Anime Series Packaging

Your Preferred Series Packaging:

  • Full Sized Cases, Boxed

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Thinpack

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Digipack

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Single Plastic Case (M-lock)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    0
ayase

ayase

State Alchemist
As regulars here are no doubt aware, I can be fairly pedantic when it comes to packaging. While the quality of the packaging isn't going to make an average series any better, it does make me think twice about buying what are even very good anime series. I've heard a lot about Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo and thought that I would probably buy both it and the UK Mushishi boxed set when they were released by Funimation.

However, today I cancelled my preorders for both whilst banging my head repeatedly against my desk. Why? Because apparently, these new releases are going to be not only in thinpack boxes (which I already have a strong hatred of thanks to their flimsiness) but they are also going to have two discs in each case, compressing all of Gankutsuou into two plastic slimline cases. So for a series packaged in these, plus two paper sleeves and a thin card box, Funimation are asking $70. Which is maddening given that Funimation's Fullmetal Alchemist boxes (which retail for $50) are things of beauty. Three-fold metallic finish digipacks with a seperate box containing full booklets for every disc in the set. FMA may be a very popular series, but I can't see any justification for charging more for less.

I'd be interested to know what everyone else thinks of the way series' are packaged. What kind of packaging do you prefer? would you rather things were packaged more cheaply and sold for a budget price, or would you be prepared to pay more for better quality?
 
ayase said:
I'd be interested to know what everyone else thinks of the way series' are packaged. What kind of packaging do you prefer? would you rather things were packaged more cheaply and sold for a budget price, or would you be prepared to pay more for better quality?
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That would depend on how much money I had to spare :lol:

I spent out on the Special Collectors tin of GITS: SAC 2nd GIG though so, I guess, I am willing to buy fancy boxsets if it's a good series/good box.

On the other hand, thinpacks are good on a budget. However, what they are doing with Count of Monte Cristo is just.... terrible.
 
I'm evil and like thinpacks most of all, though they have to be in decent, thick boxes to look good. The original Geneon Gankutsuou box is beautiful and I'm happy to buy that kind of release for a good series. I strongly dislike "special" boxes like bricks and the lovely "book" sets because if you lose some prongs on the plastic in shipping you can never replace them. I used to hate the overlapping mini-bricks but I've chilled out over time since they don't seem to be going away any time soon.

The main reason I like thinpacks is for space saving and because they rarely seem to have discs come loose in shipping. TRSI do pretty thinpacks, as with Emma and Marimite. Years of buying singles have left my bloated collection taking up way too much space.

Funi's "half season sets" where they put two thinpack boxes into a thin cardboard sleeve are certainly not luxurious, but they are often quite good value so I don't mind at all so far. It's a shame you don't get much artwork and the outside packaging is relatively flimsy but I can't argue when the prices are so low sometimes. It's allowed me to dip into a lot of shows I'd otherwise have skipped. Anything's better than them going download only for niche stuff so as long as the actual shows are ok I'll keep buying no matter what the packaging is like.

R
 
I like box-set series' of anime in my collection, although having a collection of a series in average plastic cases, bearing volumes 1-6 or something similar, is also good to look at.

For example my Lucky Star box looks nice in itself but at the same time I like the look of my Death Note volumes of 1-4 in single cases.
 
In most cases I'm fine with Funimation's thinpaks. They're neat and compact and therefore good for those of us looking to conserve shelf space. My only issue with them is that the cases they use have flimsy hubs highly susceptible to breakage. Every one of my Funimation thinpaks has had at least one partially broken hub. Ideally every distributor would follow Right Stuf/Nozomi's lead and produce sturdy artboxes in which to hold their thin DVD cases, but perhaps it's not realistic to expect that from Funimation due to the volume of product they release. But $70 does seem a little too expensive for what they offer.

Having said that, I've sold my Gankutsuou thinpak and ordered the singles + box from Rightstuf for $40 plus shipping. Gankutsuou's artbox is exceptionally attractive and for that price I couldn't resist.
 
yeah, the full sized cases, boxed are best, but they normally cost more, so i live with the inferior packaging for finance reasons.
 
My 08th MS Team collection consists of five discs packaged within a single DVD case. Per unit episode it's perhaps the most compact title I own.
 
Actually, now that I think about it, you can't directly compare the 26 episode Gankutsuou and Mushi-shi collections with FMA's half-season sets. Considering that they're fairly recent releases, and that Gankutsuou is a license rescue that originally earned Funimation nothing, $70 isn't too bad.
 
In truth, I would prefer to buy singles in full size DVD cases and have one of those come with a sturdy artbox to hold them all, thus giving the most room for both cover art and box art (of which I like both, obviously if the quality is good). However, space restrictions mean I would actually choose thinkpaks, one of which coming with a sturdy artbox.

So I don't know what to answer in the poll. ^^;

If I'm buying a complete set, I'd be doing so for one of two reasons:

Very nice limited edition, happy to pay high price but would demand awesome-o packaging to go with the series and some pack-in goodies.

Not a series I was that desperate to get, thus buying it at a very low price and therefore don't feel I can demand too much from the packaging.
 
Actually, now that I think about it, you can't directly compare the 26 episode Gankutsuou and Mushi-shi collections with FMA's half-season sets. Considering that they're fairly recent releases, and that Gankutsuou is a license rescue that originally earned Funimation nothing, $70 isn't too bad.
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If Funi didn't think Gankutsuou was going to be profitable they wouldn't have rescued it in the first place. Clearly though, their plan is to make it profitable by selling a budget-style set at a premium. I wouldn't be complaining about the packaging if the sets were cheaper, and I wouldn't be complaining about the price if they were better packaged.

I didn't plan to dwell on these particular releases though, that was just the trigger for me creating this topic to talk about series packaging in general. ;)

The best packaged sets I own (besides the unique Wolf's Rain book) are the Remastered Gundam Wing (two digipacks in a sturdy card box), the R1 Gunbuster release and the special edition Patlabor films, which both came in the most heavy duty digipacks known to man. The Patlabor releases came in sturdy boxes on top of that too.
 
The Patlabor movie boxes are things of heavy duty beauty. Gunbuster could only have been more awesome had it been housed in a sturdy box and included a life-size Noriko blow up doll.

But I'm thankful that not every show has such enticing packaging. It'd mean that I would end up buying a lot less.
 
I like Full Sized Cases and thinpacks, I have no preference over either really. If the boxset is out when I go to buy something I normally go for that and if it's just coming out, like death note, I'll buy them individually.
 
fabricatedlunatic said:
The Patlabor movie boxes are things of heavy duty beauty. Gunbuster could only have been more awesome had it been housed in a sturdy box and included a life-size Noriko blow up doll.
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The Patlabor box is certainly attractive. Unfortunately for me, the rabbit nibbled a tiny piece of the corner.
As for Gunbuster, the packaging is probably up to scratch, but the availability isn't. I'd like to own it, but not at the price I'd have to pay for one of the leftover copies.
 
Personally, I quite like thinpacks, as long as they have a sturdy 'shell'. I also quite like some Digipacks as long as they are well done, i.e not like the Tenchi Muyo Viridian Collection set. >.>

As for single case ones, I have not had much luck with some of them and often have to buy replacement cases off ebay. 2 of the 3 Rurouni Kenshin sets I bought had broken clip things which held the inner dvd pages in.

As I try only to buy boxsets, I find myself not liking the full sized cases/boxed either due to, primarily, the fact that it seems to me like a volume-over-time collection, which I do not like (as they are normally just each volume stuffed in a box, whereas thinpacks normally get redesigned). Also, they take up too much space. My DearS set is the only collection that I own like this and it takes up more room than any of my other series, despite it only being 13 episodes long.
 
I'm similar to ilmaestro, as in space means I should really get the thinpacks (of which most are pretty standard and decent in both strength and art), but there are times where the special boxsets are a "must buy."

I differ from the reasoning of the thinpacks though:
Instead of expecting low-budget and weak boxes, I see it as a nice little package that holds the more inportant things inside - the dvds and the anime. If it's a bargain, then I feel chance is with me,and thus I dont buy the over-priced special/full boxes. Value for money, I say.
(Plus I may have waited for a while and whilst the thick boxsets had sold out, the thinpacks had just been released, so I had to buy it then.)
 
I don't like digipacks as being card they are just too easy to get damaged like the R1 Naruto sets.

I do like thinpacks as long as they have a decent sturdy case around them, also they save much space especially the double disc thin cases.

Singles are only really nice if the art on the spines matches or makes up a larger picture.

M-Lock cases are not too bad in my book except when hubs get damaged. Also for anything in an M-Lock case a thinpack would be better.

I like the look of the full sized box sets best but they just take up so much space. Saying that though because I bought a lot of single DVD's as they came out my collection is full of this kind.
 
I like buying the full size boxsets as the artwork on them looks awesome. I don't mind thinpacks as they save space.
And I like buying singles especially if they have a really nice artbox with the first volume
 
Hmm... Well, seems like I'm up against it here (though at least I'm not the only one who likes digipacks). :p

Doesn't anyone else feel that thinpacks just exude cheapness? The cases feel so light and will bend every which way (especially when you're opening them, both front and back covers bend loads before they finally pop open) and the spines, for the amount of solidity (or lack of) that they give the case, can't even really be called spines at all. I'd rather buy more shelving to house bigger cases, though in space saving terms, that's as much an argument for digipacks as it is for thinpacks.

I feel the only reason they are used is to cut costs, now even more so given they're packing two discs into each case. This cuts down on the number of paper inserts, the amount of card used for the box - the only thing worse is this new method of cramming an entire series into a multi-disc standard sized Amaray case. Other than the discs what are you getting for your money there? One plastic case (worth approximately >10p) and one paper insert (>5p). It feels like it won't be long before they're selling us discs in paper packets with "cases, paper and printers sold separately" stickers on.
 
ayase said:
Doesn't anyone else feel that thinpacks just exude cheapness?
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The problem is, everything else exudes expensiveness. I would buy singles and boxes, but then I could only afford a small fraction of the series I'd otherwise be able to.
 
There's also B&M shelf space to take into consideration, especially with sales falling. Anime distributors want as much of their product in stores as possible, but retailers don't want hundreds of singles and huge box sets eating up their precious shelf space.

I love nice packaging but I have to accept that costs need to be cut so that prices can be cut so that people keep buying anime so that the few remaining distributors can continue to make it available. If, however, it does come to the point where they're offering discs in paper packets, they can sod right off :p
 
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