AgeOfBoredom
Great Teacher
I’ve never seen either, so probably a dumb question… is the OVA version much different from the Movie? Is there a generally preferred watching option?
UK Anime Distributor Anime Limited Discussion Thread
- Thread starter jonno394
- Start date
RaeDra
Hunter
the movie is shorter, but has new animation in places and such. The OVAs are longer and are dubbed (the movie was never dubbed).
BrokenPhoenix
Thousand Master
It's what they did with Evangelion, UE only! what's that it's sold out? Well would you look at that we've already got a CE signed off ready to go
I could possibly see it being something that's tied to the US part of no English version for the poors yet
I 100% believe if this sells out you'll get a 'did I say no CE for 12 months? I meant 12 weeks...'.
You'd literally be pricing out all but the most hardcore fans in the biggest sales period.
But AL do make some baffling decisions sometimes
Yeah if it's a high demand product and it sells out, why wouldn't they make a regular CE? It'll print money if that many people want it.
It's not like AL are known for producing super limited runs of things, are they?
Jon O Fun
Za Warudo
The only thing i could think of was the way Hanners phrased it of 'No English collector's edition for at least 12 months' kinda implies it's a contractual thing.
Probably tied to preventing reverse Japanese imports of a cheaper version
if they're gonna reverse import they want the big bag dammit!!
Dai
Dragon Knight
IMO, the OAVs are better, since the pacing has the breathing room to spend more time with the characters. Despite having some of the best aerial action scenes ever animated, Plus is primarily a character drama.
The one exception is the final OAV, since most of the new and replacement material in the movie is added to that. I tend to watch the first three OAVs, then switch to the final quarter of the movie. That said, I have mixed feelings about one scene they changed near the end of the movie version. Without getting into spoilers, it's a pivotal moment that plays in a sombre, understated way in the OAV and becomes jarringly gruesome in the movie.
Scrambled Valkyrie
School Idol
I really wish it had been a regular CE as well. Sick of these giant irregular boxes. While it's annoying that they don't fit on the shelf it's far worse that the discs don't have a standard case. Really dislike the "discs in a book" method or worse yet the stupid spindle things like in the Eva ultimate edition. Every time one of these odd sized ultimate editions come out without a standard Amaray inside people complain and yet they don't listen. At one point they did that Wolf's Rain ultimate edition which had the smaller "standard sized" collector's box inside.
Hunter_Killer
Hunter
It's already sold out. But they only had 200 copies. Still, it was quick. We don't know, how many it is in UK. But oh well, just to be safe I ordered my copy.
burtkenobi
Dandy Guy, in Space
Too rich for my blood and wallet, sadly. I watched my old dvds last year and it's still great, obviously, but 4 episodes and a movie edit? I can't justify it in today's view of my bank balance
fabio de lunatico
The Wildcard
Unless AL outright come out and say the absence of a CE is for contractual reasons, I'm going to assume that instead it's because they're playing on FOMO to ensure the UE sells. At that price the profit margin must be larger than a CE at half the price and they know a lot of fans don't really want massive squares.
Aeon
Student Council President
The idea of UE or even CE only releases always rubs me the wrong way, the collectors sets are fine when they are optional but forcing people to buy a CE just to watch the show is taking the mick, let alone an ultimate edition that costs almost the same as 3 AAA games or a boatload of indie games that’ll offer far more value than a few episodes of an anime, however good it may be, not to mention how much space it takes up and the fact that it’s limited nature puts pressure on people to buy it for the ridiculously high price.
All this wouldn’t be an issue if a standard edition was made available as well; at that price I’d honestly recommend finding a different anime to watch at a price that won’t empty your wallet and take the wallet itself for good measure.
All this wouldn’t be an issue if a standard edition was made available as well; at that price I’d honestly recommend finding a different anime to watch at a price that won’t empty your wallet and take the wallet itself for good measure.
Aeon
Student Council President
TBH I’d consider the usual 1000 copies as super limited, it’s just that they rarely sell out quickly enough to cause an issue, hence why we get some fantastic deals at Christmas which is the only time to be buying AL products 99% of the time IMO.
I'll be fine with the domestic release.
BrokenPhoenix
Thousand Master
I agree. I don't know how other anime enjoyers and collectors feel, but for me personally, my primary concern is owning the show physically and being able to play my desired show off a Blu-ray disc, where the picture, sound, and colour should be far superior to what I can find on streaming services or on the high seas. Unless it's a show that I absolutely love and/or I think is 10/10, then I'm not too fussed about booklets, art cards, rigid boxes, and so on.
Look at the Macross Plus collector's edition on the French AL site compared to the UE - in the CE you still get a nice box, a decently sized artbook, and some art cards for 53 Euro EB. The UE costs 97 Euro more and for that you get a nicer box, a more comprehensive hardback artbook, a poster, and a handful more art carts. I'm not sure all that is worth 97 Euro as a consumer. No doubt it's aimed at the super fans of the show, but when there's no word of any other edition coming out in the UK, it starts to reek of "don't miss out!".
If you read between the lines here on the above attachment, it really just says there's no collector's edition planned for release in English-speaking territories for at least the next 12 months. I'm guessing there's some contractual or financial measure in place which means they can't or have chosen not to release a CE in the UK for at least 12 months after the release of the UE - probably to drive up sales for the most expensive edition, they're maybe trying to find out if it's financially worthwhile releasing a CE in the UK by seeing if the demand is there. France has a bigger anime and manga market than the UK, which is probably why they can confidently release both side by side (the UE is already showing as sold out on the French AL website).
If you think about it, the upgrade from the CE to the UE is minimal, so they might as well test the waters in the UK with the more expensive edition.
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Aeon
Student Council President
Another thing is how I might look at the artbook of a CE for like, 5 minutes and then move on with my life, unless there is something about the show that appeals to me personally, which is rarely the case with anime nowadays, or if the extra stuff actually has a purpose, like the contents of the Danganronpa V3 collectors edition way back when it released, then it’s all just a waste of both space and money IMO.
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AgeOfBoredom
Great Teacher
@BrokenPhoenix agree. I think the thing I like about Discotek is that they just do the best version they can on the disc with as many extras or alternative subs etc and release that.
I’ll buy the CE of something if I find it at a competitive price second hand or for the same price new, but if I’m buying new at retail (or close to) then I’ll go for the standard every time.
I’ll buy the CE of something if I find it at a competitive price second hand or for the same price new, but if I’m buying new at retail (or close to) then I’ll go for the standard every time.
BrokenPhoenix
Thousand Master
Yeah, that's why I love distributors like Arrow too - the emphasis is on the disc and making sure that it is as good as it can be. I'd rather more extras and special features on the disc and more effort being put into subtitle and audio tracks, than things like booklets or art cards I may look at once or twice.
Just Passing Through
Titan
I was interested in the Macross release, I'm a sucker for all the content on disc and as apparently the OVA dubs are exclusive to the UE...
But then I saw that price... and I saw that the Farscape Blu-rays are getting a re-release this summer, with The Peacekeeper Wars included for the first time, and it's four and a bit seasons of TV....
It's not the first time I've complained about boutique labels pricing casual fans out of the content that they desire, and it won't be the last. Had to put up with the lesser version of the Escaflowne movie Blu-ray too for the same reason.
But then I saw that price... and I saw that the Farscape Blu-rays are getting a re-release this summer, with The Peacekeeper Wars included for the first time, and it's four and a bit seasons of TV....
It's not the first time I've complained about boutique labels pricing casual fans out of the content that they desire, and it won't be the last. Had to put up with the lesser version of the Escaflowne movie Blu-ray too for the same reason.
Aeon
Student Council President
If the OVA dubs are exclusive to the UE then that is quite frankly unacceptable IMO, given how the EU price of the CE indicates that it’s still way too expensive for what tiny amounts of content you get (not that I mind the idea of anime being shorter and more focused than usual but the price must be appropriate), at the very least, they should include all the content on all the versions rather than artificially gatekeeping it to create a false sense of value, obviously physical extras will be exclusive to collectors sets, that’s fair enough as it actually costs a fair bit extra to produce those but cutting out parts of the main product to make exclusive to a super expensive set that you can’t buy for very long anyway is disgraceful.
Personally I don’t have a horse in this race as Macross isn’t a series that interests me personally but if AL did this for a show I actually really wanted to watch (which to be fair there are not many of them), I’d be pretty livid and I can fully understand anyone else who takes major umbrage with this situation.
I also want to add that there are genuinely amazing games on Steam that go for less than a tenner and the anime industry in general still believes it’s owed our entire bank accounts and punishes western fans with needless restrictions, such as locked subs, for “only” spending around 20 to 50 quid, rather than the hundreds they so greedily charge in Japan for a show or movie that, more often than not ends up being mid anyway, this last paragraph wasn’t referring to Macross per se, I can’t say how that release will turn out other than it costing a fortune but it’s yet another indictment on the industry as a whole.