UK Anime Distributor Anime Limited Discussion Thread

HellCat said:
Sincerely, I don't like conflict. But at the same time I don't like feeling being taken for granted.

The problems with AL releases predate any of the problems affecting the world in the last few years. I understand the seriousness of those problems (understood and warned of one in particular even whilst others mocked me) and have seen them affect other companies, but in AL's case they feel to have exacerbated these long standing problems rather than caused them.

I've got no interest in being a dick, both out of common courtesy and the fact there's every likelihood I will in years to come once again be standing in a room with AL staff. I do think however that sometimes blunt honesty is needed over dancing around continued problems. No one should be obsessing over the delays, but I balk at the idea we should just pay sometimes hundreds of GBP and just accept stuff will just show up whenever.

I don't think anyone has been unreasonable and sometimes harsh criticism comes from those who genuinely want to see something prosper.
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I know a lot of people like and respect the AL staff and don't want to intentionally offend them as they feel a sense of familiarity and sometimes friendship having met them at cons and such.

A lot of the time people throw around the quote 'they're not your friend, they're a business' which is a way to disassociate and remind that they are just that, a business.

When I worked in marketing a long time ago we used that a lot but eventually came up with a slightly different "values" moto to look at it from the customers stand point by saying 'I'm not your friend, I'm your customer'.
It's a way of saying yes customers do feel a familiarity with certain businesses but at the end of the day you can't take that for granted because if you do they may not be your customer anymore.

When they started AL were the most open and commutative anime company out there, but as they've gotten bigger and busier that has slipped to the point where we had the MVM rep updating on their release schedule a few weeks ago.
 
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MD_Prometh said:
I'm still waiting for a replacement cover for Revolutionary Girl Utena Part 2 to be sent. Been two years and nothing.
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Yikes, that's... not so good. 😬

I had a similar saga happen some years ago involving the long-delayed delivery of the final component of the Patema Inverted Ultimate Edition from its Kickstarter project. I persisted, and it was delivered in the end.

Might be worth chasing that up further?
 
Yami said:
I cannot think of any other home video label that has ever been seemingly unaware with a delay to its own product until the actual release date, let alone with such regularity that it has become a running joke. I can't even think of a reasonable excuse for it at this stage. I think everyone here has been pretty polite and there's no need to be sycophantic; surely, they could just deliberately overestimate release dates - no one would care if they received it 'early' - and/or essentially not announce them until copies are already at the replicators.
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This is what I would like to see AL do, I mean, nobody would complain about receiving their orders early.
 
Titan said:
If AL want to stop the majority of hostile comments, then they need to step up their communications. The Gundam Seed Destiny delay email should have been sent out to people last week, not today.

As for the delays themselves, if a product is delayed then its delayed, I will wait, as will many others, but AL need to inform us SOONER.
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Having just read all the comments I missed about the official announcement.
An AL rep said on Discord last Thurs? Or the Thurs before? that it was on track to make the date but now they're saying its a delay in printing assets?

If it was on track last Thurs or the Thurs before you'd be sitting on your Yodel app waiting for delivery updates as it's coming from outside the UK.
If you're only finding out on day of release assets haven't been printed you've got major problems as the product really should've been signed, sealed, and delivered last Friday at the latest.
And I'm in no way saying the AL rep was lying they probably fully believed it was on track but if they didn't know before then they really need to reasses who they're working with...
 
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I don't think AL mislead us on purpose. Small companies have a lot of things to juggle and there are never enough people to handle everything, so what probably happens a lot of the time is that something arrives at the last minute and then it's wrong or not up to scratch, and they have to battle to pull everything together and rearrange collections and staff to fit an ever-changing schedule. Sometimes even a single delivery company can drop the ball and lead suppliers on for days with unrealistic promises (I've experienced that from both sides!) It's probably often really dumb logistical stuff and they're in that weird place now where they're small (by industry standards) and releasing few enough things that each can still throw up unique issues, yet big enough that as fans we expect them to be able to organise things like the big guys.

It's important to give feedback (especially about material disappointments like the box format change with Blood-C) and I do think the folks at AL listen, even if we are an intimidating bunch. At the end of the day I guess I see them as fans first, a business second, even though they're unmistakably the latter and the recipients of a fair bit of my money. But I'd rather have their slipped dates than the corporate style of anime company, which picks shows entirely based on their commercial prospects, doesn't even try to understand the market for niche titles and doesn't ever bite off more than they can chew. AL has definitely made some missteps but as somebody who lived through the bad old days of UK anime distribution I feel that they have really turned the UK industry around, almost singlehandedly, and the other companies have seen what AL are doing and tried interesting experiments of their own. I can't believe I now live in a UK where I can realistically expect to watch the new One Piece film within months of its Japanese cinema run; where we get CEs which are actually nice enough that people who aren't living here genuinely want to import them; where content aimed outside of the darling teen-to-20-something male demographic actually gets a decent look-in; where we get actual industry guests at events and our own special runs of exclusive goodies intended for the Japanese market. We have come a long way in a very short space of time, and I want to believe that all of the learning experiences are gradually making things better.

As for SEED Destiny, I watched it ages ago so I can live without having my new set until it's ready but I do sympathise with those who were really looking forward to having it this week. The last minute delays do make it hard when buying items as gifts for special occasions, and for people who were really looking forward to having it for a planned viewing or to fill a gap in their schedule (we don't all have huge backlogs, I'm sure!)

R
 
Vincentdante said:
Yeah, that is crazy. The only explanation I can think off is that they don't keep tabs on the manufactuing side and just "hope it turns up in time"
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I wondered why my anime-senses were tingling, and now I know why! So, let's get into this...

First and foremost, I do owe a lot of you apologies for late notifications of delays, and to be quite honest at least some of that is on me. I'm well aware that being notified late or on release date isn't great or fair on you folks, and we try to avoid it wherever possible.

Now, this is where it gets trickier - manufacturing a product isn't just hitting "print", selecting how many copies you want and then waiting for them to be churned out, completed. Every product has a multitude of components (discs, booklets, slipcases, Amarays etc), all of which aren't necessarily coming from the same production plant. These components may arrive at different times, some may be delayed while others arrive early, etc etc. Ever built a custom PC and had everything turn up except the CPU fan? That can happen with a Collector's Edition too.

Then you have what goes on the disc - authoring or delivery of masters is reliant on third-parties and takes time, then there's QC which can cause further delays to ensure the product is to the absolute best standard possible. (As a personal example here, I was personally and solely responsible for the final delay to Cardcaptor Sakura because I wanted one last pass of subtitle QC, because as product manager on that title I knew nothing but the best possible experience would do).

All of this is taking place in what is currently an uncertain world - the UK is rife with strikes (which is not a criticism of any industrial action by the way), paper stock is still frequently in short supply throughout the world, COVID-19 causes staff shortages at irregular intervals across industries (from manufacture to delivery), and other world events such as the war in Ukraine also have an impact (bear in mind at least some production facilities are based in Poland and elsewhere in Eastern Europe, with a fair number of staff of Ukranian origin).

What all of this amounts to is a complex process that we monitor and check in on daily for every product as closely as we can, but ultimately we are reliant on third-parties and sometimes that information can take a while to reach us, especially when you start to factor in absences due to some of the reasons outlined above.

This can leave us with a conundrum - do we announce a delay without a new date? Do we just announce an arbitrary date when we don't have information to-hand as to its accuracy? Or do we wait until we have up-to-date information that allows us to make an informed decision as to delivery dates? It's a balancing act, and I'll be the first to admit we haven't always gotten it right.


Anyway, I realise this probably sounds like excuses and hand-wringing, but the important point I want to come to is that we absolutely hear the concerns and frustrations, and want to rectify them - we were in a good place where things were running smoothly in terms of delays (and more importantly the general lack of them), and I can only acknowledge that this year in particular has seen a spike in those delays. We're not blind to this fact - it's something that we're all aware of and are working to minimize (because honestly, no matter how hard you try they'll never be eradicated entirely), and we're always looking to set dates that are both achievable and reasonable, but there's more work to be done there and we hope you'll be patient while we work to rediscover that balance after the supply chain challenges of the past couple of years have changed the landscape around us.

As a final thought, I do also want to say that we do appreciate negative feedback just as much - perhaps more! - than positive feedback. If it's constructive, genuine and reasonable then it's something that we can take away, discuss and - if it's fixable - work on. So, please don't be hesitant to say "This is a thing/situation I don't like and here's why", what we don't want to hear is just blanket generalised "they suck" criticism or abuse. As long as you remember that our staff here are all human (yes, even me, I can confirm), and all anime fans like you, you won't go far wrong.

I love you folks, I still consider myself one of you, and I'm not the only one here with that mindset, so if you want me to start hating you all you're gonna have to work harder. 😉

I'll try and be around a bit more for questions/feedback from now on as I know we've all been caught up in a lot of cool things (what about the new One Piece film, eh?) and not particularly active here of late, but I won't get mad if I get an @ notification here and there (as people on the Discord already know!) Apologies for the long ramble, but this is an important issue that I know has been bubbling for a little while of late.
 
Hanners said:
This can leave us with a conundrum - do we announce a delay without a new date? Do we just announce an arbitrary date when we don't have information to-hand as to its accuracy? Or do we wait until we have up-to-date information that allows us to make an informed decision as to delivery dates? It's a balancing act, and I'll be the first to admit we haven't always gotten it right.
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It might not be quite this simple, but can people who preorder from AL directly not just be sent an email on the Friday afternoon before a Monday release if stock is not on-hand at the fulfilment house?

I understand that other retailers will want new dates to update their listings so that should probably come later, but I struggle to think that you won’t be aware the Friday before release if assembled stock is on-hand.
 
@Hanners thank you for your post this kind of communication is exactly what I was hoping to achieve and believe you have done a great job at explaining the problems faced at AL. If I could give advice when there is a delay and people are emailed maybe things you have established in this post should be included as I believe when people are more aware of the complex workings of what goes on then people can be more understanding and excepting of situations. I think it's been clear that the theme throughout this has been communication and the more you can provide through social media, email, or even here the better. Hope to talk with you and other Al representative's more about anime in general and have fun.
 
Hanners said:
I wondered why my anime-senses were tingling, and now I know why! So, let's get into this...

First and foremost, I do owe a lot of you apologies for late notifications of delays, and to be quite honest at least some of that is on me. I'm well aware that being notified late or on release date isn't great or fair on you folks, and we try to avoid it wherever possible.

Now, this is where it gets trickier - manufacturing a product isn't just hitting "print", selecting how many copies you want and then waiting for them to be churned out, completed. Every product has a multitude of components (discs, booklets, slipcases, Amarays etc), all of which aren't necessarily coming from the same production plant. These components may arrive at different times, some may be delayed while others arrive early, etc etc. Ever built a custom PC and had everything turn up except the CPU fan? That can happen with a Collector's Edition too.

Then you have what goes on the disc - authoring or delivery of masters is reliant on third-parties and takes time, then there's QC which can cause further delays to ensure the product is to the absolute best standard possible. (As a personal example here, I was personally and solely responsible for the final delay to Cardcaptor Sakura because I wanted one last pass of subtitle QC, because as product manager on that title I knew nothing but the best possible experience would do).

All of this is taking place in what is currently an uncertain world - the UK is rife with strikes (which is not a criticism of any industrial action by the way), paper stock is still frequently in short supply throughout the world, COVID-19 causes staff shortages at irregular intervals across industries (from manufacture to delivery), and other world events such as the war in Ukraine also have an impact (bear in mind at least some production facilities are based in Poland and elsewhere in Eastern Europe, with a fair number of staff of Ukranian origin).

What all of this amounts to is a complex process that we monitor and check in on daily for every product as closely as we can, but ultimately we are reliant on third-parties and sometimes that information can take a while to reach us, especially when you start to factor in absences due to some of the reasons outlined above.

This can leave us with a conundrum - do we announce a delay without a new date? Do we just announce an arbitrary date when we don't have information to-hand as to its accuracy? Or do we wait until we have up-to-date information that allows us to make an informed decision as to delivery dates? It's a balancing act, and I'll be the first to admit we haven't always gotten it right.


Anyway, I realise this probably sounds like excuses and hand-wringing, but the important point I want to come to is that we absolutely hear the concerns and frustrations, and want to rectify them - we were in a good place where things were running smoothly in terms of delays (and more importantly the general lack of them), and I can only acknowledge that this year in particular has seen a spike in those delays. We're not blind to this fact - it's something that we're all aware of and are working to minimize (because honestly, no matter how hard you try they'll never be eradicated entirely), and we're always looking to set dates that are both achievable and reasonable, but there's more work to be done there and we hope you'll be patient while we work to rediscover that balance after the supply chain challenges of the past couple of years have changed the landscape around us.

As a final thought, I do also want to say that we do appreciate negative feedback just as much - perhaps more! - than positive feedback. If it's constructive, genuine and reasonable then it's something that we can take away, discuss and - if it's fixable - work on. So, please don't be hesitant to say "This is a thing/situation I don't like and here's why", what we don't want to hear is just blanket generalised "they suck" criticism or abuse. As long as you remember that our staff here are all human (yes, even me, I can confirm), and all anime fans like you, you won't go far wrong.

I love you folks, I still consider myself one of you, and I'm not the only one here with that mindset, so if you want me to start hating you all you're gonna have to work harder. 😉

I'll try and be around a bit more for questions/feedback from now on as I know we've all been caught up in a lot of cool things (what about the new One Piece film, eh?) and not particularly active here of late, but I won't get mad if I get an @ notification here and there (as people on the Discord already know!) Apologies for the long ramble, but this is an important issue that I know has been bubbling for a little while of late.
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Thanks for the detailed response. As you say, supply chain uncertainty is at an all-time high. For that reason, maybe adopting more of a RAG Rating approach to communicating potential delays would be the way to go. For example, a week before the scheduled release date, if some component is running late but it's still possible to ship on time if it arrives soon, that could trigger an amber warning to customers that the item may not ship on time and explaining what's holding it back. I understand that from a brand management perspective that saying a product is either definitely ready or definitely delayed until X date projects a greater air of confidence, but I think the customers of a boutique brand are more receptive to seeing the gears spinning behind the curtain and would appreciate the transparency.
 
Jaysgba said:
It might not be quite this simple, but can people who preorder from AL directly not just be sent an email on the Friday afternoon before a Monday release if stock is not on-hand at the fulfilment house?

I understand that other retailers will want new dates to update their listings so that should probably come later, but I struggle to think that you won’t be aware the Friday before release if assembled stock is on-hand.
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Absolutely, this should be the bare minimum, and I'm sorry that hasn't always happened in some cases. Personally, I'm of a mind that these delays should be communicated at least a week prior to the stated release date, and that's the kind of minimum I want to work towards (barring last-minute delays of delivery of stock to the UK, which are always their own unique brand of issue).

I think Dai is pretty much on the right track that ultimately it's all about processes and having a system in place to ensure the right communications happen at the right time, and that's something for us to work on and improve internally to make these external communications better.
 
bakura said:
@HannersIf I could give advice when there is a delay and people are emailed maybe things you have established in this post should be included as I believe when people are more aware of the complex workings of what goes on then people can be more understanding and excepting of situations.
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This is always a delicate balance, and my policy when we handle delay e-mails is to give details where we can and when it's pertinent (for Violet Evergarden the movie, it was a very specific paper stock shortage for example), but at the same time we don't want to give the impression that we're passing the buck or pointing fingers of blame - all of our manufacturing partners are great and filled with smart and passionate people who love our products as much as we do, so I really want to give the impression that we're being let down by external parties, as the true is very different and more complex with all of the moving parts and modern-day issues I mentioned.

Broadly speaking though yes, we'll always try to explain as best we can what's happening when a release date changes, and why.
 
@Hanners Are you able to expound any on the issues with the Blood-C Ultimate set and what happened with the planned rigid box for it, which I assumed was one of the main reasons the release was delayed so long? I'm sure it was most likely another shortage that resulted in the decision to go with a thin cardboard slip instead, but I was just curious about any details on the events that caused that change. I'm still very happy with my copy of the release, it's just a shame that after such a long wait for this one, we didn't quite get what we were expecting. Thanks!
 
As annoying as delays can be, I don't mind when things are delayed. I've paid at the time so I'm not worried about it now clashing with a time where I can't pay for stuff. But it would be better to hear that news slightly earlier. If a week prior an email is sent out saying this won't make it, or a few days at least, it's what it it. It's annoying but we get that update. But since a few have come right before it releases, those are more frustrating than they need to be purely because if they were to miss that date people would surely have known and could have communicated that prior to that.
So to summarise, getting that update a bit earlier so there's a bit more transparency on the fact there is going to be a delay would be nice.
 
Hanners said:
Absolutely, this should be the bare minimum, and I'm sorry that hasn't always happened in some cases. Personally, I'm of a mind that these delays should be communicated at least a week prior to the stated release date, and that's the kind of minimum I want to work towards (barring last-minute delays of delivery of stock to the UK, which are always their own unique brand of issue).
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I agree that a week is ideal. While a delay is always disappointing to hear, putting it off till the very last second is even crueler to the fans, since it gets their hopes up only to dash it at the last second.
 
Hanners said:
This is always a delicate balance, and my policy when we handle delay e-mails is to give details where we can and when it's pertinent (for Violet Evergarden the movie, it was a very specific paper stock shortage for example), but at the same time we don't want to give the impression that we're passing the buck or pointing fingers of blame - all of our manufacturing partners are great and filled with smart and passionate people who love our products as much as we do, so I really want to give the impression that we're being let down by external parties, as the true is very different and more complex with all of the moving parts and modern-day issues I mentioned.

Broadly speaking though yes, we'll always try to explain as best we can what's happening when a release date changes, and why.
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I appreciate the delicate balance when it come's to information and what you try to provide and i agree with @Dai on the idea of a RAG rating approach.

As your first post said you guy's are human too so to bring in more fun topic's (and this goes to @anime_andrew and @demiopedia ) what's been your favourite anime release from AL this year.
 
Girls with Guns said:
@Hanners Are you able to expound any on the issues with the Blood-C Ultimate set and what happened with the planned rigid box for it, which I assumed was one of the main reasons the release was delayed so long? I'm sure it was most likely another shortage that resulted in the decision to go with a thin cardboard slip instead, but I was just curious about any details on the events that caused that change. I'm still very happy with my copy of the release, it's just a shame that after such a long wait for this one, we didn't quite get what we were expecting. Thanks!
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So, our Blood-C Ultimate is an interesting case of us doing something outside of the norm - we haven't tried doing a limited run Ultimate Edition like this one, where we printed less units than we typically do for such a release.

What we've found as a result of this is that to keep the price of the product reasonable, it does pose some questions in terms of the build of the product, which ultimately manifested in the slipcase that you'll see in the final finished edition on this occasion.

We hear and totally appreciate people's feedback on this one on two fronts - both in terms of the rigidity of the slipcase versus what you'd expect from an Ultimate Edition product, and also our communication of product specs where we need to be much clearer in our language. This is a perfect example of where frank but constructive feedback has been helpful to us!
 
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