Of course, the RRP going up still means the 'discounted' price going up as well. Forbidden Planet had volumes for around £5 online, but now they're £6-something.
I hear you. However, a single blu-ray film is say 2 hours (120 minutes) and those are £15-£20 a pop at boutique labels now. A 13 episode anime is around 312 minutes if each episode is ~24 minutes. And as someone else mentioned, you are getting two CDs in this set as well and all the art stuff too. I certainly wouldn't pay the £79.99 SRP for it, but £45-£49.99 is reasonable in my view for a new release and with what you are getting.
Sorry, I meant before Anime Limited - I don't recall there being an abundance of boutique-style anime sets in the UK before they came along.
I am with you. Some of AL's prices for what you're getting are questionable at times. Some of the sets where they just copy and paste an 18-page art booklet, 4 art cards, and slap a £49.99+ price tag on it is uncomfortable. However, with this set in particular you are getting a pretty hefty 92-page booklet + the soundtrack across 2 CDs.
Jujutsu Kaisen S1P1 standard edition, for example, is currently £24.99 for 12 episodes on AL's store. So with this new set, for an extra £20-£25 you're getting a collector's edition box, 2 CDs, a 92-page booklet, a poster, and some art cards. I can see that 2 CD sets go for £12.99-£14.99 on ATA, so then you're looking at around a tenner for the booklet, poster, and art cards. To me at least, it looks like a bit more care and effort has gone into this set.
Of course I'd love to pay less, but I don't think it's too bad for AL to price it at £49.99 initially. I can't imagine many would pay the SRP £79.99. Maybe AL are becoming a bit like Domino's Pizza - no one pays full SRP.