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ANNCast - Divine Ed-ification


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Pandadice



Joined: 17 Dec 2008
Posts: 181
PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 6:45 pm Reply with quote
man the thing on the page wasn't playing for me, so i hit the mp3 ddl and it keeps stuttering and cutting out words >:\

is there some reason the one on the main page doesn't work?
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 6:56 pm Reply with quote
Pandadice wrote:
man the thing on the page wasn't playing for me, so i hit the mp3 ddl and it keeps stuttering and cutting out words >:\

is there some reason the one on the main page doesn't work?


Weird - it's working just fine for me. Could be your connection?
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Charred Knight



Joined: 29 Sep 2008
Posts: 3085
PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 7:18 pm Reply with quote
The thing works fine

It should be noted that Unicorn was created by a famed right wing nutjob whose previous work was all about how awesome the Imperial Japanese Army was doing World War II.
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ArthurFrDent



Joined: 05 Aug 2008
Posts: 466
PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 7:19 pm Reply with quote
have not had a problem with the stream at all... are you multitasking? if the other app is a resource pig, kill it...

Interesting take on the aniplex direct sell... I think the main thing Aniplex needs to do is either hire a branding/marketing consultant, or at least pay attention to the flows that Bandai has had doing it's other stuff through it's web portal. Kannagi was sold on Bandai, Amazon and RightStuf only. They should be able to tease the figures, with no problem on which sites do what business.

Then they will need to get a handle on the cost setting. A bit more, is OK, a lot more is stupid. A lot of people have a lot of interplay with Amazon, and AniP should watch that. If I buy a book, 2 DVD, a CD and coffee, from Amazon... it's one shot. Also? Trusted. I have gotten burned by other online sites before, and while Bandai has the name recognition, they may not have the Cred yet.

Other than that, I think this is a move that HAS to take place, on order for imports to maintain over the long haul. If a production house controls the whole thing from Japan, then they can also start selling their low volume stuff [assuming it's subbed] in small quantities on a demand basis. Having a one stop shop, where you could get digital download would be a good second move for the future, as well.

For the moment, though, I think they should consider partners too. They may not be ready to go it alone...
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Paploo



Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Posts: 1875
PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 7:36 pm Reply with quote
Zac, really appreciate the very serious, lengthy talk you guys and Ed had about scanlations, and citing the numbers. Glad to hear more about Vertical's work- love their titles, which more people should check out. To Terra, Guin Saga, and Black Jack are all good stuff.
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Pandadice



Joined: 17 Dec 2008
Posts: 181
PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 7:58 pm Reply with quote
yeah i guess it was a problem on my end, just doing too many things while trying to listen. i just downloaded the mp3 and listened to it in itunes and it as fine.

I enjoyed this weeks ANNcast. man that scanlation talk made me feel bad for every time i've read a scan.. I'm not real big on manga, and i'm not real big on reading books at my computer. so i do buy things when i have money and am at the store.. but i'm just not big on manga to begin with <.<.

I loved the part about them trying to appeal to the con crowd xD
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merr



Joined: 11 Dec 2004
Posts: 462
PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 8:18 pm Reply with quote
I know Justin explained it, but I still don't really understand why the Japanese are so opposed to going through the regular retailers. If distributors were always selling their stuff to retailers at 50% off, what do they care if the retailer sells it at a discount or at full MSRP? They still make the same amount of money in the end, so what's it matter to them?

I have almost no understanding of economics, so if someone could explain this, it'd be great.


Last edited by merr on Fri Apr 23, 2010 8:30 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Umai_Mouri



Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 158
Location: The Big Apple
PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 8:28 pm Reply with quote
I haven't listened to the podcast yet, but I have to say that I'm looking forward to what you guys are going to say about Love Exposure. I watched it a few months ago and it has since been one of my favorite movie ever.

[EDIT]

"...spectacular display of weirdness."

That's why I love it. Thank you for talking about it Justin! I hope people give this a chance. Yes, it is ridiculously strange, but the characters are great. I especially found the two main characters endearing.

Also, the director of the film, Shion Sono, did Suicide Circle. Just wanted to throw that out there.

Ok, let me go listen to the rest of the podcast.
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8458
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 10:41 pm Reply with quote
Gundam Unicorn is absolutely beautiful, but you do have to know your UC to fully appreciate it. What ever happened to the interview with the director?

Gundam Unicorn, by the way, has probably the best English dub a Gundam anime has ever received.

I liked the sub-only release thing for Gurren Lagann, but I guess people were impatient. I have the first sub-only set and have been meaning to continue collecting (but it's not a big priority right now).

I don't quite share your romance for English dubs, but they do make anime a bit more accessible to a greater number of people, because a lot of folks still can't wrap their minds around anime as foreign film.

I've been meaning to pick up some MW, because I've read great things about it, and the free preview of it on the Vertical site made it look promising. Looks like a proto-Monster, which makes sense, since Urasawa is a big Tezuka fanboy.
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FaytLein



Joined: 21 Jun 2008
Posts: 1260
Location: Williamsburg, VA
PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 10:50 pm Reply with quote
merr wrote:
I know Justin explained it, but I still don't really understand why the Japanese are so opposed to going through the regular retailers. If distributors were always selling their stuff to retailers at 50% off, what do they care if the retailer sells it at a discount or at full MSRP? They still make the same amount of money in the end, so what's it matter to them?



If I followed the discussion correctly, retailers are paying the distributors 50% of what distributors need in order to make a profit, by cutting them out of the equation, whatever money comes in from direct sales will make up for the loss selling at 50% off.

So, say you need to make 100,000 bucks to make money on a product at a price of 20 dollars. So you need to move 5000 units in order to meet your goal. Retailers come in and buy at 10 dollars a unit, which means you now need 10000 units to break even. By cutting out retailers, distributors can sell fewer units and make theoretically more money.

I hope I got that right.
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief


Joined: 28 Jul 2003
Posts: 1684
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 11:40 pm Reply with quote
FaytLein wrote:
I hope I got that right.


You did. Sorry I wasn't more clear.

Umai_Mouri wrote:
Also, the director of the film, Shion Sono, did Suicide Circle. Just wanted to throw that out there.


I didn't bring that up because I didn't consider it a selling point. Wink
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merr



Joined: 11 Dec 2004
Posts: 462
PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 12:10 am Reply with quote
FaytLein wrote:
So, say you need to make 100,000 bucks to make money on a product at a price of 20 dollars. So you need to move 5000 units in order to meet your goal. Retailers come in and buy at 10 dollars a unit, which means you now need 10000 units to break even. By cutting out retailers, distributors can sell fewer units and make theoretically more money.

I hope I got that right.

I get all that. But wasn't it ALWAYS the case that retailers would buy at $10 if the MSRP was $20. I can understand why they'd want to cut out the middleman and make more money, but I just don't get why this is suddenly a new or necessary idea.

Is it that the retailers are suddenly forcing the distributors to sell them the $20 product at a much lower price than they would have ten years ago? Or is it simply that people like Aniplex have decided their products are going to sell at such low numbers, there's no point in going through the traditional retail chain when they can make just as much money selling through their niche website?

Justin made it sound like online retailers have caused the distributors to make less money by selling their products for next to nothing. But again, what I don't get is, if one store sells a DVD for $30 and another sells the same DVD for $18, what does it matter for the distributor? Both stores would've bought the disc for $15, so how do the razor thin margins of the online store have any effect on the distributor's profit?
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Charred Knight



Joined: 29 Sep 2008
Posts: 3085
PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 12:16 am Reply with quote
penguintruth wrote:
Gundam Unicorn is absolutely beautiful, but you do have to know your UC to fully appreciate it. What ever happened to the interview with the director?

Gundam Unicorn, by the way, has probably the best English dub a Gundam anime has ever received.

I liked the sub-only release thing for Gurren Lagann, but I guess people were impatient. I have the first sub-only set and have been meaning to continue collecting (but it's not a big priority right now).

I don't quite share your romance for English dubs, but they do make anime a bit more accessible to a greater number of people, because a lot of folks still can't wrap their minds around anime as foreign film.

I've been meaning to pick up some MW, because I've read great things about it, and the free preview of it on the Vertical site made it look promising. Looks like a proto-Monster, which makes sense, since Urasawa is a big Tezuka fanboy.


Personally a dub can improve over the original, Cowboy Bebop, and both Fullmetal Alchemist tv series do this with Travis Willingham clearly being the best Mustang. In general I find Funimation dubs to be excellent, with Ouran High School Host Club as another example. I should also point out that watching it in my native language improves my ability to watch it. I have to watch subs several times before I actually got what they where saying where as I can nail it pretty quickly with dubs.

I am really saddened by the poor sales of Gurren Lagann because the dub is excellent.
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8458
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 12:41 am Reply with quote
Charred Knight wrote:
Personally a dub can improve over the original, Cowboy Bebop, and both Fullmetal Alchemist tv series do this with Travis Willingham clearly being the best Mustang. In general I find Funimation dubs to be excellent, with Ouran High School Host Club as another example. I should also point out that watching it in my native language improves my ability to watch it. I have to watch subs several times before I actually got what they where saying where as I can nail it pretty quickly with dubs.

I am really saddened by the poor sales of Gurren Lagann because the dub is excellent.


I wouldn't put the FMA dub anywhere near on the same level as the Cowboy Bebop dub, and certainly wouldn't rate it above the Japanese version. Too inconsistent.

Funimation dubs aren't nearly as good as some Animaze or Bang Zoom ones, anyway. They're more on the level of Ocean. Okay in a pinch, but usually nothing special.

Gurren Lagann's dub was decent, but didn't have near as much energy as the Japanese version. The best performances ended up being for the more soft-spoken characters.

I disagree with your specific opinions, but your broad opinion stands. I will concede that, on occasion, I have enjoyed an English dub more than the Japanese track. However, it's so rare that it's hardly worth mentioning.
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Charred Knight



Joined: 29 Sep 2008
Posts: 3085
PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 1:16 am Reply with quote
I don't think anime has any hope to survive unless it can expand it's influence past just the japanese otaku. Simply put how many times has a show got great fansub numbers only to bomb in America. Gundam hasn't made any real money in a decade, the only Kyoani show to make a lot of money was Haruhi, Sunrise's only real hit in the past decade in America was Code Geass. Nanoha is still relativly popular in fansub circles but no one is even really attempting to support it here.

People continually defend fansubs with BS excuses like how the REAL fansub groups stop subbing something as soon as it's liscensed which isn't true at all, and keep claiming that they make for great marketing brand when the only time it worked was with Haruhi.
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