Bad news for people who like matching spines...

Just Passing Through

Just Passing Through

The Wildcard
Got an PR e-mail from Optimum today regarding their parent company's desire to singularise their European presence.

From September 1st, 2011, Optimum Releasing and Kinowelt, subsidiaries of STUDIOCANAL in the United Kingdom and Germany, will be named STUDIOCANAL.
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So any further releases of the Ghibli collection will probably have STUDIOCANAL on their spines instead of Optimum's logo.
 
Spines aside this seems like a slightly crazy move on the part of Studio Canal (I decline to format the brand like someone shouting it as quickly as possible). Optimum are a well established brand now with a pretty good reputation. Plus everybody knows Studio Canal is French, which is never a big selling point in the UK.
 
Didn't someone say they're re-releasing a few of the previously-released BDs? Hopefully they will have the new logo (and get rid of those numbers >_<)
 
That's what I hear. The numbers are staying though; the new print run (so not a re-release as such) is supposed to adjust the numbering so that Ponyo is #1 and Nausicaa is #2. Apparently it's a licensing requirement, albeit a rather strange one.
 
fabricatedlunatic said:
That's what I hear. The numbers are staying though; the new print run (so not a re-release as such) is supposed to adjust the numbering so that Ponyo is #1 and Nausicaa is #2. Apparently it's a licensing requirement, albeit a rather strange one.
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Why do they even need numbers at all?!
 
fabricatedlunatic said:
That's what I hear. The numbers are staying though; the new print run (so not a re-release as such) is supposed to adjust the numbering so that Ponyo is #1 and Nausicaa is #2. Apparently it's a licensing requirement, albeit a rather strange one.
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If the question is not "why do they need the numbers at all" it surely must be "how did they take something that made no sense whatsoever before, and make it make less sense.
 
I don't get it. Can someone explain to me the problem with pictures and links, please?

As far as I understand, some French people are going to sell Studio Ghibli films to us with English dubs/subs at the normal competitive price, the silly part being the numbers on the spines will be out of order.

Where is the major downside that warrants loaded shotguns? Or am I misunderstanding?
 
If you have or have seen a set of Tokyopop manga from a series that spans the change of logo then you will understand the problem right away.
 
No, I haven't. So how about explaining? I would have assumed the most important thing is to get Studio Ghibli shows quickly, cheaply, and at high quality. Sure, it's aesthetically not ideal if the spines don't match anymore, but hey the content is still the same and hopefully so will be the price.

I generally am in favour too of a Europe-wide presence idea. I'd like the market to start looking a bit more unified in the future. Do you know the great stuff Germans are getting in comparison to the Brits? I can get Mind Game for 9 Euros with a German sub (fine for me, because I read German nigh-fluently), but if I want an English sub copy, I need to pay Yes Asia 58 dollars! Imagine, if that same German company had decided to just put an English sub version on the disc. You know, a bit like my copy of Gundam Movie Trilogy, which have several European languages in one, even English. So even though amazon.co.uk didn't have the movies, I could buy them quite cheaply on amazon.de.

Anyway, I realise changing the names is the not the same as actually getting Europe-wide releases, but it might be some kind of a start?
 
Some of us like our spines to match so that they look presentable when placed on a shelf, and the Ghibli BDs released so far are already inconsistent in that regard, annoying because it's harder to get it wrong than right. The logo change is therefore a rotten cherry upon a rancid cake.

The shotgun comment was a joke though. Ayase isn't really going to blow anyone's (or his own) head off. At least I don't think so.
 
I actually think it's more effort to get lined up designs. They obviously don't have templates and just use the previous volumes for reference, by like, looking at a picture so if they were to properly line both images up on Photoshop (for instance) and work out where everything is on both -- it takes waaaaaaaay longer.
 
Email them and ask for replacement slip covers. If they get enough people asking they might take the hint.

A few years back I got a copy of grave of the fireflies that didn''t have the studio ghibli collection slip cover (it had the gold topped cover, '2 disc special edition' I think) so I emailed Optimum, they asked for my address and a large envelope turned up with a new cover in it.
 
Unless this directly effects my throwing money at people to get ligitimate anime on DVD, I could honestly care less.

In a world where companies think Mono audio is acceptable, what design the spine is on my DVD cover (which might very will be binned in the intermediate future to be put on a DVD Folder anyway) is not something that will keep me up at night.
 
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