Beez Entertainment Discussion

[Rena Ryuugu]

When do you think Haruhi will be availible to pre order on amazon

 

[Archaic Sage]

Any chances of digital distribution in the future? Without the horrible: "Pay £3 an episode, but you can only watch it for 30 days" of course.

 

[beez_andrew]

In the correct thread this time: do Beez have any plans to start releasing Banner of the Stars in the UK? Judging by the fact that Crest of the Stars is being given the box set treatment later this month, I'm guessing it did reasonably well here.

Unfortunately it doesn't mean it sold too well - we have extra units of it and is a favourite title of mine. So if the boxset does well (and at £24.99 for the whole series I really hope it does) then I'll push for similar for its follow ups.

It's one of those series I adore, so much so I am reluctant to watch the end of it all as that mean's there's no more to watch after as twisted as it is XD.

I'll look into that and a month or two after release of the set I'll try and post up what's happening one way or another .

 

[beez_andrew]

so andy..... when can we expect new annouchments from u guys? at the anime expo in may?? and would u guys ever bring any of the galaxy angel series out here?

You can expect new announcements in time for London Expo - if not before depending on what happens *waves hand mysteriously*.

Regarding Galaxy Angel - not at present but that's not to say we won't consider it . Depending on which series of Galaxy Angel we're talking about anyway as it's several long as I recall!

 

[beez_andrew]

When do you think Haruhi will be availible to pre order on amazon

I expect next 2-3 weeks, I presented the product to Pinnacle as of yesterday so they should be moving on it shortly!

 

[Martin]

In the correct thread this time: do Beez have any plans to start releasing Banner of the Stars in the UK? Judging by the fact that Crest of the Stars is being given the box set treatment later this month, I'm guessing it did reasonably well here.

Unfortunately it doesn't mean it sold too well - we have extra units of it and is a favourite title of mine. So if the boxset does well (and at £24.99 for the whole series I really hope it does) then I'll push for similar for its follow ups.

It's one of those series I adore, so much so I am reluctant to watch the end of it all as that mean's there's no more to watch after as twisted as it is XD.

I'll look into that and a month or two after release of the set I'll try and post up what's happening one way or another .

Yeah, Crest is a fave of mine too but it does strike me as a sleeper title though - one of those that acquires a cult following but isn't talked about much. I'll hold out on importing the Banner DVDs for a bit longer then! ^_^

 

[fabio de lunatico]

I have a question for the Beez rep.

I'm interested in picking up the Beez box set release of Fantastic Children. It's a little more expensive than the recent R1 Anime Legends release, but I'd much prefer a sturdy box over Bandai's cheap brick cases.

But I'd like to know if <a href="http://www.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;-1;-1;-1&sku=762448">this</a> is the final design because, well, it's a bit bland. And will it contain thinpak or regular keepcases?

Thanks for your time.

 

[Mr B]

It's great to see a company taking an active role in the forums, Andrew your a top man for taking the time to do so

Eureka 7: Is the series going to be released as a box set any time soon. Having only recently seen the first 4 episodes, I'm now completely smitten, but before I go and buy all of the individual DVD's, any info on a boxset / digipack for the near future?

Blu-Ray: Has Beez looked at using the blu-ray medium. Plans for the future!? Potentially there's going to be a massive market base within the Games sector with the PS3 being a BD player.

 

[Tasker]

Eureka 7: Is the series going to be released as a box set any time soon. Having only recently seen the first 4 episodes, I'm now completely smitten, but before I go and buy all of the individual DVD's, any info on a boxset / digipack for the near future?

I wouldn't have thought so, they still have 2 disks to release in the singles yet.

 

[Mr B]

How many DVD's is it in total, 10 or 11? That I know of the series spans 50 episodes (?) so it should be 10 (5 a disc?). It would be nice if they could release it in two halves, normally a box set retails for about half the price of the all individual releases. If I have to wait few extra months to save my self £50 - £60, then I will wait the extra money will buy me some more kits, manga vol's and modelling supplies...

Also (general question), does any one have the UK (or even the American) license for Macross Zero, Macross 7 & Macross 7 Dynamite yet. I'd love to see those get a UK release. Harmony Gold has the Robotech licensee but if it has the others is just sitting on them.

 

[Ryo Chan]

vol 10 goes up to 42, so there will be 12 volumes

 

[Zen 2nd]

vol 10 goes up to 42, so there will be 12 volumes

That's the American release. Beez put 5 episodes per disc the whole way through their release. So it will be 10 volumes altogether, thus saving money

Though do any of Beez boxsets go more than 3 discs?

 

[beez_andrew]

Any chances of digital distribution in the future? Without the horrible: "Pay £3 an episode, but you can only watch it for 30 days" of course.

Good question! The answer to which is the vague- there's always a chance in the future .

There are all sorts of models and I think just about everyone in the industry is pondering this at present XD! Watch this space definitely!

 

[beez_andrew]

I have a question for the Beez rep.

I'm interested in picking up the Beez box set release of Fantastic Children. It's a little more expensive than the recent R1 Anime Legends release, but I'd much prefer a sturdy box over Bandai's cheap brick cases.

But I'd like to know if <a href="http://www.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;-1;-1;-1&sku=762448">this</a> is the final design because, well, it's a bit bland. And will it contain thinpak or regular keepcases?

Thanks for your time.

I've attached the actual box art, as the one uploaded appears to be a different box! They will contain regular keepcases as well .

Also for everyone's reference these are the artworks to Stratos 4 and s-CRY-ed (both complete collections).

 

[beez_andrew]

It's great to see a company taking an active role in the forums, Andrew your a top man for taking the time to do so

Eureka 7: Is the series going to be released as a box set any time soon. Having only recently seen the first 4 episodes, I'm now completely smitten, but before I go and buy all of the individual DVD's, any info on a boxset / digipack for the near future?

Blu-Ray: Has Beez looked at using the blu-ray medium. Plans for the future!? Potentially there's going to be a massive market base within the Games sector with the PS3 being a BD player.

Hi Mr B!

To answer your questions:

At present there are not any box set plans at least until the stand alone DVD release is finished!

Total disc count for the UK is 2 less than that of the US, we have 10 volumes total with 5 episodes per DVD.

Regarding Blu-Ray, it's one we have our eyes on but as the region coding for it means we would need to manufacture it solely for the EU release - it's tricky. Mainly due to costs but given it is the current survivor of the next-gen format war means that if an HD release does come out that is the likely physical release it would get anyway .

 

[beez_andrew]

Though do any of Beez boxsets go more than 3 discs?

They will do at least!

Gundam Seed box 1 + 2 will contain 5 discs.
s-CRY-ed complete collection - 6 DVDs
Fantastic Children complete collection - 6 DVDs

 

[fabio de lunatico]

I've attached the actual box art, as the one uploaded appears to be a different box! They will contain regular keepcases as well .

Ah, that design is much more attractive. I approve. Stratos 4 is nice, too, though I'm not entirely sold on the show itself.

Thanks for posting them!

 

[Rui]

Regarding Blu-Ray, it's one we have our eyes on but as the region coding for it means we would need to manufacture it solely for the EU release - it's tricky. Mainly due to costs but given it is the current survivor of the next-gen format war means that if an HD release does come out that is the likely physical release it would get anyway .

Hi Andrew

On this point, I have a small selection of blu-ray discs (~12) but so far I've noticed only 1 has been region locked (a US disc). Region locking has always been a confusing art to me in general - my only player is a Japanese PS3, so it's not possible for me to buy locally if the discs are locked. My dad has a UK PS3, and as such I can't lend him locked discs and he can't buy me locked discs on the highstreet!

What I don't really understand is why. I know there is fear of reverse-importation, but given the time lapse and value of economies I'd think importing from the UK in particular would be the least of the Japanese or US companies' fears, especially as they already share a region themselves. Would it really require a special manufacturing run, or could say, (biased suggestion) Wings of Honneamise come out here via beez as a local distribution of the already authoured discs?

Of course, I don't have that disc, so maybe it happens to be one of the few region locked ones as is. But in principle...

I appreciate that worrying about blu-ray with an even smaller market share than DVD is probably premature, but I was just wondering. Not even all of my R2 UK DVDs are region locked and that seemed to gather steam far more than blu-ray locking has so far.

Incidentally I have to say that the regions for blu-ray really do seem to be completely ridiculously assigned :s it just made it easier for me to pick a JP player, when an open player would have ironically let me buy locally without so much stress. I'm too hooked on obscure never-licensed things to be cut off entirely from JP's region, should people decide to enforce it more down the line...

R

 

[melonpan]

Hi Andrew,

I've been thinking recently about whether or not it is best for companies like yourself to distribute your products through high-street shops.

It seems that there are three options for you to sell products:

- Through high-street shops, Internet retailers and your dedicated Bandai Internet site.
- Through Internet retailers and your dedicated Bandai Internet site.
- Through only your dedicated Bandai Internet site.

The first option is how things are currently. But are there really enough casual buyers who will walk into a high-street shop and pick a random anime DVD off the shelf (out of the hundreds of DVDs already there, how boggling for this poor anime-ignorant person!)?

How much does it cost to provide a wholesaler who will then provide high-street shops and Internet retailers with your product? Are there any Internet only wholesalers who could be cheaper?
The UK community always complain about prices, and so they should, but are the prices really necessary when a lot of it will come down to retailers. Would it really knock a lot of your profit off by solely selling your product from the Bandai website, at a much cheaper price?

I think the only real way to justify selling your products in high-street retailers is to advertise on TV. Magazines might help slightly, but I've only ever seen anime adverts in anime related magazines, so that's out the window.

Has this business model been tested already, or will it have to be put in place at some point in the future when the UK market becomes oversaturated (even more than it is right now) and takes a turn for the worst (like the US market, but more so because the UK market is smaller)?

The evidence for selling through your own website being a good thing, and something that is encouraged is because of Bandai Visual US, who have their dot.anime website, who put extra special items out via the website only, which shows that indeed that's a better option for the distributor.

I'm not sure if I've put down everything quite right there, but I'm pretty sure that's enough to get the general jist of things. =)

EDIT: As it seems to me that the best thing to do would be to treat the market as purely a collectors market (which is really what it is), do you think it would be best to sell some super-duper collectors item for a huge price, but ultimately make as much profit as you would through several normal anime series? I mean, every anime fan wants some shiney big fat box of anime goodness, i.e a model inside, a wooden case/metal case/hard chipboard case, artbooks, etc etc. You're doing that already with the awesome collections, but there's always room for more I think.

Did the Patlabor limited edition products on the Honneamise (sp?) label actually sell well? If not, would it be wise to produce less of them, but maybe raise the price a bit more but add even more limited edition items to the set?

Limited edition sells (when done properly), as clearly shown by the Japanese market, and more recently I've been reading about some bands who've marketed their music through the Internet only. For example Nine-Inch-Nails sold a $300 "Ultra Deluxe Limited Edition" set of signed goodies and music, etc, which all sold out in a few days. Likewise with Radiohead who put out a super limited edition set (though I don't know how well that did). Those examples aren't entirely relevant here as the music business is huge compared to the anime market. But it has been shown that limited editions in the anime market sell well. Taking a look at Viz' Naruto manga boxset, that sold out super-fast. Likewise with their Bleach anime boxset (which wasn't really that special, but due to popularity, so it doesn't count I guess). The Haruhi limited editions aren't sold out, but that's because Bandai made what - 100,000 of them or something, but either way, that went well.

What I'm getting at is that this is a collectors market, and I don't really see that many products specifically aimed at collectors!
We have to be considered collectors though, don't we, seeing as most who will be reading this would have bought hundreds if not thousands of pounds worth of anime/manga, and if £15 a volume anime can sell, over many volumes, then it shows we have the money.

EDIT: Another argument for Internet only distribution is the fact that the target audience of your products are an Internet crazed bunch. Viral marketing can have a huge impact on things (as a talked about in my post in the ADV comment thread). Not only viral marketing though, I'm sure it's a hell of a lot cheaper to advertise online than it is on TV. If you put an advert onto MySpace/Facebook/whatever else there is to advertise - that'd be great.

 

[beez_andrew]

Regarding Blu-Ray, it's one we have our eyes on but as the region coding for it means we would need to manufacture it solely for the EU release - it's tricky. Mainly due to costs but given it is the current survivor of the next-gen format war means that if an HD release does come out that is the likely physical release it would get anyway .

Hi Andrew

On this point, I have a small selection of blu-ray discs (~12) but so far I've noticed only 1 has been region locked (a US disc). Region locking has always been a confusing art to me in general - my only player is a Japanese PS3, so it's not possible for me to buy locally if the discs are locked. My dad has a UK PS3, and as such I can't lend him locked discs and he can't buy me locked discs on the highstreet!

What I don't really understand is why. I know there is fear of reverse-importation, but given the time lapse and value of economies I'd think importing from the UK in particular would be the least of the Japanese or US companies' fears, especially as they already share a region themselves. Would it really require a special manufacturing run, or could say, (biased suggestion) Wings of Honneamise come out here via beez as a local distribution of the already authoured discs?

Of course, I don't have that disc, so maybe it happens to be one of the few region locked ones as is. But in principle...

I appreciate that worrying about blu-ray with an even smaller market share than DVD is probably premature, but I was just wondering. Not even all of my R2 UK DVDs are region locked and that seemed to gather steam far more than blu-ray locking has so far.

Incidentally I have to say that the regions for blu-ray really do seem to be completely ridiculously assigned :s it just made it easier for me to pick a JP player, when an open player would have ironically let me buy locally without so much stress. I'm too hooked on obscure never-licensed things to be cut off entirely from JP's region, should people decide to enforce it more down the line...

R

Your analysis is spot on, though it seems that several "region locked" blu-rays can be fiddled with no real effort to work on other region players.

I'd argue at this point the price point for Blu-Ray is still about the same across the board (if just because there are only two companies releasing anime on BR in the US at present).

Playing devil's advocate, assuming the Blu-Ray's were left region unchecked then I wouldn't say no to a release such as Wings of Honneamise - I'm unaware if any of the BR Discs from BV USA are region coded to Japan/US only or not. It does strike me as ineffective if it was, as you would expect that boxed sets like Yukikaze would be great for a UK release (that show was just meant for high-def I'd argue) and it's far simpler to send on pre-made stock than have it all manufactured again.

My personal opinion is that the HD format war may be over on disc - but I think there's still some dust to settle. If it is to survive then it's at the same stage as VHS -> DVD transfer was in the early days currently I'd say anyway. Like DVD though, it's only going to be a short time until someone works out a way to make regionless BR players anyway, then region locks once again begin to lose much meaning.

More opinion than anything there I'm afraid, like every company at present we're analyzing the HD market at present and considering the best next move in regards to it .