Tokyo Mew Mew - Any chances of a re-license in the future?

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Heal the World

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Since it appears to be no longer licensed by 4KiRAB and they only did half the series, is there any chances in the future of it being re-licensed by FUNimation, Viz, ADV/Sentai or someone?

It did get a fairly good amount of hype several years ago, I'm hoping this might happen.
 
I honestly don't think it would return. It may get license rescued, but I wouldn't expect it beyond Neo-ADV or Media Blasters and it be a sub-only release with no hope for a re-dub. Any hype for it is now long gone. I would see one of the Pretty Cure series to get a push before seeing Mew Mew get a rescue.
 
I think it'd require Toei realizing that with shows like TMM, they have a limited mass-market window in the US, and that after that point they are catering to the niche via niche localizers that aren't going to layout that much for it upfront. The most they could push for by this point is that maybe if they cut it as part of a bundle deal to Funimation (TMM + a few other series,) you might get Funi pushing it to a wide audience, especially Del-Rey picked up the manga license with a fresh translation (as TPOP lost all their Kodansha titles.) Even the worst case in that scenario would be a regular strip on Funi's linear and plenty of online and on-demand exposure.

More realistically, kicking it to the Neo-ADV as part of a package would probably be better for both parties. It'd give Toei a partner that'd probably put the titles as a top-priority, ensuring they'd be treated very well, and it'd give Neo-ADV something they could push hard and use as a baseline back to prominence.

Of course, Toei's so huge that they probably don't care that they are leaving money on the table by not capitalizing on their legacy library via any means available. However, with the collapse in the nuraber of new series per season, they could cash in fast by being a bit more lenient with prices on their back-catalog. Anime nosed in early, before the overall credit crunch, but it seems to rebounding ahead of the economy as well. If Toei could got a lot of their backcatalog in the production pipeline in next couple years, they'd be positioning themselves to seize on that rebound, especially if digital download/streaming rights were included without a lot of hassle.

It might even coincide with another anime on regular TV renaissance as people who grew up in the mid-90's-to-mid-00's anime boom will getting old enough to get jobs at networks. There are a lot of future Jason DeMarcos and Sean Akins who got communications degrees because they'd like to run places like CN and Teletoon in the future. If nothing, even titles like TMM did end up on a digital-only linear or on on-demand, more and more people are going to end up with those services as analog services are discontinued. Shoot, even Hulu is ad-money and promotion for DVD sales.
 
I would love a new dub but I don't see it happening anytime soon. Even if another company managed to get the license, a lot of channels that actually show cartoons(like CN and Nick) don't seem interested in shows for girls lately. Shows like this were meant to be shown on TV with merchandise sales and such.
It's times like this that I wish I had the money and the means to do it myself. One can only dream I guess XD.

If it's helpful there were a few other dubs that dubbed the first half from the 4KiRAB version and then finished off the series by buying the 2nd half from the Japanese and dubbing it themselves. There's French, European Portuguese(this is more of a redub though since they used translations of the original names and new VAs for the 2nd half), Croatian, Serbian and Hebrew(although it helps that this particular dub kept the original title and original names XD).
 
Tryed to look it up when I was writing the post, net was being buggy, so I went with my faulty memory.

Anyway, same rules apply to Pierrot and their back catalog (actually, any animation studio with a back-catalog.) This is the time to break price and start feeding the market with the old series that didn't get a proper/any release during the boom. Of course, with a studio like Peirrot, there is a greater emphasis on working with a smaller localization house or going harder on price as they don't have a back-catalog quite as tempting as megalith like Toei.
 
I think TMM is a Kodansha product. They own the manga rights. If not them then it's the "Tokyo Mew Mew Production Comittee" and whoever owns the rights as a result of that. I doubt it's Pierrot themselves, though I could be wrong. They're a production house, not an ownership group.
 
Yep. It airs in the UK on Sky Channel's Popgirl block. It did stop airing a few months ago(after an over 2 year run) but complaints from viewers made them air it again.
It's the only channel that airs the English dub now. Other channels(YTV Canada, Fox USA, Nick Australia and some South African channel) stopped airing it years ago XD.
 
Ah sorry 'bout that, I forgot to put where.





Really? O.O; I would have thought that it was airing somewhere else other than the UK. It did reach the UK years after it started in America so maybe thats why?
 
Actually, Popgirl aired it a little bit after YTV Canada stopped airing it, which was a little over a whole year after 4KiRAB stopped airing it in the US(It premiered in the US in February 2005 and went off the air July 2006). Austrailia stopped at around the same time as Canada.
After it stopped airing in South Africa, they released all 26 episodes on DVD(I have them and the TMM originals XD).
 
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