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Sentai Filmworks November 2014 Solicitations


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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 11:27 am Reply with quote
SpacemanHardy wrote:
Anyone else think that the HOTD collector's edition set is way too high?


I do. I am a big Sentai fan, but $90 for 12.5 episodes seems high. I paid almost $100 for the PE of Psycho Pass and the recent Toradora! premium release, but those are two-cour series.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 11:46 am Reply with quote
SpacemanHardy wrote:
Anyone else think that the HOTD collector's edition set is way too high?


Yep. Unfortunately, we are seeing the baleful influence of AoA at work here. It was really only a matter of time before other R1 distribs looked at the model of throwing a few trinkets into a "Collector's Edition" and jacking up the price. The failure of Bandai Entertainment and Geneon in NA seemed to suggest that these kinds of "special" releases were not viable here. AoA seems to be proving that assumption incorrect and other companies are taking notice.
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Sohma_Curse



Joined: 07 Dec 2012
Posts: 512
Location: New York
PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 1:35 pm Reply with quote
The problem with HOTD is that it's neither a new show nor enough of a cult hit to justify a release like this when the DVD and blu ray versions contain both sub and dub and are still very much in print and not exactly flying off the shelves. Furthermore, it's not like there's any new show content being offered. It's the same good 12-episode series, the same terrible 12-minute OVA (that can be purchased on blu ray for less than $5 brand new), some crappy trinkets, and, as was said earlier, what I can only imagine is artwork that can be viewed anywhere on the internet for free. Hell, I think the $40-50 I see the regular old blu ray release going for is way too much.

I could understand a release like this with Toradora - a cult hit that was aching for a dub track and a nice, flashy package, or Psycho Pass and Attack on Titan - new shows that garnered positive reviews and massive interest. But it makes zero sense from every standpoint for a show like HOTD to get the royal treatment. I'd say they're trying to squeeze more money out of it, but...what money?
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FLEABttn



Joined: 10 Aug 2003
Posts: 106
Location: ABQ
PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 2:19 pm Reply with quote
SpacemanHardy wrote:
Anyone else think that the HOTD collector's edition set is way too high?

Even with RightStuf's discount, it'll run you 90 bucks. And for a four year old show with a couple of cheap paper chachkies tossed into an art box and digipak


Sohma_Curse wrote:
some crappy trinkets


Blood- wrote:
Yep...It was really only a matter of time before other R1 distribs looked at the model of throwing a few trinkets into a "Collector's Edition" and jacking up the price.


Someone will probably say I'm personally insulting them for suggesting this, but it seems like there's a decent level of addiction or a lack of self respect for people to shell out this kind of money for postcards, "trading cards", and art books they'll never look at for more than a few minutes, yet drive the price up significantly higher. Tchotchkes indeed, these disposable paper and plastic items that cost an insignificant handful of dollars to produce including labor that double the price of a set? It's dumb. If the industry goes back to old R1 pricing, I'll live, but people buying this crap sets a really negative precedence for everyone but a select few.
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One-Eye



Joined: 08 Mar 2011
Posts: 2260
PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 2:36 pm Reply with quote
I own the HotD DVD and while I think its good trashy fun there's nothing about this release that would make me double-dip for it. I think its been out long enough that whoever wanted it already picked it up and if they were dying to have that (crappy) OVA they would have picked up the single. I love my artboxes, but if I'm going to double dip its gotta be something that I seriously like.

Blood- wrote:
SpacemanHardy wrote:

Anyone else think that the HOTD collector's edition set is way too high?


Yep. Unfortunately, we are seeing the baleful influence of AoA at work here. It was really only a matter of time before other R1 distribs looked at the model of throwing a few trinkets into a "Collector's Edition" and jacking up the price. The failure of Bandai Entertainment and Geneon in NA seemed to suggest that these kinds of "special" releases were not viable here. AoA seems to be proving that assumption incorrect and other companies are taking notice.

I don't know in general I've found Sentai's releases to be a little higher even for slightly older shows. I think I've seen Canaan BD going regularly for $40-45 and hell X'amd BD was like $60-80 for the longest time. I think X'amd finally dropped to the $50 range with the latest release. Not mind blowing great shows full of extras either, unless you count some of the out of sync subtitles of Canaan as an extra feature. This reminds me, gotta ebay Canaan sometime soon.

However, I do agree that AoA influence is being felt and yea I'm not a fan of postcards or the trinkets.
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Sohma_Curse



Joined: 07 Dec 2012
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 2:51 pm Reply with quote
The main thing that pisses me off about Sentai's 'extra features' is that 95% of the time, they're just the clean opening/closing and trailers (and their 'trailers' are just the clean openings of shows that do nothing at all to describe the show in any way). Occasionally they'll beef things up a bit with interviews, commentaries, premier footage, etc, but more often than not, you don't buy a Sentai release expecting a plethora of bonus material; most likely because they want to keep that second disc as low capacity as possible so it's cheaper for them to produce.
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SpacemanHardy



Joined: 03 Jan 2012
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 3:29 pm Reply with quote
I think the main reason this release's price tag is so high is that Sentai is trying to charge full price for the bluray set AND the DVD set AND the OVA AND the extra junk all at once, with no actual discount.

That's not how combo packs are supposed to work. The main cost is supposed to be for the blurays with the DVD being thrown in at a discount.

For comparison, look at FUNimation's Kamisama Kiss Goddess Edition release. That was a combo pack that cost $75 after discount, and came with actual *stuff*. Granted it was all girly stuff, but it was a lot more interesting and usable than the junk in the HOTD release. Then there are the Psycho-Pass and Toradora sets which average around the $90-$100 range, but as mentioned before, both of those shows are over 20 episodes.

Personally, I think a much more reasonable price for this set would be around $60, at the very most $75. Asking for $90 is just too much, especially when you can buy the old bluray set and the OVA separately for under $50 on sale.

Unless Sentai *REALLY* thinks their packaging and knickknacks are honestly worth 40 bucks. Rolling Eyes

Seeing this pricing makes me kinda nervous about what Sentai plans to do with their Chunibyo and Beyond the Boundary releases, considering both of those are slated to get collector's editions as well. It would really suck to have to pay $90 just to hear the dub. Mad


Last edited by SpacemanHardy on Wed Jul 23, 2014 3:31 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Ortensia1980



Joined: 31 Aug 2011
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 3:30 pm Reply with quote
Log Horizon! Finally! Definitely getting that.

I like that Sentai is going to do collector's editions as well, but I'm not buying this one. There's a UK BD set of HotD that has the OVA on it as well that I can get for 20 dollars. I don't care about the show enough to spend that much money just to get an art book and some postcards. I don't really understand why Sentai would choose to do one for HotD to begin with. Like Sohma_Curse said, it's no Attack on Titan or Psycho Pass.
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SpacemanHardy



Joined: 03 Jan 2012
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 3:34 pm Reply with quote
Ortensia1980 wrote:
I don't really understand why Sentai would choose to do one for HotD to begin with. Like Sohma_Curse said, it's no Attack on Titan or Psycho Pass.


Because it's Sentai's single best-selling release, right up there with Clannad.

Odds are this is an experiment on their part to see if there is a market for collector's editions of their shows, and it does make sense to start with one of their hottest sellers. At that price, however, I really don't see it working out quite the way they were hoping.
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yuna49



Joined: 27 Aug 2008
Posts: 3804
PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 3:45 pm Reply with quote
So the premise is that Sentai believes it's more profitable to sell HotD to "double-dippers" than it is to sell a new release of a popular show? I don't have the collector's mentality that drives these kinds of purchases, but this doesn't seem like the best strategy to me.

Perhaps it has more to do with production costs and rights fees than it does with the market.


Last edited by yuna49 on Wed Jul 23, 2014 3:47 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 3:46 pm Reply with quote
SpacemanHardy wrote:
Seeing this pricing makes me kinda nervous about what Sentai plans to do with their Chunibyo and Beyond the Boundary releases, considering both of those are slated to get collector's editions as well. It would really suck to have to pay $90 just to hear the dub. Mad


Events could prove me wrong, but I don't think you have to worry. I don't see either Funi or Sentai abandoning their respective "reasonable" pricing models in favour of AoA-like "special" releases. So I fully expect that if there is a dub for Chunibyo and/or BtB, that will be available on all versions.

What I think is happening is that Funi, Sentai (and even Viz with respect to its K release) are waking up to the the lure of the "collector's" market, where a small cadre of people are willing to lay out fairly big bucks for "collector" editions. So they are willing to try and tap into the market, but not at the expense of their traditional buyers. Again, that's just my assumption. Time will tell.
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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 4:23 pm Reply with quote
SpacemanHardy wrote:
Seeing this pricing makes me kinda nervous about what Sentai plans to do with their Chunibyo and Beyond the Boundary releases, considering both of those are slated to get collector's editions as well. It would really suck to have to pay $90 just to hear the dub. Mad


I do not really mind paying $90 for Chuunibyou because I like the show a lot. But I would have preferred if their sub-only release from May was on BD. Sentai would be able to manipulate me with high prices if it became the only and/or fastest way get BD's.

Dubs could be an effective way for Sentai to drive prices up. But it is too bad for them that they mostly churn out shitty dubs. If Chuunibyou was not a gorgeous looking show, animated by Kyoto Animation, I would have snatched, long ago, a bare-bones copy of their sub-only DVD release.


Blood- wrote:
So I fully expect that if there is a dub for Chunibyo and/or BtB, that will be available on all versions.


Do you mean to say that Sentai will have three different SKU's for each series: regular DVD version, regular BD edition and a special BD/DVD combo?

My impression is that Sentai will initially only have a single SKU in the form of the more expensive BD/DVD combo. I hope I am wrong and they also offer their traditional DVD and BD releases alongside.
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Vata Raven



Joined: 21 May 2007
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 5:46 pm Reply with quote
Why hasn't Sentai not started to do DVD/Blu-ray combo packs?

I hardly doubt it's a money issue at this point. It just seems cheaper to do the combo pack and get it over with.

Same with Viz. Why is it that it's only their limited edition sets that are combo, but the regular edition is just DVD.

So, if that limited edition of Sailor Moon goes OOP, can you not get the blu-ray anymore? It's dumb, really.
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Blood-
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:03 pm Reply with quote
@ angelmcazares - well, that's the problem when I start talking out of my butt instead of from actual knowledge. See, I had forgotten that Sentai already released the subbed version of Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! on DVD in May.

I believe their original plan was to release the sub version on both DVD and BD but then they put out a press release in April basically saying that due to "fan demand" for a dub, they would release the subbed DVD as planned (but no subbed BD version) and then offer a "Limited Edition Numbered Premium Box Set" that would be a DVD/BD combo with a dub. So no, I do not expect them to release a more bare bones version with the dub separately on DVD and BD.

That is a very troubling development. In the past, they've put titles out sub-only and if sales warrant, they do a dub and release separate DVD and BD sets. Historically, those dubbed offerings have been reasonably priced.

This time they decide to do a dub even before the sub (on DVD only) is released? Very fishy. So basically your "cheap" alternative to getting the show on BD and dubbed will be a sub-only DVD release.

Let's hope they don't pull the same stunt with BtB.
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Dfens



Joined: 08 Feb 2013
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:54 pm Reply with quote
I loved Amagami SS in the past but was kind of hesitant to buy both seasons on DVD only. But since I prefer blu-rays and it's the whole entire show and it's priced right I'll probably pick it up. If their was a Hibiki route like in the game I buy it just for that part in a heartbeat.

Will definitely pick up part 1 of Log Horizon don't want to wait years for a complete set.

Stella C3 I'm on the fence for this one especially since it was initially a DVD only release. Funny how now 2 months later it will be released on blu-ray. Still debating if I really want to own it.

Now for the big one Highschool of the Dead. Which I'm a huge fan I think people are getting ahead of themselves. Yes it's been out here state side for 3 years now and the OVA for just under a year. At the time it was a big hit for Sentai and sold really well but by now most people who wanted to own a copy already do.

I initially bought it on DVD sold it for almost what I paid for it and then re-bought it on blu-ray which is still sealed new for dirt cheap like over 30 dollars and 5 bucks for the OVA. Now will hold off on what the LE looks like before I decide if I want to sell my current set and upgrade. The extras I could careless I have figures and very hard to find actual artbooks but wouldn't mind a nice chipboard box for the series vs just plain plastic holders.

As for people bitching about the price you do know that is the initial price and not the final price. Wait for the annual Sentai sale on Rightstuf and it will drop down to about 70 dollars or less vs current 90 dollar price tag and if you have a got Anime membership you save a additional 10 percent, plus free shipping and no sales tax on order over 49 dollars before discounts always.

What you have to understand Sentai doesn't do combo packs at all for their releases so in essence you are paying for the DVD's and Blu-Ray's at the same time and they give you a chipboard box and all those cheap trinkets. The DVD's on sale are usually 35 bucks the blu-rays about 42 dollars on sale. Not including the OVA another 10 dollars for both. Add it all up it's the same price if you wanted to own it on both formats if not half the price.

If you already own it like I do it probably for most wouldn't be worth it to double dip and repurchase the show.

One quick not the OVA came out after the series aired and was licensed and was a bonus blu-ray for the Japanese copy manga volume 7 LE, it was a miracle they bothered to get it and sold it so cheap since it was not a full length episode.
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