Most You've Spent and General Pricing Discussion

cudwieser said:
I'll ask if you were to sell your rarest (or dearest) anime, what would you honestly sell it for?
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I don't tend to sell things or get rid of them too often anyway but, if I was to do so, I'd lean towards giving things away (preferably to people that I can reasonably expect to enjoy them). In a practical sense it'd be nice to have some of the money back or even a profit that I could spend on the things that I want now, but I think I'd get more value out of helping people to get something they'll enjoy and spreading enjoyment of something that I'm fond of (or was fond of).
 
Yeah, I think not being a scalping asshole is just part of being a good person. Like, sure, if something is OOP and hard to find, you could ask for the moon and someone would probably be mental enough to pay it, but I think there's something in letting it go at a somewhat reasonable price to a home you know the item will be appreciated in.
 
Most I spent on a single Anime item was the £300 for the Aniplex Kara no Kyoukai Blu-ray set.

Think I blown £400-£500 on bulk purchases in general
 
I thought I'd add in terms of most expensive franchises. I think Saint Seiya will soon take that position in my collection just due to the sheer number of releases I have to get.

Original - £70
Hades - £60-70
Soul of Gold - £30
The Lost Canvas - £30-40
Omega S1 - £80
Omega S2 - £60

Sigh anime is expensive when it comes to long running shonens.
 
Sixteen seasons of Bleach plus four movies.

Complete season sets run in the region of £30-£40, movies £15+ each for an estimated total of: £500-£600
 
ayase said:
@Smeelia you unreasonably kindly soul, now you're making me feel bad for being so mercenary.
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Well, I wouldn't say there's anything wrong with getting some money back for trading things in either. The buyer still gets what they want and you can put the money towards getting something you want. In an ideal situation, everyone is happy and no one has to give up more than they're okay with.
 
The most I've ever spent on an individual series would probably be the Gurren Lagann Ultimate Edition at £100. I was willing to shell out for that because it was a series I love dearly, it had loads of extras including the movies, and it was the first time it had come out in HD for a halfway reasonable price (I'm looking at you Aniplex).

The most I've paid for an individual movie is £60 for the 5cm Per Second Global Edition, because they had released that specifically to not allow English speaking territories to release a more reasonable Blu-ray release, and as a big Shinkai fan I got sick of waiting around.

With regard to what I'm willing to pay for things I have something of a system. I am willing to shell out up to about £70-£80 for a nice collector's edition of a series a la Anime Limited, but obviously I am very happy if I can get them for less than that.

If a series is only being released in a standard Blu-ray amaray format, then I'll be loathe to spend more than £40 for it unless it's a show I really enjoy. I do like how the proliferation of these standard BD titles in the UK and US market means I can buy these at like £10-£25 a pop as a blind buy and not feel too hurt if I don't like it though. It is annoying when a series I really like and want a collector's option of only has a standard release though.

If a movie is being released on Blu-ray I'll spend £15-£20 for a standard edition, or up to around £40 if they release a collector's one (again a la Anime Limited).

Finally, unless it's an older series I refuse to buy anything in DVD. I find it atrocious that some companies in the UK will still do a DVD only release of a new show that is natively HD, especially considering I more than likely watched it in at least 720p when it was simulcasting, so I'm definitely not gonna pay a premium for something that is objectively worse looking than the thing I watched online either for free or for a small monthly fee (depending which site got it). It is unfortunate that there are some serial offenders for this among the UK sublicensors (*cough* Manga) and unfortunately it does sometimes lead me to importing and not supporting the UK market on some releases. It has gotten a lot less common recently though, especially since Anime Limited came onto the scene.
 
Hmm I'm not sure what the most I've spent is on a single anime. Probably £55, though I guess it was closer to £80 for SAO season 2 (which totally wasn't worth it :(, series 1 was way better) generally I'll pay £15 for a movie (£20 max on very rare occasions) and for series £25-£40. I will occasionally pay more on a series I really like & series I really like that are OOP but only if I have the money spare which is rarely.

Edit: I also won't buy dvd on release at all.
 
Lord Bacchus said:
Finally, unless it's an older series I refuse to buy anything in DVD. I find it atrocious that some companies in the UK will still do a DVD only release of a new show that is natively HD, especially considering I more than likely watched it in at least 720p when it was simulcasting, so I'm definitely not gonna pay a premium for something that is objectively worse looking than the thing I watched online either for free or for a small monthly fee (depending which site got it). It is unfortunate that there are some serial offenders for this among the UK sublicensors (*cough* Manga) and unfortunately it does sometimes lead me to importing and not supporting the UK market on some releases. It has gotten a lot less common recently though, especially since Anime Limited came onto the scene.
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Watch someone in the industry read this and interpret it as justification for locking streams so nobody can (legally) see the 720p version at all, thus being forced into buying those SD barebones sets...

R
 
Rui said:
Watch someone in the industry read this and interpret it as justification for locking streams so nobody can (legally) see the 720p version at all, thus being forced into buying those SD barebones sets...

R
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The day that happens is the day I stop watching (legal) streams. :-D
 
Lord Bacchus said:
It is unfortunate that there are some serial offenders for this among the UK sublicensors (*cough* Manga)
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It's the same for MVM as well. It's not always entirely the fault of the UK distributor though. When the australian distributor literally orders discs from the US distributor for their release, the UK distributor can't split costs with anyone and it's thus the BBFC we have to blame for some DVD-only titles.
 
Jaysgba said:
It's the same for MVM as well. It's not always entirely the fault of the UK distributor though. When the australian distributor literally orders discs from the US distributor for their release, the UK distributor can't split costs with anyone and it's thus the BBFC we have to blame for some DVD-only titles.
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I do get that it's not always the fault of the licensor, but it doesn't change the fact that they're not gonna get any of my money unless they at least do a barebones Blu-ray release. I am actually a little surprised at how much better DVDs still do for UK anime releases though. I looked at an Amazon review section for a release that had both, and under the verified sale thing, I think it was 1 Blu-ray review for every 4 DVD. I'd have assumed that with simulcasts being HD, and anime being a pretty niche market, that Blu-ray would be people's format of choice by now. I'd find it a little odd to watch something in HD and then shell out cash for a physical release that looks worse.
 
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Lord Bacchus said:
I do get that it's not always the fault of the licensor, but it doesn't change the fact that they're not gonna get any of my money unless they at least do a barebones Blu-ray release. I am actually a little surprised at how much better DVDs still do for UK anime releases though. I looked at an Amazon review section for a release that had both, and under the verified sale thing, I think it was 1 Blu-ray review for every 4 DVD. I'd have assumed that with simulcasts being HD, and anime being a pretty niche market, that Blu-ray would be people's format of choice by now. I'd find it a little odd to watch something in HD and then shell out cash for a physical release that looks worse.
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Don't take this the wrong way but you seem a fussy soul. I've seen BluRay and DVD and frankly care little for BluRay quality. I can see the image perfectly clear on a DVD for the extra detail and clarity to be superfluous to me. I know of people who prefer the extra detail but it hardly adds to the story imo. More over the reason DVD's are still bought en mass is price. Until BD become as cheap and common place as DVD's then they'll be a niche niche (any more niche's and we'll square the sodding circle :) ).

I feel BD will never take the place of DVD's for the other source you mentioned, Streaming. With smart tech and the ever greater want of integration (Borg meets SkyNet. Shudder at the thought) BD (and DVD's) are quickly becoming an irrelevance.
 
cudwieser said:
Don't take this the wrong way but you seem a fussy soul. I've seen BluRay and DVD and frankly care little for BluRay quality. I can see the image perfectly clear on a DVD for the extra detail and clarity to be superfluous to me. I know of people who prefer the extra detail but it hardly adds to the story imo. More over the reason DVD's are still bought en mass is price. Until BD become as cheap and common place as DVD's then they'll be a niche niche (any more niche's and we'll square the sodding circle :) ).

I feel BD will never take the place of DVD's for the other source you mentioned, Streaming. With smart tech and the ever greater want of integration (Borg meets SkyNet. Shudder at the thought) BD (and DVD's) are quickly becoming an irrelevance.
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Oh I'm aware that most will simply stream it and not bother with a physical copy at all, but the reason I won't opt for DVD anymore is simply because I watch everything in HD now (unless it has no HD version), to the point that I notice the dip in quality if I have to watch something from a lower quality source (a little like how most people would find VHS atrocious after watching a few DVDs, but not quite at that level since I can still watch them). I know it might seem like nitpicking, but I watch stuff on a large screen, so without a HD source it looks a little off (something to do with DVDs being upconverted for modern screens most likely), and if I'm gonna be paying a premium for it (with anime especially usually quite a large premium), I want something that's gonna look best for my setup. I know a lot of people can't tell/don't care about the difference, but I do, and I will pay the extra required to get the version I want even if it costs double what the DVD version is priced at. That is just me though, and all a UK DVD only release usually ends up meaning to me is that I'm gonna have to pay more to get it imported if I really want it, so it's not like it ends up effecting me. The only problem I have is that I'd like to support the UK release, and sometimes I just don't want to when this happens.
 
I see what you're saying but we'll have to agree to disagree where taste is concerned. That aside I agree with supporting and generally improving the UK industry. Without it the price for all of us would be unbearable. I think the bigger picture here is simply whether there is a market or not. While you're prepared to pay for preference and I'd pay just to have something (really not fussy on flavour as long as it isn't ****), if neither of us paid for anything there would be no market. On the flip side if we are being priced out then there is equally no market. The UK market is where it should be for getting the anime out there to the masses, it just needs tweeking to provide better variety and access to the bonuses (UK has had a market almost as long as the yanks, but we just aren't seen as important (I have a theory about that, but I need to test it first)). If that ever happens the market will properly flourish imo. We'll maybe see a drop in BD prices with CE and UE subsidising and justifying (odd term I know) basic collections and singles. Still don't see DVDs going anywhere though. There are plenty of misers among is :p :D
 
cudwieser said:
I see what you're saying but we'll have to agree to disagree where taste is concerned. That aside I agree with supporting and generally improving the UK industry. Without it the price for all of us would be unbearable. I think the bigger picture here is simply whether there is a market or not. While you're prepared to pay for preference and I'd pay just to have something (really not fussy on flavour as long as it isn't ****), if neither of us paid for anything there would be no market. On the flip side if we are being priced out then there is equally no market. The UK market is where it should be for getting the anime out there to the masses, it just needs tweeking to provide better variety and access to the bonuses (UK has had a market almost as long as the yanks, but we just aren't seen as important (I have a theory about that, but I need to test it first)). If that ever happens the market will properly flourish imo. We'll maybe see a drop in BD prices with CE and UE subsidising and justifying (odd term I know) basic collections and singles. Still don't see DVDs going anywhere though. There are plenty of misers among is :p :D
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About what you said regarding CE and UE subsidising standard sets, in the case of Anime Limited it would appear that that is already happening. I like their model of releasing the beefier CE sets on launch on BD/Combi, with a standard DVD set at the same time, and then releasing a standard BD set further down the line (usually 3 months to a year). I realise that that is their thing, but I think releasing tiered content with prices that reflect it is probably the best way for everyone to be able to get their preferences with lesser risk to the company's bottom line. The issue I think with the other companies such as Manga and MVM is that they can't justify Blu-ray sets because they will usually only release barebones versions and aim to get the price point really low (not a bad thing in itself, but it means they may end up not selling enough BD sets to make that format feasible), whereas the Anime Limited model allows for smaller production runs on the riskier format because of the premium price tag. I have noticed MVM branching out into more premium sets recently though, so perhaps other distributers are already taking note. I do also think that Anime Limited's model has seen a wider array of stuff appearing on the market as a result (some stuff that hasn't even been done in the US for example), because when there's a premium price tag attached it means you can take a risk on the stuff with less mass market appeal since you're catering to a smaller audience looking for a more substantial set. So far I think Anime limited have probably found the right balance between appealing to collectors and also those who want the standard set, which is good, because if they only marketed CEs and UEs then they'd price a significant chunk of their audience out of the market. AL are one of those companies where if I hear they're going to do a set long after an American one is released, I'll wait, because I know I'll get something hefty for my patience (and also not have to deal with the cost of importing, which has been crazy since the pound weakened).
 
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The Pound will get better after a while. Capitalism is based on boom and bust and the world is shiting themselves at the minute.
 
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