Lavigne
Great Teacher
I'm sure Andrew will clarify, but I thought the "all Gundam" comment was a while ago, and likely before it became apparent that any DVDs would be PAL DVDs, for which there isn't a great deal of appetite for.
UK Anime Distributor Anime Limited Discussion Thread
- Thread starter jonno394
- Start date
I'm sure Andrew will clarify, but I thought the "all Gundam" comment was a while ago, and likely before it became apparent that any DVDs would be PAL DVDs, for which there isn't a great deal of appetite for.
Don't forget that there's also the fact that Sunrise is slowly putting out Blu-ray versions of various Gundam titles in Japan so After War Gundam X could get a BD-Box sometime in 2017 as well as Gundam 0800.
Lavigne
Great Teacher
True, but what are the chances of Sunrise allowing a western release so soon after a domestic release, particularly in the US?
I'd imagine that we'd be a couple of years further down the line for releases here TBH.
HellCat
Death Scythe
In a business sense I get it. Gundam is big in France, enough that Sunrise even promote the fact in Japan. Shared releases make sense, especially with European economic upheaval looming.
In a fanboy sense, yeah it's annoying. AL obviously never want to delay stuff but we've all made the comparison to how RS has released the franchise. At this point complaining doesn't help but it really is frustrating.
In a fanboy sense, yeah it's annoying. AL obviously never want to delay stuff but we've all made the comparison to how RS has released the franchise. At this point complaining doesn't help but it really is frustrating.
SpaceDandy
Student Council President
…like any distributor…
HellCat
Death Scythe
Not sure I follow your tone. I'm trying to be diplomatic rather than just gripe. Hence just pointing out that as annoying as the delays are I doubt Andrew is twirling a handlebar moustache and cackling that they continue.
I'm annoyed at the delay, but as I've said before, I'm more shocked when a UK anime release doesn't get delayed! Sadly when the original series released so close to Christmas last year I had to put off buying it until January, and so missed out on the lovely box (I did get the artbook, which is now just sitting in a drawer...) so these matching boxes just make me sad now 
Any chance of a MSG box-only sale?
Any chance of a MSG box-only sale? 
thedoctor2016
Mushi-shi
Unlucky as I ordered from Zavvi first week in Jan and got the box thank god.
Buzzkillington
Cardcaptor
I bought mine at the end of June from Gundam Mad and got the box and the booklet with them, also only paid £35 for each set (and a flat £5 delivery fee). I did however have to be directed to them and I actually asked before ordering to confirm they still had the box too (in fact they still have Part 1 with the box for sale, Part 2 is sold out though). I'm forever grateful to that dude who directed me to them as I thought I had missed out and didn't want it without the box, although I think he may actually work for them lol.
Buzz201
Mad Scientist
The businessman in me completely understands why AL are doing this, sharing discs and reducing costs makes complete sense, and provides many benefits to them as a business and potentially, in some circumstances, us as consumers. However, I’m uncomfortable with some of things that are being said and implied to and about people that are upset by the delays. I have no stake in this, as the MSG sets are too expensive for me, but I tried to collect together some of my thoughts and the thoughts I’ve gleamed from conversation with other people.
I wonder whether promising day and date or a release date close to the US for things is a mistake on AL’s part. They haven’t been able to do it for Gundam or for Funimation titles, seemingly not even when they’re the ones taking the lead on disc authoring. I understand that there are a million and one things that can get in the way, but they’ve only managed to actually achieve this a couple of times, so continuing to promise it seems like a mistake to me. It’s easy enough for fans to complain that the BBFC is a terrible organisation that shouldn’t exist and that publishers and replicators shouldn’t favour larger companies, but neither of these things are likely to change, so getting fans amped up, when you know there’s a strong likelihood of external factors getting in the way seems like a mistake.
However, I also get the impression that AL knows release delays are probably coming well before they tell us and there’s some choices being made to deliberately delay this information coming out. I think a more clear and obvious attempt to flag all the dates AL gives out as provisional wouldn’t go amiss, as there still seems to be a lack of certainty as to the provisional status of some dates, and some people get more and more disappointed seeing shows of significant personal value to them repeatedly delayed without much warning, when AL seemingly knew it was coming well before they told us and ignored or missed their questions asking about it.
There does seem to be a feeling amongst certain fans that we should not complain about delays, and that it doesn’t really make a difference whether we get the product tomorrow or a year from now. I’d respectfully disagree. In this instance, Zeta is a sequel. MSG, Part 2 came out February 8th this year, so assuming it meets the January 30th date, people will have been waiting 357 days for it to come out. In that time, fans have watched as their American counterparts got After War X (Parts 1 & 2), Build Fighters, Build Fighters Try, Char’s Counterattack, Evolve, Victory (Part 1 is out now and 2 is scheduled before Zeta’s UK Part 1), ZZ (Parts 1 & 2), none of which are even scheduled in the UK. I know some people reading this will question why it matters whether the US have something and we don’t, and to an extent I guess they’re right, but the wait adds little tangible benefit to us as consumers. The primary difference between AL’s release and RightStuf’s are fancy packaging and French subs, and AL can’t even guarantee everyone that buys a copy will get the fancy packaging (but as I’ve said previously, even if you don’t, you can expect to pay the same price). So there isn’t really benefit to us as consumers for waiting. As Andrew has sort-of admitted, it’s not being done for our benefit, it’s being done for AL’s and to quieten French fans. The SRP will not reduce for us as a result, the stock cost probably won’t reduce, it probably won’t be discounted any sooner; the primary benefits of the delay aren’t being passed on to us as British & Irish consumers. I can’t speak for them, but I get the impression many Gundam fans were waiting to show their support for the franchise and for a UK distributor, to hopefully ensure its continued and prolonged success in the UK, but length delays like this for little tangible benefit when many of them just want to watch the show already, take the mick out of and erode that goodwill. Having your goodwill towards something be eroded is not a good feeling, so as much as these delays clearly upset AL, it would be wrong to deny that aren’t also eliciting a visceral and emotional impact in the fans also.
There are also pragmatic issues with products constantly getting delayed. How does one budget for something if they don’t know when it’s coming out? It’s easy to suggest that they just hold on to the money, but life gets in the way, things happen. A delay of 5 months, especially from before to just after Christmas, makes it especially likely things will get in the way, and even if you have the best intentions of keeping the money set aside, that might not be possible. This wouldn’t necessarily normally be an issue, but components of the release are probably limited, so if people wait to purchase the set they might have to do without the pre-order bonus, leading to the dreaded shelf-inconsistency.
This brings us on to a few last problems. I’m not convinced Zeta will even meet the January 30th date. France is the hold up and we’re supposedly sharing discs, so presumably the French date must be similar to ours. Zeta isn’t yet listed in France, and it’s a sequel, so presumably the MSG Film Trilogy will have to come out in France first. That release isn’t listed yet either, and I assume AL will want a gap between the two releases to make things easier on French consumers. So sometime before January 30th AL will have list, author and release the MSG Film Trilogy in France, and I can’t see that successfully happening.
Finally, Andrew’s promise that several different Gundams are being worked on simultaneously and they’ll all be released in quick succession is little comfort to consumers. If they desperately attempt to catch up by releasing several Gundam series in a short period, and without much advance warning, fans are going to be forced to scrape together large amounts of money with little notice or miss out consistent sets and the nicer packaging/artbooks. This is a horrible position to put collector’s in, as some of them will likely be forced to prioritise and miss out on the series they don’t already know or at least have some inkling they’ll like. And then, if they do scrape all the money together, they’ll then probably struggle to find the money for the subsequent more regularly scheduled releases. For this to work, I think AL would need to commit to release dates and SRPs well in advance, but due to production difficulties that is both difficult for them to do, and dangerous, given fans may try and hold them to it and get upset if their plans go awry.
I wonder whether promising day and date or a release date close to the US for things is a mistake on AL’s part. They haven’t been able to do it for Gundam or for Funimation titles, seemingly not even when they’re the ones taking the lead on disc authoring. I understand that there are a million and one things that can get in the way, but they’ve only managed to actually achieve this a couple of times, so continuing to promise it seems like a mistake to me. It’s easy enough for fans to complain that the BBFC is a terrible organisation that shouldn’t exist and that publishers and replicators shouldn’t favour larger companies, but neither of these things are likely to change, so getting fans amped up, when you know there’s a strong likelihood of external factors getting in the way seems like a mistake.
However, I also get the impression that AL knows release delays are probably coming well before they tell us and there’s some choices being made to deliberately delay this information coming out. I think a more clear and obvious attempt to flag all the dates AL gives out as provisional wouldn’t go amiss, as there still seems to be a lack of certainty as to the provisional status of some dates, and some people get more and more disappointed seeing shows of significant personal value to them repeatedly delayed without much warning, when AL seemingly knew it was coming well before they told us and ignored or missed their questions asking about it.
There does seem to be a feeling amongst certain fans that we should not complain about delays, and that it doesn’t really make a difference whether we get the product tomorrow or a year from now. I’d respectfully disagree. In this instance, Zeta is a sequel. MSG, Part 2 came out February 8th this year, so assuming it meets the January 30th date, people will have been waiting 357 days for it to come out. In that time, fans have watched as their American counterparts got After War X (Parts 1 & 2), Build Fighters, Build Fighters Try, Char’s Counterattack, Evolve, Victory (Part 1 is out now and 2 is scheduled before Zeta’s UK Part 1), ZZ (Parts 1 & 2), none of which are even scheduled in the UK. I know some people reading this will question why it matters whether the US have something and we don’t, and to an extent I guess they’re right, but the wait adds little tangible benefit to us as consumers. The primary difference between AL’s release and RightStuf’s are fancy packaging and French subs, and AL can’t even guarantee everyone that buys a copy will get the fancy packaging (but as I’ve said previously, even if you don’t, you can expect to pay the same price). So there isn’t really benefit to us as consumers for waiting. As Andrew has sort-of admitted, it’s not being done for our benefit, it’s being done for AL’s and to quieten French fans. The SRP will not reduce for us as a result, the stock cost probably won’t reduce, it probably won’t be discounted any sooner; the primary benefits of the delay aren’t being passed on to us as British & Irish consumers. I can’t speak for them, but I get the impression many Gundam fans were waiting to show their support for the franchise and for a UK distributor, to hopefully ensure its continued and prolonged success in the UK, but length delays like this for little tangible benefit when many of them just want to watch the show already, take the mick out of and erode that goodwill. Having your goodwill towards something be eroded is not a good feeling, so as much as these delays clearly upset AL, it would be wrong to deny that aren’t also eliciting a visceral and emotional impact in the fans also.
There are also pragmatic issues with products constantly getting delayed. How does one budget for something if they don’t know when it’s coming out? It’s easy to suggest that they just hold on to the money, but life gets in the way, things happen. A delay of 5 months, especially from before to just after Christmas, makes it especially likely things will get in the way, and even if you have the best intentions of keeping the money set aside, that might not be possible. This wouldn’t necessarily normally be an issue, but components of the release are probably limited, so if people wait to purchase the set they might have to do without the pre-order bonus, leading to the dreaded shelf-inconsistency.
This brings us on to a few last problems. I’m not convinced Zeta will even meet the January 30th date. France is the hold up and we’re supposedly sharing discs, so presumably the French date must be similar to ours. Zeta isn’t yet listed in France, and it’s a sequel, so presumably the MSG Film Trilogy will have to come out in France first. That release isn’t listed yet either, and I assume AL will want a gap between the two releases to make things easier on French consumers. So sometime before January 30th AL will have list, author and release the MSG Film Trilogy in France, and I can’t see that successfully happening.
Finally, Andrew’s promise that several different Gundams are being worked on simultaneously and they’ll all be released in quick succession is little comfort to consumers. If they desperately attempt to catch up by releasing several Gundam series in a short period, and without much advance warning, fans are going to be forced to scrape together large amounts of money with little notice or miss out consistent sets and the nicer packaging/artbooks. This is a horrible position to put collector’s in, as some of them will likely be forced to prioritise and miss out on the series they don’t already know or at least have some inkling they’ll like. And then, if they do scrape all the money together, they’ll then probably struggle to find the money for the subsequent more regularly scheduled releases. For this to work, I think AL would need to commit to release dates and SRPs well in advance, but due to production difficulties that is both difficult for them to do, and dangerous, given fans may try and hold them to it and get upset if their plans go awry.
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HellCat
Death Scythe
I don't quite disagree. I became a fan when Wing aired here and always wished we saw a push here like the US got. When BEI closed I was one of the few who thought Sunrise would pursue physical releases again internationally and when RS made their announcement I was ready to support them.
I do want to support the UK releases for the reasons you say and that I genuinely feel AL as a company are passionate about their titles and getting a varied mix out there. The rub, as you've mentioned, is the delays. I think events like the MCM screenings show they take representing Gundam here seriously but as you said Zeta is a sequel and one that with each delay moves further from memory.
I do want to support the UK releases for the reasons you say and that I genuinely feel AL as a company are passionate about their titles and getting a varied mix out there. The rub, as you've mentioned, is the delays. I think events like the MCM screenings show they take representing Gundam here seriously but as you said Zeta is a sequel and one that with each delay moves further from memory.
Without weighing in on the many-headed beast that is Gundam release scheduling, I do think it's important to at least mention that it was made clear that the "day and date" releases for Funimation titles at least wasn't going to be an instant thing, so I'd say it's unfair to ding them for that at this point in time. From my interview at May London Comic Con with Andrew Partridge:
Mai Mai Miracle Update #40:
TL;DR
Hey everyone! Sorry it's been about a month since my last update - I went home for 2 weeks and wasn't around to post, and the week before going away for 2 weeks traditionally tends to destroy any carefully laid plans you may have had to get stuff done/short updates posted. But, it turns out that this tiny delay has worked in my favour as I have a TON of information to share! So let's start.
Packaging Approval
We have it! Everyone and every group involved in the approval process has signed off on our packaging designs! This includes the booklet that we are now including with the collector's edition that we added after the fact.
This means we will be moving into production ASAP and get this project moving. In terms of delivery date, I will be totally honest with you - all we can say now is 'before Christmas' and here is why:
So - if we were to go by the strict 2 month rule, we would be looking at end of October/early November. With the other factors taken into consideration, we're hoping to not be too far off November - but I will update once we have confirmation from production on dates.
- Production process usually runs about 2 months from start to finish
- In our experience, issues and problems inevitably crop up - so we need to take this into consideration when calculating our delivery date
- Number of backers + information from backer surveys will have an impact (more on that below)
- Artbook approval still in progress (more information on that below too). The impact here could be that backers who included an artbook may have to wait a bit longer than those who didn't as it is safer and easier to send these together. No decisions have been made as we don't have final dates - so we're interested in hearing your opinions on this matter.
- We are entering heavy production period (run up to Christmas is starting early this year - September rather than the traditional October)
Digital Rewards
We have approval on this too! I will be sending these out via the Kickstarter private messaging system. They will be available to download from a link - trying to keep things as simple as possible
Backer Surveys
Now that we have approval and we can start moving into production, we will prepare the backer surveys and send them out by the end of this week. If you could please fill them in as early as possible, it'll help us on our end in terms of operations and planning. It helps us get a better idea of when and how you will expect to receive your copies..
So, please please please keep an eye out this week for your backer survey! I will keep the option to edit your address open until we're ready to ship. I will post an update warning when this will happen and when I'm closing the option to edit address to give you guys a head's up. After the fact, you'll have to get in touch directly. But we can cross that bridge if we get there.
Quad
For those of you who backed a tier with a cinema quad, we're very happy to tell you that we have been allowed to use the new quad design that is part of the new Japanese release and their promotional designs!
We're waiting on the files for the new quad design but as soon as we have it, I'll post an update with the image. It is really pretty! We are so happy we're allowed to use this new image as part of our Kickstarter campaign
Artbook
This has not been signed off yet but we are very, very close! There are a couple small changes that need to be made and sent back for approval. We are currently in the process of sorting this out (we literally heard back on this this morning) for approval.
We are also working on getting a "packshot" of the artbook to share with you guys as well. We don't have one to hand now, but once it's made we will share the image here. The cover is BEAUTIFUL and I can't wait to share with you all here.
The Japanese Release and Questions About the English Dub
While I was away, it was announced that Mai Mai Miracle will be released in Japan and will be using the English dub funded and created by this Kickstarter campaign. A lot of you had questions about the benefit of backing this campaign, considering it's taken a helluva long time to turn it around if the Japanese release will also include the dub. Here is my breakdown of the benefits - and also what we will do to make sure we look after all our backers who have been with us on this journey that has taken far, far longer than any of us anticipated:
So what can we do to look after our backers in terms of this release?
- Kickstarter backers are special and backers of the Collector's Edition will own a copy of the film that is unique to this campaign. There is a lot to this release - including a bespoke booklet with a ton of information on characters and backgrounds
- Kickstarter Standard Edition backers will also have their copies months before general release in the UK and the US. Standard edition releases will not be available to the wider market until 2017
- Some Kickstarter backers will also have access to a bespoke artbook that is unavailable anywhere else in the world
- The rewards (both physical and digital) are unique to this campaign - especially the giclee prints
- You are all the early adopters and trendsetters here
If we are unable to release our physical copies before the Japanese release, all backers will have access to the English dub via Vimeo (as we did with the sub version) 1 week before the film is released in Japan.
While it may not be the ideal situation (that would be getting the KS version out before Japan), we have to work in a reality that is governed by the laws of time and physics. We believe you deserve to have the whole film before anyone else considering you all made this happen. We stand firmly on this subject and we always do our best to look out for our backers.
I think that's it for now! It's a lot and we are so happy that things are finally starting to move. Again, expect updates every couple of weeks now as we progress through this - and even if there isn't much to update.
I better be getting on sending those digital assets and preparing the backer survey! As ever, thanks so much for all your patience and support on this project. It's been a hell of a ride but we're happy you guys were here with us
- Team Anime Limited
TL;DR
- Packaging has been fully approved, including the booklet. Moving into production ASAP.
- The Artbook tier is still in approvals. However AL is very close to sending it off to get it approved. Working on a packshot to share.
- Digital rewards have been fully approved. Expect a Kickstarter PM soon. They'll be available to download via link.
- Backer Survey will be setup by the end of the week. Option to change address will be open until they're ready to ship.
- Quad update includes a new design from the Japanese release. Once they have the files they'll show it off on an update.
- Expect a release date between the end of October/early November and Christmas time.
Arg! Sorry I missed it before ;_;.
Tatami Galaxy isn't moving - in fact expect images for that and BBB today in the Newswire - all off to print shortly
.AP
1,000 copies do - if Gundam is selling more in the UK than that - it's a really cool thing
! That said it's still a feature and it's not a small quantity in the UK market all in all to clear so it's a statement of how loved Gundam is.Would decrease the price after if I could, but alas I'm in a Catch-22 situation there!
Crying.JPG
If it's DVD only then we won't be doing it on BBFC grounds
. So go ahead!Exceptions do happen though - like the BD release of the Movie Trilogy
.AP