UK Anime Distributor Anime Limited Discussion Thread

I've had this argument before, so I'll reiterate, I don't mind gaps between parts, I mind when they're overly large gaps, 2-3 months is fine, not 6 months +, especially for a pack in, I have no interest in. If I wanted an artbook for the series in question I'd have bought one. since I call myself an anime fan, all I'd like is an anime series, since that won't happen as the market has changed to require a bonus of some kind to get people to part with their money, that's fair enough, I just wish it wasn't every series I have interest in buying it happens to.Durarara x2 was the first, I gave up and bought the Australian, Ass class was the second, then yona, then Hyouka and now Re zero.I always try to support the UK anime industry, it's just a shame it isn't supporting me at the moment, oddly enough, I have no issue with Tony at MVM or even Jerome at Manga animatsu (even though he often shoots himself in the foot) This seems to be an AL issue solely. I've already offered solutions to the gap issues, simply delay part 1, until you're ready to go on part 2 or near to it, problem solved and in Re-zero's case would have also dealt with the banding issue as well, guess I'll just wait have to wait and see what comes of this one.
 
I know I've asked this before, but I may have phrased it wrong last time, but in terms of upcoming releases, is it known how many of them are in-house authors?

And when I say "in-house authors", that does not include the authoring from AL France.
 
If I'm going to wait all that time, why not just wait for the whole series to be released?
If you are willing to wait that long then that's cool, but it's not really the point I was making. You said who wants to watch Part 1 and then wait however long for Part 2, I was suggesting that you can (and I suspect many do) wait til you have both parts before watching it thus not having a gap between parts. But if you're willing to wait a lot longer for a complete set then fair enough.
 
Others even smaller editors/distributors (In france/Belgium for example) are capable of doing their own authorings, wich most of the time are better than the US authoring, and their price are waaaaaay lower than the US/UK market.

I don't deny the cost cutting is important but sometime that argument are not valid at all, and it's just a question about how fast a company want to release their product, neglecting the quality control.

The difference on a production side is in French territories is that you have no other option so it has to be done and you are not reduplicating the workload there. The thing is for the UK is that very often the US are dubbing the series and also then preparing the authoring. By the time we receive all the materials they will have prepared (bonus content translation, dub tracks etc) then there is a natural delay to a release vs using the same discs.

By working with the USA where we can, it allows us to work on our own projects too and release within a good timescale, especially of late for the majority of projects. We're working hard on making headway there and while it will never be enough or quickly enough at any given time for one subset of fans or another - we try our best.

This entails a degree of trust, which usually pans out fine and honestly, pans out about as often as our own would. What I have learned over the years is sadly you will never make everyone happy whatever you do juggling the needs of fans is an eternal dilemma. I don't think anyone wants to neglect quality control there (at least among the UK companies) but there is a balancing act especially with the pressure placed on companies for timely releases of products vs the other territories.

In short - I will never make everybody happy so I am usually just aiming to disappoint the least number of people at anytime!

Best,

AP
 
Over on the Blu-ray dot com forums I reposted Andrew’s statement, which I happened to agree with in that nobody will win or get exactly what they want, but Yuripa posted this response:

It Depend.

For example the french release (wich is presumed to not be as bad as Failmation) are planned for June 27, so the gap between the US/UK release and the french release (wich have it's own authoring) is not that big (freaking 2 days gap)...
They perfectly can use thoses masters and put english Subs/dub on those discs, they're already doing that for many releases.
I suppose being on par with the US release date is more important than releasing a correct product, even if its for a few days...

Remenber the fiasco for Your name, its the same, they wanted to release that movie as fast as possible so they used Madman authoring...
The french release (wich have a perfectly fine authoring) was released ~ 15 days after...
All that **** happened because of 15 days, great business plan...

I’m sure it’s just coincidences, but it does raise questions about using French authoring and the validity of a similar release timeframe. I don’t mean this as an attack, I’m just curious and find the whole anime distribution process fascinating and want to get a fuller picture of the story.
 
Andrew said I don’t know how much as a joke he wanted stock at MCM which is a month prior to the 25th (UK) release so I do assume as the show aired spring 2016 FUNi have had the master a while this as a choice Al wanted faster for MCM, Meaning US masters . As France has no MCM they needed no rush past the said late June release
 
If you are willing to wait that long then that's cool, but it's not really the point I was making. You said who wants to watch Part 1 and then wait however long for Part 2, I was suggesting that you can (and I suspect many do) wait til you have both parts before watching it thus not having a gap between parts. But if you're willing to wait a lot longer for a complete set then fair enough.
I do if it comes with a collectors box like assassination classroom. Just not a fan of part sets.
 
Others even smaller editors/distributors (In france/Belgium for example) are capable of doing their own authorings, wich most of the time are better than the US authoring, and their price are waaaaaay lower than the US/UK market.
The difference on a production side is in French territories is that you have no other option so it has to be done and you are not reduplicating the workload there.
I guess we should also note that due to the authoring costs, numerous titles are released DVD-only in France. (e.g. Crunchyroll, Kazé). Also several Blu-rays share their masters with either Spain, UK and/or Germany (Dybex, Kazé, @Anime).
The prices in France increased over the last years - the cheap Édition Saphir was canceled in 2016. A few weeks ago, It looked like Dybex was already dead - and now they try charging over 40€ for Dragon Dentist (no Dub, no Collector's Edition)...

And a side note: As far as I know, they don't have BBFC- nor FSK-fees in France.
 
I guess we should also note that due to the authoring costs, numerous titles are released DVD-only in France. (e.g. Crunchyroll, Kazé). Also several Blu-rays share their masters with either Spain, UK and/or Germany (Dybex, Kazé, @Anime).
The prices in France increased over the last years - the cheap Édition Saphir was canceled in 2016. A few weeks ago, It looked like Dybex was already dead - and now they try charging over 40€ for Dragon Dentist (no Dub, no Collector's Edition)...

And a side note: As far as I know, they don't have BBFC- nor FSK-fees in France.

You're missing the point, amazon prices on those newer listing you're mentionning are completly off, check fnac or any other, not garbage, retailer and you'll see it at the standard SRP (and so it will be even cheaper later on with retailer discounts). As for edition saphir being cancelled, it's not due to it being too cheap or whatever but rather it not selling. The blu-ray market is still limited in France. Hence authoring blu-ray is sometime not worth it.
But that Crunchyroll-@Anime partnership is a terrible joke. One got ahold of physical rights without the knowledge on how to retail the series and the other is just trying to get as much cash as they can out of those release with zero effort.

Also I don't get AP point on the US masters. How's taking the US master duplicating the workload? It's cheaper, takes less effort and so should reflect on the prices (which it doesn't seem to).
 
Last edited:
Also I don't get AP point on the US masters. How's taking the US master duplicating the workload? It's cheaper, takes less effort and so reflect on the prices (which it doesn't seem to)

Popping in briefly or would discuss the other point too! I was saying the reverse - that it is easier to share masters with the USA. It doesn't really impact the real needle-mover in terms of cost is still releasing a nice quality packaged release. The real "added" saving is the time consumed by authoring work by sharing really.

Best,

AP
 
I don't doubt Kadokawa to be the potential issue, but when you are the biggest anime distributor in America, I'd think you should complain if you don't get a good enough master for home release. Even if you don't end up receiving it, it lets them know it won't be tolerated.
 
Back
Top