EDIT: Isn't it "Former News Corp executive"? Still a weird sale though.robot monkey said:
The problem is, I wonder how many units an Aniplex USA-style release would actually sell in the UK and whether it would be profitable. Hopefully, if Anime Limited's planned Ultimate Edition of Gurren Lagann goes well, we might see more of these type of things crop up - but I doubt they will.Rui said:Joshawott said:With Madoka Magica, you really just have to think about it like this: The AniplexUSA sets were released first, had amazing extras and were region free. Despite the UK edition being the cheapest in the world, the more dedicated fans would have snapped up the sets with the fancy extras (like I did), which being region free, will cut into the sales here. I imagine that this situation will replicate itself with Sword Art Online as well.
The only way I can really see this situation changing is for AniplexUSA to let the release gap between the US and UK shorten, to actually region lock their releases (which won't be a popular decision here xD) or to let us have the cool extras too (which I doubt MangaUK would actually do, at least without a lot of careful consideration). It's a shame that AniplexUSA and MangaUK can't come to an agreement like, MangaUK will pay to have the big Aniplex releases BBFC'd, then Aniplex simply do one print-run (as they're region free anyway) and give MangaUK a percentage of the stock to distribute. Unfortunately, as the UK market is so small, I doubt Aniplex would want to as they wouldn't really gain anything (and they would most likely have to delay releases for BBFCing).
Maybe the UK anime distributors should get together and lobby parliament or something to amend the act that states that the certificates have to be burned on the disc, using the reasoning that putting limitations on them encourages importers, taking money away from the UK economy or something like that?.
'Forcing' customers to buy the budget release instead of the nice one won't win back trust from customers like me. I am against adding more region locking in principle, no matter where in the world it takes place and for whose benefit it is intended. Give fans as much choice as possible. Also, if the fans all choose nice things over cheap things, perhaps try and listen to them. I don't often buy UK things because I have the perception that UK things suck, and that's a perception that the industry has intentionally cultivated.
Of course, it's impossible to know how much it missed its unknown expected amount by, and it could still be profitable for them to keep devaluing anime. ^^; But next time AoA announce a nice set for something Manga UK has also licensed, the knowledge that I won't get a nicer version if I wait will mean I continue to import. If they want to stop this behaviour they have to make their sets nicer than AoA's to make people worry that they could regret their choice (or just encourage them to buy it twice, which I'd do for a good series if it had two good releases with different incentives). If I knew Manga UK's version would be as good or better than AoA's I'd be happy to wait.
The BBFC restriction needs to die though, I agree.
R
The only way I can see the situation improving really is if Aniplex stop being so restrictive with their foreign partners. I mean really:
- They release their products as region free, but force foreign partners to region lock to protect their assets.
- They don't let foreign partners have the cool extras they release domestically.
- They force some really weird decisions, like splitting Nisemonogatari into two sets.
I mean, I get wanting to protect their domestic market, but they could at least try to make sure their foreign partners are protected too. I mean, if the situation was reversed and say, the UK tried to cheat Japan, all hell would break loose.
