It's not just 2-cour series that die halfway on UK Blu-ray

Just Passing Through

Just Passing Through

The Wildcard
Manga Entertainment will only be releasing Gantz 2: Perfect Answer on DVD in February.

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Is Gantz 2 Perfect Answer going to be released on Blu-ray in the UK? I see on Anime on Line and the BVA website that only the DVD has been solicited as yet.
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Manga UK: No it isn't I'm afraid. GANTZ BD sold particularly badly, so I can't justify releasing Part 2 on BD. Sorry to disappoint you.
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EDIT: I keep trying to read 'sorry to disappoint you.', but my brain keeps registering, 'I'm doing this to spite you' :p
 
But they are the #1 distributor of Asian cinema in the UK! If they can't make it pay, everyone else is doomed!

Less sardonically, that's a shame. I'm not at all into Gantz but it's surprising it did so spectacularly badly - violence, a tie-in, tight clothing and without the stigma of being animated, it should surely have shifted a few copies.

Edit: It's none of my business as I have outright stopped buying new Manga UK releases anyway since the last Twitter episode (still mad), but I think this shows that they must focus on things they can release in one drop from now on and stop doing multi-part series entirely (other than large Shounen Jump smash hits). There's no other way to put an end to these constant disappointments their fans keep getting hit with.

Blu-ray in its current form represents an unsustainable model in this country. Something needs to change.

R
 
Eden of the East and its two movies strikes me as one of the only recent releases that hasn't had a Blu-Ray cancelled (I doubt Paradise Lost will be cancelled now since King of Eden has been out for ages).

Which is why for anime Blu-Rays, I always look across the Atlantic.
 
Who else thinks Manga's new catchphrase should be 'Sorry to disappoint you'?

Makes me glad I can play region A blu-rays on my player (not that I have the region A version of this).
 
I don't want them to lose a ton of money by releasing things which will be a big loss for them, but there must surely come a point where they realise that their current modus operandi is not growing their user base. If anything it's just pissing off all of the early adopters and driving them to region A, the same way that manga publishers have spooked people like me away from buying unpopular manga releases nowadays because I know they'll never be completed.

R
 
mangaman74 said:
Who else thinks Manga's new catchphrase should be 'Sorry to disappoint you'?
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I thought their catchphrase was the sound of one evacuating one's bowels after eating curry laced with laxatives.

Certainly sounds like their output as of late.
 
ConanThe3rd said:
mangaman74 said:
Who else thinks Manga's new catchphrase should be 'Sorry to disappoint you'?
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I thought their catchphrase was the sound of one evacuating one's bowels after eating curry laced with laxatives.

Certainly sounds like their output as of late.
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Won't argue with you there Conan.

And all this only weeks after Manga won the 2011 Neo magazine award for Best Asian Movie Distributor.
 
Why blame Manga? It's not their fault that very few were interested in buying the first series in BD. At least they gave it a shot at cost.
 
Rui said:
I don't want them to lose a ton of money by releasing things which will be a big loss for them, but there must surely come a point where they realise that their current modus operandi is not growing their user base. If anything it's just pissing off all of the early adopters and driving them to region A, the same way that manga publishers have spooked people like me away from buying unpopular manga releases nowadays because I know they'll never be completed.
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I agree wholeheartedly but once again, the real problem here is region coding and the BBFC. If Manga could share masters and disc pressings with a US firm, we wouldn't have this problem. They wouldn't have to sell an entire print run of BDs to the UK audience, which seems to be their real problem.
 
ayase said:
Rui said:
I don't want them to lose a ton of money by releasing things which will be a big loss for them, but there must surely come a point where they realise that their current modus operandi is not growing their user base. If anything it's just pissing off all of the early adopters and driving them to region A, the same way that manga publishers have spooked people like me away from buying unpopular manga releases nowadays because I know they'll never be completed.
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I agree wholeheartedly but once again, the real problem here is region coding and the BBFC. If Manga could share masters and disc pressings with a US firm, we wouldn't have this problem. They wouldn't have to sell an entire print run of BDs to the UK audience, which seems to be their real problem.
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Maybe embracing Europe would be an idea, if not dubs, European subs at least. They managed it for The Girl Who Leapt Through Time BD, and Kaze are doing it as well. Spread the burden across the EU...

Mind you, now that the Eurozone is bankrupt, it won't make much difference.
 
fabricatedlunatic said:
Manga should just start doing only BD/DVD combi-packs for every release, forcing those stubborn DVD buyers to adopt Blu-ray whether they like it or not :twisted:
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That's a good way to ensure I rent only from that time on. :wink:
 
Mohawk52 said:
Why blame Manga? It's not their fault that they by and large built thier bed of sharp pointy objects by arsing up not only Full Metal Alchemest on BluRay but constantly doing it thus raising a climate of Fear in regards to BluRay and being ripped off and then forcing everyone to lay in that pointy object bed because they didn't do their job
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By this point, I'm convinced that Manga UK is run by clown college graduates.

mangaman74 said:
And all this only weeks after Manga won the 2011 Neo magazine award for Best Asian Movie Distributor.
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Wanna bet Manga used the Blu Ray monies to buy that particular award? Wouldn't surprise me at this rate.
 
mangaman74 said:
Who else thinks Manga's new catchphrase should be 'Sorry to disappoint you'?
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disappointSon-330x330.png
 
ConanThe3rd said:
Mohawk52 said:
Why blame Manga? It's not their fault that they by and large built thier bed of sharp pointy objects by arsing up not only Full Metal Alchemest on BluRay but constantly doing it thus raising a climate of Fear in regards to BluRay and being ripped off and then forcing everyone to lay in that pointy object bed because they didn't do their job
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By this point, I'm convinced that Manga UK is run by clown college graduates.

mangaman74 said:
And all this only weeks after Manga won the 2011 Neo magazine award for Best Asian Movie Distributor.
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Wanna bet Manga used the Blu Ray monies to buy that particular award? Wouldn't surprise me at this rate.
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Mate, I think you need to get to Vitriolics' Anonymous for some serious therapy and de-tox before you OD on the venom.
 
Just Passing Through said:
Maybe embracing Europe would be an idea, if not dubs, European subs at least. They managed it for The Girl Who Leapt Through Time BD, and Kaze are doing it as well. Spread the burden across the EU...
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It is something Beez have long done with DVDs; their discs are replicated on the continent and most if not all have at least English and French options for the menus.

fabricatedlunatic said:
Manga should just start doing only BD/DVD combi-packs for every release, forcing those stubborn DVD buyers to adopt Blu-ray whether they like it or not :twisted:
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I was actually considering that same thing recently - would total sales for a combo-only release be enough that they can cost less than regular BDs do now? Problem is you have to cover the costs of the BDs and the DVDs and you risk alienating people who don't have BD players and people who do but for some reason can't stand having 'spare' discs.
 
I think if the price was right, more people would see the Bluray as a bonus, whereas right now they keep leaving fans dissapointed.

If pricing and availability was right, there wouldnt BE an import market for the US BDs.
 
alexrose1uk said:
I think if the price was right, more people would see the Bluray as a bonus, whereas right now they keep leaving fans dissapointed.

If pricing and availability was right, there wouldnt BE an import market for the US BDs.
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I don't agree with that. Not all anime dvds get released over here. Why should it be any different for blu-rays?
 
alexrose1uk said:
If pricing and availability was right, there wouldnt BE an import market for the US BDs.
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Well yeah, obviously. But the BDs that are the right price and readily available at the moment *are* the US releases, and there is no way in hell Manga can release all the US titles at US prices unless the UK anime market gets about twenty times bigger. The US releases exist, they have English subs / dubs and don't need to wait for / waste disc space on European languages... why Manga don't just enter into a deal to distribute US discs in the UK is beyond me (unless of course it's our friendly national censors the BBFC who balls everything up) but then that's hardly surprising given that the whole system of anime licensing seems archaic and arcane anyway.

Oh, and I'm one of those people who doesn't like peripheral DVDs with my BDs (honestly, they didn't keep including VHS tapes with DVDs) but would be more than happy to buy combi packs if it meant everything was released on BD. I still can't get my head round why combi packs aren't *worse* for business, given that you're basically selling two copies for the price of one, one of which can be given away / sold on meaning the distributor is potentially missing out on a sale for every combi pack sold. ::shrugs::
 
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