Everybody Loves Jerome

[Jaysgba]

Wouldn’t normally check in on this stuff but eh you only live once!
Also we’re not “hellbent” on increasing the price - but if you want nice things in a set beyond the discs, there’s a cost attached to it all. Namely as I’ve broken down before:

- Access fees often for content
- Translation cost
- Graphic design costs (takes more time, more approvals)
- Production costs (booklets DO grow on trees, but also cost a chunk of leaves to print )

This has to be included in the cost as we’re sadly not a charity, we need cash to keep the lights on and staff paid / able to cover their mortgages/rent and bills. You can replace that with art cards or as you will, there’s always some added cost attached. Result is either a lower end Collector’s with the discs + case in a better price point but nothing new, or a higher end collector’s that has stuff that is new and/or cool and it costs more. I will literally never make everyone happy no matter what I choose, neither will anyone else alas!

I can see where Buzz is coming from in regards to AL trying to increase prices. It's increasingly difficult not to notice AL's consistently higher pricing compared to other distributors as of late.
While Manga try and put out standard editions alongside their CEs, and MVM usually around a month after their CEs, the titles for which AL have a blu-ray standard edition close to the CE are rare. Tokyo Ghoul has been relatively good on that front, but some titles do seem to have been left as UE/CE only which makes it look as though AL are trying to increase the price of anime in the UK as there is no "affordable" standard edition to compare.

Then you get titles like ERASED which have the usual AL price tag, but half the episodes, and access to none of the cool extras from the US release, though not necessarily through fault of AL on that one. Meanwhile, we see MVM releasing CEs that include a rigid box, combo pack, 12 episodes, AND the soundtrack CDs for an SRP of less than ERASED, and even selling it from their own store for £36.

AL clearly are trying to put out a nice product, but as someone that thinks some titles are only deserving of a standard edition, seeing them put on the backburner, alongside the general consensus of some people that all titles need to be a CE to be worth buying, it's hard not to see it as an attempt to price out the less affluent fans from being able to afford some of the shows they enjoy. There are a lot of AL titles that I would like to see a nice CE/UE materialise for, but there are also those *cough* Twin Star Exorcists *cough* that are not deserving of a CE I would only pay for a standard edition blu-ray for, and with AL we rarely know when, or if, titles are actually going to get a standard edition by the time the CE releases.

 

[Jaysgba]

Wouldn’t normally check in on this stuff but eh you only live once!
Not sure what you’re getting at here on that frontier . That said, Anime Ltd are seasoned in the world of digital so I’m afraid I’m all boring and definitely do fit into the “sane businessperson” category for digital. We do a lot especially on the SVOD and shortly the EST frontier (iTunes, PSN, Xbox etc etc) because simply put content has to still be accessible for folks especially when our prevalent physical release format is Collector’s.

Personally, I dont't see digital sales as being of any value to me as a customer. A digital release is never going to be able to stand up in comparison to fansubs of the same title. Please, prove me wrong, but digital downloads aren't going to have the karaoke credits, enhanced typesetting, sometimes FLAC audio, chaptering, and most importantly, lack of DRM, that fansubs provide. Even buyers of standard editions are in it to buy a product that actually feels like they own it. I'll happily take a release inferior to the fansubbed alternative as a physical blu-ray, as it feels like ownership, but I won't pay for a download-to-own release of something until there is a DRM-free option, and at least an attempt to compete with some of the benefits of fansubs.

 

[Buzz201]

The less affluent members of society should be embracing the huge advantages streaming brings, because when I was out of work £5/month would have bought me a handful of anime releases a year, on a crummy format. Now, it can buy you access to more anime than you can ever hope to watch. I'm dead broke at the moment (my bank balance is currently sitting pretty at £4 due to a rough few months) so I'm not speaking down to the less well-off as Marie Antoinette here

R

I know this, I've basically decided I need to cut off most of my anime purchasing and go streaming-only. I do however have a few problems with going streaming only (and I don't mean the usual "no indefinite availability, no dub, no OVA" type stuff, this is more of a psychological thing). I've been considering starting a thread to discuss it, and here is definitely not the place, so maybe I'll do that.

 

[IncendiaryLemon]

I know this, I've basically decided I need to cut off most of my anime purchasing and go streaming-only. I do however have a few problems with going streaming only (and I don't mean the usual "no indefinite availability, no dub, no OVA" type stuff, this is more of a psychological thing). I've been considering starting a thread to discuss it, and here is definitely not the place, so maybe I'll do that.

That sounds pretty interesting, actually. I look forward to reading what you have to say from a more psychological point of view, I definitely think that's a factor in the whole SE vs CE debate.

 

[Rui]

I know that I, for one, wouldn't feel at all guilty downloading an anime to rewatch it if I had a damaged release that was no longer of use, as it would be something I actually owned rather than paid for temporary access to via streaming subscriptions. Even for missing subtitles, and incorrect aspect ratios, those can be fixed without resorting to piracy, while once a stream is gone, it's gone.

Back when the VHS to DVD transition was a thing, some people argued that having bought a crummy PAL VHS tape for £1 in a car boot sale they were entitled to download the DVD (and later BD) versions as they had the right to watch it indefinitely, even though there are distinct differences in the products and quality. I found that attitude disingenuous. It's a bit different with DVD to BD as the transition is much smoother (you're pretty much straight upgrading the quality in most cases, without other advantages like adding entire audio tracks and getting a much more reliable medium that doesn't get randomly chomped up by your hardware) and it's significantly easier to rip DVD content to video files on existing home equipment.

But would you say that buying something once entitles you to downloading it again in another format? Or does buying one copy of 'an anime' give you indefinite access to it, even in superior formats or with fixes which didn't exist on the bargain bin version you bought locally?

Just an interesting side to the debate (I think) since I can't really fault the logic in downloading a fixed version of something you already own that's broken as a one-off; it's not really hurting anyone. However, due to the nature of torrents and advertising-driven illegal anime sites, you're technically still feeding illicit anime distribution even by doing that.

I know this, I've basically decided I need to cut off most of my anime purchasing and go streaming-only. I do however have a few problems with going streaming only (and I don't mean the usual "no indefinite availability, no dub, no OVA" type stuff, this is more of a psychological thing). I've been considering starting a thread to discuss it, and here is definitely not the place, so maybe I'll do that.

I think this is an interesting dilemma of our generation (well, generations, as I'm quite a lot older than you ;_; ) in that we do feel a distinct attachment to physical media which is going to seem quaint and insane before too long. I feel it too. By all means start that thread

R

 

[Rui]

While Manga try and put out standard editions alongside their CEs, and MVM usually around a month after their CEs, the titles for which AL have a blu-ray standard edition close to the CE are rare.

It's certainly not always the case but Manga releases are often slower. Things are definitely improving in leaps and bounds, but overall Japanese companies are happier with standard releases existing x months after the Japanese release. For AL, they try to release their CEs earlier than x months afterwards to capitalise on simulcasting hype; for Manga, they often roll in later (separate debate about delayed release dates and all that comedy can be skipped here; we know about that). I do think that there are problems with people perceiving the release dates to be similar and, indeed, not especially valuing the faster releases enough to justify the extra wait for standard-tier sets. And these problems are hugely exacerbated by illegal downloads (if you're watching illegally, you're in less of a hurry for a physical release and it just feels insulting that CE buyers get in there sooner).

Personally, I dont't see digital sales as being of any value to me as a customer. A digital release is never going to be able to stand up in comparison to fansubs of the same title.

Legal releases can't compete with illegal copies of the exact same material. The only reason to buy a standard edition when you have a fansub is to do the right thing by the industry (in reverse order) but you get to do that buying a digital download, and the logic that a standard is better than a fansub only holds up as long as you still have shelf space to store them. The industry cannot ever work if it's forced to directly compete against fansubs on this logic. There simply aren't enough people who are retrospectively honest.

R

 

[Jaysgba]

But would you say that buying something once entitles you to downloading it again in another format? Or does buying one copy of 'an anime' give you indefinite access to it, even in superior formats or with fixes which didn't exist on the bargain bin version you bought locally?

Just an interesting side to the debate (I think) since I can't really fault the logic in downloading a fixed version of something you already own that's broken as a one-off; it's not really hurting anyone. However, due to the nature of torrents and advertising-driven illegal anime sites, you're technically still feeding illicit anime distribution even by doing that.
R

I think, for me personally, I would consider the limit to be downloading a blu-ray rip of a title already owned on DVD if there is no local blu-ray to purchase as an upgrade. But that would likely be a tad elastic in application - for example, rather than UK blu-rays, I'd consider "Region B blu-rays with English subs" to be defined as "local", whether that be a multi-region US blu-ray, or an Australian blu-ray.

So I'd deem owning the old Manga UK Perfect Blue and downloading a blu-ray rip to be morally unacceptable due to the existence of Anime Limited's blu-ray. Whereas, for MVM's Love Hina, I'd deem it morally acceptable to download the blu-ray rips as there is no local blu-ray option. Naturally, I'd jump at preordering a local blu-ray option where one announced.

 

[Lutga]

There's a classic anecdote about the sliding scale between time available vs. effort invested, and it's something that is naturally emphasised when you're dealing with a) incredibly passionate fandoms and b) largely young consumer bases.

It follows that for the most part, if a fandom is largely made up of people with a lot of time on their hands, but not much money (ie students / unemployed) they're more inclined to pirate / get hung up on super fine details. Whereas if you compare to people with jobs and a steady stream of income, they just want absolute convenience so they can fit in a few hours of telly amongst their hectic work/social lives.

Personally it's an anecdote that's always rankled with me a little as it's a little derogatory and overgeneralised, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel like it held true in many cases.

 

[anime_andrew]

I would argue that Andrew has put little effort into theatrical releases. Your Name is the first title that is in anywhere near as many cinemas as any of the theatrical releases Manga have pulled off. For the most part, AL's attempts at theatrical releases have been a bit of a joke. Screening something at a festival at Scotland does not count as a cinema release. Prior to Your Name, the only AL cinema release that was viable for me was MCM Loves Anime (and that wasn't actually a cinema) because I'd already spent the ~3 hours on the train to go to MCM anyway. Meanwhile, Manga have been putting films in enough cinemas for me to have a choice of at least two per film, aside from 2011's Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D. Your Name, for me, seems to be in the same cinemas as Akira, which is an increase upon the cinemas used for Boruto, and Attack on Titan, but one shy of the ones used for DBZRF if you include the 3D re-release.

Anime Limited's idea of a theatrical release seems to be "screen it at Scotland Loves Anime", and while that may be fine for those that can make it to SLA, it leaves the majority of us without a release. Anthem of the Heart could've been given a proper limited release, instead it did some silly "tour" that would've required people to spend many hours travelling to the cinema of a major city and back at minimum. To me, it seems Manga did all the legwork proving to local cinemas that anime can get people in the seats, and now AL are taking advantage of that to finally start on those theatrical releases their website has been promising us for years.

Well, there's a very huge gap between original animation and franchises for starters. Spot what all of the below have in common:

• Dragonball Z Resurrection F (2015): Massive franchise behind it - self-established audience with low marketing cost and TV exposure.

• Boruto (2015): Second of the three big SJ franchises (DBZ -> Naruto -> One Piece). The end of an era for the manga, timed very well with release.

• Attack on Titan (2016): Synonymous with this generation of anime fans as one of the break out titles of anime like Death Note and Fullmetal Alchemist before it.

• Akira (2016): An iconic piece of cinema for Japanese animation that welcomed fans into the space.

Take that against:

• Patema Inverted (2014) - Got a UK release over Picturehouse cinemas just like Yu Gi Oh via Kids Club with limited festivals outside it. At that stage theatrical companies weren't ready to embrace anime, as happened with Wolf Children (Jerome and I teamed up to do that one in fact). Good press coverage to prepare the director for his next film work when it comes out as a part of that.

• Giovanni's Island (2015) - An original anime from a director that was not familiar in the UK. Education screenings, festivals and good press acclaim to raise the profile of the director for the future.

• Miss Hokusai (2015/2016) - Based on a manga not published in the UK, from a director who's never had one of his works released in the UK market directly before except at SLA. Great press feedback, festival run and screenings with the Japan Foundation. Cinemas actually rejected this title for a main run and the P&A to market it would have been too risky in the UK. Screened in over 20 venues across the UK though still.

• Anthem of the Heart (2016) - Original anime again with none of the director's previous works a big success in the UK market in legitimate channels for mass market. Release was only OK'd after piracy was rampant - which inhibits cinema capacity a lot beyond the AAA titles (Ghibli, Akira etc). Screened in 15 venues in the end across the UK so far and is still one of my favourite films in years.

• Your Name (2016) - Smash hit in Japan, Anime Ltd will be the first western company to do theatrical AND is dubbing the film for cinema release along with working hard to ensure a critical success for the film. No previous films released by the director theatrically, but a lot of work put in personally on my part promoting him before.

Yes, we use the same distributor as Manga UK do for the event format (National Amusements) - but we also have Manga's blessing to do that as original film with real advertising spend behind it benefits them as much as it does us by keeping content varied. It helps us all to have a broader range of film in that pipeline and we both love working with National Amusements.

Sadly there's very few films you can do that with and expect the cinema to pack out, thankfully Your Name is definitely one of them and if it can prove original non-Ghibli anime can work - it benefits things like In This Corner of the World too where Miss Hokusai was too late...so it's all part of a virtuous circle as I can guarantee you ITCotW would have faced opposition form chains if no original had gone first.

So to spell it out ->

• Mass market titles (which Manga holds the majority theatrically): Paves way for original non-Ghibli

• Original anime that is of on a tier similar to Hosoda or Ghibli in Japan: Paves way for more challenging film

Hope this helps!

###

Also, as a side note about SLA - the above is a very hurtful set of comments to me too whether it was intended or not. So here are some points for you to consider:

1. Believe it or not, Scotland Loves Anime is about 60% the size of the most successful Manga theatrical films: I have spent seven years of my life building a festival that sells 6,000 tickets a year. When you take in that many of the best theatricals from Manga do 10,000 ticket admissions - that's not a bad performance and it brings people together. It's not a nationwide theatrical release, but it takes place in a cinema in theatrical conditions so I am afraid it does count as a theatrical release.

[Small edit] NB that 6k is split over 10-12 films usually with some playing twice, but the actual audience varies quite a bit from screen to screen there was the point I was going for .

I'm sorry you've been unable to come (or are unwilling to) so far, Edinburgh especially is one of my favourite cities and I want to share it with as many people as possible. On the upside, I keep the event dates the same every year so you can always start pencilling in a trip next year . We also have gone above and beyond delivering UK and EU premieres for anime than anyone else too, bringing you the second longest consistent run of annual anime (second to Sci Fi London, who did an amazing job).

2. It's a labour of love, not a sales pitch or part of another company's theatrical strategy - Side note but I also run it as a volunteer and have for the last seven years of my life (long before I started Anime Ltd) - I don't pay myself a penny from it and I do it on top of running an anime distribution company across multiple territories in Europe. I'm sorry if it's performance and location isn't up to your personal standard though.

We also partner wherever possible with the amazing folks at Leeds Film Festival wherever possible right after to give folks the best in Japanese animation a bit closer to home too and have links to a bunch of other events including the Japanese Film Festival in Ireland so regularly see our films go further in Ireland than anyone else.

3. Why is it all located in one place? The reason you get it all in one place for the majority of film is marketing costs for the kind of film with built in mass-market audiences already is much lower than that of original. Literally there is a a 2:1 spend difference minimum (£2 on original anime film promo for every £1 a mass market spends), often it's actually more like 3:1 or 4:1 to lure audiences in and if you fail to commit that money but insist on a wider theatrical, you will lock yourself out of the theatrical circuit.

Anime Ltd is doing well enough now to afford to do a film like that per year going forwards and we'll really invest in original film too, I love stories like Your Name and Anthem of the Heart and I'll continue to push the to as many places as I can .

4. Up until Anime Ltd / SLA - nobody even tried to put original theatrical out there beyond one or two festivals beyond Ghibli because the market was too hard. Redline, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars got the majority of their exposure theatrically through festivals and tours like We Love Anime as opposed to anything else for example. Side note too but the Crystal is a valid screening room - it was actually requested by Sony as one of the premiere venues for Skyfall but couldn't do it due to lack of DCI compliance (long story).

5. Japan Foundation - That's a Japanese government funded institution who runs a programme to promote animated and live action Japanese film that would otherwise be rejected again for no profit but to engage folks. They try very hard and to call them "silly" is again pretty ignorant there - it's an option that can make sense especially in context of when the marketing spend just isn't there.

So all in all, I don't think you really understand the difficulties in releasing an original film with no guaranteed audience barring the hardcore is and that audience is fragmented. So bringing 6,000 people to the cinema in Scotland actually does make a great deal of sense for the majority of anime film. We try to go beyond where we can that where we can but not every film is a Your Name and only a fraction are a DBZ Res F, a Boruto or an Akira.

Jerome and I have both worked our arses off to get to this stage of theatrical for anime in the UK and I'm personally very proud of what Manga have done in the last year as what we have too. Both types of film require different appetites and desires long term and neither is mutually in-exclusive. We're doing our part to help expand & build the theatrical for all anime fans by adding original titles to the mix too .

Best,

Andrew,
PS If you ever do fancy coming up, I'll personally arrange a comp ticket to a film of your choice at Scotland Loves Anime so you can see what it's like and re-evaluate if you fancy .

 

[anime_andrew]

My nearest screening of Your name is 40 miles away.

Both Manga and AL are pathetic on that front...

In fairness, I grew up in Stranraer where film was only shown in the local leisure centre (never any foreign film and only one film a month or sometimes two) and the nearest big cinema was the Odeon which was 57.5 miles away from me. Even then the one Japanese film (sort of) to make it there was Final Fantasy: Spirits Within (complete with L'arc-en-Ciel's awesome ending). So spare a thought for those of us that'd need to travel 87 miles for the nearest one (Glasgow for me where I grew up would be closest even now).

The reality is - no matter how many screens we add - someone will always be in that position and we may be "lucky" and they may not appear on our social media to say so, but it always eats me up and I always remember it.

I'll always be trying harder to expand our reach for anime - but there are practical limitations we face for many titles still, even on franchise films. I think both Manga and ourselves at AL will always continue to aim higher there.

 

[anime_andrew]

I can see where Buzz is coming from in regards to AL trying to increase prices. It's increasingly difficult not to notice AL's consistently higher pricing compared to other distributors as of late.

While Manga try and put out standard editions alongside their CEs, and MVM usually around a month after their CEs, the titles for which AL have a blu-ray standard edition close to the CE are rare. Tokyo Ghoul has been relatively good on that front, but some titles do seem to have been left as UE/CE only which makes it look as though AL are trying to increase the price of anime in the UK as there is no "affordable" standard edition to compare.

Very often though we make an affordable way available digitally and if for some reason that ever disappeared - for sure you'd see a standard. Some do take longer than others though. We're moving that model over time to match up too - we're only human and we do make mistakes and I'm sorry to anyone who's been frustrated by that. We strive to do better with that kind of modelling going forwards .

Then you get titles like ERASED which have the usual AL price tag, but half the episodes, and access to none of the cool extras from the US release, though not necessarily through fault of AL on that one. Meanwhile, we see MVM releasing CEs that include a rigid box, combo pack, 12 episodes, AND the soundtrack CDs for an SRP of less than ERASED, and even selling it from their own store for £36.

Time out there - ERASED is a very unusual case vs the normal. Where not blocked you'll see collector's 13 eps at £59.99 or £69.99 depending on volume of translation etc as standard for us (we always strive to cap at £59.99 though). When you have licensor restrictions though you're often juggling and the restrictions we face there we can't do much about. What we are doing though is focussing on getting that price down with the licensor in light of what is available so still stay tuned there and it isn't listed yet there .

AL clearly are trying to put out a nice product, but as someone that thinks some titles are only deserving of a standard edition, seeing them put on the backburner, alongside the general consensus of some people that all titles need to be a CE to be worth buying, it's hard not to see it as an attempt to price out the less affluent fans from being able to afford some of the shows they enjoy. There are a lot of AL titles that I would like to see a nice CE/UE materialise for, but there are also those *cough* Twin Star Exorcists *cough* that are not deserving of a CE I would only pay for a standard edition blu-ray for, and with AL we rarely know when, or if, titles are actually going to get a standard edition by the time the CE releases.

We get that - and our model is shifting to reflect this over the next year. Doesn't mean a decrease in Collector's editions - but we do pay attention and we will be revisiting our policy just like we have our branding on the boxes over the last while . So hang in there and my apologies - these things take time to change .

Best.

AP

 

[Buzz201]

In fairness, I grew up in Stranraer where film was only shown in the local leisure centre (never any foreign film and only one film a month or sometimes two) and the nearest big cinema was the Odeon which was 57.5 miles away from me. Even then the one Japanese film (sort of) to make it there was Final Fantasy: Spirits Within (complete with L'arc-en-Ciel's awesome ending). So spare a thought for those of us that'd need to travel 87 miles for the nearest one (Glasgow for me where I grew up would be closest even now).

The reality is - no matter how many screens we add - someone will always be in that position and we may be "lucky" and they may not appear on our social media to say so, but it always eats me up and I always remember it.

I'll always be trying harder to expand our reach for anime - but there are practical limitations we face for many titles still, even on franchise films. I think both Manga and ourselves at AL will always continue to aim higher there.

That comment was probably unfair to you guys and Manga on my part really, as Cheltenham has two cinemas. Both of which are owned by Cineworld (one is a mainstream Cineworld, the other is a specialist cinema right next door called The Screening Rooms). So it's always going to be difficult to get them to commit to it, because with no real competition, they're potentially turning down easier money. Plus if you get turned down, there's nobody else you can go to.

I am excited for Your name though, so I'm hoping the wait for BD/DVD isn't too long.

 

[thedoctor2016]

I would absolutely love to go maybe in the future I will be able to but Uni is tight and my schelude doesn't allow a weekend away, I would have gone to see Kizu and Silent Voice (As I am KyoAni's biggest fan )
We appreciate your hard work and I would love for you to have home rights to silent voice too and maybe when it's dubbed a wide Release.

 

[Joshawott]

• Miss Hokusai (2015/2016) - Based on a manga not published in the UK, from a director who's never had one of his works released in the UK market directly before except at SLA. Great press feedback, festival run and screenings with the Japan Foundation. Cinemas actually rejected this title for a main run and the P&A to market it would have been too risky in the UK. Screened in over 20 venues across the UK though still.

If only quality was deemed as important as commercial viability because it's easily one of the best movies I've seen in a long time; even outside of the anime medium.
Hopefully as you detailed, the success of Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' and Your name will open up more theatrical opportunities in the future (I'm happy to say that I did see Miss Hokusai at MCM Loves Anime and have booked Your name at my local, while bugging friends to do so too!).

In regards to the Scotland Loves Anime discussion, I have to admit that I have yet to attend - but that's on me and I hope to attend once my financial situation stabilises and I can more easily justify the costs (the actual event is very affordable; it's just the other costs such as transport from Cambridge - which sadly, you have no influence over. Maybe I need to save up for a nice weekend in Edinburgh that coincides with SLA?). However, I will be keeping an eye out for Leeds and really appreciate the effort you undertook last year to also screen Love Live! The School Movie (amongst others) at London's MCM Loves Anime; I don't think I've seen an audience that lively since Marvel's Avengers Assemble on its first Friday night (and I will never forget the guy who got in trouble with an usher for waving around glow sticks!).

 

[Jaysgba]

Also, as a side note about SLA - the above is a very hurtful set of comments to me too whether it was intended or not. So here are some points for you to consider:

1. Believe it or not, Scotland Loves Anime is about 60% the size of the most successful Manga theatrical films: I have spent seven years of my life building a festival that sells 6,000 tickets a year. When you take in that many of the best theatricals from Manga do 10,000 ticket admissions - that's not a bad performance and it brings people together. It's not a nationwide theatrical release, but it takes place in a cinema in theatrical conditions so I am afraid it does count as a theatrical release.

[Small edit] NB that 6k is split over 10-12 films usually with some playing twice, but the actual audience varies quite a bit from screen to screen there was the point I was going for .

I'm sorry you've been unable to come (or are unwilling to) so far, Edinburgh especially is one of my favourite cities and I want to share it with as many people as possible. On the upside, I keep the event dates the same every year so you can always start pencilling in a trip next year . We also have gone above and beyond delivering UK and EU premieres for anime than anyone else too, bringing you the second longest consistent run of annual anime (second to Sci Fi London, who did an amazing job).

2. It's a labour of love, not a sales pitch or part of another company's theatrical strategy - Side note but I also run it as a volunteer and have for the last seven years of my life (long before I started Anime Ltd) - I don't pay myself a penny from it and I do it on top of running an anime distribution company across multiple territories in Europe. I'm sorry if it's performance and location isn't up to your personal standard though.

We also partner wherever possible with the amazing folks at Leeds Film Festival wherever possible right after to give folks the best in Japanese animation a bit closer to home too and have links to a bunch of other events including the Japanese Film Festival in Ireland so regularly see our films go further in Ireland than anyone else.

3. Why is it all located in one place? The reason you get it all in one place for the majority of film is marketing costs for the kind of film with built in mass-market audiences already is much lower than that of original. Literally there is a a 2:1 spend difference minimum (£2 on original anime film promo for every £1 a mass market spends), often it's actually more like 3:1 or 4:1 to lure audiences in and if you fail to commit that money but insist on a wider theatrical, you will lock yourself out of the theatrical circuit.

Anime Ltd is doing well enough now to afford to do a film like that per year going forwards and we'll really invest in original film too, I love stories like Your Name and Anthem of the Heart and I'll continue to push the to as many places as I can .

4. Up until Anime Ltd / SLA - nobody even tried to put original theatrical out there beyond one or two festivals beyond Ghibli because the market was too hard. Redline, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars got the majority of their exposure theatrically through festivals and tours like We Love Anime as opposed to anything else for example. Side note too but the Crystal is a valid screening room - it was actually requested by Sony as one of the premiere venues for Skyfall but couldn't do it due to lack of DCI compliance (long story).

5. Japan Foundation - That's a Japanese government funded institution who runs a programme to promote animated and live action Japanese film that would otherwise be rejected again for no profit but to engage folks. They try very hard and to call them "silly" is again pretty ignorant there - it's an option that can make sense especially in context of when the marketing spend just isn't there.

So all in all, I don't think you really understand the difficulties in releasing an original film with no guaranteed audience barring the hardcore is and that audience is fragmented. So bringing 6,000 people to the cinema in Scotland actually does make a great deal of sense for the majority of anime film. We try to go beyond where we can that where we can but not every film is a Your Name and only a fraction are a DBZ Res F, a Boruto or an Akira.

Jerome and I have both worked our arses off to get to this stage of theatrical for anime in the UK and I'm personally very proud of what Manga have done in the last year as what we have too. Both types of film require different appetites and desires long term and neither is mutually in-exclusive. We're doing our part to help expand & build the theatrical for all anime fans by adding original titles to the mix too .

Best,

Andrew,
PS If you ever do fancy coming up, I'll personally arrange a comp ticket to a film of your choice at Scotland Loves Anime so you can see what it's like and re-evaluate if you fancy .

Andrew, whilst I did not intend to offend you personally regarding SLA, I apologise for having done so. It seems that I do also owe you an apology regarding my comments on SLA as a whole; I was under the mistaken impression that to go to SLA for one film would be too cost prohibitive, when it seems the opposite is, in fact, true. Having taken a look at train prices, I'll admit I am now incredibly tempted to make my way to SLA Edinburgh on the Saturday to watch A Silent Voice. It would only cost me £23.10, which is less than half of what I paid to see Boruto in London before its general release. Sure, it'd mean wandering around for a couple hours before the movie, but I've no aversion to suffering through long waits in order to secure cheaper train fare.

Once again, I do apologise, SLA is quite clearly doable when there is only one "must-see immediately" film for a person. If you're serious about the comp ticket, I would love to see A Silent Voice, and apologise to you in person, if not, I may just end up booking a ticket and train tickets later this week anyway now I know it isn't actually anywhere near as impossible as I earlier thought.

 

[anime_andrew]

Andrew, whilst I did not intend to offend you personally regarding SLA, I apologise for having done so. It seems that I do also owe you an apology regarding my comments on SLA as a whole; I was under the mistaken impression that to go to SLA for one film would be too cost prohibitive, when it seems the opposite is, in fact, true. Having taken a look at train prices, I'll admit I am now incredibly tempted to make my way to SLA Edinburgh on the Saturday to watch A Silent Voice. It would only cost me £23.10, which is less than half of what I paid to see Boruto in London before its general release. Sure, it'd mean wandering around for a couple hours before the movie, but I've no aversion to suffering through long waits in order to secure cheaper train fare.

Once again, I do apologise, SLA is quite clearly doable when there is only one "must-see immediately" film for a person. If you're serious about the comp ticket, I would love to see A Silent Voice, and apologise to you in person, if not, I may just end up booking a ticket and train tickets later this week anyway now I know it isn't actually anywhere near as impossible as I earlier thought.

Don't worry - it's a tough one as it's a very hard area that has (along with packaging) been a passion area for me for many thankless years ;_;. I totally get why it's easy to feel as you wrote though too so hopefully the detail does really help as well highlight the challenges all original anime faces as well in the UK. We really do care about it and will keep aiming upwards now including committing the money to make it viable so watch this space .

I'm a man of my word too - if you are coming up to see A Silent Voice, message me and I'll honour it!

Very best,

Andrew

 

[Demelza]

To echo some opinions on SLA, namely what Joshawott was saying, I have also never attended but would love to one year.

None of this is directly related to yourself Andrew, but basically: The problem for me is always the train costs because despite being in Leeds and not that far from Scotland when the movie line-up was announced this year and I looked at the cost it was a good £90-110 and that's without staying over somewhere and food expenses for a couple of days. I wish I had the disposable income to throw at such a treat but sadly I always find it's too late in the year, I lack money, and this year especially that sort of money is being spent on your FMA Ultimate Edition instead. Hopefully one year when I have more cash I'll make the trip and now knowing that you try to keep the dates similar I could attempt booking in advance.

However away from my own problems I did want to say that I am really happy to see how much effort you (and other folks in the industry) put into theatrical showings for anime. Getting to see Your Name is a wonderful treat and I absolutely can't wait to see it on the big screen (and finally get my partner to see one of Makoto's stories ). The cinema selections have been a bit few and far between for your other offerings but I totally understand why when you've laid it all out so well. I don't mind travelling for certain movies to, say, Manchester and this year I was totally gutted to miss Anthem of the Heart when it was in Manchester. ;_; I'm looking forward to seeing how Your Name and Manga's In This Corner of the World impacts on future showings.

I will say that the biggest shame regarding anime showings, especially regarding a director who is better well known now, is The Boy and the Beast which has hardly been shown at all anywhere beyond London. :/

Living in Leeds I am a bit spoilt as I have access to the Leeds Film Festival's anime day and after attending for the first time last year, I'm really looking forward to supporting it this year and those in the future because it's a wonderful thing. This year especially I'm looking forward to seeing what gets sent down to us (Anthem of the Heart, please?) and I do like that it opens up showings for certain things more than them being at SLA and then never again after. I'm not someone who would have sought out The Case of Hana and Alice or Expelled from Paradise for example, but getting to watch both last year in Leeds left me really happy as Hana and Alice was a movie I've become fairly fond of and it's the type of thing that deserved to be shown outside of just SLA. (I have mixed feelings on Expelled so probably not to mention that too much, but I still enjoyed watching it!).

Basically keep up the good work because I certainly appreciate it even if I do have a good complain about train prices being too expensive.

 

[Jaysgba]

I'm a man of my word too - if you are coming up to see A Silent Voice, message me and I'll honour it!

Very best,

Andrew

I've sent you a PM, well, "started a conversation" with you as this forum calls it.

 

[thedoctor2016]

https://twitter.com/AskJeromeMaz/status/778595993067610112|
Looks like he is deactivating

 

[Stiivun]

'No reason' he says ...