The official thread for discussions about anime pricing (including Aniplex USA pricing)

TiggsPanther said:
To be honest, I think they've been imposing stricter limits on all the UK distributors for a while, now.

MVM couldn't release BDs of Garden of Sinners. And both Manga and AL were given minimum price points for Sword Art Online, as I recall. They both hit them in different ways but it was a similar restriction, I guess.
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Are we sure MVM were blocked from doing BDs of Garden of Sinners? It's not dubbed, Madman don't do BD releases of sub-only titles, so there would be nobody for MVM to piggyback from.

But going back to my point, AoA seem to be getting worse, earlier this week there were tweets confirming Madman are being forced to go DVD-only on Asterisk War -- the hugely marketed, "big" show of the moment. AL have indicated they may never going to be allowed to do a 12 episode set again, and SRPs per will now have to skyrocket as a result. We're not getting the DRR!! OVAs (and I know AL is desperately trying to convince us all they aren't important and the release is just as good without them -- Sorry Andrew, they are and it isn't), they're increasingly treating foreigners as the ugly stepchild, simply because AoA's strategy is unlikely to work in the UK or AUS and seemingly want to defend their US sales. I'm not a business genius, but maybe, if people are importing, it's because there's a market you aren't serving?



And let's be blunt, I'm getting pissed off with certain forum members' behaviour (nobody here, but I'm ranting about now, so here's as good a place as any). You can still buy AoA sets and not like their international licensing behaviour, the two are separate. You don't need to constantly defend AoA or slag AoA off (pot kettle black, but I have said nice things about their streaming regime). But there is a point where you just have to acknowledge AoA's behaviour is ridiculous, indefensible and in all likelihood detrimental to anime fandom.

I have seen people claim that AoA are "saving anime", I see no evidence that this is true, only that they're deliberately putting anime fans through the ringer in order to buy their favourite titles, which can only be a bad thing.

IncendiaryLemon said:
As far as I recall, that wasn't meant to happen even back then. I'm pretty sure I heard AoA wanted them to release it in three parts, but Manga went ahead and did one complete set, much to AoA's chargain. That makes an amount of sense considering nowhere else in the world has a complete standard edition set that is reasonably priced.
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From what Jerome has said, Manga didn't fall out with AoA. They stopped buying their titles as they wouldn't restrict legal streaming for them. Maybe we'll see AoA and Manga back together again, now AL has literally the entire output of basically everybody else, but Sentai.
 
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Aniplex seem intent on imposing their ridiculous pricing structure on other territory s. I look at the Monogatari series in particular as a representation of what an absolute rip off their sets are. It's now got to the point where certain series don't get released over here or we are lumbered with 6 episodes sets which nobody really wants.

It must be hard for companies like AL to work with their hands tied from the outset.
 
For me the asterisk war scenario is the most pissed I've been as want that show (not 6 ep) LEs however as I doubt it is good as SAO as SAO markets the whole cast not just the girls. Also madman have to deal a **** artwork for the set too. It's annoyed me so much most since the DRR OVAs fisasco
 
My take on AoA, which won't surprise anyone:

They're overvaluing their product in the west, and UK distributors should be telling them 'we can't charge that for a show over here.' Seriously - I'd personally just as sooon their shows weren't available here than made available at such prohibitive, frankly atrocious prices. I'm certainly not supporting them with my money.

And just watch. They'll have to concede at some point. Cost of living EVERYWHERE is going to skyrocket soon. And then niche businesses will be forced to either lower their asking prices or continue with the foolish pattern of trying to sell more of their stuff at higher prices to their die hard supporters. That will only shrink the market for their on-disc product further and further over time.
 
I personally find it interesting that AoA hasn't and aren't claiming to make more money from this strategy. So we could assume they aren't economically better off as a result, which given the difficulties the model has (such as excluding a lot of people, generating enormous levels of badwill), would indicate AoA are deliberately making themselves worse off.

Sadly, I don't think we stand a chance of convincing them. I know anime pricing is inelastic and they feel that should there be another crash they'll be better off starting from a higher SRP. But conversely I'd argue restricting the pool of people who will buy from you (and maybe even watch your shows) will only cause more problems in the long run as people move on and their financial circumstances change and fewer and fewer people plug the gap.
 
black1blade said:
Just saying that mvm releasing a kara no kyoukai blu ray would be awesome. Maybe I'll buy the £200 (more like £250 now I imagine) box someday...
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Was looking at it the other day, £254 is what it was at (that's including postage and VAT):/ It was about £180 shipped at one point, I should have got it then....

Would be amazing if MVM could release it on BD, they seemed so confidant that they would be releasing it on BD when they first announced it too only to be told no, so they must have the rights...
 
Buzz201 said:
Are we sure MVM were blocked from doing BDs of Garden of Sinners? It's not dubbed, Madman don't do BD releases of sub-only titles, so there would be nobody for MVM to piggyback from.
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Yes, I'm pretty sure.

I wouldn't have cited it as an example of Aniplex being Aniplex if I wasn't pretty certain of my memory of the situation. And as MVM aren't afraid to admit to something being DVD-only by their own choice, I very specifically remember them stating that GoS was out of their hands. because why would they lie? When they chose to go DVD-only, they own that decision.

crashmatt said:
Aniplex seem intent on imposing their ridiculous pricing structure on other territory s. I look at the Monogatari series in particular as a representation of what an absolute rip off their sets are. It's now got to the point where certain series don't get released over here or we are lumbered with 6 episodes sets which nobody really wants.
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Monogatari I can just about stomach, as each release isn't too pricey in one go. But it is stretching it a bit, and I'm backlogged in my collection as I got up to an arc that I wasn't quite as bothered about and haven't yet been able to justify the price.

Buzz201 said:
Sadly, I don't think we stand a chance of convincing them. I know anime pricing is inelastic and they feel that should there be another crash they'll be better off starting from a higher SRP. But conversely I'd argue restricting the pool of people who will buy from you (and maybe even watch your shows) will only cause more problems in the long run as people move on and their financial circumstances change and fewer and fewer people plug the gap.
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(emphasis mine)

Yeah, that's me. I just avoid Aniplex shows at the moment. I don't see any point in getting invested in a show, even via streaming, when there's a pretty high chance of there never being a reasonably affordable BD version available for when I inevitably fall in love with the show and want to rewatch it.

I'll save my money for the already rather high backlog of affordable BDs I've yet to buy.
 
Although that MVM reply is quite old. Since then, didn't Aniplex basically release a version in America that was effectively a full price £300 port of the Japanese set, but with English subs added? I imagine MVM could *technically* release that if they wanted, but won't as it's way too pricey for the UK market.

Without wishing to get into another Aniplex bashing thread, the more I see how they've handled shows recently (Charlotte, The Asterisk War etc.) the more I just have to chuckle - they're very, very slick business men, basically extracting as much as is humanly possible out of fanboys that are all too willing to fork over their cash at the drop of a hat. They have entirely constructed and dictated their sector of the market into this situation - and it'd be entirely counter to their interests to do anything opposite to that. It's part of the reason Japan as a whole is so resistant to streaming. It's not because their technically backward or slow to catch on - it's because it would almost overnight destroy a profitable means of distribution which has worked for years.
 
TiggsPanther said:
Yes, I'm pretty sure.

I wouldn't have cited it as an example of Aniplex being Aniplex if I wasn't pretty certain of my memory of the situation. And as MVM aren't afraid to admit to something being DVD-only by their own choice, I very specifically remember them stating that GoS was out of their hands. because why would they lie? When they chose to go DVD-only, they own that decision.
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For what it's worth Aniplex of Japan and Aniplex of America are two different regimes with different decisions. (For example, AL UK licensed Kill la Kill from AoA and were forced into 3 sets, whilst AL France licensed it from AoJ and were allowed to do 2.) I'm not sure it's fair to blame AoA for AoJ's decisions or necessarily vice versa, although a stronger case could be made for the latter as AoJ is AoA's parent company.

I know I'm being incredibly annoying and technical here based on the wording of MVM's post, when really it has the same effect, but I feel like it's a distinction that has to be made to be fair to AoA.
 
Lutga said:
Although that MVM reply is quite old. Since then, didn't Aniplex basically release a version in America that was effectively a full price £300 port of the Japanese set, but with English subs added?
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The Japanese set already has English subs, it would probably have been cheaper to buy it from Japan and have it shipped around the world than to buy it locally in the US, which is mental when you think about it.
 
For the broke/more technically minded, films 1-7 were released on BD in three separate volumes in Germany. You could buy those, rip them to PC and add English subs. (or for ~50 EUR more you can get all three in one go with 7 soundtrack CDs and artbook.)

I have considered doing this, but I haven't actually done it, so I don't know how easy/difficult it is. I think you'd have to get Recalled Out Summer from the US or Japan though.
 
While my overall opinion is that Aniplex are bad, at least for our market, because of what they force us into I'm just dropping in to comment on one thing:

Buzz201 said:
We're not getting the DRR!! OVAs (and I know AL is desperately trying to convince us all they aren't important and the release is just as good without them -- Sorry Andrew, they are and it isn't),
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I'm a big fan of DRR!! and really like the OVAs but are they important in that they carry the plot? No, they are not. They're fun side stories that slot into the overreaching plot and missing them is not as huge a deal as if we were missing a core episode from the series (for example). I think the release is fine without them and I just hold out hope that we'll eventually get them in a collection of their own later.
 
Demelza said:
While my overall opinion is that Aniplex are bad, at least for our market, because of what they force us into I'm just dropping in to comment on one thing:



I'm a big fan of DRR!! and really like the OVAs but are they important in that they carry the plot? No, they are not. They're fun side stories that slot into the overreaching plot and missing them is not as huge a deal as if we were missing a core episode from the series (for example). I think the release is fine without them and I just hold out hope that we'll eventually get them in a collection of their own later.
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I'm with Buzz on that one, those OVAs are important. If they weren't important, they'd not have been worked into the overarching plot and would've been entirely seperate. And for the first two seasons of X2, the OVAs are much better than the actual episodes.
 
Importance =/= Plot Relevance.

These are based on short stories written by Narita himself. Whether they're plot relevant or not, they are hugely important, and they should have been to AL too.

I appreciate AL have a product to sell, so they need to try and convince us somehow, but I won't be convinced of this by them or anybody else. And I still haven't pirated them, as I'm holding out hope AL will be able to convince AoA to let them do an OVA collection.
 
Buzz201 said:
Importance =/= Plot Relevance.

These are based on short stories written by Narita himself. Whether they're plot relevant or not, they are hugely important, and they should have been to AL too.

I appreciate AL have a product to sell, so they need to try and convince us somehow, but I won't be convinced of this by them or anybody else. And I still haven't pirated them, as I'm holding out hope AL will be able to convince AoA to let them do an OVA collection.
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If importance is directly related to plot relevance, perhaps we'll see an affordable "Best of Twin Star Exorcists" release that only includes a fraction of the episodes rather than every episode over multiple sets.
 
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