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The video games have had simultaneous worldwide releases since Generation 6. Pokémon GO's releases are (now) all the same worldwide as well. The Pokémon Company / Game Freak / etc. figured out that having everyone get the same things at the same time is key to being able to effectivly market the franchise worldwide.
And then you have the TV series. The English dub of the animated series is about four months behind the Japanese version, and while this is a great improvement from the 4Kids days (where there'd be a full year between the two) that's *still* a quarter of a year wait for an official English version. The video games have been in Generation 8 for three months now but the English dub of the TV series is going to be stuck in Gen 7 until about March or so.
It's even worse for the other international versions since they have to wait for the English dub to be completed before they can even get started on theirs. The German dub, for example, seems like it's only on the very first episode of the Alola League and so even if they air one new episode a week they probably won't be able to finish Sun & Moon until June 2020 or so. The first Sword & Shield expansion pass will be out by then.
Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution, meanwhile, came out in Japan a full 7 months ago. The movie is so old that the tie-in distributon they had in Japan - a Mewtwo you can download to your copy of Let's Go! Pikachu / Let's Go! Eevee - can't really be brought over anymore because we've moved on to a new generation since then. "To celebrate the release of the new movie you can download a Mewtwo to your Pokémon games! No, not those ones, the ones that came out in 2018....OK, yes...we understand...sure, but...but Mewtwo's not in Sword & Shield and..."
The Pokémon Company *must* realize that the delayed release of the TV series abroad is severely handicapping its ability to provide effective cross-media promotion. But even TPCI halving the gap of their dub from four months to two months wouldn't be enough. In the year 2020 an English translation of the TV series needs to be made available day-and-date with Japan.
So what's to be done?
1) A simulsub, which is something that basically every other anime series on the planet has been doing for the last half a decade or so. Crunchyroll already promotes the Japanese version of the show for free so it's not like TPCI would have trouble finding a home for it.
Or
2) A simuldub, which would be trickier to do logistically because most simuldubs are for short 13 or 26 episode series and not for endless marathon series like Pokémon.
Either way, *something* needs to be done because the current way things are being done just isn't working anymore. Does anyone have any other ideas of how to fix this problem?
And then you have the TV series. The English dub of the animated series is about four months behind the Japanese version, and while this is a great improvement from the 4Kids days (where there'd be a full year between the two) that's *still* a quarter of a year wait for an official English version. The video games have been in Generation 8 for three months now but the English dub of the TV series is going to be stuck in Gen 7 until about March or so.
It's even worse for the other international versions since they have to wait for the English dub to be completed before they can even get started on theirs. The German dub, for example, seems like it's only on the very first episode of the Alola League and so even if they air one new episode a week they probably won't be able to finish Sun & Moon until June 2020 or so. The first Sword & Shield expansion pass will be out by then.
Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution, meanwhile, came out in Japan a full 7 months ago. The movie is so old that the tie-in distributon they had in Japan - a Mewtwo you can download to your copy of Let's Go! Pikachu / Let's Go! Eevee - can't really be brought over anymore because we've moved on to a new generation since then. "To celebrate the release of the new movie you can download a Mewtwo to your Pokémon games! No, not those ones, the ones that came out in 2018....OK, yes...we understand...sure, but...but Mewtwo's not in Sword & Shield and..."
The Pokémon Company *must* realize that the delayed release of the TV series abroad is severely handicapping its ability to provide effective cross-media promotion. But even TPCI halving the gap of their dub from four months to two months wouldn't be enough. In the year 2020 an English translation of the TV series needs to be made available day-and-date with Japan.
So what's to be done?
1) A simulsub, which is something that basically every other anime series on the planet has been doing for the last half a decade or so. Crunchyroll already promotes the Japanese version of the show for free so it's not like TPCI would have trouble finding a home for it.
Or
2) A simuldub, which would be trickier to do logistically because most simuldubs are for short 13 or 26 episode series and not for endless marathon series like Pokémon.
Either way, *something* needs to be done because the current way things are being done just isn't working anymore. Does anyone have any other ideas of how to fix this problem?
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