UK Anime Distributor Animatsu Discussion Thread

[Buzz201]

That's a shame, I would have looked at getting it at some point.

Actually pretty surprised to hear that. Would have thought the show a bit too fan servicey for you. Haven't seen the show myself but If the multitude of gifs are anything to go by, the shows can leans pretty heavy on that stuff.

For some reason that's cut down what I meant to say, which was "I would have looked at getting it at some point, then I watched Heavy Object and I don't think Kazuma Kamachi's works are for me." But before watching HO, I was definitely interested.

I'm not a gif, screenshot or meme person, that type of humour doesn't work for me, so I tend not to follow those fields. I also tend not to follow the shows that get 'meme'd', so most of the time, I have no clue what they're going on about.

 

[ilmaestro]

How did Raildex do? I know it was released too late in the year to really make an impact (also Animatsu), but still.

Jerome Mazandarani
Disappointing.

Tweet

Show released five years too late doesn't sell well, more news at 11.

That's a shame, I would have looked at getting it at some point.

Actually pretty surprised to hear that. Would have thought the show a bit too fan servicey for you. Haven't seen the show myself but If the multitude of gifs are anything to go by, the shows can leans pretty heavy on that stuff.

Index isn't like this at all, really, and neither series is anywhere near Heavy Object.

I could make enough clips of Ripper Street to make it seem like a comedy to people who haven't seen it, but, well.

 

[Buzz201]

Show released five years too late doesn't sell well, more news at 11.

Can we really look at it that simplistically? Durarara!! was released by AL 4/5 years after it's broadcast, and Andrew doesn't seem particularly disappointed by it.

Index isn't like this at all, really, and neither series is anywhere near Heavy Object.

I could make enough clips of Ripper Street to make it seem like a comedy to people who haven't seen it, but, well.

Maybe I'll stream an episode at some point, but I wouldn't be willing to drop any money on it, having seen HO.

 

[IncendiaryLemon]

Seeing as I haven't seen either and as far as I can tell, the shows cross over characters, they all just kind of blend together

Will definitely change this soon, probably after christmas!

 

[ilmaestro]

I didn't say released "4/5 years after its broadcast".

 

[Buzz201]

I didn't say released "4/5 years after its broadcast".

I still think it's a little simplistic to say anything release 6 or 7 years after broadcast (or 5 years too late, as you put it) will fail. I wonder if the fact nothing of that franchise is streaming in the UK limited it's potential audience. I don't think I'd drop £30 on a series I hadn't seen before, and I don't get the impression a lot of people would.

 

[ilmaestro]

I didn't say released "4/5 years after its broadcast".

I still think it's a little simplistic to say anything release 6 or 7 years after broadcast (or 5 years too late, as you put it) will fail.

It would be simplistic to say what you said, yes. My use of "too late" implies that I believe there are obvious underlying reasons why it was going to hinder this series in particular. Now if you'll excuse me, my next broadcast is already running 19 minutes or so behind.

 

[Joshawott]

I really want to purchase both Index and Railgun, but I sadly just didn't have the money at release (and still don't). It didn't help that I was working an unpaid internship pretty much between the two release dates. They are both on my Amazon wishlist though, so hopefully a family member will be nice...

I personally think the release of A Certain Scientific Railgun in particular may have been heavily impacted by Manga and Animatsu's social media presence being so heavily focused on Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' at the time. With peak hours being dominated by Dragon Ball Z, that meant the few Railgun posts were quickly drowned out. Anyone who follows me on Twitter will know that I'm almost on the site 24/7 but even I had to really search for any Railgun posts around its release.

EDIT: Jerome has pretty much openly said that Animatsu won't be releasing the rest of Raildex and that any future releases will likely come from FUNimation or Universal.

 

[windcott]

yh he's essentially confirmed it's unlikely, especially as a BD

What's interesting is that according to wikipedia they do in fact have the license for Railgun s and Index season 2

 

[Peachy]

I was going to go on a long rant about no Index 2/Railgun S but is there any point?! I'm mega irritated as I could've imported for cheaper but instead put my faith in Animatsu & choose to support their product instead... only to ..okay yeah you know, I'm just gonna post and step back haha.


Edit: Reading through Jerome's account is super depressing. Gonna think of it all as opinions rather than facts cause it's all so very negative :|
This deal he's talking about is of interest though, guess we may get the sequels..

EDIT 2: It makes me nervous to purchase Haikyuu, if it doesn't sell well & receives a season 3 in Japan, would they pick it up..

 

[jonno394]

If only anime limited had got raildex, maybe the collectors editions sets would've performed better, and maybe they wouldn't have released both on the same day :/ seems more a manga/animatsu thing to cancel shows mid release

Is tough on them though, the show was so long in coming that even I picked up the first season from America prior to it being officially announced. Was gonna pick up the second season but it's not coming now so back to funi I go

 

[windcott]

give it a bit i'd say, i think that it may come out in 2016, i just think Jerome thought it would do better.

 

[bailey1985]

I've just been reading some of his tweets . It's a shame about railgun and index I wait till next year in case we do get a releases if not I guess I have to import . They was some tweets that sounds good for the UK market https://mobile.twitter.com/worbzz/statu ... 1891756032

 

[NormanicGrav]

I was going to go on a long rant about no Index 2/Railgun S but is there any point?! I'm mega irritated as I could've imported for cheaper but instead put my faith in Animatsu & choose to support their product instead... only to ..okay yeah you know, I'm just gonna post and step back haha.


Edit: Reading through Jerome's account is super depressing. Gonna think of it all as opinions rather than facts cause it's all so very negative :|
This deal he's talking about is of interest though, guess we may get the sequels..

EDIT 2: It makes me nervous to purchase Haikyuu, if it doesn't sell well & receives a season 3 in Japan, would they pick it up..

I wouldn't worry about Animatsu dropping stuff.

From what I can see, Jerome & co. have always wanted Index/Railgun over here but couldn't due to Starz and when they finally get the rights it was too late. The damage was already done, people have imported. Game Over.

The biggest problem with the UK anime industry is that they don't get the rights to certain shows sooner than later. MVM for example have licensed a bunch of Sentai titles but most of them have already been made available in North America. Titles like Hidamari Sketch will most likely sell poorly because the entire franchise is already out. No Game No Life? Yeah that's not going to do well because it's been delayed to a point in which certain folks are impatient and will import, no joke. Oreimo on the other hand, while being made available for ages, will do the opposite thanks to Aniplex's pricing and the show's infamous cult status.

My point is that UK companies really need to get the shows licensed while they're on streaming status, which is why Anime Limited still do well. Animatsu have successfully done this with their recent announcements over at MCM but from now on there's literally no point in licensing titles that are already available for ridiculously cheap prices in the states. Haikyuu!! was just released so the chances are still good plus with Season 2 still around there's a good chance it can sell over here.

Disclaimer: This is my opinion, so don't hate me on that.

 

[Buzz201]

I get that Jerome's tweets are depressing, but it's worth baring in mind that Manga's sales are based heavily on the casual market. If things keep going the way they are, there probably won't be a casual market. So whilst things might not be depressing for everyone, they probably are at Manga/Animatsu.

However, a couple of Jerome's tweets stood out to me in particular:

@Jaysgba @chrisdingleb Zavvi is selling #CowboyBebop complete series DVD for 8 ******* quid!!! Ironic that one of the ppl involvd in this ...release warned me that MangaUK was devaluing anime in the UK market. Ha ha. What a load of ********.

Maybe it's just me, but that reads a lot like somebody now at Anime Ltd. has been deliberately attempting to push the price of anime up? Although their actions seem not to reflect this, given they're still (for the most part) releasing standard editions that have the same RRP as Manga's. Not quite sure what to make of that...

 

[Peachy]

Can be deleted.

 

[thedoctor2016]

My impression is manga with all its shonen shows, are selling well. However animatsu with its less well know shows also released pretty late (Haikyuu has been out since May, Railgun and others) mean its not doing as well as they liked i think a re merger is on the horizon imo.
I do think AL have changed the market as it shows CE's sell and even manga are going that way now with AGK and MVM have with lull in the sea.

 

[jonno394]

Maybe it's just me, but that reads a lot like somebody now at Anime Ltd. has been deliberately attempting to push the price of anime up? Kind of sounds like an attempt at price fixing to me, but maybe Jerome's misremembering.

Accusations of price fixing are a serious thing but this clearly isn't that situation. At the end of the day, zavvi are reducing it to 8 quid years after blu ray collector editions have sold well and then standard editions have been on the market for 12 months or longer. If AL has only released bebop in said format and at said price I could understand where he's coming from, but he just ends up coming across a bit arsey, which is something he has always been on social media, and one of the reasons I don't really like the guy.

 

[Peachy]

I get that Jerome's tweets are depressing, but it's worth baring in mind that Manga's sales are based heavily on the casual market. If things keep going the way they are, there probably won't be a casual market. So whilst things might not be depressing for everyone, they probably are at Manga/Animatsu.

However, a couple of Jerome's tweets stood out to me in particular:

@Jaysgba @chrisdingleb Zavvi is selling #CowboyBebop complete series DVD for 8 **** quid!!! Ironic that one of the ppl involvd in this ...release warned me that MangaUK was devaluing anime in the UK market. Ha ha. What a load of ********.

Maybe it's just me, but that reads a lot like somebody now at Anime Ltd. has been deliberately attempting to push the price of anime up? Although their actions seem not to reflect this, given they're still (for the most part) releasing standard editions that have the same RRP as Manga's. Not quite sure what to make of that...

Eh, Jerome seems to have beef with Anime Ltd in general if certain "deleted 30 mins after posting" comments are anything to go by.
I take that comment about "devaluing Anime" to be directed towards the previous lack of effort put into collectors editions by Manga. Don't ask me how I came about that but it..feels like it could be directed towards that area.

Maybe it's just me, but that reads a lot like somebody now at Anime Ltd. has been deliberately attempting to push the price of anime up? Kind of sounds like an attempt at price fixing to me, but maybe Jerome's misremembering.

Accusations of price fixing are a serious thing but this clearly isn't that situation. At the end of the day, zavvi are reducing it to 8 quid years after blu ray collector editions have sold well and then standard editions have been on the market for 12 months or longer. If AL has only released bebop in said format and at said price I could understand where he's coming from, but he just ends up coming across a bit arsey, which is something he has always been on social media, and one of the reasons I don't really like the guy.

:thumb:
He makes me a little nervous, don't know about anyone else. It's like ..I want to state my opinion but I feel he'd eat me alive for disagreeing. I think he lets his frustrations with the industry sometimes overtake his thought pattern & becomes a bit stand offish.

 

[Peachy]

I was going to go on a long rant about no Index 2/Railgun S but is there any point?! I'm mega irritated as I could've imported for cheaper but instead put my faith in Animatsu & choose to support their product instead... only to ..okay yeah you know, I'm just gonna post and step back haha.


Edit: Reading through Jerome's account is super depressing. Gonna think of it all as opinions rather than facts cause it's all so very negative :|
This deal he's talking about is of interest though, guess we may get the sequels..

EDIT 2: It makes me nervous to purchase Haikyuu, if it doesn't sell well & receives a season 3 in Japan, would they pick it up..

I wouldn't worry about Animatsu dropping stuff.

From what I can see, Jerome & co. have always wanted Index/Railgun over here but couldn't due to Starz and when they finally get the rights it was too late. The damage was already done, people have imported. Game Over.

The biggest problem with the UK anime industry is that they don't get the rights to certain shows sooner than later. MVM for example have licensed a bunch of Sentai titles but most of them have already been made available in North America. Titles like Hidamari Sketch will most likely sell poorly because the entire franchise is already out. No Game No Life? Yeah that's not going to do well because it's been delayed to a point in which certain folks are impatient and will import, no joke. Oreimo on the other hand, while being made available for ages, will do the opposite thanks to Aniplex's pricing and the show's infamous cult status.

My point is that UK companies really need to get the shows licensed while they're on streaming status, which is why Anime Limited still do well. Animatsu have successfully done this with their recent announcements over at MCM but from now on there's literally no point in licensing titles that are already available for ridiculously cheap prices in the states. Haikyuu!! was just released so the chances are still good plus with Season 2 still around there's a good chance it can sell over here.

Disclaimer: This is my opinion, so don't hate me on that.

Not at all! In fact your post makes lots of sense. I went on a bit of a negative thought pattern, your post has helped me get past that trail of thought. :thumb:

Striking while the irons hot does appear to be the best way forward, get those titles announced ASAP.