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Bandai Entertainment's Position on First Gundam DVDs

posted on
Ken Iyadomi, Executive Vice President of Bandai explains why First Gundam is dub only.

Bandai has posted their responce and eplanation for why First Gundam will only be released dubbed.

it reads:

January 12, 2001
Last Edited 1140 PDT
From AnimeVillage.com


An Open Letter to the fan community
regarding MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM DVDS


It has come to our attention that some anime fans are disappointed in our announcement of the home video release of the original Mobile Suit Gundam television series on DVD later this year.

Our intention was always to release a dual-language DVD, as with all of our other releases. However, the reality of the current situation prevents us from doing so. As a result, these DVDs will be released as English-language only.

The reason for this is a licensing issue. As many of you know, in Japan, Gundam is the major franchise of Sunrise. And, while they are committed to increasing the popularity of Gundam around the world, at this time, they have chosen to withhold permission for us to include the Japanese audio on our DVD release. We have been negotiating with them on this point for some time, but we have been unsuccessful in changing this decision.

So rather than eliminate the possibility of any video release at all, we have chosen at this time to release the Mobile Suit Gundam DVDs in an English-only format, the only option available to us. At some future date a dual-language DVD may be possible, but for now, we must honor the wishes of Sunrise, and so we are unable to offer one.

This english-only release will not affect any of our other DVD releases of other Gundam titles (such as 0083, 0080, and MS08) or any of our other new titles (like Big O and Candidate for Goddess), as this is a specific licensing issue that applies only to the Mobile Suit Gundam television series.

We at Bandai Entertainment are certainly disappointed that we cannot release a dual-language DVD of this seminal anime title at this time, and we will continue to ask Sunrise and Bandai Visual for permission to release a version which includes Japanese audio. However, this decision is not ours to
make.

Bandai Entertainment is still committed to delivering the best DVD products possible, and we will strive to continue to bring new and exciting shows to the American fans. We thank you for your understanding.

Ken Iyadomi
Executive Vice President
Bandai Entertainment, INC.

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