ToonZone reports that they heard directly from Media Blasters that they have the licenses for not one but two wacky fan-favorite comedies, namely Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei and Moyashimon.
I got in touch with Media Blasters, who graciously responded with super-speed. They officially have no comment at this time, so these are-- spell it with me – R-U-M-O-R-S (find out what it means to me! o/~). I know that a lot of you will jump on the idea that this means they DO have them, but bear in mind first that if it's something they have even the vaguest hopes of licensing someday, they're unlikely to outright say “no” to something like this. So don't go flying off the handle here.
Still, we can dream! So instead of jumping to conclusions either direction, let's just talk: what would we want out of Zetsubou Sensei and Moyashimon releases.
My personal wishlist? Really gorgeous box-art for Zetsubou Sensei, and as I recall in one episode of the anime you saw Meru's cell phone charm, which featured all of the characters connected by nooses. Oh yeah.
And Moyashimon...a guide to making sake would be nice. Actually a guidebook to a lot of the scientific stuff mentioned in the series would be pretty helpful. Hmm...
Bandai's going to get heck for not dubbing Hayate the Combat Butler. Also MB might start to see a resurgence in the main stream crowd (granted both titles are niche within their respective rights).
For Zetsubou, I'd want to see a dub. It will be a rather difficult one to do and I'm interested how it would be done.
And as fan-subbed as can be, I kinda want a subtitle option of seeing what references mean (on the blackboard, whatever they're talking about, etc). I dunno if you can do a double subtitle track but I at least know they can just make two English tracks, one with just dialogue and the other with dialogue and reference stuff.
Given the limitations on DVD subtitles, subtitling Zetsubou-Sensei would be a nightmare if they were to try including all the on screen text. That leaves the options of hard subs or overlays. Regardless of which they choose, there's going to be some unhappy fans. Good liner notes would be an absolute must. Honestly though, I'm sceptical of this rumor.
Zetsuboooooooouuuu! I just subjected a friend to the first season over the weekend and she fell in love.
Dare I ... Dare I dream of two subtitle tracks? One with all the backround chalkboard messages translated and one without? Though, the fansubs I saw of the show did a great job, so I know a studio could also handle all the problems well. I want this show, and I want it in pretty boxes. I want this show in boxes pretty enough to display like pieces of art :)
Also, I still want a cell phone dangle of Itoshiki-sensei in a noose. Ok, yeah, I have an iPhone ... but I can superglue on something so that it can take a cell phone dangle ... right?
I'll do you one better Outlaw_Spike; the dvd cases are the microbes!