The old-school anime DVD/BD news thread.

[usamimi]

Much of the problem is the way anime companies make money. I think I once heard that up to 90% of their profits come from home DVD/BD sales, which is why they're so expensive. They also don't take the international market into consideration when calculating/estimating profits. I think that's ludicrous. There has to be a better way to do this, especially given that anime has become increasingly global in recent decades. You'd think that the cost of licensing would already offset any profits lost from reverse importing.

I think I've read that somewhere, too, so that wouldn't surprise me terribly...

[Heero]

I was more under the impression that they just wanted to squeeze as much money as possible from the market, which is a little disappointing. :/

While I'm sure there is an element of "get as much as you can" mentality, I'm NOT sure that they would have as clean an "economy of scale" in Japan. (ie. lower price = increased sales count) I admit I don't live there (unlike various other members of our forums, so please correct any misconceptions you know of), but my understanding is that the "mass market" will never really be a viable sales channel for DVDs/BDs if ONLY because SPACE is at such a premium for most people. The companies sell to the otaku market because they're willing to blow a bunch of money and stack discs and boxes to the ceiling in their living space, but the "average" person isn't going to buy a lot of physical media that will just take up space. I imagine they also WANT to keep a measure of "exclusiveness" to the product, they only print X which they sell at inflated prices, if you want it, make sure to BUY it, BUY IT NOW! Lots of things go out of print pretty quickly, I think that's been the case for a long time, but I would assume companies are even MORE committed to that considering the resale market with places like Book Off and such.

[usamimi]

*nods* That makes sense. I forget that space is often extremely limited for people over there, so people not buying as many CDs/DVDs/whatever is more understandable. (Hell, I have quite a bit of space and I still feel like it's not enough at times for all the things I have ) But the market is probably a lot larger than it once was...I don't see why the prices haven't at least dropped a LITTLE. :/

[danth]

I just bought a bunch of Discotek stuff from RightStuf:

Casshan: Robot Hunter Casshern
Fist of the North Star: The Movie
Locke the Superman
Mad Bull 34 Complete Series
New Hurricane Polymar
Shin Getter Robo vs Neo Getter Robo
Space Adventure Cobra: The Movie

Not bad for $110.

[usamimi]

Nice!! I want to get all of those, eventually. I remember having pretty much all of that on VHS at some point. XD

[danth]

Now if only I could convince Discotek to license Dog Soldier. :p

Seriously though...

[usamimi]

Totoro's finally coming to blu-ray! http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BEYYEJ4

Not terribly surprising, but I was wondering when they'd get around to it. This'll be the 3rd time I've bought the movie once it comes out, lol.

[usamimi]

Wow, I hadn't heard about this...this may be old news to some, but apparently Funimation is releasing the original Ocean Dub of Dragonball Z?! http://www.aaaanime.com/item/DVDs/FN01204.html

I'm half tempted to get it just for nostalgia's sake. XD I remember Vegeta's fakey British-y accent, lol.

[_D_]

For me, that's not where it started as I was getting the tapes subbed from Hawaii way before the dub ever showed up. Tapes are still in their boxes upstairs. I only use them these days to check things like broadcast dates or pull old local Hawaiian commercials off them.

[usamimi]

So I'm hearing rumors around Twitter now that S'more Entertainment is considering not releasing any more of the Galaxy Express TV box sets because the first one isn't selling as well as they'd hoped? (Supposedly someone asked them when the next box was set to release and they answered vaguely, hinting it might not come out at all.) This shouldn't surprise me, considering how abysmal I've heard their DVD quality is, but I'm also kind of sad that they'd drop it so quickly. I was hoping maybe they'd improve the quality in the future releases (and then maybe I'd consider getting them.)