Animefreak17
Godhand
my pain goes to you my brother and i mean that......................?????? wait i have a question how did you get in to anime if theres no anime industry thereYakumo said:
The Temptation of Importing Anime
- Thread starter SnowWolf
- Start date
SnowWolf
Adventurer
Severely tempted.
You all make good points, but deciding to import would be like opening a floodgate with me as there are many titles I have my eye on.
I went to a convention in Australia and they wanted $75 for season one/ 26 episodes of FMA. Thats the norm there apparently. Even movies are around $30. The only purchases I could justify were CardCaptor Sakura ($55 for 35 episodes) and Rurouni Kenshin ($65 for 28 episodes) since their only still in print in Australia. Chickened out of buying them in the end too anyway.
You all make good points, but deciding to import would be like opening a floodgate with me as there are many titles I have my eye on.
I went to a convention in Australia and they wanted $75 for season one/ 26 episodes of FMA. Thats the norm there apparently. Even movies are around $30. The only purchases I could justify were CardCaptor Sakura ($55 for 35 episodes) and Rurouni Kenshin ($65 for 28 episodes) since their only still in print in Australia. Chickened out of buying them in the end too anyway.
Just Passing Through
The Wildcard
Put it this way, if you buy Kaze, you're supporting the European anime industry, not the British, as Kaze are a French company. Manga's parent company is US, Starz, so your money will end up overseas that way, Studiocanal is European too, so Ghibli money goes abroad, only MVM are still wholly homegrown and homeowned.
Importing is easy if you keep an ear to the licensing grindstone, and have it in mind which series are coming here and which aren't. I've lost count of how many titles I have bought, they are into 3 figures, but only 4 times have I purchased from abroad and wound up being 'stung' by subsequent local releases, Kiki's Delivery Service, Baccano (I thought it would be cut by the BBFC), Welcome to the NHK, and Ah My Goddess Flights of Fancy, the latter two were in limbo cos of the ADV collapse, so getting them early wasn't much of a pain, although Welcome to the NHK's subsequent UK release was better quality that Funimations.
However I have bought lots of Region 1 titles that had UK releases because they were cheaper to import, or they were simply better. Once you get into the habit, you'll probably want the best AV quality, and you'll soon realise that is rarely the UK release, especially for DVD.
It's fairly easy to guess the titles that won't be released here, they are the niche ones that appeal to a subset of UK audiences so small that distros won't make their money back. You'll be safe importing Ristorante Paradiso for example.
Australia is expensive, but when they're the only English territory selling stuff like Gosick and Nichijou, I don't feel the £80 hole in my wallet as much.
Importing is easy if you keep an ear to the licensing grindstone, and have it in mind which series are coming here and which aren't. I've lost count of how many titles I have bought, they are into 3 figures, but only 4 times have I purchased from abroad and wound up being 'stung' by subsequent local releases, Kiki's Delivery Service, Baccano (I thought it would be cut by the BBFC), Welcome to the NHK, and Ah My Goddess Flights of Fancy, the latter two were in limbo cos of the ADV collapse, so getting them early wasn't much of a pain, although Welcome to the NHK's subsequent UK release was better quality that Funimations.
However I have bought lots of Region 1 titles that had UK releases because they were cheaper to import, or they were simply better. Once you get into the habit, you'll probably want the best AV quality, and you'll soon realise that is rarely the UK release, especially for DVD.
It's fairly easy to guess the titles that won't be released here, they are the niche ones that appeal to a subset of UK audiences so small that distros won't make their money back. You'll be safe importing Ristorante Paradiso for example.
Australia is expensive, but when they're the only English territory selling stuff like Gosick and Nichijou, I don't feel the £80 hole in my wallet as much.
I try to support the UK industry and will buy if I know series I want are coming over here (not are, not potentially are), but I've bought plenty from the US where there was to be no UK release (Flag, Genshiken, Genshiken 2, Martian Successor Nadesico) and where either the UK importers have spent far too long or originally not targeted a series (Cowboy Bebop, Lucky*Star, first 3 Ramna 1/2 series, Iria Zeiram the Animation, virtually all the Studio Ghibli output before Princess Mononoke)
animefreak17 said:
There was some anime on TV dubbed either in English (Robotech; Maya the Bee; The Yearling) or Afrikaans (Dogtanian; Heidi of the Alps; The Wonderful Adventures of Nils). I highly doubt though that the national broadcaster was aware that these were anime; more likely they just wanted some cartoons for the kids tv slot.
That was the 80's. In the 90's I was buying lots of UK and US game magazines, some of which had ads and reviews of anime titles. I still remember the April 1996 edition of Gamefan that carried a glowing review of Gunsmith Cats; I was so taken by it that I made my first anime order that year from Animenation. It's been downhill ever since...
I feel no loyalty to a company simply because they're on the same rock as I am. Whether I buy a series from a particular region or not depends entirely on the product itself. Things I tend to consider include:
1) Is it available on blu-ray? Will it be available on blu-ray in the UK?
2) What are the physical extras like?
3) Am I willing to pay that much for that particular show?
So for example, I purchased Puella Magi Madoka Magica from the US because the limited editions are amazing. Sure, the UK got a complete collection, but that's a barebones release other than a slipcover (and I hate slipcovers). However, I am purchasing Kazé's Tiger & Bunny release because frankly, it's a digipack and has nice physical extras.
I was willing to pay £40 a volume for Sentai's K-ON! season 2 because it was on blu-ray and it was obvious MangaUK weren't going to do the same. However, I am waiting until I hear more about MangaUK's release of the movie - to see whether they capitalise on the whole "They're in the UK!" thing or not and give us a sweet edition. I also haven't imported A Certain Magical Index and A Certain Scientific Railgun because they are DVD only and frankly, I find paying about £35 for a DVD-only half-season to be harder to justify than a blu-ray.
1) Is it available on blu-ray? Will it be available on blu-ray in the UK?
2) What are the physical extras like?
3) Am I willing to pay that much for that particular show?
So for example, I purchased Puella Magi Madoka Magica from the US because the limited editions are amazing. Sure, the UK got a complete collection, but that's a barebones release other than a slipcover (and I hate slipcovers). However, I am purchasing Kazé's Tiger & Bunny release because frankly, it's a digipack and has nice physical extras.
I was willing to pay £40 a volume for Sentai's K-ON! season 2 because it was on blu-ray and it was obvious MangaUK weren't going to do the same. However, I am waiting until I hear more about MangaUK's release of the movie - to see whether they capitalise on the whole "They're in the UK!" thing or not and give us a sweet edition. I also haven't imported A Certain Magical Index and A Certain Scientific Railgun because they are DVD only and frankly, I find paying about £35 for a DVD-only half-season to be harder to justify than a blu-ray.
SnowWolf
Adventurer
cudwieser said:
I've been eyeing: FMA (original, I've got brotherhood) I might order from the states as they are just around $20 a season though I'm a fan of slimpack editions.
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya season 1
Rurouni Kenshin, (I'm not a fan of the international Samurai X dub so I might get the Australian release)
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle (was holding out for a season set)
I bought every season of Dragonball, DBZ and DB:GT on Amazon. Dirt cheap, and DBZ and GT are region 2 compatible, DB is R1 only. I just got so frustrated by the lack of Dragonball in the UK and even now you can pick up those DBZ "import" R2's for much less than the official Manga releases.
I remember when Anime Legends went tits up quite afew of us on the Neo forum immediately grabbed Cowboy Bebop, Gurren Lagaan, Outlaw Star as fast as we could. You never know when things are gonna turn up again in the UK market.
I remember when Anime Legends went tits up quite afew of us on the Neo forum immediately grabbed Cowboy Bebop, Gurren Lagaan, Outlaw Star as fast as we could. You never know when things are gonna turn up again in the UK market.
Mangaranga
Za Warudo
If you are looking to import that, then I would advise you do it ASAP if you can find anywhere with stock, since it's Out Of Print and has been for a while now.SnowWolf said:
Manga also said the license is in Limbo which doesn't give much hope for either a US or UK re-release.
I accidentally bought the R1 FMA OVA dvd on Amazon thinking it was the Brotherhood one minus the Blu-Ray (late night shopping, bad idea). I'm willing to sell it to anyone interested, I haven't even taken the wrapping off (it's brand new). I didn't much care for the first FMA.
ilmaestro
State Alchemist
Unlike some of the sentiments expressed by others, I do feel somewhat of an emotional attachment to things on the back of them being "homegrown" - what this leads to, however, is me getting more excited when UK companies are pushing initiatives that I think are good ideas in the first place, and not me supporting low-cost low-quality releases just for the sake of it.
I don't think it's very realistic in this day and age for companies to think of themselves as not being in competition with the international market.
I don't think it's very realistic in this day and age for companies to think of themselves as not being in competition with the international market.