Forum - View topicANNCast - A Peek At Chu
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The Mad Manga Massacre
Posts: 1166 |
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I swear I could've gone my whole life (and a happy one at that) without ever knowing about this series... 
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Ingraman
Posts: 1077 |
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Heh... I blind-bought that series, and had all four discs before I started watching. It looked different from the usual sort of US releases. I think that i got through the first two discs before setting it aside in favor of other bits of the backlog. I don't recall any negatives to the show at this point, but I drifted away from it. I never got back to it, and ended up giving it away. It might be a contributing factor to why I very rarely blind-buy these days, or it might not be. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15333 |
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What rumor? I remember when Woodhead was saying the reason he didn't broadcast his stuff on AS, 'cus he'd have to pay for it. As for Gundam 0079, I don't really blame Bandai Japan's desire to bring it in so soon. I mean, there was an audience for Robotech and Voltron, and Gundam Wing, so it seemed like a good idea at the time. But it might've helped if AS started a special block for all those old-school anime to help give 0079 a boost. Ironically, though, I think 0079 is actually boosting the franchise's presence here once again, since CR gave it a chance to find the audience it couldn't on CN. I mean, we're finally getting Turn A and they're even considering bringing over ZZ! So it's really just been a matter of the right venue, not the age of the show itself.
I.E. no middle men. 
Especially when we got dicked out of the training scene. Zac: RE: Bandai Visual. The worst thing about 'em is that they weren't bad people, just misguided. I remembered when their U.S. division pres was blogging, and was hoping his company's stuff would sell as well as some American indie artist's[forgot his name] Christmas album. But then I pointed out that part of the reason it did well is that it was priced for sale on Amazon. But the guy was nice enough to give away toys of his favorite childhood show, so I felt guilty bad-mouthing the company.
I know I feel that way about Demon Prince Enma. That would've been the one Go Nagai anime which could've helped been a cross-over for the guy's work. penguin: The OPs and EDs were replaced due to copyright issues. Macron: From what I hear, Escaflowne was bigger in America than in Japan. |
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Lord Geo
Posts: 2560 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
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Well, like Jerry said, singles are a business-friendly method that allows a company to live, while sets are merely a consumer-friendly method. In order for sets to do better than singles there has to be much higher sales for the sets, and for some shows that just isn't possible. It's very much like the whole "does a show get dubbed?" decision, but in slightly different way. While dubs increase costs for the company and require extra sales to compensate, sets decrease costs for the consumer and require extra sales to compensate. Just imagine how FUNimation works now, as they are requiring an increase in sales by twofold for their stuff, as they do dubbed sets, including limited editions now. Effectively, for a company that only does sets they need to have a few titles that sell above and beyond so that they can negate the lower sales of the other titles. Bandai probably felt that a show like Hayate was too niche for them to risk doing immediate sets and decided to play it semi-safe by doing singles, and probably the same as The Girl Who Lept Through Space. We as fans have to acknowledge that even though sets are more appealing to us as consumers, singles still have their use in the market. If it's what allows a company like Bandai or Media Blasters to still exist and continually bring out more titles then I'll be fine with supporting singles, and if it's the only way a company like Anime Midstream can even stay afloat then so be it. |
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wizard626
Posts: 16 |
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Does Bandai put out multiple seasons of a show that's in their "Anime Legend" line? I was just wondering in terms of series like Code Geass R2 or the second half of Mobile Suit Gundam 0079, should I expect those in a set anytime soon or is the idea to continue in singles?
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
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What's your source for this? And Turn A is going to be a sub-only release, as far as I know, so they're not even bothering to dub Gundam anymore (outside of Unicorn). So if they're not bothering to dub, what makes you think the franchise has been boosted here? |
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Charred Knight
 Posts: 3085 |
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It was at a convention, they just stated "Who wants to see us bring over Gundam ZZ?" so I wouldn't wait for Bandai to release it.
More people still talk about Gundam Seed, and Gundam Seed Destiny, than they do Gundam 00. I still discuss Gundam Seed Destiny on a forum on a near daily basis. So no Gundam isn't getting a boost, Gundam's time in America was still 2000-2004 with Gundam Wing being the one series that still sells really well (though G Gundam also seems to be still selling). |
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FaytLein
 Posts: 1260 Location: Williamsburg, VA |
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I think Jerry's reactions to Gundam are just a sign of the near endless questions he got from con-goers up until he left his post. Every time Bandai went to a con, and if he was there, nothing but Gundam questions. Had to have created a small bit of resentment on his part.
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GhostShell
Posts: 1009 Location: Richmond, B.C., Canada |
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Another informative show. Always interesting to hear from people behind the scenes.
Briefly going through my catalogue of DVDs/BDs, I found quite a number of titles that have come from BE, some double-dipped for Blu-ray versions: Cowboy Bebop Remix Collection Cowboy Bebop (Movie) Ghost In The Shell (Movie) Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence Ghost In The Shell: SAC Official Log 1 Ghost In The Shell: SAC Season 1 Volumes 1-7 LE Ghost In The Shell: SAC Season 2 Volumes 1-7 LE Ghost In The Shell: SAC SSS Ghost In The Shell: SAC The Laughing Man Ghost In The Shell: SAC Individual Eleven Flag Volumes 1-4 Eureka Seven Volumes 1-12 LE Silent Mobius Complete Collection Silent Mobius Movies 1 & 2 LE Gundam Wing Collections 1 & 2 Gundam WIng Endless Waltz Gundam Seed Volumes 1-10 Gundam Seed Destiny Volumes 1-12 LE Gundam 00 S1 Parts 1-3 LE Gundam 00 S2 Parts 1-4 LE Gundam 0083 Complete Collection Jin Roh The Girl Who Leapt Through Time Sword Of The Stranger And maybe some other titles I've forgotten. BE has done pretty good by me. There have been the odd replicating issue, though I think I've only had to replace defective discs twice. I certainly enjoyed the limited or special editions of their single volumes, which included figures, t-shirts, manga, steel cases, DTS audio versus Dolby Digital, etc. I think I've had the most fun ever in collecting a series when BE released the various LE versions of the two GITS: SAC seasons. One volume even included a deck of GITS: SAC playing cards. Jerry mentioned that one of the key reasons they were in the business (in addition to making money) was that they cared about the fans. To me, I think BE demonstrated that often with a lot of their LE packages. Personally, I doubt if we'll ever see limited/special editions like those from the GITS: SAC original release days. I can see why (cost, titles being released in parts or collections), but I kind of miss those days. |
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CG-LOVER
 Posts: 355 Location: East Lansing, MI |
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Okay, a pretty good podcast, no where near as good as the Geneon episode IMO. And I say that mostly because Jerry seemed to stumble a bit on some of the questions, and he really rambles on and on doesn't he? Still, this was a discussion about the anime industry that was before my time as a fan, and so it was informative for me with regards to how BANDAI got its start. Some of the answers about BANDAIs past decisions were expected (i.e. a lot of the decisions being forced on them by their bosses over in Japan), so I'm not surprised at all by that. I am a little surprised though when it came to just how much BANDAI overdid some things (like putting too many shows on TV, or going too far with their limited edition items), and I find that interesting considering how today BANDAI doesn't really put any of their shows on TV anymore and doesn't make many limited edition releases anymore. Thinking about Jerry's answer with regards to downsizing was interesting too, because he said that BEI never really worried about that while he was there...well, I'm betting they sure as hell worry about it now.
I'm also glad I was able to learn about how they first got started cause I did not know much about that. It's especially interesting how rocky their start was because they were stuck in a transition period between the VHS and DVD formats. In addition, I sort of found it funny how Jerry still thinks singles are a good idea, and how he's confused about how complete collections work. I mean, it's obvious that his mentality as far as how to sell anime goes is still stuck in 2005. As far as Gundam goes, I found the story of how Gundam got introduced to the U.S. and how it failed to reach an audience to be quite informative. I always knew that 0079 had something to do with it, but it's interesting to hear just how involved Sunrise was in that, and how they just were not able to find another Gundam series that could pick back up the momentum until Gundam SEED...and by then it was too late. I am personally a way bigger fan of the Universal Century Gundam shows than I ever was of SEED, but I do understand how SEED could have had more potential to sell than the dated Zeta Gundam and other Universal Century movies like Char's Counterattack and F91. I'm truly saddened about these complications, but oh well. I was a little surprised as well about how mellow Jerry was when answering the questions, especially when Zac started pushing the whole BANDAI Visual issue. In fact, it didn't seem like he was all that eager to actually criticize a lot of the decisions BEI made back then, as most of his answers seemed like an attempt to shed a more positive light on the companies past predicaments. Because of that, I kind of feel like we weren't necessarily getting the whole truth from him when it came to some of the more controversial issues. But I guess all of that is in the past anyway. Good podcast, I look forward to the next one. |
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CG-LOVER
Posts: 355 Location: East Lansing, MI |
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I agree, and I'm seriously wondering if Jerry is being accurate here. Because as you say, BANDAI's actions at present do not really reflect how I feel a profitable company should be acting. |
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luffypirate
 Posts: 3186 |
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Hey Jerry! I have an 86 too. Keepin' the RWD alive!
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DiRF
 Posts: 1 Location: Satellite Beach, FL |
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This may make me sound quite naive, but is there a reason why, when putting the mp3 of the podcast onto my Sansa mp3 player, it won't recognize the mp3 or play it? It's *on* the mp3 player's memory, but then the player acts like it doesn't exist.
[edit] Figured it out. Last edited by DiRF on Sun Dec 18, 2011 3:18 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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dragonrider_cody
Posts: 2541 |
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I think it depends on the level of profitability. I doubt Bandai is rolling in money, but if they were loosing money I doubt they would be releasing any product at this point. They are probably managing to turn profits on the few titles they release, particularly if they are sticking to a singles format. Singles do have a much higher profit margin per series. Plus, Bandai has seemed to improve the past year. They are having far fewer release delays, though they are waiting longer to announce each month's solicitations. They seem to be picking up more series than they have in the past two years. They also manage to score a major license, K-On! and dub it, despite some issues with the final release. Handling only a few series isn't necessarily a sign of a struggling company. Nozomi/Right Stuf only handle a few releases per year and usually a sizable chunk of those are re-releases, but no one accuses them of being unprofitable or struggling. Funimation regularly has release delays as bad as Bandai's, but no one makes the same accusations. It seems the only companies that get accusations of being in trouble are Media Blasters, Bandai, and occasionally Sentai, despite very similar actions from other anime distributors. |
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The King of Harts
 Posts: 6712 Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia |
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This is why no one thinks Righstuf is struggling. |
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