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Boost from BK: Funimation Productions imports Dragonball Z
By Glen Fest
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
NORTH RICHLAND HILLS -- If your kid hasn't traded in his Pikachu for a Super Saiyan Goku yet, you're on notice.
Trend watchers are following the newest preteen craze, Dragonball Z, a hit Japanese animated series licensed and imported into North America by Funimation Productions, based in North Richland Hills.
Among those trend-watchers is Burger King, now helping Funimation through a national three-week promotion, through June 18, that gives away collectible Dragonball Z figurines with children's meals.
For Funimation, the deal, hyped by $2 million worth of TV spots sponsored by Burger King, brings Dragonball Z to the masses. The promotion is expected to increase demand among Dragonball Z's growing legions of fans for videos, comics, games and T-shirts, a company official says.
"That's certainly the buzz out there," said Gen Fukunaga, (pronounced Jen FOOK-uh- nah-gah) president of Funimation Productions. "Kids are graduating out of Pokemon."
Funimation gets no royalties from the deal, but something perhaps far more valuable, Fukunaga said. The equity marketing plan puts all the product and promotion costs on Burger King, giving Dragonball Z free exposure to 25 million fast-food patrons.
Showcased daily on the Cartoon Network, the adventures of Goku, Gohen, Vegeta and Frieza are catching the fancy of kids 6 to 13, although the cartoon was originally aired nightly in Japan for mature audiences.
Since 1995, Funimation has imported and translated Dragonball and Dragonball Z shows for U.S. syndication. Though it is often criticized for its violence (The Wall Street Journal called the show "Pokemon meets Pulp Fiction"), Fukunaga said the broadcast version of the show is edited to meet stricter American sensibilities for younger viewers.
But older fans here are now buying up uncut videos of the Japanese episodes directly from Funimation. In May, Cahner's Video Business reported that two episodes were among the 10 bestselling videos in its monthly ranking.
A Fort Worth comic-book store owner says there is now a run on Dragonball Z products.
"I'm kind of seeing the trend," said Chris Dufour, manager of Lone Star Comics on Hulen Bend Boulevard. "Our Pokemon sales are going down, and Dragonball Z is up pretty significantly. They have their own action figure line, and they came out last week with a trading card game. They've really taken off in the last couple of months."
What exactly is Dragonball about? The series' winding story lines have played out for a decade on Japanese television and follow characters from birth to death with both intense violence and light humor. Funimation's Web site describes the adventures of lead character Goku into "exotic lands with noble warriors, shape-changing monsters, armies of ruthless villains and a kooky old wise man."
As in most fantasy animations, multiple levels of realism are at play. Characters may bite the dust, but they're not gone. "It looks like they die, but they are really passing on to a new dimension, and they can be summoned back at a higher power," Fukunaga said.
The cartoon's growing popularity has allowed Funimation to license, through Hasbro and other toymakers, more than 20 million Dragonball Z products, including pewter figurines that Burger King, based in Miami, will sell at its 8,000 U.S. stores.
Burger King latched on to the Z phenomenon after extensive research and focus-group studies, a Burger King spokeswoman said. "It's a kid-related intellectual property, and we try and stay ahead of the latest trends," Chris Bosch said.
Burger King has promoted the Flintstones and characters from the Disney film The Road to El Dorado. A Pokemon giveaway in November and December drew preteens like a magnet.
Some may see Dragonball Z's violence as a risk for Burger King. But "there are far more violent products" that fast-food companies have promoted, said Terry Lefton, editor-at-large for the trade magazine Brandweek.
Lefton said that when a kids' brand gains a foothold in this type of promotion, the brand has officially arrived.
A promotion can provide the marketing punch of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Lefton said such a brand has "made it" when it reaches $100 million in sales.
Mainly through its decadelong popularity in Japan and Europe, Dragonball Z has reportedly taken in $3 billion in merchandise sales since 1986.
Fukunaga wouldn't disclose current Dragonball Z sales but says the company, which employs 50, has "way more cash flow than we know what to do with."
Fukunaga is a nephew of an executive at Toei Animation in Japan, which produces Dragonball Z and the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Fukunaga, originally from Sunnyvale, Calif., recommended the series when his former IBM co- worker Daniel Cocanougher was looking for investments with brother Daniel and father Allen, both of Decatur.
That extra money is likely to go to purchasing the rights to another Japanese anime series, Funuaga said. That could be very handy when Dragonball Z, like its animated ancestors up in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle heaven, suffers the inevitable decline.
star-telegram.com
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I am burger kinged out. My kids never wanted to go there until DBZ hit it. Noticing Wal-mart has more Irwin DBZ toys.
Jack |
