Is all anime equal, or is some anime more equal than others?

qaiz

Pokémon Master
[UK Anime Distributor] Anime Limited Discussion Thread

The Tatami Galaxy is a boutique release, clearly not cheap to aquire and aimed at an audience that is willing to pay the price due to its quality being a known quantity. Not all anime is equal.
 
Re: [UK Anime Distributor] Anime Limited Discussion Thread

qaiz said:
The Tatami Galaxy is a boutique release, clearly not cheap to aquire and aimed at an audience that is willing to pay the price due to its quality being a known quantity. Not all anime is equal.

:lol:

(my honest reaction to this post)

"not all anime is equal" is not something I agree with much tbh, but every £ I have to spend is.
 
IncendiaryLemon said:
qaiz said:
Laugh all you want, I know I'm right.

No; you're an elitist.

I feel in this case though, qaiz is right. It's an exceptionally artistic, unusual series which won't have any appeal to the fans who grab the usual fantasy harem action shows popular over here. It had a previous UK release but has been largely passed over in the western world and it's probably not going to sell in massive quantities. AL's release is because the series deserves it and the fans who fell under the show's spell previously (or who wanted to and missed out) probably don't mind paying a bit extra for something so special.

(IIRC qaiz doesn't even like The Tatami Galaxy so personal opinions probably aren't a big factor :D)

Personally speaking it's one of my very favourites so I'm more than happy to pay up. Especially as I think I was one of the people clamouring for it in the first place *>_>*

R
 
Re: [UK Anime Distributor] Anime Limited Discussion Thread

My point still stands. Saying one anime is worth more money, objectively, is completely out of order. Even without that comment, he's still an elitist anyway. You can't tell me he doesn't look down on people who don't watch his artsy fartsy shows like he does. It's an awful attitude to have and I don't know why people around here let him get away with it.
 
Re: [UK Anime Distributor] Anime Limited Discussion Thread

Rui said:
I couldn't have said it better. The idea that Anime releases are released on a level playing field and thus shouldn’t be treated as the individualistic ventures that they truly are is foolish and the mere notion that classic anime is too risky to be released within the UK and the west at large only strengthens that argument. The fact is, not all shows are equal and just because one release that contained 24 episodes was priced at x amount doesn't therefor mean that a show with less content be it run-time or otherwise should released at a lower price to reflect that. Such thinking really goes to show just how little people value animation at large and its creators. The Tatami Galaxy is a classic case of auteurism and the path to its inception isn't equal to other shows. It's why a lot of classic shows from the World Masterpiece Theater will never see the light of day here, because even so much as the mysticism and cult surrounding such shows adds immense value to them which in turn causes the risk/reward of such a release to become unbalanced. It’s why the fact that the Miyazaki directed Future Boy Conan will prevent it from seeing a release here or at least at a price that matches the rest of the market, because his name adds value to the product, as does the historical nature of the series and I feel that Yuasa’s name does the same.

It’s funny that people believe that I’m an elitist, and the fact that I actually hated That Tatami Galaxy insinuates that this isn’t a matter of me liking this show but rather me being realistic. Make no mistake; it is a personal matter for me, but only because I actually value animation and its creators to know that, not all anime releases are equal.

I've never once looked down upon a person for the show that they've watched or enjoyed, only a sad person would so such a thing especially when I have more things to do than hate somebody for liking a particular cartoon but it's clear that people have built an image of me within their head, it reeks of insecurity to be honest. In any case I don't let it sweat me, I watch what I watch because I enjoy what I watch and if people take umbrage with that, that's on them. I do find it funny that people consider the shows I watch to be fancy tho, thanks.
 
Re: [UK Anime Distributor] Anime Limited Discussion Thread

qaiz said:
I couldn't have said it better. The idea that Anime releases are released on a level playing field and thus shouldn’t be treated as the individualistic ventures that they truly are is foolish and the mere notion that classic anime is too risky to be released within the UK and the west at large only strengthens that argument. The fact is, not all shows are equal and just because one release that contained 24 episodes was priced at x amount doesn't therefor mean that a show with less content be it run-time or otherwise should released at a lower price to reflect that. Such thinking really goes to show just how little people value animation at large and its creators.

I'd strongly disagree. Anime should be priced based on contents, either on disc or in the box. It's no more expensive to print the disc or the box, so it should cost no more to sell. Sure, it will sell to less people, but that's on AL, not the consumer. If they want to put out something risky like this, that's on them, they should accept the risk. I wouldn't expect to go into HMV and see the works of Kubrick priced higher than any other movie just because his films are considered masterpieces, and I don't expect the same in anime either. Anyway, if the prices are high, it's just going to put more people off trying shows like this. I wouldn't mind trying it myself, but not at that price. If they priced it in line with everything else, people may be more willing to give it a go.

qaiz said:
It’s funny that people believe that I’m an elitist, and the fact that I actually hated That Tatami Galaxy insinuates that this isn’t a matter of me liking this show but rather me being realistic.

That's irrelevant. Even if you didn't like the show, it's still in the same vein as other stuff you like, and you know what I'm talking about. Of course you think it's intrinsically more valuable than a shonen show or whatever.

qaiz said:
I've never once looked down upon a person for the show that they've watched or enjoyed, only a sad person would so such a thing especially when I have more things to do than hate somebody for liking a particular cartoon but it's clear that people have built an image of me within their head, it reeks of insecurity to be honest. In any case I don't let it sweat me, I watch what I watch because I enjoy what I watch and if people take umbrage with that, that's on them. I do find it funny that people consider the shows I watch to be fancy tho, thanks.

Now that's a crock. You go around, parading the type of shows you watch, wearing it like it's some kind of badge of honour, like it makes you better than everyone else. You always seem to highlight the fact you have no interest in shows that average people like, almost as if you're boasting, not to mention the fact all of your posts have this inherent tone of condescension about them.
 
Re: [UK Anime Distributor] Anime Limited Discussion Thread

That argument would work if you're buying spuds and onions down the market, but you're not. This is art. All creative output, music, theatre, film, television, videogames is art. Our consumerist society has put value on the media, but the content itself has intrinsic value to the creator, and value to whoever appreciates it.

Right now, the market is weighted towards consumerism, the price of the discs, the cost of manufacture, the cost of packaging, the cost of marketing, and it tends to discount the creator. Which is why the music industry is in such a mess, artists getting 1 penny for every 100,000 plays on Spotify, that sort of thing.

Criticism and appreciation, two sides of a coin, determine the value of a work of art to the audience. We all make value judgements about what we like, and we can also make value judgements about how much effort has gone into creating a thing. I've just watched Naruto Shippuden Collection 25, 11 episodes of filler, and 2 canon episodes.I certainly don't value it as highly as say, six episodes of FLCL. Therefore I am willing to pay more for FLCL than I am for Naruto Shippuden. That's despite comparing 5lbs of anime to 10lbs of anime...
 
Re: [UK Anime Distributor] Anime Limited Discussion Thread

Tatami Galaxy is not worth more or less to me than any other anime limited collectors edition of similar length and physical content. For the increased rrp I'm hoping physical extras are the cause

Erased rrp is still :shock: I'm not spending more than £25 on it, so it's either second hand purchase or a sale in 9-12 months time
 
Re: [UK Anime Distributor] Anime Limited Discussion Thread

Sorry to continue with this off-topic discussion, but I’m with IncendiaryLemon on this one:

I’m not sure it is (or should be) acceptable to say one anime release is worth more than another because it has more creative merit. In fact, I’m strongly opposed to even suggesting one work has more artistic merit than another. There is no universally acceptable scale of artistic merit, and there never will be. As far as I’m concerned Michael Bay is as much an auteur as Wes Anderson, and their films hold the same level of artistic merit, but there are a great number of people who would strongly disagree with that. That doesn’t necessarily mean I’m wrong and they’re all right. Each work of art has a different meaning, interpreting and resonance with the viewer, it is completely wrong to suggest that some art has more value and is more worthy than others.

Someone might be willing to pay more money for a piece of art they prefer, it does not make it more worthy. I genuinely hated the first episode of Gatchaman Crowds when I saw it on Crunchyroll, so much so that you’d have to give me a copy for me to consider owning it. Does that mean Gatchaman Crowds is worth literally nothing? Of course not. Everyone’s reaction to art is unique and individual, it is wrong to try and suggest that some reactions are right and others are not. This is exactly what people are trying to do by applying some kind of scale of worthiness to works of art.

I’m also uncomfortable with the implication that just because something is mass appeal or from a particular mass-appeal genre, it automatically holds less artistic merit than something that is niche. One would have thought the enduring and widespread success of Studio Ghibli was enough to disprove that nonsense. Mr. Osomatsu is a hugely successful series, produced by a mainstream animation studio (Pierrot) and whilst I did not personally enjoy it and you could not pay me to buy a copy, I am aghast at the suggestion its popularity means it holds less artistic merit. Clearly Pierrot, the cast and crew have put great care and attention into the show, and the idea that it’s commercial success somehow denigrates that disgusts me.


Coincidentally in this instance, I think it’s perfectly acceptable for AL to have priced Tatami Galaxy more expensively. This has nothing to do with any supposed artistic worthiness, and everything to do with practical factors; it’s a niche appeal series, so will sell less copies and it doesn’t have a Western blu-ray release, so AL will likely have to self-author discs without a partner to share costs with, so I would speculate that the set is costing more for AL to produce than say Assassination Classroom, where they just used Funimation’s discs.
 
[UK Anime Distributor] Anime Limited Discussion Thread

I'm with Rui and Quiz on this. Not all media is equal and has been made with the same value in mind. Just because 2 shows are both animated and are of the same length does not mean they should be sold at the same price. How do you justify the difference between a movie and a television production? A broadcast vs cable production?

Plus AL probably had to spend a lot more on Tatami Galaxy for BR release considering it has won awards back in Japan, but has a smaller audience than shows like SAO II, FMA and probably even ERASED, so why shouldn't they sell it for a premium price to help balance those costs?
 
Re: Is all anime equal, or is some anime more equal than oth

Ok, it's a new thread now so we can knock ourselves out debating the relative value of different anime series. The one thing I will say is that the personal sniping is bugging me so please either take it to PM or stop. You can ignore specific users by going to your control panel and adding them to your Foes list if they annoy you. My red pen of deletion will be coming out soon.

Buzz201 said:
I’m not sure it is (or should be) acceptable to say one anime release is worth more than another because it has more creative merit. In fact, I’m strongly opposed to even suggesting one work has more artistic merit than another. There is no universally acceptable scale of artistic merit, and there never will be. As far as I’m concerned Michael Bay is as much an auteur as Wes Anderson, and their films hold the same level of artistic merit, but there are a great number of people who would strongly disagree with that. That doesn’t necessarily mean I’m wrong and they’re all right. Each work of art has a different meaning, interpreting and resonance with the viewer, it is completely wrong to suggest that some art has more value and is more worthy than others.

...

Coincidentally in this instance, I think it’s perfectly acceptable for AL to have priced Tatami Galazy more expensively. This has nothing to do with any supposed artistic worthiness, and everything to do with practical factors; it’s a niche appeal series, so will sell less copies and it doesn’t have a Western blu-ray release, so AL will likely have to self-author discs without a partner to share costs with, so I would speculate that the set is costing more for AL to produce than say Assassination Classroom, where they just used Funimation’s discs.

I'm mostly going to agree with you but I think a lot of this is people talking at cross purposes, as I agree with both you and qaiz and you're on opposite sides of the debate. I took qaiz's point to be about marketability rather than an objective assertion of greatness (especially considering that qaiz hated the show). In this case the series is specifically targeted at an atypical audience, helmed by a well-regarded industry figure and it's bally good on top. AL is enriching the UK market by releasing it, even if I fully accept that the vast majority of people will completely reasonably prefer to buy Bleach filler episodes. If a country existed which only had Wes Anderson DVDs on the market, releasing Michael Bay films there would probably be enriching the market too (for better or worse).

As you said, every anime has two 'values'. First is its value to me as a customer; this makes no sense, objectively speaking, but I'd pay 10x more for a series I liked than one I thought was average irrespective of its actual quality. This is the only figure which determines how much I will pay for anything. In this case, The Tatami Galaxy has a massive value to me as a customer as I thought it was pretty darn fantastic and I want to own as perfect a version of it as I can.

Then there's the actual effective marketability of any given anime. Just because Rui thinks that Osomatsu-san is amazing and should sell 10x more than Parasyte in the UK, doesn't mean that it would actually ever happen, because on average most UK fans are probably more interested in action-horror shows about guys with aliens living inside their hands than they are in old fashioned Japanese comedies. If the licenses cost exactly the same - and here there'd be a case for Osomatsu-san to be substantially more expensive given its value to the licensors in Japan - those Osomatsu-san discs would need to sell at a higher price per unit to cover the lower value to the average consumer. Which is unfortunate because it's 100x better than Parasyte (joking), but if we strictly keep to the 'all anime must be worth the same price' rule that kind of series is never coming to the UK. I have to strongly oppose the idea that all anime should be sold at the same price, even if in this particular case I think it's a misunderstanding and we're all very much on the same page deep down.

R

P.S. Sorry about the facetious topic title. That was my fault.
P.P.S. I also like Parasyte but I needed an example of something vaguely action-orientated and short.
 
Re: Is all anime equal, or is some anime more equal than oth

Woah! I was on your side until you said Osomatsu is 100x better than Parasyte. (It's only 100x better than the second half)

I do agree that my personal opinion/enjoyment of a show would determine how much I'd spend on it. (Even if in this case Tatami Galaxy's price is, like Buzz said, high due to it being a more niche title)
 
Re: Is all anime equal, or is some anime more equal than oth

At the end of the day people read far too deep into a simple concept, my fault for being vague but it conjured up some interesting discussion. Not all anime is equal, what do I ultimately mean by this? The fact of the matter is, Anime Limited and other distributors have to acquire (pay) to gain the rights to a show in order to release it. Although I'm not privy to numbers I'd wager a guess and say that the price paid in order to acquire The Tatami Galaxy wasn't cheap, due to its age and yes very much because of the reputation surrounding it including the people behind it as well. Because of this, the amount of money needed to recoup the costs goes up, doubly so due to the perceived risky nature of a series like this and its internal sales projections however high or low. A lot of this has to do with a simple concept called supply and demand, a concept that cultivated a fervour over the Wii when it was announced, to the point that people were paying over the odds to attain one. It didn't matter if the CPU and GPU was vastly inferior to its contemporaries, ergo it doesn't matter if the show in question is even good but rather the circumstances surrounding the product often dictates what people will pay for it and what the distributor will price it at. As such there are concepts like selling at cost, selling for profit and selling at a loss. The 3DS launch price was inflated intentionally due to the warm reception it received at the previous E3 reveal and the fact that it was the successor to the 150 million selling cultural icon, the DS aggravated such brash decisions. As we all know, the price was eventually lowered.

People seem to think that I weigh shows and their value due to how much I like them or how much they align with my tastes, but the truth is much simpler. Andrew while at Beez acquired the license for The Tatami Galaxy and has done so again, it’s clear that this is a passion project and it was done not to move the most units, although the more the merrier, but it was acquired to quench a very palpable thirst for such shows.

As a side, I don't block users, I'm not one to cultivate an echo-chamber as I appreciate everyone's opinions.
 
Re: Is all anime equal, or is some anime more equal than oth

Rui said:
As you said, every anime has two 'values'. First is its value to me as a customer; this makes no sense, objectively speaking, but I'd pay 10x more for a series I liked than one I thought was average irrespective of its actual quality. This is the only figure which determines how much I will pay for anything. In this case, The Tatami Galaxy has a massive value to me as a customer as I thought it was pretty darn fantastic and I want to own as perfect a version of it as I can.

I've quoted Rui here simply because my opinion basically matches up quite a lot.

For example though Terror in Resonance is a a show I really love and wanted to own in the very best format, but overall it's not something a lot of people regard as highly. I'll pay a lot more for my favourites like FMA, Your Lie in April, Blood Blockade Battlefront than I will titles like SAO, Erased and so forth (using Anime Limited shows for examples simply because the debate came from their thread).

I don't think all anime is equal in any way, as a business or for me as a consumer and I don't think it should be. You can't treat it all equally, you can't say one show of the same length and genre should be sold for the same as something else because I think you'd end up with some losses there. Obviously overall most things should be around the same, but the exceptions are a-okay too. As a consumer anime is never going to be equal though, we'll always be willing to pay more for our personal favourites than those we dislike. Heck I'd buy that FMA ultimate at the full price if I really had to because I'm that attached to that series.
 
Re: Is all anime equal, or is some anime more equal than oth

If Non Non Biyori and Kinmoza had a fight...

Ideally, I suppose it would be nice if everyone could just get anime for free (though obviously we'd need some alternative support system in place for the creators/distributors too).

People will generally be willing to pay more for a show they particularly want but I don't think the price people pay (or would pay) for things is really a good representation of what it means to them. I'd certainly pay a reasonable (or perhaps unreasonable) sum of money for an English friendly Blu-ray release of Nichijou but I don't think I could measure how much I like the show in currency. Even then, certain practical considerations would generally make it difficult to pay exactly the amount that a show is "worth" to you. I don't know if that's really an important point, but it does mean that the amount a person is willing to pay for a show doesn't necessarily fully represent their feelings about the show, nor their feelings towards the creators/distributors of that show.

I think this probably ties into the old "equality vs fairness" debate, making something equal doesn't necessarily make it fair and making things fair doesn't always mean making them equal. I don't know if any anime is inherently better or more important than any other but there are various other circumstances that mean you can't treat all anime the same (and personal opinion will be a factor in that).
 
Re: Is all anime equal, or is some anime more equal than oth

Tatami Galaxy seems very niche for only its fan who will happily drop that amount. I spend over £1000 on monogatari which also by some a artsy noir show, so it does depend on the person this doesnt seem to be aimed for blind buyers.
 
Re: Is all anime equal, or is some anime more equal than oth

If I may ask an uncharacteristically practical question here, would I be right to assume that streaming access to The Tatami Galaxy is not something we can expect in the foreseeable future?
 
It's just all about what works, Tatami Glalaxy probably wouldn't be viable at the same price as a Naruto box set unfortunately. The only thing that annoys me is when I see a muti-multi million pound company/brand selling an item for such a premuim price when I reckon they could still make a (slightly more humble but still tasty) profit without charging the crazy price. But this is the awful world we live in, people who are already minty charge more than they have to just because they can, just because of greed basically. But that's how things are, we live in a world where makers of supposed art prioritise buisness over creativity, and proudly talk of their business astuteness in interviews! All like "Yeah I wasn't doing well in that market, so tapped into the dynamic power of instagram and started collaborating with marketers and now we're just flying, but we still need to get bigger" and tell young creatives "the first you need is a business model, the first thing you need is to know how to hustle and make you work PAY". This makes me so sad. I don't know how to hustle; I sold weed for like 2 months when I was 17, or more like I didn't sell it and just got in debt to drug dealers who wouldn't take their weed back. My kind are resigned to irrelevance and destitude not destiny.

Sorry that para had nothing at all to do with anime, I'm on a low ebb
 
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