From streaming to DVD!

Just Passing Through

Just Passing Through

The Wildcard
The Anime on Demand thread in the news forum has perked my interest in this.

One of the pillars of my argument for free and legal streaming is that watching a stream may induce someone to eventually seek out the DVDs or Blu-rays.

So has anyone been persuaded to buy a DVD on the strength of an online stream, and if so, which ones?

For me, I now have the following series and movies on disc having first experienced them online. Obviously most of them have been on Funimation's web portal (when it was available to the UK), Crunchyroll, and Youtube. But I did get broadbanded up before CR started the free and legal streaming experiment :oops:

Baccano!
Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi
Niea Under 7
Eden of the East
Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino
Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya, The: Season 2
Sora no Woto
Rideback
The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya
Nyoron Churuya-san
Darker Than Black: Gemini of the Meteor
Azumanga Daioh
Gungrave
Negima S2
Welcome to the NHK
Gilgamesh
The Tower of Druaga
Xam'd - Lost Memories
Shikabane Hime
Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Cosplay Complex
The Place Promised in Our Early Days
Voices of a Distant Star
5 Centimeters Per Second
Phantom: Requiem For The Phantom
 
Just Passing Through said:
But I did get broadbanded up before CR started the free and legal streaming experiment :oops:
Click to expand...

This section suggests a slightly 'broader' approach to the trying before you buy haha

But yeah, on the terms of try before you buy I can think of at LEAST these shows that me and my brothers have obtained after seeing them elsewhere:

Kanon
Spice and Wolf
Beck
Elfen Lied
Shana
Tekkaman Blade
Toradora!
Fullmetal Alchemist + Brotherhood
Eden of the East
Fullmetal Panic, Fumoffu and The Second Raid

And I'm sure there's been plenty more, I'm tired and can't really think too well atm, but I'd guess probably half of my physical collection is stuff Id seen or seen some of beforehand. Even more if you include things like Lovefilm amongst varied avenues of online viewing.
 
Dance in the Vampire Bund - saw 2 episodes on youtube before buying the Funi bd/dvd set.

Rosario + Vampire - watched 1 episode on youtube before deciding not to buy the Funi limited edition set.

Offhand I can't remember any other examples of streaming shows I have watched and then purchased (or not in the case of R & V)

I have seen 1 episode of Saki and Shangri-La but they are not available to buy yet.
 
I don't think there's anything where a stream has (yet) convinced me to buy a DVD, since I've usually already decided before I start streaming it. One glaring exception is Fate/Zero, which I'd probably have bought as a cheap set at some point in the future if I hadn't got into the Nico Nico Douga stream and turned all fangirly about it after a single episode. I didn't like Fate/Stay Night that much, so it was a big surprise just how much I got into the prequel.

I think the rule for me is that rather than convincing me to buy the DVDs, which I generally do anyway, streams can convince me to buy the DVDs faster, and more expensively >_>;

In my case, it also makes me more inclined to import them from Japan since I can get pretty first pressing goodies if I'm not trapped years behind the releases, which isn't such good news for the local companies. I doubt this is a very common scenario, though.

I love having streaming as a resource. If I could get Japanese television here, I'd definitely watch it, so streaming is a good compromise in a world where the actual broadcasting companies fail so much. Stuff like the quirkier noitaminA shows has traditionally not come over into English much at all since it's not very marketable on DVD, but with streaming it can at least make an appearance in some legal form. Watching Un-Go in bed this morning on my laptop felt so cool after years of struggling to see anything in a timely manner!

R
 
As a result of streams ... (if I count watched with uni anime society or fansubs the list is much, much, much longer)
(Haruhi-chan, when part 1 comes out)
My-HiME

Nearly nothing I've wanted to buy due to a stream has ever come out. Where are my Saki and Seizon dvds!

As it is I'll rarely buy a show I haven't seen, the exceptions being other things by creators I know I like, generally form having seen fansubs of their other work. e.g Negima!? and Paniponi Dash! got bought unseen due to Bakemonogatari.(which I narrowly decided against importing)

I suppose this means streaming (and fansubs) is a double edged sword, if we liked enough it we'll buy it, but it will make us pass on mediocre shows we would otherwise have blind bought.

Steaming was supposed to be a way to monetize fansubs market (not as a loss leader for advertising DVDs, fansubs already provide that for free).
Unless you want to advertise more aggressively within legal streams, i.e purchase links for merchandise on the same page as the stream.
Suppose it's more useful if you want actuate demographic information.
 
Just Passing Through said:
One of the pillars of my argument for free and legal streaming is that watching a stream may induce someone to eventually seek out the DVDs or Blu-rays.
Click to expand...
It is worth bringing to the attention of all parties that arguments do not contain pillars. One advises against confusing an argument for the Roman Pantheon.
 
Counting legal streaming only...hehehe

Sound of the Sky
Dance in the Vampire Bund
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (although I probably would have bought it anyway xD).
Pani Poni Dash

As for those that I will get when/if released:
Tiger & Bunny
Steins;Gate
Un-Go

If I included fansubs, this list would be really long. The only reason I didn't pick up Durarara is the apparently sub problems.
 
Like Rui I tend to have made my decisions on what I'm going to buy before I've even seen the show in question, but I would buy Kemono no Souja Erin based on the stream I've watched, if someone wanted to actually release that. I guess you could throw T&B onto that list of potentials, but I think I would have bought that anyway.

edit: Oh, Kimi to Boku, again if it comes out.
 
I'm another one waiting for the subs on Durarara to be fixed, when and if Beez get to releasing the hybrid version. I've set aside money for that. Should the subs not be fixed, I'll be looking further afield... probably Siren's R4 release. And setting aside even more money. And it's been long enough since I last watched it, that I might just stream it again...
 
Hmm. The only series I've watched in their entirety via streams are School Days and White Album, neither of which have received disc-based releases in any English speaking territory. Probably wouldn't buy either though.

I bought Squid Girl on DVD having watched the first episode on Crunchyroll, but most likely would have done anyway.
 
^ It's the horror stories of Media Blaster's cases that has stopped me buying Squid Girl. I'll probably just wait to hear if the BD is Region A/B now.
 
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