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Answerman - Does A Stronger US Dollar Help Anime Companies?


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AbZeroNow



Joined: 14 Jan 2013
Posts: 519
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 1:42 pm Reply with quote
I also have been wondering conversely if a weak Canadian dollar might help send a few anime dubs to Vancouver or Calgary.

Not that I mind West Coast dubs being LA dubs of course. Still love what Bang Zoom does.
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Blanchimont



Joined: 25 Feb 2012
Posts: 3423
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 1:45 pm Reply with quote
I can't deny a weak yen has helped to grow my collection of scale figures and art books the last few years.

A tedious thing about figure pre-orders is that the wait between the pre-order and actual release sometimes tend to be very long and delays almost a certainty. So long that even the shifts in exchange rates sometime become a worry, in cases where payment is done at shipping date. A certain figure I have on pre-order was originally slated for Fall last year. Then it got delayed. And delayed. It's now 'sometime in October'.. hopefully.. Confused
Thankfully the low yen has remained reasonably stable, for now...
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4404
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 2:01 pm Reply with quote
Prices on figures have gotten better for me, personally. I recently purchased a couple of figures from a couple of Japanese retailers I have used in the past, and I had to check a few times because the price was significantly less than what I would have paid for comparable products a couple years ago.
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WashuTakahashi



Joined: 18 Mar 2015
Posts: 415
Location: Chicago, IL
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 2:03 pm Reply with quote
I've been enjoying this quite a bit myself. Getting figures for cheaper is nice~ I also play a Japanese game on my phone that I spend money on once in a while. I have no doubt my purchase would be able 50 dollars if it was an English game, but I get the items for only 20~
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Hoppy800



Joined: 09 Aug 2013
Posts: 3331
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 2:17 pm Reply with quote
2013-2015 have been the best years for importing in my lifetime, it was nowhere near this reasonable back in the day, importing games are pretty reasonable these days.
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relyat08



Joined: 20 Mar 2013
Posts: 4125
Location: Northern Virginia
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 2:23 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, I've gotta admit that I have gone pretty seriously overboard on my import purchases in the last year. It's sort of like everything from Japan is on sale! Laughing
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 2:38 pm Reply with quote
Yeah bro, seeing that yen drop and all of the 10,000 yen figures drop from like $120 to $85 was so welcomed. I only wish it went further; I think Justin once mentioned the exchange rate was like 300 yen to the dollar in the 80s or something. If only.
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invalidname
Contributor



Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 2434
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 3:44 pm Reply with quote
Hey, old people: back in the 80s, wasn't the strength of the yen relative to the dollar cited as one of the reasons the Robotech II project fell apart?
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 3:45 pm Reply with quote
I've noticed the amazing amount of price drops for certain items too. It's quite a trend, especially when they're throwing in discount offers on top of that. It's definitely a good time to get your hands on some Japanese merchandise right now.
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Lili-Hime



Joined: 05 Jun 2014
Posts: 569
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 4:00 pm Reply with quote
Even with a strong yen / weak US dollar, certain shops like Kinokuniya still rip you off baaadly. A single manga volume at 400 yen really should be about 3 dollars now, but they charge DOUBLE that at 5.99 >.> If you want to buy anime stuff right now pplz, do it through amazon.co.jp! Shipping is kind of nuts but if you buy enough it makes it waaay worth it!
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Suena



Joined: 27 May 2012
Posts: 289
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 4:16 pm Reply with quote
That's good to hear!

And you bet its been a good time to import. When I first imported a couple years ago, the exchange rate was something like 87 yen to the dollar. I've been enjoying importing merchandise the last two years; at the peak it was like 120 yen to the dollar (at least that's what it was after paypal took its exchange cut).
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vanfanel



Joined: 26 Dec 2008
Posts: 1239
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 5:11 pm Reply with quote
invalidname wrote:
Hey, old people: back in the 80s, wasn't the strength of the yen relative to the dollar cited as one of the reasons the Robotech II project fell apart?


Indeed it was; Harmony Gold was paying Tatsunoko to animate it, and after making about 4 eps worth of material, the exchange rate shift completely blew up the budget on the American side for making the show. The whole sad tale is told in the "Robotech Art 3" art book.

I'm glad the footage they managed to make eventually surfaced as the Sentinels "movie"; I've still got a copy on VHS, and it's an interesting look at what might have been. (And Robotech fans also got the comics and novels, so the whole story they'd planned did manage to get told anyway.)
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maximilianjenus



Joined: 29 Apr 2013
Posts: 2855
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 5:16 pm Reply with quote
tehre's always teh cahcne tahta certain anime company has a debt in dollars, so a strong dollar manages to put them out of business.
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HyugaHinata



Joined: 25 Jun 2005
Posts: 3505
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 5:21 pm Reply with quote
From the home country's perspective:

A strong currency aids importers.

A weak currency aids exporters. Tourism is an import, since it brings money into a country.
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crosswithyou



Joined: 15 Dec 2007
Posts: 2892
Location: California
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 6:00 pm Reply with quote
*sigh* I cringe each year when I do my income taxes. I'm not making less, but because I have to convert my income into Dollars, it seems like it's going down every year. The only good years were 2011 and 2012 for me when the exchange rate was like 70 yen to the Dollar. It looked like I got a huge pay cut the next year. Crying or Very sad
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