[Overseas] Anime News & Announcements

britguy said:
Oh definitely so, something like "SD on BD" needs to be at the forefront of all marketing.
Click to expand...

Though, to come back the point you made in your previous post, why would those who aren't willing to buy a DVD be willing to buy SD on BD?

I personally buy very few DVDs (I'd estimate less than a dozen, including box sets, over the past 5 years). If I really want something that's not available on Blu-Ray, I personally find digital copies (iTunes, Netflix etc.) to be a satisfying alternative in the way that they're not for Blu-Ray.

True, it's sadly not commercially viable to restore everything in HD. But I do think that there should be efforts made to do so. If you look at the link I posted about Animeigo earlier, they seem to think that running a Kickstarter for SD on BD is a good idea. IMO, SD on BD should be the outcome if the Kickstarter for proper HD fails - not Plan A.
 
Yami said:
Though, to come back the point you made in your previous post, why would those who aren't willing to buy a DVD be willing to buy SD on BD?
Click to expand...

For some, the possibility of better video quality.

SD content on Blu-ray, if done right should still look better than a DVD version. DVD uses lower bitrates and mpeg2 codec for the video, Blu-ray uses higher bitrates and mpeg4 codec(can use mpeg2 as well with a higher bitrate, but I haven't seen it used on a Blu-ray for some time). Mpeg4 compresses better than mpeg2, so SD content having a higher bitrate along with the better codec should eliminate the compression artifacts like macro blocking you sometimes see on DVD.
 
Yami said:
britguy said:
Oh definitely so, something like "SD on BD" needs to be at the forefront of all marketing.
Click to expand...

Though, to come back the point you made in your previous post, why would those who aren't willing to buy a DVD be willing to buy SD on BD?
Click to expand...

The reason I don't buy DVD's is purely because I don't like the cases and disc counts. If I could get the same content in a BD sized box (so fitting in with rest of my collection) and on 1 or two discs versus 6 or 7, I'd more than likely buy more.
 
Yeah but Discotek talks about 52 episodes on one BD, i guess a BD50 but still you can do the math this will look terrible PQ-wise
 
In regards to pricing, I have to agree with ayase, if you can't afford something, then don't buy it. Sadly, people seem to forget that saving for things or simply waiting for the price to drop are allowed and instead, they throw tantrums and more often than not, download said item illegally.

Sadly this mind set also applies to things that are available for free on legal streaming websites, simply because they are too impatient to wait a week and/or despise adverts. So in my opinion, reducing the price of anime dvds/blu-rays won't help the fan base to grow in the long run, but don't get me wrong, I'm all for cheaper editions further down the line, I just feel that we need to attempt to tackle this current mindset instead.
 
HdE said:
Bottom line for me, though, is what I stated in my last posts. Too high a price = fewer sales, and certainly fewer sales to casually interested people. That problem is exacerbated when those casually interested types may by now be used to paying at a lower price point, and then start going to the extent of actively boycotting releases, publicly slagging off distros, seeking less than legal means to view shows, etc. because they feel hard done by.
Click to expand...
And to go back to my original comments, I don't actually think them doing any of these things in bold makes any difference to distributors whatsoever. If the shows these casual fans were buying weren't profitable in the first place due to the low price point, losing them as customers isn't really a loss. But then I don't really think the price of anime now is such a big problem as some make out - What happens now is that we get expensive first editions followed by more affordable releases down the line. And even the price of those collector's editions is no different than anime used to be back in the days of single volume DVD releases - I paid £72 for Ergo Proxy back in the day, and that was just six ordinary DVDs at £12 each.

HdE said:
I keep banging this drum because it seems to me that all concerned in the business of flogging this stuff basically need to work out how to sell it to more people and how to keep prices competitive. It's how literally every other business on the face of the planet works, even in entertainment.
Click to expand...
Should it be though? Race to the bottom consumer capitalism requires growth, yes, but it also drives prices down so that growth can only come from increased numbers of sales. But if you're not in a race to the bottom with prices, growth doesn't need to happen at anything near the same kind of rate. Luxury car manufacturers, for example, don't operate on a competitive race to the bottom model. Otherwise a Rolls Royce would cost you the same as a Ford Focus (and be the same quality).

Let me use the example of a discount shoe shop versus a cobbler I'm acquainted with. The cobbler still makes a decent living (certainly more than anyone working in the shoe shop or the far east sweatshops that supply them) making and selling far fewer pairs of shoes because the goods he produces, while more expensive, are also much better quality and he has a loyal customer base who knows that. If I look at the kind of society I'd actually like to see thrive (abandon all hope for remaining on topic) I'd much prefer one where people are reimbursed a fair amount for their labour and people consume less but higher quality goods than one where people's labour is constantly being devalued by selling the products they create cheaper and cheaper. Dairy farmers, for example, are now in the insane position of not being able to sell milk for even what it cost them to produce, because the supermarkets have cut the price so far and customers won't stand for it going back up to a realistic price.
 
I have to say I agree with ayase. Unless the government provides a basic subsistence for every citizen, no questions asked, then, I'm sorry, but artists and creative types need to eat too. If you don't think their product is worth the price they're charging, then either buy it second hand or go without. Anime is a luxury, not a necessity.

The race to the bottom suits only the Tory scum at the top. It's not good for the rest of us at all.
 
Wow, I'm REALLY surprised that Viz didn't grab that. They must be focused on Sailor Moon and not much else at the moment.
 
So after watching a Yuki Yuna unboxing (example), you're paying more than an Aniplex release for less episodes in an old school NIS LE sized DVD case.
To me this begs many questions - if you're paying that much for a collectors edition, why would you want it to come housed in a massive cheap DVD case? Why would you buy three volumes of a title that size. With NIS changing over to reasonable sized packaging in nice chipboard artboxes (which people want) rather than the awkward to store sets they manufactured before, why would you go for a massive cheap case rather than compact fancy packaging? Most importantly, to me anyway, who on earth thought this was a good idea? You can't target the high end collectors market and have half a premium product! These Japanese companies and their decision making really does baffle me sometimes. You've got one company with lots of high profile IPs which have dropped chipboard artboxes and song subtitles for episodes, and on the other hand you've got a company which thinks the above packaging is premium.
 
Mangaranga said:
So after watching a Yuki Yuna unboxing (example), you're paying more than an Aniplex release for less episodes in an old school NIS LE sized DVD case.
To me this begs two questions - if you're paying that much for a collectors edition, why would you want it to come housed in a massive DVD case? With NIS changing over to reasonable sized packaging in nice chipboard artboxes (which people want), why would you go for a massive cheap case rather than compact fancy packaging? Most importantly, to me anyway, who on earth thought this was a good idea? You can't target the high end collectors market and have half a premium product! These Japanese companies really do baffle me sometimes.
Click to expand...

It is a daft move on Ponycan's part. I don't mind the multiple volume concept but they should at least add more value to the sets to justify the pricetag (then again they do include quite a big poster and OSTs/Character songs per volume which is tempting, but I will wait and see what happens). It's annoying because I quite like the catalogue that Ponycan have at the moment especially that film they've acquired.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
NormanicGrav said:
It is a daft move on Ponycan's part. I don't mind the multiple volume concept but they should at least add more value to the sets to justify the pricetag (then again they do include quite a big poster and OSTs/Character songs per volume which is tempting, but I will wait and see what happens). It's annoying because I quite like the catalogue that Ponycan have at the moment especially that film they've acquired.
Click to expand...
I don't mind volumes either. I don't really have as much of an issue with Aniplex and PonyCan going about things that way as we get access to titles earlier, and generally get more of the content from the Japanese LE's. The main issues I have at the moment are their approach to packaging (both choice of packaging and size) as well as their pricing - and this is coming from someone who loves Aniplex releases and owns most of their BDs. If advise was supposedly taken from Aniplex regarding entering the US market, why have they done it in such an ass about way? Actually, don't answer that.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Mangaranga said:
So after watching a Yuki Yuna unboxing (example), you're paying more than an Aniplex release for less episodes in an old school NIS LE sized DVD case.
To me this begs many questions - if you're paying that much for a collectors edition, why would you want it to come housed in a massive cheap DVD case? Why would you buy three volumes of a title that size. With NIS changing over to reasonable sized packaging in nice chipboard artboxes (which people want) rather than the awkward to store sets they manufactured before, why would you go for a massive cheap case rather than compact fancy packaging? Most importantly, to me anyway, who on earth thought this was a good idea? You can't target the high end collectors market and have half a premium product! These Japanese companies and their decision making really does baffle me sometimes. You've got one company with lots of high profile IPs which have dropped chipboard artboxes and song subtitles for episodes, and on the other hand you've got a company which thinks the above packaging is premium.
Click to expand...
Where did you get this paying more then an aniplex release for less episodes since UP charged at least £70 for each of the Madoka LE volumes where it is around £66 for the Yuki Yuna volumes for around the same amount of content (1 BD, 1 DVD, 1 CD along with a few other extras) but in one case (the aniplex Madoka volumes had the BD and DVD in one case, the CD in another and the extras slipped into a flimsy card box) and has the same amount of episodes.

The one and currently only thing I've heard about that I'm not too pleased about is that they're only using single layer blu-ray discs which would mean that each episode would equate to around 5GB of data where the blu-rays on the AoA Madoka volumes are dual layer even though they had minimum extras.
 
demonix said:
Where did you get this paying more then an aniplex release for less episodes since UP charged at least £70 for each of the Madoka LE volumes where it is around £66 for the Yuki Yuna volumes for around the same amount of content (1 BD, 1 DVD, 1 CD along with a few other extras) but in one case (the aniplex Madoka volumes had the BD and DVD in one case, the CD in another and the extras slipped into a flimsy card box) and has the same amount of episodes.
Click to expand...
I'm thinking more along the lines of current Aniplex pricing. Looking at titles like Kill La Kill it's generally £10 per episode when it comes to Aniplex LE's, yet using Yuki/Denki as examples for PonyCan it's closer to £15 per episode for them.

demonix said:
The one and currently only thing I've heard about that I'm not too pleased about is that they're only using single layer blu-ray discs which would mean that each episode would equate to around 5GB of data where the blu-rays on the AoA Madoka volumes are dual layer even though they had minimum extras.
Click to expand...
You got a source on that? They could still be using the Japanese materials since not all the authoring houses max out the video/audio bitrates like IMAGICA. Some JP/JP style BDs I have like K-On!, Durarara and even the Monogatari series are 5-6gb each yet still look great due to not having had to go through an encoder multiple times. Still, Yuki Yuna having Dual PCM tracks I'd expect to be on a BD50 since 23gb is a bit of a stretch.
 
Ayase - great comments up top. It's really good to come back to the boards and see the points I've raised engaged with intelligently and reasonably.

Certainly, I'd rather read that than something like 'just buy it secondhand or go without' - and 'if you don't think it's worth it... etc.' No malice intended Owly, but it seems pretty evident from those sorts of comments that you're missing my point. Annd that's absolutely as far as I'm going to engage with those sorts of comments here.

There's a lot I could say to Ayase's comments that would only amount to rehashing things I'd said in another thread recently, so I won't get into that. But one point you make that I like is the one about selling to a loyal customer base. It's an interesting one, because it's a double edged sword. Catering to the loyal following is always smart... but creating an environment where doing so appears geared more to that than to selling to a broader base is a little worrying.

It's okay if things stay bouyant and a status quo can be preserved. But where consumer loyalty in any field of entertainment is concerned, it's usually pretty fleeting. People will just as quickly spend their money on something else if they feel the thing they were happily spending money on before is now priced above a level they can afford. And that could well see the loyal customer base shrink. Which, in a sane and logical world, would mean for most products... you guessed it! An even higher price.

I work regularly in the indie end of comics, and these concerns often crop up in discussion. Notice how the major publishers are always re-launching? That's because product sales are almost always declining on monthly books. It's perceived that interest has to be kept up and new readers have to be encouraged to spend money. And there are always overheads to meet. And sometimes license fees and percentages to be paid from profits. There's an awful lot of attention paid to finding ways to keep production costs low. One reason for that is that it's acknowledged that, by bumping up the cover price on a monthly or trade paperback, a lot of regular readers will simply opt out of purchasing. The choice then is: find new readers, or take a step closer to killing the product. And if that cover price rises, or the amount of content diminishes, then it becomes MUCH harder to grab new customers.

Some of this, I suspect, parallels with concerns in the anime market. And I'm sure some of it doesn't. It just puzzles me that comics publishers can float the possibility of charging $5 or even $7 monthly comics, or 4 issue collected editions, and be met with outrage, while high street RRPs of £65 (or more) for 13 episodes (or less) of anime is defended and apologised for.

Standard caveat: none fo the above is intended to antagonise - only to explain one guy's perspective. Which probably doesn't belong in this thead past this point.
 
I fail to see how my comments mean that I wasn't engaging with your post intelligently. I'm sorry for not being as eloquent as ayase in what I was trying to say. I'll take my comments elsewhere if that's what I'm going to get if I try to respond to anything.
 
Sentai Filmworks have licensed Vampire Hunter D.

Huh, this was unexpected. Discotek have the sequel Bloodlust (which is getting a Blu-ray & DVD release in June... I think).

This is a catalogue title and is expected to be released in July 2015.
 
NormanicGrav said:
Sentai Filmworks have licensed Vampire Hunter D.

Huh, this was unexpected. Discotek have the sequel Bloodlust (which is getting a Blu-ray & DVD release in June... I think).

This is a catalogue title and is expected to be released in July 2015.
Click to expand...

Hopefully this'll make it's way over to Animatsu if it's a Sentai title - especially as Manga put it out on DVD back in the day. The kind of film that'd really benefit from a good BR clean-up too.
 
Relatively small month for Funimation's July line-up:

July 7th 2015:
Noragami - Complete First Season: Standard, Limited & Funimation Exclusive Editions [Blu-ray & DVD]
Regions: A|1
Extras: Episode Commentaries, Textless Opening Song ''Goya no Machiawase'', Textless Closing Song ''Heart Realize'', U.S. Trailer, Trailers, Yato Business Card Holder (Funi Exc.), 5-Yen Coin (Funi Exc.)

July 14th 2015:
One Piece - Collection 13 [DVD]
Regions: 1
Extras: Episode Commentaries, One Piece in the Booth: with Braina Palencia, One Piece in the Booth: with Colleen Clinkenbear, Textless Songs, U.S. Trailer, Trailers

One Piece - Season Seven Voyage One [DVD]
Regions: 1
Extras: Episode Commentaries, Villains and Fishmen: A Peek Behind the Curtain, Textless Opening Song - ''We Are!'' ~One Piece Animation 10 Year Anniversary Ver.~, Textless Opening Song - ''Share the World'', Trailers

July 21st 2015:
Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: The Conqueror of Shamballa - Film: Re-release [Blu-ray]
Region: A
Extras: TBD, assume to be the same as the original BD release

TO: Elliptical Orbit / Symbiotic Planet - OVA/Film: S.A.V.E. Edition [DVD]
Regions: 1
Extras: Special Interviews with Director and cast., Elliptical Orbit Trailer, Symbiotic Planet Trailer, Promo Videos, TV Spots, Teaser, Trailers

July 28th 2015:
009 Re:Cyborg - Film [Blu-ray & DVD]
Region: A|1
Extras: Exclusive 44-Page Interview and Data Booklet, Special Prologue, Promotional Video, Teasers, Theater Ad, Trailers, U.S. Trailer

Inari Kon Kon (Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha) - Complete Series [Blu-ray & DVD] - Japanese with English subtitles only
Region: A|1
Extras: OVA, Pub Fox Theater Episodes 1-9, Commercial Collection, Promotional Video, Textless Opening Song ''Kyo ni Koiiro'', Textless Opening Song ''SAVED.'', U.S. Trailer, Trailers

Surprised to see more One Piece collection sets and Season Seven to appear sooner than later.
 
Back
Top