Details about Haruhi S2 and the Haruhi-Chan bonus...

[ilmaestro]

3 discs? Silly move; that means one disc will have nothing but Endless Eight on it - everyone will skip that disc xD

Everyone who sucks, sure.

 

[Just Passing Through]

I also remember Andrew (Beez) saying that he wasn't interested in Haruhi S2, although whether he meant personally or as a representative of Beez was never clarified. After all, Endless Eight would make a lot of Haruhi fans suddenly uninterested in S2.

What I'd like to know is if Beez were outbid on Disappearance, or if Disappearance, S2, and Haruhi-chan were sold as a job lot.

Lot job, so we never bid on Disappearance actually at the end of the day as they were sold together.

Andrew

Thanks for the quick reply. It's a shame they weren't offered separately, but it isn't the first time that a choice licence has been tied to a millstone...

Time will tell though if Haruhi S2 turns out to be a millstone in this case.

 

[Shiroi Hane]

Besides, Manga's losing the plot on their pricing, especially Blu-rays of late. Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino + OVA seemed reasonable at £34.99 RRP, but they pulled the OVA but didn't reduce the price.

They've got a £10 margin between their DVDs and Blus which is excessive to begin with, but doesn't take account of the content.

BDs are expensive to produce, and that is the same regardless of the content. If whoever is doing the authoring isn't including the OVA on their own disc(s) then that increases the costs to Manga.

 

[Just Passing Through]

Besides, Manga's losing the plot on their pricing, especially Blu-rays of late. Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino + OVA seemed reasonable at £34.99 RRP, but they pulled the OVA but didn't reduce the price.

They've got a £10 margin between their DVDs and Blus which is excessive to begin with, but doesn't take account of the content.

BDs are expensive to produce, and that is the same regardless of the content. If whoever is doing the authoring isn't including the OVA on their own disc(s) then that increases the costs to Manga.

Manga don't author their own content anymore, they just package what materials they get from Madman or Funimation. It may be more expensive in the UK, especially with the smaller sales volumes, but the US typically has a $5 difference between DVD and Blu, not £10.

 

[Sparrowsabre7]

I'm really not sure what to do. I don't want to get the series and then have manga release a 2-pack of chan collections 1+2 but at the same time I don't want to NOT do it and then have them only release collection 2 separately, thus running the risk not being able to get rid of Haruhi season 2...

 

[Just Passing Through]

I'm really not sure what to do. I don't want to get the series and then have manga release a 2-pack of chan collections 1+2 but at the same time I don't want to NOT do it and then have them only release collection 2 separately, thus running the risk not being able to get rid of Haruhi season 2...

Be prepared to import. As Andrew said, the Haruhi deal was sold as a job lot, and obviously it's Disappearance that is the cherry on the icing. Manga are going to want to milk that. I guess that they're hoping that the existing UK Haruhi fanbase will be hardcore enough to buy Season 2 even with Endless Eight, and they are throwing in Part 1 of Haruhi-chan to sweeten that deal just in case they aren't.

If season 2 flops, I doubt that they'd even release part 2 of Haruhi-chan. Hell, right now I'm so cynical, that by going on their pronouncements on their Haruhi S2 package thus far, I'm not even sure that they know that Part 2 exists.

 

[Peachy]

I imagine it'll do well, some fans don't even know about the whole Endless Eight and will just pick it up because its Haruhi. Shes popular even with the non-anime community, at least within the people i know.

 

[Sparrowsabre7]

Importing's not an option =/ My player isn't multi region and there's no hacks as yet. I have software for my PC but I'm not gonna pay full price knowing I can't watch it on a tv =S

I think I'll just bite the bullet. Half the series is better than none, fabricatedlunatic, you interested in my offer?

 

[Just Passing Through]

Importing's not an option =/ My player isn't multi region and there's no hacks as yet. I have software for my PC but I'm not gonna pay full price knowing I can't watch it on a tv =S

Just out of curiosity, what is your player?

 

[Sparrowsabre7]

Importing's not an option =/ My player isn't multi region and there's no hacks as yet. I have software for my PC but I'm not gonna pay full price knowing I can't watch it on a tv =S

Just out of curiosity, what is your player?

Samsung BD-C8500M. Trust me I've look for region hacks, I was able to play a region 4, but I think that was also R2 and just didn't say, because my aussie Beast Wars came yesterday and wouldn't play... I was a bit gutted.

 

[Just Passing Through]

Importing's not an option =/ My player isn't multi region and there's no hacks as yet. I have software for my PC but I'm not gonna pay full price knowing I can't watch it on a tv =S

Just out of curiosity, what is your player?

Samsung BD-C8500M. Trust me I've look for region hacks, I was able to play a region 4, but I think that was also R2 and just didn't say, because my aussie Beast Wars came yesterday and wouldn't play... I was a bit gutted.

You know, I really would get a hackable DVD player. At this date, you should be able to find one for the price of a few DVDs. I know it would be annoying to have another box hooked up to your TV, but it with so much good anime non-Region 2, it would 'pay for itself' in months.

 

[Sparrowsabre7]

Importing's not an option =/ My player isn't multi region and there's no hacks as yet. I have software for my PC but I'm not gonna pay full price knowing I can't watch it on a tv =S

Just out of curiosity, what is your player?

Samsung BD-C8500M. Trust me I've look for region hacks, I was able to play a region 4, but I think that was also R2 and just didn't say, because my aussie Beast Wars came yesterday and wouldn't play... I was a bit gutted.

You know, I really would get a hackable DVD player. At this date, you should be able to find one for the price of a few DVDs. I know it would be annoying to have another box hooked up to your TV, but it with so much good anime non-Region 2, it would 'pay for itself' in months.

Maybe so, but I don't especially want to import tbh. I'm not really a big enough consumer of anime to justify it. Beast Wars is literally the only non R2 series I have and that's after waiting around 4-5 years to see if we'd get a UK version. If a series is available in the UK then I'll always buy R2, if only because I'm ridiculously anal about having all UK dvds on my shelf.

 

[Just Passing Through]

Importing's not an option =/ My player isn't multi region and there's no hacks as yet. I have software for my PC but I'm not gonna pay full price knowing I can't watch it on a tv =S

Just out of curiosity, what is your player?

Samsung BD-C8500M. Trust me I've look for region hacks, I was able to play a region 4, but I think that was also R2 and just didn't say, because my aussie Beast Wars came yesterday and wouldn't play... I was a bit gutted.

You know, I really would get a hackable DVD player. At this date, you should be able to find one for the price of a few DVDs. I know it would be annoying to have another box hooked up to your TV, but it with so much good anime non-Region 2, it would 'pay for itself' in months.

Maybe so, but I don't especially want to import tbh. I'm not really a big enough consumer of anime to justify it. Beast Wars is literally the only non R2 series I have and that's after waiting around 4-5 years to see if we'd get a UK version. If a series is available in the UK then I'll always buy R2, if only because I'm ridiculously anal about having all UK dvds on my shelf.

I was like that until Revelation left Beck, Suzuka, Peach Girl, Hell Girl, School Rumble in the lurch. But you may have a point. Just finishing off those series was the start of a slippery slope. I've also found it to be particularly useful as UK firms aren't likely to fix a botched release.

Strokes R1 Ouran High School with correct aspect ratio and signs track...

 

[Sparrowsabre7]

Good points all, but UK anime needs all the help it can get as far as I'm concerned as considering how rarely I actually BUY a series rather than rent, I figure it's the least I can do.

 

[Shiroi Hane]

BDs are expensive to produce, and that is the same regardless of the content. If whoever is doing the authoring isn't including the OVA on their own disc(s) then that increases the costs to Manga.

Manga don't author their own content anymore, they just package what materials they get from Madman or Funimation.

Which is my point exactly - if whoever is doing the authoring (usually FUNi for BDs) isn't including the OVA on their discs, then for Manga to include something different on theirs they would either have to author it themselves or (presumably) pay extra to have it re-authored for them (which, again presumably, wasn't economically sound for this title)

They do still author stuff themselves though (they've mentioned using Eyeframe in the past, and their site lists "DVD/Blu-ray design & authoring" for Skycrawlers). Since Musashi is due out soon, hasn't been announced by anyone in the US yet and was even dubbed in the UK, I assume it will be authored here too.

It may be more expensive in the UK, especially with the smaller sales volumes, but the US typically has a $5 difference between DVD and Blu, not £10.

It is more expensive in the UK, especially since we have smaller sales volumes, which is why the US typically has a smaller price difference between DVD and Blu-ray.

 

[MikeP]

[
It is more expensive in the UK, especially since we have smaller sales volumes, which is why the US typically has a smaller price difference between DVD and Blu-ray.

Yes but pricing the Blu-ray at £15 more isn't going to help the already small sales. The price difference needs to go down for them to make any headway on the Blu-ray front. So the price for the DVDs needs to go up.


Regarding the authoring bit that I cut out. Gunslinger Girl is a DVD release where the OVAs were removed due to licensing stipulations. The Madman Australian masters which were presumably used for the UK release already had the OVA episodes on separate discs. Manga almost certainly incurred no extra cost beyond having to release the OVAs separately.

In theory the price should have dropped at least slightly with their removal.

 

[Just Passing Through]

You can see Manga's problem with the Eden of the East movie at Amazon...

The UK Blu-ray has been discounted from the £29.99 price point by over a half to £14.93

Which sounds pretty good to begin with...

But Amazon also have Funimation's release listed, the exact same disc, King of Eden. Air Communication, trailers. But, Funimation have started selling Blu-ray DVD combos, so order this and you get the Blu-ray and the 2 DVDs as well, the price starts from £14.37. And Planet Axel say that the Blu-ray is Region A and B...