New Anime Releases - 11/01/2015

Ian Wolf

Ian Wolf

Mushi-shi
AUKN Staff
 
Not interested in Arakawa (unless Blu-Ray).

Giovanni's Island Ultimate Edition on way from Amazon and already own Collector's version of Space Dandy
 
nothing of interest
edit: I just realised that I don't actually have any UK anime releases on my schedule for this year at all. That can't be right. Time to go through the schedule.
edit 2: no, it is right. None of the pathetically tiny handful of things that I am waiting for have dates announced yet.
 
Planning on getting US versions for Arakawa Under the Bridge (Blu-ray reasons) and Space Dandy (I prefer Funimation's version).

As for Giovanni's Island. I originally had the Ultimate Edition on pre-order but after looking at the final product I decided to cancel it. I'll get the standard version at some point.
 
I have the Ultimate Edition of Giovanni's Island Pre-Ordered. I'm still trying to decide which version of Space Dandy to get.
 
Yukifan said:
I have the Ultimate Edition of Giovanni's Island Pre-Ordered. I'm still trying to decide which version of Space Dandy to get.
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Well, if you are after the UK version of Space Dandy the collectors edition bluray is currently £30 on Zavvi as part of their regular Mega Monday offers.
 
very reluctant to but arakawa, I got set 1 when it was on DOTW, but they never put set 2 up, one would hope now that they've this set up they'd put set 2 up on DOTW as it can't be generating much more in terms of sales.
 
sniper_samurai said:
Yukifan said:
I have the Ultimate Edition of Giovanni's Island Pre-Ordered. I'm still trying to decide which version of Space Dandy to get.
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Well, if you are after the UK version of Space Dandy the collectors edition bluray is currently £30 on Zavvi as part of their regular Mega Monday offers.
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Unfortunately I won't have the money until Wednesday or Thursday due to Giovanni's Island.
 
A solid set of passes for me.

Space Dandy gets my attention, but 13 episodes for just a bit under thirty quid on Amazon? My wallet cannot comply.
 
To me 13 episodes for £28.75 is an amazing deal for such a fast release (and on BD too). I wonder whether the market will ever recover from the damage Manga UK's price slashing has done over the years.

I already have the CE for Dandy and the import (with BD, I'm afraid) for the excellent Arakawa Under The Bridge. Need to get around to picking Giovanni's Island up this week.

I visited Forbidden Planet today for the first time in months and it was amazing seeing the transformation in the anime section; instead of being a gloomy corner with cheap, poor quality releases of shows from years and years ago, it was bright and full of special editions and top quality new MVM/ATA shows. I felt tempted to actually buy things there - it's been a long time!

R
 
Rui said:
To me 13 episodes for £28.75 is an amazing deal for such a fast release (and on BD too). I wonder whether the market will ever recover from the damage Manga UK's price slashing has done over the years.
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Completely disagree. But then, you knew I'd say that. ;)

I'm going to hold out and see if a complete collection appears down the line at a keener price point. My viewpoint is that any more than £30 for a complete series is too much. So I'm certainly not going to pay close to that for a half season, unless I know the quality of the show or it's something I REALLY want (and as I get older and grumpier, there's surprisingly little that satisfies those criteria.)

No disrespect to Anime Limited or those who are champing at the bit to have this, but I've got to a point where I just can't play ball with the asking prices for most new releases.
 
HdE said:
I'm going to hold out and see if a complete collection appears down the line at a keener price point. My viewpoint is that any more than £30 for a complete series is too much. So I'm certainly not going to pay close to that for a half season, unless I know the quality of the show or it's something I REALLY want (and as I get older and grumpier, there's surprisingly little that satisfies those criteria.)

No disrespect to Anime Limited or those who are champing at the bit to have this, but I've got to a point where I just can't play ball with the asking prices for most new releases.
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It probably will in a couple of years' time, but this is simply how much anime costs in a world where streaming is cannibalising physical sales more and more each day. Selling niche products to a tiny audience of aging buyers for less than they're worth is not a sustainable business model. There's no possibility of a future where a younger audience suddenly starts buying tons of anime on physical media any more. It used to be an elusive hope we all shared, but all trends nowadays point to streaming being the future for the younger audience. Physical anime releases are a niche of a niche.

On the specific points, £30 for a complete season seems a little arbitrary if the number of episodes isn't taken into account. A season of One Piece is very different to a season of UN-GO. And I don't see how companies can let you know the quality of a show in advance other than by providing a completely free bilingual stream in HD (which they did) or by promoting the strong staff and their links to other popular UK-friendly anime titles (which they did). If you have other methods to convert disinterested people into potential buyers short of mailing them out free copies of the sets to try to change their minds, I'm sure Andrew would be very happy to hear them.

But as always, if you're happy to wait a few years and keep an eye out for things going out of print, you can generally pick up just about anything for a better price eventually.

After damaging the UK market to this extent, Manga UK really have a lot to answer for.

R
 
£30 for 13 episodes on blu-ray is not a bad price and I am happy to pay it to ensure the survival of physical releases as I won't buy vaporware anime that relies on the net (digital).

These aren't like Hollywood releases where you are practically guaranteed to pick them up down the line cheaper as anime releases may only ever get 1 print run. Also unless you buy new & near release the publisher may decide it's not popular enough to warrant continuation.

Unfortunately I've learnt that if you're an anime fan you have to prioritize releases that interest you over other purchases or risk missing them/having them discontinued.
 
I think the sweet spot for me is about 10p per minute for my entertainment. That would make a single six episode volume of 20 minute episodes (or a film) £12, a twelve episode set £24 and a twenty four episode set £48. This was pretty much exactly what I would pay back in the days when single volume releases were a thing, and a lot of releases now (whether from Manga, MVM or AL) seem to be following the half season for around £20-£25. Which I'd be happy to pay, were I not now entirely broke.

Obviously special releases are worth more, but if I'm not that interested in the show I'm not going to shell out for one, and I think AL's model of special editions in addition to a more basic release (either simultaneously or down the line as per license stubbornness) is perfect. Everybody gets what they want, even if it takes a little while. But as Rui says that's much the same as anything else - take electronics for example. You can buy a next gen media player the day it comes out for £900 or wait a couple of years and pick one up for £50. And it doesn't even come in a nice collector's box with a hardback book of electronic diagrams and interviews with the engineers who created it.
 
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