the film) or 『東京ゾンビ』if you like quotes on titles.
Standard Edition Product Code : BBBJ-6665
Special Edition Product Code : BBBJ-6664
Release Date : July 28th 2006 (7月28日)

I've contacted them!

Great idea. I'm just typing the email.

Let's just hope they haven't already mastered it. With all the time it takes to deliver, print, distribute these discs could be the master has already been completed actually.

Great Idea! i can't wait to see this movie and it would be a great gift to all of us!

The reason there are no subtitles on the Japanese DVD may not just be ignorance on the part of the distributor. Maybe they can sell the foreign rights for more money if there isn't a subtitled DVD available already. Or maybe they already sold the rights to various Western countries and the contracts forbid them to release an English subtitled DVD.

A problem is that they may notice that there's demand for english subtitles, and thus demand more money from interested distributors causing the smaller distributors to drop out.. so the chances of us getting a subtitled release may decrease. Even the larger companies may wonder "why bother?". But now I'm perhaps thinking too much ;-)

caterpillar - the issues one thats been discussed before of course, but i would say that any company that allows the condition to not include subtitles on one release in order to gain a license for elsewhere is encouraging and allowing anti-competative practices : its shouldnt even be considered by anyone as it can come back to haunt you... leaving subs off as a potential license might happen reduces the chance of the film finding its wider audience (so infact, more than english should be included - spanish? french?) or leaving them off because of a license feels just plain illogical.

I've never heard of a company that sells it's right to subtitle their own films in whichever language they choose for domestic sales. I would think that would be a very bad business model. More often, than not, i think that they fail to see the market outside the domestic. I live in Norway and often I have to buy asian dvd's from US because that is the only way to get these films with english subs. So that is another market lost for the japanese as well.
Further on it should not be too expensive to add an english subtitle track if it already exists on a 35mm. I work with dvd-creation myself and know that as long as there is a standalone sub-file it can easily be incorporated on the dvd. No more mastering or digitalization required. It is quiet cheap, a little bit time consuming yes, but not at all difficult.
I would very much like to see this film myself!

I dont think Happinet ist the right company to get in contact with. TOSHIBA is doing the international sales and will also release the japanese DVD. You have to get in contact with Toshiba!

But Caterpillar is right! I just talked to many japanese companies in the past and they all told me that the didnt include english subs because this may affect the international sales. We all know that this is totally nonsense (the Korean companies knows how to share attention) but sadly thats their position. You will nearly get every japanese film (especially the movies produced by TOEI and TOHO) as a sample tape with english subs but the never use them for their domestic dvd release. The same situation in Thailand. Since the Hong Kong based company GOLDEN NETWORK distribute most of the upcoming Thai movies for international sales, ive been told that "an unsubbed thai dvd release" was an essential part of their distribution contract. Thats the reason why we didnt get a subbed thai dvd release of MIDNIGHT MY LOVE, GHOST VALENTINE, SCARED, COLIC, THE BODYGUARD 2, YAM and so on....

Best,

Ps: Sorry for my bad english...

trackman - good snippets of information there. i would say that you are right that companies arent doing themselves any good by not including subtitles, and that youre spot-on by saying korea has brought themselves much positive attention in english-speaking territories because theyve pretty much always subtitled in english (and japanese too - just look at the korean wave in japan), and that way of doing things is a positive global view instead of the avoidance of subtitling which suggests more of a territory-by-territory view thats a thing of the past (or should be). companies need to be more forward-thinking and promote via the internet and sell via the internet and postal services to reach the broader audience directly...

According to Anime News Network, Manga Entertainment has announced that they have the R1 license for Tokyo Zombie.

Due for release no earlier than the second half of 2007...

oh no!!!