The News Thread (for news that does not need a thread)

Buzz201 said:
http://www.aljazeera.com/blogs/asia/2015/08/comic-books-fooled-japan-myth-atomic-safety-150809075202734.html

Not really news, but I don't know where else to put it, and maybe it will be of interest to some. It's a blog from news service Al Jazeera about how Tezuka's Astro Boy helped to change public opinion in Japan on nuclear power.
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They also have an article from our Jonathan Clements, Manga and the Bomb. They are doing a series for the 70th anniversary of the bombings.
 
Two fascinating articles, thanks for posting them! Barefoot Gen is a masterpiece.

While we're on the topic, it makes a powerful double bill with the earlier Children of Hiroshima - directed by fellow Hiroshiman (not sure on the correct term?) Kaneto Shindo (who would go on to make The Naked Island, Onibaba and Kuroneko). Children of Hiroshima was the first Japanese feature film to address the topic and gives a different perspective from Gen in that, while Nakazawa experienced and survived the bombing, Shindo was a good deal older and was drafted into the war therefore his film is a return to his roots - roots that have been scorched.
 
Aww, I already have The Eccentric Family but it's an absolutely cracking series, will have to find some excuse to gift a UK copy to someone instead to support it :s

Would definitely have waited if I had known.

R
 
NormanicGrav said:
Interesting, consider this a rumour. Apparently Attack on Titan didn't reach Funimation's sales expectations. The LEs were limited to 7500 copies and they're still available.
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They were charging $30 USD extra (or double the price of the Standard Edition) for just a 24p digibook, What the hell were they expecting? No matter great the show is or how popular it is, that price was just ludicrous.
 
That's pretty interesting to be honest, I assumed they would all be long gone by now...Maybe have to buy them now as I don't actually own AoT simply because of the complete BS Manga put out. Pretty sure they're locked to A right enough, but I'll need to replace my player sometime anyway.
 
That doesn't surprise me - AOT isn't really a 'collectors' show, with a title as popular as that, the bulk of the sales will be whatever the cheapest edition is - over here the two DVD parts are regularly in Amazon's Top 10 anime sellers still.

Likewise, it sold very well here, but you can totally imagine that a distributor would still overestimate and print more than they needed.
 
Buzz201 said:
NormanicGrav said:
Interesting, consider this a rumour. Apparently Attack on Titan didn't reach Funimation's sales expectations. The LEs were limited to 7500 copies and they're still available.
Click to expand...

They were charging $30 USD extra (or double the price of the Standard Edition) for just a 24p digibook, What the hell were they expecting? No matter great the show is or how popular it is, that price was just ludicrous.
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Now that I look at it I realise I've been had, your right, it's double the cost for a small book & art card.

Funimation did go super crazy with AoT too, having a 3rd tier of limited edition restricted to their own webstore. I'd reckon that despite it's popularity they shouldn't of counted on sales being more than 50% higher than normal for a LE, even that might be a stretch. Popular to stream does not = popular to buy, and I'd wager there's a core audience of buyers that doesn't vary too much.
 
I think they could have sold them all, had the price been way more reasonable or the LE contents been slightly better. 24 pages and an art card is pathetic. Probably costs less $5 USD to add the package, and yet it was $30+ more expensive. I believe the book was included as standard in Australia, and whilst a CE exclusive in the UK, the price difference was smaller.

I mean surely Kodansha had some cool art sitting around that they'd be willing to let FUNi add to the book?
 
I am not in love with releases where they do multiple versions and make it difficult to buy the definitive ones; the mess with the artbox for Attack on Titan confused a lot of collectors for a long time. Having said that I did like FUNi's AoT release and bought the (non-store-exclusive) LE.

It would be interesting to know sales figures for other shows in the category of 'really popular titles with mass appeal that the core audience constantly complains about'. SAO would be a good one to compare.

R
 
Rui said:
I am not in love with releases where they do multiple versions and make it difficult to buy the definitive ones; the mess with the artbox for Attack on Titan confused a lot of collectors for a long time. Having said that I did like FUNi's AoT release and bought the (non-store-exclusive) LE.

It would be interesting to know sales figures for other shows in the category of 'really popular titles with mass appeal that the core audience constantly complains about'. SAO would be a good one to compare.

R
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Not neccesarily, Aniplex of America has SAO, so sales are probably a lot lower than if they adopted a standard pricing structure. Not sure what other shows you could use though.

And the impression I got was that AoT is only hated by those who resent it's success, which is more than a little bit stupid.
 
That really is interesting. Kind of supports one of the points I've been pushing for a while to do with prices - if the target market doesn't feel like the product is worth the asking price, good luck getting them to shell out for it.
 
HdE said:
That really is interesting. Kind of supports one of the points I've been pushing for a while to do with prices - if the target market doesn't feel like the product is worth the asking price, good luck getting them to shell out for it.
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With AoT, the idea was obviously to try and target mainstream/casual audiences, these are likely the same people who buy Naruto and DBZ regularly. These aren't the people who will pay out big dollar for a release.

At the end of the day, I;m sure AoT sold fine, but more at the lowest price. A LE run for a funimation store exclusive, when there is still another limited edition release as well as a standard edition release seems a bit excessive imo.
 
Exactly what's on my mind, Britguy.

What I think is really telling is that a shedload of Facebook pals have asked me about Attack On Titan, specifically wanting to know if they can find it on Netflix or pay for the DVD / Blu rays in one collection or at less than the prices they're seeing when they go looking for it.

I think that's significant, because it shows that you CAN get folks who aren't necessarily anime fans to buy anime, but even then, the price has to be right.

I'm also pretty sure AoT did decent numbers. I can't remember the last time anime became so popular that near enough everybody I spoke to had seen it.

EDIT: Also, checking the link, I'm reminded of my pathological loathing of the dubs vs subs debate. Jesus. Watch the shows however you want, people. There's no right or wrong in it.
 
I've never really got the dub vs sub argument tbh. I can appreciate them both, it's almost like getting two shows in one.

The only thing that irritates me is when you get lazy releases, ie. There's a dub available but it's not included, or vice versa.
 
I always stick with subtitles outside of nostalgia shows like DBZ just because I'm used to it (not like I watch DBZ anymore, I hate standard shounen shows these days) and Ghibli films because the dubs are always top notch for them and being family films, watching them without your family is fun and a dub is more welcoming in that sense. Having said that, the dub for Ghost Stories is proof that it can transcend and become true art.
 
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