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I get a good laugh when people say, Why did you stop releasing the level sets Funimation? It's because not enough of you purist bought the damn thing. It's your fault really. Fumination tried to do what the vocal minority that think they are the majority want, but it didn't work. They just released what they knew the majority of the population wanted. It's the truth. DBZ is enjoyed by the casual fan more than the hardcore fan. They care more about the picture fitting their hdtvs's than the picture being true to the original source. It might not be fair but unfortunately it's the way it is.

@xchampion
The casual fans buy tons of the orange bricks and Blu-ray season sets not because they are cropped to fit their TVs but because they are cheap and only need to buy 9 sets. I know thats why I bought the orange bricks back when I was more of a casual fan. I sure didn't give a shit about thier digitally remastering it in widescreen back then.

The Level sets failed because they were more expensive and were spread out across more sets. I don't feel like checking right now, but I think they were also released shortly after the Dragon Box sets were released. That sure didn't help sales of the Level sets.

Jetstream2 wrote:

ignorant masses

I see you've picked up on a bit of my wording there lol. That makes me like you a bit. Sadly I don't think I have too much else to say on the topic other than what I've already said. I know Funimation has done what they have with the Dragon Ball Z franchise and milked it because they know they can take advantage of doing it, make a lot of money, and get away with it, but it still makes me cringe that they can't or don't want to ever release as perfect of a release as they possibly can, aside from the Dragon Box sets. Every release has to always have some sort of glaring issue about it. Cropped footage, missing footage, overly blurred footage, overly saturated colors, and the list goes on. Of course if you asked a Funimation representative and put them on the spot about it, they'll never admit to it. They must hire drug addicts on speed for their video department, at least for Dragon Ball Z there. Makes me imagine some guy dressed up like Goku, acting like he's about to jump out of his skin, completely out of his mind, with bloodshot eyes doing the work lol.

I don't ever think there wil bea perfect Dragon Ball Z set that would have everything fixed though.

And yet, there is still no perfect DBZ release. The Level sets would have been if they weren't canceled though. I'm content with the orange brick DVDs until something better comes along. The current Blu-rays don't really fix any of their problems. I'm sure the Dragon Boxes were nice, but they're very OOP, not in HD, and don't have the US soundtrack (which I personally prefer).

ChaoticThinker wrote:

I totally agree. I did that with Steins;Gate. When it first released it was extremely expensive and was split in to two sections. I waited a bit and now I own the whole series plus the OVA that didn't make it on the first round for around $30.00. I don't know about your S.A.V.E comment though, however now that I've seen it I might get to do some shopping because that can maybe signify a near end.

I wouldn't put much stock in that assumption. Some of Funimation's titles have been available in SAVE editions since 2009/2010 and are still in print 6-7 years later, even noted flops like Big Windup. Historically Funimation hasn't been a company that lets go of licenses very often unless there are other extenuating circumstances involved, like the ex-Geneon titles that they used to distribute, or the stuff they haven't been able to renew recently because Aniplex won't let them.

I don't own the entire DB, DBZ, DBGT or Kai collection but I do own a few sets of each series here and there and even though I would like to own everything that is Dragonball on blu-ray one day I'm perfectly fine right now since there is more than enough Anime to satisfy my needs. Very Happy

Keep in mind that simply keeping the same disc sets in print for years can have the adverse effect of driving prices even lower than simply releasing it with a new SKU and MSRP. Look at all the older titles that litter the clearance walls and $5 bins at retailers like Walmart and Best Buy, or all the older Sentai and Funi titles you can find online for 50% off or more.

While re-releasing an older title usually still requires you to drop the MSRP, it's usually not as much as the discount that consumers and retailers expect for the same set that they've been seeing on shelves for four or five years. So a set that was $50 years ago, may only be $20 now in clearance sections. However, a publisher can now release a new collection that may be $30, and to those that aren't that familiar with it, it looks like a pretty good bargain compared to the older $50 sets (or newer shows that are still at that price point.)

Not to mention, the re-releases not only allow the show to extend it's shelf life, but it allows them to promote the show more and potentially not only gain more physical sales, but could also help with streaming numbers, digital downloads, etc. A newer release could also help sell off the remaining clearance priced older sets, and help distributors about retailer returns and even deeper losses on those sets that are still floating around.

Aphasial wrote:

Kind of makes me wonder about the S.A.V.E. and other types of re-releases.

For some buyers, myself included, FUNi's S.A.V.E. actually works. I've bought a fair number of them over the years, both DVD and Blu--either picking up shows I couldn't afford upon first release, or as birthday/Christmas gifts for friends and family. And then there's the small-but-growing godsend of Discotek Media, with their license rescues of shows I long thought dead and buried. Case in point: my nephew has wanted Sherlock Hound for years, but I wasn't about to pay out-of-print (read: extortionate) prices.

Tenchi wrote:

not-even-close-to-top-of-the-line-home-theatre-quality 26" (small by modern TV standards) LCD Toshiba that I bought in 2008 and I wish I could own something better because it's a visually beautiful show. Weirdly, I haven't noticed any video quality issues with my Strawberry Marshmallow DVDs, released by Geneon around the same time, although that may just be due to a somewhat simpler art style with less subtle shading effects than Kamichu!.

Good lord, 26" is small nowadays? Our TV is that size, and we deliberately chose that size because it was the biggest TV that could fit in the entertainment center replacing our CRT. (It's one of those pieces of furniture that has a big square space for a TV. I take it that with TVs getting bigger, this kind of furniture is no longer in style.)

epicwizard wrote:

Oh, so that's why FUNimation constantly put the selling point "From the original creators of the Gundam series" on their Sgt. Frog DVD releases.

No, that's for potential buyers. The messages talking up stuff like merchandise tie-ins and how every other seller will be stocking them and such, at least back in the 90's and 00's, were handed out to store owners and other people in retail in the form of flyers or simple paper printouts (not sure if anime distributors are still doing that, but some other businesses still are).

JDude042 wrote:

To drive the point home even further about my previous post, Funimation has re-released Dragon Ball Z so many times in the past 15 or so years, and yet the show didn't even get a DVD release in Japan until around 2004-2005 if I recall with the Dragon Box DVD Sets, and then were released in DVD singles there afterwards, that's it. So the American company has gone through hell and high water to milk the franchise for everything they can, while the Japanese just sit back and take everything at a nice and brisk pace with their releases. Even the Japanese release at the very least has been faulted for having slightly altered colors compared to how it originally looked on TV, apparently due to the quality of the Toei's video masters of the show, but it's sure a hell of a lot better than how Funimation has gang raped the series on video.

Different markets, different retail systems, different ways to persuade people between regions. Who's to say DBZ had any form of lasting popularity in Japan except to a few dedicated fans? And who's to say Toei isn't milking the popularity of Dragon Ball to their limits too?

Dfens wrote:

To me and to many other fans/customers it feels like a stab in the back or a waiting game to see if a show will be re-released and if so, it always will be at a cheaper retail price if you are willing to wait a year or two. Except if it's a limited edition kind of release those tend to go out of print to be never released again when sold out.

Unless it's a DIsney classic movie, in which case all you have to do is wait for the next home video format and it'll be back.

Shenl742 wrote:

I think I remember an ANNCast from a year or two ago with Shawn Klecknar from Rightstuf about their recently acquired re-release of Nadecsco.

He said that lower-priced re-releases of older titles tend to sell pretty well, as new anime fans are born everyday, and a slate of well-regarded series sold for an amount that's not hard on the wallet is always enticing.

It really is a benefit if you didn't see, or didn't buy something the first time around. I've picked up license rescues because I couldn't afford them in the days of single DVD releases, or S.A.V.E titles because I simply hadn't seen the show until years after the fact. I know that someone from Funimation said on ANNcast that they will see large spikes of sales of their shows, even older ones, right after or during a run on Toonami. Casshern Sins had been out for years, and it saw a decent spike in sales.

The information about the retailers is interesting. I didn't realize that physical stores were still that much of a factor.

Those SAVE or Anime Classics or other similar re-releases also tend to be less about companies trying to milk their customers, and more about trying to entice people who were holding out for a good price. Considering how much licensing costs, minimizing losses on the duds is important.

For me, I usually wait for full box sets unless it's something I really want to have now, like Fullmetal Alchemsit or Attack on Titan, I haven't bought Steins;Gate or Robotics;Notes yet, even though Ioved those shows because other shows are my priority right now, like Code Geass.

Greed1914 wrote:

The information about the retailers is interesting. I didn't realize that physical stores were still that much of a factor.

With stuff everyone has heard of like DBZ, physical retail stores are most definitely a major factor because these shows are capable of selling well outside the anime fandom and can get sales from people just walking on by and seeing it on the shelf. I see the same push with Naruto, Viz's recent release of Sailor Moon and GKids' Studio Ghibli movies.

DBZ stuff aside, personally I greatly appreciate companies like FUNi who re-release their shows at multiple price points to take advantage of the long tail of the market, in addition to the more immediate practical concerns that Justin explained. Over the years they've probably made several hundred dollars off of me that they wouldn't have otherwise from impulse buys of thinpacks and SAVE versions that I wouldn't have sprung for at full price. (This is pretty much the core of Steam's business model too, and a big contributor to its success over the years.) It's far preferable to certain other companies who initially release their shows at a high price point which never gets discounted, (generally speaking) never gets compiled into a cheaper packaged release, and rarely gets reprinted. It's entirely possible to both cater to "whales" with high-priced premium releases up front AND to more budget-conscious consumers in the future, and FUNi implicitly understands this.

leafy sea dragon wrote:

Quote:

Good lord, 26" is small nowadays? Our TV is that size, and we deliberately chose that size because it was the biggest TV that could fit in the entertainment center replacing our CRT. (It's one of those pieces of furniture that has a big square space for a TV. I take it that with TVs getting bigger, this kind of furniture is no longer in style.)

Yes it is rather small. If that is a wide screen size, you have a picture comparable to the old standard 21" sets. We have a 46" set and it seem small next to my mother-in-law's 60" and now that is getting small. However, considering that a lot of people are watching TV on pads or worse yet phones a 26" set is respectable.

The problem with entertainment centers is just like the problem with dedicated computer desks. The technology moves too fast for the furniture to keep up. The person who decided to put the computer tower or the printer in a cubby at floor height obviously never used either. For both our TV and computer I've chosen simple tables, with a couple of shelves for the TV. The local consignment store has a glut of old entertainment centers and computer desks.

Judging from the majority of posts this question should have been rephrased as "Why does Funimation re-release Dragon Ball so often"

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