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Hey, Answerman! Indecent Expo-sure

PetrifiedJello wrote:

RELAX, before you blow a gasket. I was playing around, hence poking fun at Brian's dying computer. Always better late than never. :)

Uh, what? I was just explaining why it was late.

'Hey when does the bus get here"

"GEEZ CALM DOWN DUDE"

vashfanatic wrote:

Pants wrote: Afro Samurai won an Emmy. You might want to mention that. And it was (1) an American/Japanese co-production and (2) utterly horrible. Loved the guy talking about how great Japanese releases are compared to American ones because they don't have blurbs trying to get you to buy something. This works from the assumption that people only buy things that they're already familiar with through fansubs (and more recently, streaming). While that may be the case frequently enough, basic advertising knowledge should tell you that it's not a bad idea to sell you product, as opposed to assuming everyone already knows about it. That the blurbs are sometimes horribly inaccurate... well, yeah, that happens sometimes. Still, I'd be curious to see whether the ones in Japanese aren't just as bad if you could actually read them...

It makes sense to have such blurbs if they're on Brick & Mortar shelves, like at Best Buy or whatever. But when was the last time you saw a Nozomi Int. release at Best Buy? And how many people buy $100 Honneamise blu-rays just because they read the blurb on the cover? And all that ad copy is completely unneeded when the disc is bought online, as most niche anime DVDs are. Especially like that Bandai Store-exclusive release of the Gurren Lagann movies.

Your mention of "basic advertising knowledge" reminds me of something my brother said. He's a hardcore beer connoisseur, you see. And he says "Any sort of beer that has TV advertisements is crap." Basically the reasoning is that true quality beer doesn't need ads to sell, it just sells on quality alone and word-of-mouth. Low-quality mainstream brands get by by selling a "lifestyle" through advertising, and not on the actual quality of the product. The same basic argument applies to anime as well.

My point is that to some people there is a large difference in enjoyment between anime (as a generalized and averaged whole) and American TV shows (as a generalized and averaged whole). To them anime (in general) is more valuable, per minute, than American TV shows (in general).

That pricing scheme has obviously worked for Japan for the last 15 years or so.

Because an episode of Soranowoto gives me four times as much pleasure/enjoyment as an episode of True Blood?

"Do you want mainstream projects with mass appeal to become financially unfeasible, leaving only the niche and hardcore-audience-aimed projects which that business model can support?" To which I'd reply "That doesn't necessarily sound like a bad thing to me."

Comparing Tomino to Lucas doesn't make a whole of a lot of sense, considering he actually didn't want to make more Gundam - producers kept wanting him to do it.

einhorn303 wrote:

vashfanatic wrote: Pants wrote: Afro Samurai won an Emmy. You might want to mention that. And it was (1) an American/Japanese co-production and (2) utterly horrible. Loved the guy talking about how great Japanese releases are compared to American ones because they don't have blurbs trying to get you to buy something. This works from the assumption that people only buy things that they're already familiar with through fansubs (and more recently, streaming). While that may be the case frequently enough, basic advertising knowledge should tell you that it's not a bad idea to sell you product, as opposed to assuming everyone already knows about it. That the blurbs are sometimes horribly inaccurate... well, yeah, that happens sometimes. Still, I'd be curious to see whether the ones in Japanese aren't just as bad if you could actually read them... It makes sense to have such blurbs if they're on Brick & Mortar shelves, like at Best Buy or whatever. But when was the last time you saw a Nozomi Int. release at Best Buy? And how many people buy $100 Honneamise blu-rays just because they read the blurb on the cover? And all that ad copy is completely unneeded when the disc is bought online, as most niche anime DVDs are. Especially like that Bandai Store-exclusive release of the Gurren Lagann movies.

About three months ago when I bought the Irresponsible Captain Tylor(TV) re-release ;p

'Course it had probably been sitting on the shelves since last May =|

Quote:

Your mention of "basic advertising knowledge" reminds me of something my brother said. He's a hardcore beer connoisseur, you see. And he says "Any sort of beer that has TV advertisements is crap." Basically the reasoning is that true quality beer doesn't need ads to sell, it just sells on quality alone and word-of-mouth. Low-quality mainstream brands get by by selling a "lifestyle" through advertising, and not on the actual quality of the product. The same basic argument applies to anime as well.

Erm ... Sam Adams has TV ads all the time and it's perfectly good beer O_o

Quote:

My point is that to some people there is a large difference in enjoyment between anime (as a generalized and averaged whole) and American TV shows (as a generalized and averaged whole). To them anime (in general) is more valuable, per minute, than American TV shows (in general).

Seriously? That's like trying to justify the single prices for Japanese music. Trying to sell two songs for $15 would be suicide for any company in the U.S.

It's got nothing to do with how much people enjoy it or value it, it's more that they've had that pricing scheme forced on them due to the scale of the businesses involved. American TV shows can sell at muc lower prices because (Duh) they've got more people they can sell their DVDs to.

But because the alternatives in the U.S. are so much cheaper they can't really justify trying to sell 40 minutes of a show for $70. Heck, didn't they try that with Gantz a while ago? I think it was more like $20 for two episodes, and that failed pretty well too.

I've always felt there's something suspicious about the huge amount the Japanese supposedly pay for anime on disc. I don't buy the "Japanese are massive otaku and therefore are willing to be reamed repeatedly because they love the animes so much" argument. At about $40 per episode (and considering the high cost of living over there), I think there must be a massive amount of pirating going on.

teferi wrote:

But because the alternatives in the U.S. are so much cheaper they can't really justify trying to sell 40 minutes of a show for $70. Heck, didn't they try that with Gantz a while ago? I think it was more like $20 for two episodes, and that failed pretty well too.

Not sure about the prices for when Gantz was initially released, but it definitely did have the 2 epsiodes per disc. I rented it through Netflix and even then my reaction was "Two episodes? Are they serious?" So I can't imagine that went over with anyone who wanted to buy the show.

In fact, many Japanese are insanely brand-conscious, and the idea of value shopping doesn't enter into the equation.

In fact, many Japanese are insanely brand-conscious, and the idea of value shopping doesn't enter into the equation.

Seriously? That's like trying to justify the single prices for Japanese music. Trying to sell two songs for $15 would be suicide for any company in the U.S.

eyeresist wrote:

I've always felt there's something suspicious about the huge amount the Japanese supposedly pay for anime on disc. I don't buy the "Japanese are massive otaku and therefore are willing to be reamed repeatedly because they love the animes so much" argument. At about $40 per episode (and considering the high cost of living over there), I think there must be a massive amount of pirating going on.

Buying obscenely overpriced merchandise to show devotion to a show is a status symbol among Japanese fans. Don't believe me? Join a Johnny's fan club some time, where your $500 a year buys you a few newsletters and the right to purchase *more* overpriced crap, as well as access to pricey "premium" seating at concerts.

In fact, many Japanese are insanely brand-conscious, and the idea of value shopping doesn't enter into the equation.