Value for Money -- Manga and Anime

Aion

Aion

Chuunibyou
It has suddenly hit me like a round, metal door doorknob hitting me on the nose (the memories...) how different it feels buying manga and anime.

Whenever I spend a lot on a DVD it feels as if I'm ripping myself off. What am I paying for? A case, a (usually) one-sided cover, a DVD with 3-5 episodes on and, if I'm lucky, a piece of paper or a tiny booklet. Although I'm fully aware there's 60-100 minute of content on the DVD, holding it in my hand and looking at it/stroking it doesn't make me feel happy when there's so little in my hand and I know that, eventually, the DVD will become outdated and lose its resale value.

With manga, however, it's different. Holding a 200 page book in my hand, full of lovely artwork that's viewable by simply flicking through the pages, doesn't make me worry about wasting money - It feels like money well spent. And, unless the publisher releases slightly edited editions, knowing books don't lose their value quite like DVDs do also helps make me feel at ease.

It's a shame that more manga box sets aren't out because, as it stands right now, only Viz have bothered to put lengthy series all together and sold them in boxes with lovely artwork. On the anime side, it'd be nice if individual anime volumes stopped getting released and only box sets got released; just like how standard live-action TV series get released in season 1/2/3/etc box sets.

Does anyone else feel this way or is it just me being my usual odd self? I don't mind being special but it would be nice to know people think in a similar way to myself every few years or so.
 
I totally agree with you. And, I'm sure the industries do, too. Hence the reason they are now bringing out more boxes with more 'stuff' in. Like the new code geass set; It comes with a cd, artbook, both volume one and volume two dvd's, volume one of the manga, and maybe some more stuff I forgot. I prefer to buy more artbooks, cd's and games than I do anime/manga. It's probably because a artbook I can collect, and have something nice to sit on my shelf.

As for buying anime, 'now-a-days' I only buy boxsets, one's that I have seen episode 1/2 for, and I know that I will enjoy. Or, ones that come with extra goodies like cd's, artbooks, interviews and special features on the dvd.

And yeah, manga feels great to buy. The only trouble is, most of the time, I take ages to read it, and I'm too lazy to pick it up again.
 
My problem is that yeah I feel good about having manga but I read the **** so fast that its like a waste cause I dont really re-read much. I've got so many friggin' books to read, I just dont re-read. I dont like spending more than £5 per volume.
 
Aion said:
stroking it doesn't make me feel happy when there's so little in my hand
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Out of context quoting for the win :twisted:

I dunno. I buy DVDs for the content so, while I appreciate the effort that goes into releases such as Mushishi -- each volume of which includes a slipcover, booklet, and postcards -- I'm usually content with my purchases. More box sets would be nice, of course, and it seems as though the industry is slowly moving in that direction. The single-volume release is on borrowed time.

Manga, in comparison, feels somewhat more disposable.
 
The only company that I'm aware of at the moment that's continually releasing full series straight into boxsets (with awesome artwork, sturdy chipboard boxes and at criminally low prices) is Nozomi/Right Stuf. But a lot of the stuff they release is like the niche of an already niche market (hence their sub-only approach).

The only other company that comes any where close is FUNi, with their half-series sets. Unfortunately they like releasing their stuff in below-par packaging.

It would definitely be nice if all companies would release series straight to sets and in decent packaging though.
 
I agree to a certain extent, but there are a lot of exceptions. American releases tend to be better in general, anyway, slipcovers make things look better too. Then you have steelbooks, the Black Lagoon steelbooks, Hellsing Ultimate steelbooks, Naruto movie 1 LE, all of these I have and love immensely, and they're single volumes.

But anyway, going to boxsets should definately be the way to go, and to a large extent in the US it is, the only problem is Funimation have lost the plot and are releasing anime like it's a hugely popular US show, they're trying to mirror the packaging, and for a collectors market that is anime - especially one that is having trouble at the moment and needs to rely on the collector more than the casual buyer, putting out discs with too many episodes on (although this may be a moot point) and using a thin card outer is just not on. Chipboard making something feel worth more immediately. If Funimation did ADV and Rightstuf thinpak collections then all would be right with the world.

The main thing to remember is though, that the prices reflect the content, not the packaging.
 
I kinda want the Code Geass set. What's put me off ordering is the faulty DVD issues, the pound weakening and me not wanting to pay a silly amount. I'll probably just wait for The Buzz to release an stupidly expensive box set.

melonpan said:
American releases tend to be better in general
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This I have to agree with. The standard R1 Naruto box sets all come with storyboard books, nice looking (and shiny) outer boxes and lovely artwork inside. In comparison, the Manga releases on our shores look appalling and very cheap and they don't come with the storyboard book.

Only MVM release attractive looking box sets. ADV are idiots, Manga are still low quality on the looks side and Beez have a logo of something I'm afraid of (plus, going on my Cowboy Bebop sets, they put very little effort in).
 
I believe that I tend to think on value for money based on re-read / replay value.

A read once / watch once show I don't mind waiting to get it cheap. Something I know I will watch over and over I don't mind paying the extra. What would bother me is paying the extra for something I would never watch again.
Luckily, it didn't happen to me yet as I only paid the premium prize for things I've seen before and then re-watched / re-read at least once.
The things I remember paying serious money were Akira manga, Haruhi boxsets, twelve kingdoms and Oh my goddess manga.
I've replayed / re-read them several times, so definitely worth it.
 
melonpan said:
American releases tend to be better in general, anyway, slipcovers make things look better too. Then you have steelbooks, the Black Lagoon steelbooks, Hellsing Ultimate steelbooks, Naruto movie 1 LE, all of these I have and love immensely, and they're single volumes.
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And that just makes me sigh a dissapointed sigh at our own little domestic market. What did we get in steelbooks? Both Appleseed films (Ex Machina minus a Japanese language track) and Solid State Society (missing the soundtrack disc from the R1 release).

I'd love to support the UK market more, if only it actually offered something better than (or at least on par with fer cryin' out loud) importing. The only UK releases I can really get enthusiastic about are the Ghibli films from Optimum and Manga's good value Death Note releases. Beez stuff can't compete on price with releases from Bandai USA, and while MVM release some good stuff which is usually available for a tenner a disc, their cover art department need a good whack round the head to keep it consistant - have you seen the spines on Lain & Black Lagoon? I could line them up better after about five minutes in paint.net. And the fact that most people probably could doesn't exactly scream "High quality". Rather, it screams "We can't be bothered. Give us money anyway."

Incedentally I hate thinpacks. The cases feel really flimsy, and they're usually put in thin card sleeves that feel even flimsier. Steelbooks are very nice but easily dented - Personally I'd love to see everything go in Super Jewel cases but I don't suppose that's going to happen...

So yeah, I would say most UK Anime DVD's are pretty poor value for money. I admit we don't pay anything near the price the Japanese do, but then we don't get anything near the quality of release they do either.

::deep breath::

I swear this is my last DVD related rant (for a while). I'm all out of ammo now and ready to be kicked around by an invisible cyborg. :wink:
 
1 ep per disc really makes for high quality releases ;) Yup, the Japanese certainly get it good...

Have you had a look at the offerings to our European cousins?
 
Personally, I find more satisfaction with manga for pretty much the same reasons as Aion.

DVDs are more expensive; You can't just have a flip through the content and enjoy a bit on the spot, you have sit down and play it; and they're often much lower quality in terms of presentation [especially when you come across lovely volumes like MPD Psycho with embossed covers]~
That said, I do love boxes like the Haruhi LEs, the Starter Sets that came out and steelbooks, etc.

Basically, on a whole, I prefer books; But when DVDs are something a little bit special [i dont regret paying 30 odd pound for a Japanese copy of 5CM Per Second, that i cant even understand], they're equally as enjoyable.
 
Project-2501 said:
1 ep per disc really makes for high quality releases ;) Yup, the Japanese certainly get it good...

Have you had a look at the offerings to our European cousins?
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Yep, the Italians already have most of Lupin III, Captain Harlock and the original Gundam series (with Japanese audio unlike the Yanks). And the French have tons more manga than we do. I might be missing something here, but just having a flick through amazon.fr and .de and ibs.it they seem to mosty have to same releases we do for cheaper prices...

I didn't say that Japanese have it good with regards to price - they don't. But it's hard to argue their releases aren't higher quality. Both in terms of video / audio and packaging. But my point was so are the cheaper US editions. I'm not saying that ours are too dear, just that if they want to charge these prices they should up the quality of the releases a bit. To prove my point I only have to glace towards my US FLCL box; which for less than the seperate UK releases and came in a solid box with a lid, has inside a digipack in a sleeve, a nicely bound full colour book, postcards and stickers.
 
I don't mind paying for special editions if they contain something I deem worthwhile. The Patlabor movie special editions, for instance, include wonderful guidebooks full of information and interviews that are unavailable elsewhere. But I wouldn't bother with Bandai's special editions because they pack them full of useless (to me) crap like t-shirts and CDs and ribbons and charge more than twice the price of the regular editions for them. A pity, because I'd like the boxes.
 
fabricatedlunatic said:
I don't mind paying for special editions if they contain something I deem worthwhile. The Patlabor movie special editions, for instance, include wonderful guidebooks full of information and interviews that are unavailable elsewhere. But I wouldn't bother with Bandai's special editions because they pack them full of useless (to me) crap like t-shirts and CDs and ribbons and charge more than twice the price of the regular editions for them. A pity, because I'd like the boxes.
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Agreed. I bought the Patlabor special editions in the recent two-pack for £40. I didn't buy them before then because they were £40 each. However, if they had been £25 each I would have bought them when they came out. I think it's just a matter of understanding:
1. What something is worth to your target market.
2. What your target market actually wants.
And I think both could be solved by more releases of slightly more expensive (£20-£25 depending on content) special editions and then cheaper (£10-£12) standard versions.
 
I'm not really the type of person who would go out of his way to spend extra £25 (or w/e) on the Beez SE Haruhi releases, that strikes me as silly when you don't really get that much for the huge amount you pay. If a SE comes with a ton of interviews, a making of video and/or a book with unknown details a fan loves to read then it's worth spending extra on SE releases, but for just a soundtrack CD and some junk? No thanks.

That's always been my problem with anime DVDs - There are very rarely ever any extras included aside from clean versions of OP and ED, and when there are a few interviews and the like it's usually with the English crew, which isn't what a fan who wants to hear the thoughts of the original Japanese voice actors and production staff wants to see. More effort needs to be made on the extra side by the animation studios when anime is being produced. It wouldn't be hard to give someone a job as interviewer, give the person a hand cam and tell them to catch people for 5 minute interviews, so why isn't it done more?

It's made worse (for anime) when, depending on how open a manga author is, a single volume of manga can have far more extras than an anime DVD if the author simply puts in a page between each chapter with his/her thoughts. Why the hell aren't the manga authors on anime DVDs with video/audio interviews more often? The person who came up with the story is the most important of the lot and fans want to hear their thoughts.

In fairness to the UK anime distributors, they are fighting a battle they can't win when manga volumes have a much lower RRP by default and give people more for their money. They could at least match the packaging of the US release quality, but even then it wouldn't stop one manga volume being far better value for money than a single DVD. I'm not sure what the solution to this value for money problem is when DVDs can't be sold at the same prices as manga volumes if distributors want to make a profit...
 
If it's something I want I generally don't care how much it is. I was even planning on getting the £25 a disk for 2 episodes that was originally planned for Sola and True Tears. But now that Bandai Ent have absorbed Bandai Visual, they're now getting released directly to Bandai Legend sets, and while the sets wont be of tremendous quality, I couldn't be happier because the price of both of them, I think, works out just less than what 2 of the originally planned single volumes would cost.

As I said above: I generally don't care how much something costs if I want it, but I'll always try and get it as low as possible. I wont throw a fit if I think "that seems a little over-priced" though (excluding TT and Sola, even though I was going to get them in that format), unlike some people.

As for extras, I pretty much 100% agree with Aion. I was chuffed with the on disk extras for the Haruhi DVDs, but no one wants to pay an extra 10-15 quid for some pointless junk or a t-shirt (I'm looking at you Lucky Star) that you'd be far too embarassed to wear... And don't get me started on the Shuffle God panties that came with the vol#6 ender box...
 
rick said:
... And don't get me started on the Shuffle God panties that came with the vol#6 ender box...
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I had not spotted those until I went to flatten the box yesterday.

I think one of the big problems with the UK market is always going to be the fact the US get the English versions of Manga and Anime first. So eventhough it is not always cheaper to import, people that want things leagally still will to get the stuff early, which reduces the numbers buying domestically. Also by the time the UK get the releases they are old news and people either are looking for them at bargin prices or are just no longer interested.

People always seem to be going on about the value of extras, however personally I think I would rather pay a little less and have 5-6 episodes to a disc with just the subs and langauage tracks thus reducing disc count and overall cost.
 
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