Opinions about UK anime market

[bakum4tsu]

Everyone knows that UK has a small anime market but we all know that there's something that can be done to change that. What are your suggestions?

-Announcing licenses as soon as possible licenses!
We all agree with thit for sure and it would stop a lot of people from buying R1 when it comes out. Still someone said not long ago that its not possible to announce whenever they want so I think we cannot count with this one.

-Bring to the UK more "famous" anime!
Entire big franchises as Rurouni Kenshin, One Piece, Gintama, Dragon Ball (first one),Ranma 1/2, Saint Seiya, Galaxy Express 999, Yu Yu Hakusho, City Hunter, Black Jack, etc

-What about special editions?
Not everyone is able to spend a lot in REAL collectors editions. I think is a small market and wouldnt change that much the UK market. Still there are people crazy enough to spend $100 or more as long as the content is good. Just look at Fate Zero/Garden of Sinners from Aniplex.

-Dub vs Sub!
I cant stand to see anime with other audio then jap but there's a lot of people outhere that can and like. I believe thats a big percentage market in there, where we can easily see non real anime fans picking up stuff more easily if it has eng audio.

-Prices!
I think Uk prices arent that bad at all when new stuff is released. Do you think it should be even cheaper?

-DVD vs DB!
I think the casual market, and not only, will continue to buy dvd only, even if there's DB option regarding certains releases. Of course there's quality differences between versions, not only imagem but, in some cases, a few extras, though not that great and enough to spend a few more pounds/euros.

-More anime at the cinema!
There has been quite a few screenings lately in the UK i guess, with the latest one being Akira last Sunday at Lincoln's The Venue. Do you think that these actions can help getting people to know anime or do you think that people who go and watch these are already anime fans?

-Communitie!
Manga UK its doing a great job regarding community (in my opinion) in Twitter and Facebook and with podcasts too. Do you think MVM should be more in contact with the community? "Anime Limited" has been quite well in facebook, replying to some people.

-More companies!
I guess theres nothing wrong in saying that the UK needs more anime companies, at least 1 or 2 more. The newest one is "Anime Limited" and there's already a great hype on them. They have announced Cowboy Bebop in DB to release later this year and pleased a lot of fans already with that. A lot of us are with great hopes that they can bring to the UK stuff like Fate Zero or Garden of Sinners. Do you think the market can see a good turn around with this new company?

-Digital Market
I think it could workout with good/fair prices but still, for all of us who like to have all the dvds and stuff, it wouldnt work out for now i guess...


This thread might not take us anywhere but, at the same time, can show to the uk anime companies some opinions/thoughts of solutions to their services/businesses. Everyone here wants UK market to get better and better so lets work for it.


Sorry if there was one thread already like this and sorry for grammar erros, Im not english.

 

[jonno394]

Good Thread, i'll respond to some of your comments (not all, only those I have something to say about):

-Announcing licenses as soon as possible licenses!

Sometimes it's impossible to annouce due to the fact the UK licensors are having to sub license from the US companies doing the dubs, so by the time negotiations have started/finished, the US release is long out.

-Bring to the UK more "famous" anime!

Bigger titles like One Piece, with a run on a SKY channel could do well, but they're not magically going to improve the industry, they could help create another gateway show thou :hmm:

-What about special editions?

A nice exclusive special edition will really make me wait rather than importing. Just make sure options are there for people who don't want them, or cant afford them(a barebone T&B release seems to ge what people on Twitter would appreciate atm). If Anime Limited release some great editions exclusive to the UK and for a reasonable price (£40-£80) I'll be very happy

-Dub vs Sub!

In the past 18 months I have found I will never watch the dub anymore so I am not fussed either way, however it's better to have more than less, you arent going to get people refusing to buy a show with sub AND dub, but you will get people refusing to buy with only either/or.

-Prices!

UK prices are great. fans have just become too accustomed to things like Naruto and Bleach half season sets for £12 on PLAY. I remember the day when I used to pay nearly £20 for 4 episodes!!

-DVD vs DB!

BD is my format of choice, though if if doesnt exist I will buy DVD. That being said, Anime in the UK is a niche product, anime on BD in the UK will be an even smaller Niche, it just isn't viable to try and release everything on BD in the UK.

 

[Rui]

UK prices are fine, but I prefer to buy overseas as I don't perceive much value-add to the UK version (usually, it's the opposite). I'm excited to see what Anime Limited come up with as they seem to be doing things a little differently to Manga. I still don't tend to get interested in Manga's products, but Jeremy has done a good job turning their social media interaction from an annoyance into an asset.

I find the Digital Market here...disappointing. Crunchyroll is fine, but the folks at AoD don't like to talk to us and we have to rely on Andrew (there's absolutely nothing wrong with Andrew, but he's obviously stretched between dozens of projects and it's not his fault that Kaze seem to hate talking to us themselves). It's difficult to see it in a positive light when the US is about to get episode 5 of Maoyu and we still haven't had the first one with no obvious ETA on the site to give the people who still care about seeing it a hint. I wish that AoD would just sublicense their UK rights to CR or something if they are struggling to keep the English language site up to date so we at least have some legal way to watch this stuff. Please.

Or just post updates in French if that's the issue. I'll gladly translate them myself for everyone even though my French sucks!

Other forms of digital distribution seem to be mostly limited to catalogue titles or dubs, so I'm not interested. I think there was some discussion a long time ago about Manga not wanting to get into the simulcast business, but I'm a little annoyed that, say, Animate.tv and the like have region locked their raw Hetalia stream to the UK while Funimation have locked us out of the English one. At a panel last year the UK companies said that Funimation usually grabs the UK rights. Someone, somewhere has the UK rights to the new Hetalia, yet it's as though the industry has conspired to ban us from seeing it. This kind of thing just knocks all of the hype out of new content entirely.

Having said that, I get the distinct impression from the viewing thread that 99% of the UK viewers just download everything anyway and it's only a handful of suckers interested in streaming like me who end up feeling rather shafted by the way things are working out at the moment. I just had to get it off my chest.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to Anime Limited's offerings and in the meantime I'm continuing to import everything from elsewhere as normal to get shiny things ^^;

R

 

[Animefreak17]

problem is theres hardly any advertisements,

back in the day we had and have

pokemon cards, games, anime, ect ect
same with dragonball z, digimon, yugioh, bayblade, ect ect,

because it was the thing at the time, they should bring more shows that'll get kids abd adults in to anime

as for the adults
death note is a safe bet
the gibli films
and a few late night anime on sci-fi

iv been saying that that there not enough advertisements and the anime thats on tv is on the kiddy channels or is behind the kiddy channels where no one can bloody find them,

they should bring back toonami and have a few action and dark anime and put adventurer time to shame * sponge bob puts adventurer time to shame * so that way kids will be like -

lets see
a cartoon for 5 year olds or kick ass action anime ................... anime it is.

as fans we know all about anime but bringing in new fans.................. they should bring back toonami, have a few dark shows for sci-fi, ect ect ect

 

[VoxPhantom]

I still don't tend to get interested in Manga's products, but Jeremy has done a good job turning their social media interaction from an annoyance into an asset.

I agree and disagree on this; I think Jeremy certainly does a good job promoting the new releases and delivering polite responses to most questions - but the copy/paste stonewall response to licensing questions is a bit frustrating. I liked Jerome's hints and teases about things. I do like that Andrew answers the Anime Limited questions with something more than a generic answer to at least give some kind of opinion on the question.

I find the Digital Market here...disappointing. Crunchyroll is fine, but the folks at AoD don't like to talk to us and we have to rely on Andrew (there's absolutely nothing wrong with Andrew, but he's obviously stretched between dozens of projects and it's not his fault that Kaze seem to hate talking to us themselves). It's difficult to see it in a positive light when the US is about to get episode 5 of Maoyu and we still haven't had the first one with no obvious ETA on the site to give the people who still care about seeing it a hint. I wish that AoD would just sublicense their UK rights to CR or something if they are struggling to keep the English language site up to date so we at least have some legal way to watch this stuff. Please.

Totally agree. AOD's communication is nothing short of woeful in the period in between Andrew getting onto the twitter/facebook accounts. Last season had so many glitched episodes or episodes without subtitles, I had to wonder how it was meant to persuade anyone to subscribe to subsequent seasons. From what I read on the social media pages, the reports people were filing bounced and didn't end up anywhere - I don't even think the site's email address worked. With Crunchyroll such a well oiled machine with a decent price for a yearly subscription, AOD needs to really improve itself in order to convince me that it isn't just taking licenses from Crunchy and making them more difficult to obtain legally.

Having said that, I get the distinct impression from the viewing thread that 99% of the UK viewers just download everything anyway and it's only a handful of suckers interested in streaming like me who end up feeling rather shafted by the way things are working out at the moment. I just had to get it off my chest.

I get the same feeling. I'll leave it at that, as I'd probably go on a massive rant about the whole situation.

 

[The Incredible Corgi]

Everyone knows that UK has a small anime market but we all know that there's something that can be done to change that. What are your suggestions?

-Announcing licenses as soon as possible licenses!
We all agree with thit for sure and it would stop a lot of people from buying R1 when it comes out. Still someone said not long ago that its not possible to announce whenever they want so I think we cannot count with this one.

-Bring to the UK more "famous" anime!
Entire big franchises as Rurouni Kenshin, One Piece, Gintama, Dragon Ball (first one),Ranma 1/2, Saint Seiya, Galaxy Express 999, Yu Yu Hakusho, City Hunter, Black Jack, etc

These are famous, but how relevant are they? I assume you've meaning bringing them to the UK market in a physical format, because quite a few of these series you've used as example have been available in the past and I;d guess if they aren't available anymore then the licenses have lapsed. I don't know anyone clamouring for a Ranma 1/2, Kenshin or YuYu Hakusho re-release as most of them have seen them before.

-What about special editions?
Not everyone is able to spend a lot in REAL collectors editions. I think is a small market and wouldnt change that much the UK market. Still there are people crazy enough to spend $100 or more as long as the content is good. Just look at Fate Zero/Garden of Sinners from Aniplex.

Might be cool, but the expense to produce and market some serious special collectors editions just might not be worth it given the smaller nature of the UK market. I'm sure there are some people, who'd fork out a lot of money for some nice extras, but what kind of percentage of the market is that?

-Dub vs Sub!
I cant stand to see anime with other audio then jap but there's a lot of people outhere that can and like. I believe thats a big percentage market in there, where we can easily see non real anime fans picking up stuff more easily if it has eng audio.

If a series wants to achieve level of mass market popularity I'd guess that a dub is required. ADHD addled kids aren't going to bother with subs no matter how many sparkly collectible monster card flavour of the month gimmick creatures you entice them with!

-Prices!
I think Uk prices arent that bad at all when new stuff is released. Do you think it should be even cheaper?

I paid about £200 for Neon Genesis Evangelion when the DVDs came out, £20 for 3 episodes. Scoring some 3 episode DVDs on ebay for £10 was a bloody bargain! I think given the competition for torrents and streaming £20-30 for a full/half season is more than reasonable when compared with the silly money that used to be charged.

-DVD vs DB!
I think the casual market, and not only, will continue to buy dvd only, even if there's DB option regarding certains releases. Of course there's quality differences between versions, not only imagem but, in some cases, a few extras, though not that great and enough to spend a few more pounds/euros.

Blu-Ray can suck it until pricing becomes a lot closer to regular DVD. I don't care about more pixels or definitions that my crappy eye sight can't really tell the difference between other than "it looks a bit crisper".

-More anime at the cinema!
There has been quite a few screenings lately in the UK i guess, with the latest one being Akira last Sunday at Lincoln's The Venue. Do you think that these actions can help getting people to know anime or do you think that people who go and watch these are already anime fans?

I'd imagine the people that attend these types of things are already anime fans, dragged along by anime fans or world cinema culture types. They're not harmful and obviously worthwhile to the fans but I'm not sure it's going to be adding a great deal more to the numbers of anime fans out there.

-Communitie!
Manga UK its doing a great job regarding community (in my opinion) in Twitter and Facebook and with podcasts too. Do you think MVM should be more in contact with the community? "Anime Limited" has been quite well in facebook, replying to some people.

Not a clue, but then I only use Facebook for games and stuff.

-More companies!
I guess theres nothing wrong in saying that the UK needs more anime companies, at least 1 or 2 more. The newest one is "Anime Limited" and there's already a great hype on them. They have announced Cowboy Bebop in DB to release later this year and pleased a lot of fans already with that. A lot of us are with great hopes that they can bring to the UK stuff like Fate Zero or Garden of Sinners. Do you think the market can see a good turn around with this new company?

I think we've probably got a decent amount of companies currently here. The likes of Kaze and Manga are big international players and honestly, we live in an international, digitally connected world. If you're not being supplied what you want by a UK/EU company there are other way to get the content you want.

-Digital Market
I think it could workout with good/fair prices but still, for all of us who like to have all the dvds and stuff, it wouldnt work out for now i guess...

I think digital is the way forward. Region licensing is an archaic restriction that causes delays in getting series out to audiences, that while suited to physical media and certainly economically beneficial (after all, each licensee creates jobs in each country that wouldn't be around if only one "master" distributor published to all countries), that I don't think it really works when it's applied to streaming media. I'll be honest the last few series I've watched have been torrented, and before that viewed in full (albeit in pretty crappy resolution) on less than legitimate streaming sites due to a mixture of legitimate UK sources for the content or sheer impatience in getting official subbed versions. Moves have already been made in getting some series out digitally and subbed close to the original JP broadcast, but this only really applies to big popular series and the digital content providers still need to figure out how to contend with the "free" element of their piratical competitors.

 

[Mangaranga]

I'm going to start off here by saying that in the first half of 2012, I was all but done with the UK anime market. It was all but dead to ME. Key word here, ME.
As a BD only buyer, the string of cancellations DVD only announcements of shows which had seen full BD releases in other territories, and long delays for between regions for releases was to put it tamely, pissing me off. It's for that reason (Especially after the K-On/Haruhi cancellation) that I decided to get a region free BD player. The US market offered what I wanted, even if it was at a slightly higher cost to me, and also had a much wider variety of shows on BD compared to pathetically small range here.

Enter the second half of last year/January this year, Kaze enters the scene. Although their releases aren't all that wonderful more shows started to appear on the better format with some exclusives (Roujin Z/Code Geass).
Manga announces they have better BD manufacturing terms and have announced more releases on the format for this year.
Anime Limited, a new UK anime distributor with a more open approach than 'cheap, barebones and dubbed' enters the scene. The idea of a NISA style company here would have been unthinkable a year ago.
The UK anime market suddenly appeals much more to me as a consumer (well so long as it's not a Kaze release).

The use of social networks, and how active Manga/Andrew can be in replying to people is also a step in the right direction.
As I said before, good PR makes me want to support them more, whereas if they never replied to anyone and seemed uncaring I wouldn't so much.

I won't comment on the 'Famous Anime' because none of those interest me.

Special Editions - Give me a Garden of Sinners Ltd edition BD and I will literally throw my wallet at you, I'll easily pay anywhere between £100-300 for it, possibly even more (ANDREW I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER IF YOU DO THIS *hint* *hint*).
I'll still pay a lot for Fate/Zero but not £300 a half series, I haven't even seen it.

Dub vs Sub - This debate is just ridiculous. Not going to watch a show because it's Japanese? Your loss. That aside there are good and bad English dubs but all in all I don't really have a preference for either.

Pricing - I think this is a problem here. Like on twitter the other day there were people complaining about the Tiger and Bunny set being 4 parts @ £23 each despite the face it was BD/DVD in a digipack with the Japanese extras. What?
I think more people need to understand how much these shows cost to make, and how much it costs elsewhere to get these sets.
Manga are partially to blame for this though with their 'release it cheaply to get it into as many hands as possible' approach. Anything higher than £17.99/£29.99 and people turn their head as if it's a rip off.

DVD vs BD - Can we just phase out DVD already? This is like VHS still being the major format 6/7 years in. I don't understand why the bigger companies aren't trying at all to phase out DVD. I won't buy PAL DVDs, and I will only buy NTSC DVDs in certain circumstances (Certain shows animated @ 540p, Like Index)

Cinema - I don't see this working out, I'll be honest. This works for things like Scotland Loves Anime (major fan events), but a nationwide theatrical release of a movie which isn't Ghibli? No, I just don't see it working out.

Digital Market - This does nothing for me, if the UK market went digital I would be out. I just don't see any value whatsoever in owning a digital copy of something. Call me old fashioned but I want a physical copy. If we went purely digital out goes any hope of a special/limited editions.

Having said that, I get the distinct impression from the viewing thread that 99% of the UK viewers just download everything anyway and it's only a handful of suckers interested in streaming like me who end up feeling rather shafted by the way things are working out at the moment. I just had to get it off my chest.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to Anime Limited's offerings and in the meantime I'm continuing to import everything from elsewhere as normal to get shiny things ^^;

R

Preparing for hate here!

I'll be the first to admit that I download from subgroups, purely for convenience/better quality. I buy 99% of what I watch unless A) It's not released anywhere on BD, or B) It was shite, which luckily rarely ever is the case.
Forcing fans to sub to multiple different sites to watch shows is stupid, everywhere but America always gets the short straw. Funi has exclusive streams, AOD is useless/latecasts, and Crunchyroll locks us out of shows.
I don't understand why people would want to put up with that sort of service.

Downloading BDrips is usually the only way I can show things to friends as they are in Uni and have little money/are unemployed, (Sometimes this does have a positive effect as, for example, the other week someone watched the first few eps of Madoka and bought it afterwards) and the fonts and such are much nicer, especially for the OP/ED. With Sentai shows I will sometimes watch the Dub on BD and watch a sub BDrip because it's nicer and easier on the eyes to look at. (Cursed big yellow subtitles!)
Anyway, I rarely download shows nowadays as I usually end up just importing the American Blurays, for better or for worse their turnaround time seems to have gotten really quick as of late.

I'll repeat something which Jerome said on the MangaUK Podcast, 'without things like torrents and streams there would be no market for anime'.
This very much applies to me, and my friends. Hell, I wouldn't even buy anywhere near as much as I do if this was not the case. Shows like HOTD, Bakemonogatari, Clannad, Eden of the East, I would never have watched them, let alone bought them if I would have had no easy means of watching them, and equally I wouldn't have recommended them to other people to become buyers/potential buyers either.
What I'm trying to say here is that torrents are also a good way of spreading word and increasing your audience/sales, although I'll admit not everyone is like myself and will buy a physical release.

I think I've rambled on a bit too much here...

TL;DR I only buy BD and was all but done with the UK market last year, now my interest in it has returned with Manga's lower BD costs (so more BD releases), Kaze/Anime Limited entering the market with slightly different approaches than Manga, and I will throw my wallet at Andrew for a Garden of Sinners Bluray release.

 

[st_owly (witch)]

I wish more than just generic shonen/booby shows would get released over here. I'm glad MVM is releasing Kids on the Slope, but I wish someone would release the types of shows NIS releases over here. Though, it seems that might change.

 

[bakum4tsu]

Wow big replies. Its getting good this thread.

When i mentioned those points at the beginning, they're werent exactly my opinions, they were kinda like just topic as things that could have some influence.

@The Incredible Corgi

I've paid for my bebop, gits sac 1 and 2 dvd's which are around 18dvds, around 19/20eur per each so thats a lot and i didnt think at the time, i just went for it. Today i have more responsabilities so i just dontr throw money away like that anymore but yeah, today 17,99 its full/half season so its way better. Even my Death Note dvds i've bought them when they came out R1 and were like between 13/17eur from Viz. A bit expensive but I really wanted that.

UK prices are more than ok for me.

@Mangaranga

Its not my loss from not watch a show in english. Im portuguese so i would i hear english words coming out of a japense show? In portugal we dont use dubs like in france or spain or germany, unless its cartoons, we see here everything with their original audio which is great. Yeah I just saw the first part of afro samurai because of that, i just cant stand it even though i like the series. I might just go for it one last time just because its samurai genre and its my favourite.


To Anyone
I have mentioned those "famous" anime like I could have mention others. I dont want them too, besides Rurouni Kenshin, I was just throwing classic names.

Torrents - I just buy shows that i saw and did like. I dont do blind shopping, unless its a movie or some series that is known everywhere for being good. Still its very rare. LIke Mangaranga said, I watch 99% the anime I buy. I use torrents for sure, I like to see whats airing at the moment and if its good, Ill keep with it until the end. If it comes out on dvd ill buy it for sure. Happen recently with some uk releases. If the uk market dont have, i just download and if i like it, depending if its a new series or not, i might wait for uk release or just buy r1 if its already an old one.

Torrents are indeed a good way to spread anime to anyone.

Anyway, I felt my first topics were taken too seriously as my answer but were only for topics itself. Hope this clears a bit my opinion.

 

[jonno394]

With regards to torrents and streaming, I shy away from all that lark. What I buy is done purely bind or on the back of trailers/reviews. That might be why I don't buy any and all releases that come our way in the UK, maybe if I sampled before I might be buying more, or maybe if i downloaded, I wouldnt buy anything at all! I'm more than happy with the way I operate when buying atm.

With regards to titles and licenses, what time frame do people think is the maximum a company should aim at for releasing the R2 version? If I heard the UK release was only gonna be 1-2 months after the US release I could live with that, 3-4 is where my must have shows would probably be imported and i'd ignore the UK release, 5-6 and thats's just far far to long and i'd more than likely have imported by then.

 

[Joshawott]

With dub vs sub, the only time I will kick up a fuss is if there is ONLY the dub. Especially if it's a FUNimation series - am I the only one thinking that in the last hear or two, the quality of their dubs has been down the toilet? A lot of the time now, it sounds like the "actors" are merely trying to read out lines as fast as they can to hit the lip flaps. If we ever ended up with releases like Sentai's Persona 4, then I would kick up an almighty fuss. However, I'm perfectly happy with Sub-only or multilingual releases.

In regards to illegal streams, I have all but stopped that. The only series I watch in that way now is Pokèmon, because the English dub is super shite and we don't even get dub-only DVDs of the TV series here (MangaUK have said that someone has the license, but they're obviously sitting on it). I do however, wait for the movies as I know that they will be released here eventually. I think the last show I watched illegally was a few episodes of To Love Ru Darkness (when AOD fell behind) and last Kokoro Connect arc (which Crunchyroll didn't get). Before that, it must have been the latest Lupin III series?

With legal streaming, I pay for a Crunchyroll subscription. I do watch a couple of shows on Anime On Demand, but I do agree that their service is less than great (I keep on bugging them to optimise the site for the Wii U's Netfront browser so I can watch it on my TV, but they never get back to me. Hell, their Magi trailer works on the Wii U, but their actual show streams don't). Also, whoever writes their subs needs to learn to proof read.

With physical releases, I do hope we see more like Kazè��er & Bunny here. Lovely digipack release with physical extras, DVD/BD combi-pack for £2� �d�nitely agree with that. Frankly, I too have imported a lot of shows from the US due to the blu-ray situation - such as K-ON!! season 2 after the whole season 1 fiasco.
I also wouldn't mind some soundtracks and other extras like that - main reason I don't regret buying AniplexUSA's Madoka Limited Editions. I also still have Beez's Haruhi season 1 LEs that came with pillow cases and CDs.

 

[GolGotha]

-Announcing licenses as soon as possible licenses!
This would obviously be beneficial to everyone as we always seem to get the short straw, but I'll leave this to the professionals

-Bring to the UK more "famous" anime!
I do think we need to bring some of these back, they are obviously wanted as they go for extreme prices on ebay.

-What about special editions?
There are definitely people out there who would prefer special editions, but not sure the uk is stable enough yet to produce a huge amount yet, would probably work with a smaller number.

-Dub vs Sub!
Now, I prefer to watch things in Japanese, but I think


-Prices!
Problem is, is that in the UK we want everything for nothing. So, if you only casually watch anime then you are going to want cheaper prices. We're so used to seeing general DVDs coming out at 10 - 20 pounds at release and within a few months being three pounds and under in the bargain bin at Tesco's.

I used to spend 20 pounds on a 3/4 episode VHS, so spending forty+ is a complete collection is fantastic value for money.

-DVD vs DB!
At the moment I'm sticking to DVD only, because I mainly watch them on a 20" screen so the quality increase wouldn't be that noticeable.

-More anime at the cinema!
I do think this would be a good idea, especially the all nighters, as they show a wide variation of films which you probably wouldn't ever consider watching.

-Communitie!
I do think MVM should interact more with their audience, Manga UK & Anime Unlimited are doing a great job. Especially with the unboxing videos and asking us what we want and taking these considerations on board.

-More companies!
I'd rather have quality over quantity at the moment.

-Digital Market
I'm a physical person and will always buy a copy over a download. Although, I have been known to watch the first 3 or so episodes online (eg: Funimation's youtube) before buying the series. Like with video game demo's, perhaps for longer series other companies can do this, show a couple of episodes online and then be like "Like this? Buy it here"

I do agree with the comment about advertisement. I miss the trailers at beginning of the shows and the little booklets/flyers inside the DVDs with upcoming releases. They really influenced me into what anime's to buy during my childhood, so I think they should make a comeback.