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ANNCast - The Last Days of Bandai Entertainment USA


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Charred Knight



Joined: 29 Sep 2008
Posts: 3085
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 11:37 am Reply with quote
samuelp wrote:
I've heard things here in Japan from within Bandai "corporate" as to the reasoning for the shutting of Bandai Entertainment...

The reason why it seems so senseless is because Robert is only considering the situation in the US market, as if Bandai in Japan made the decision in a vacuum. The decision to shutdown Bandai Ent. was part of an overall restructuring that affected all parts of Bandai Group's audio visual units, within and outside of Japan.
The new overall philosophy is that Bandai should make physical products in Japan, and sell them overseas.
You remember how you said it was so silly for Bandai Ent. to have to pay Japan (bandai visual or sunrise) to license the shows? It seemed silly to them too, especially when the market had shrunk so much. Why should Bandai have a licensing and sales unit in the US but not everywhere else in the world, for example?
Their new strategy is to treat videogram sales more like gundam kits, and export Japanese made products to the world. For broadcast and internet license to local companies, and for sales export your Japanese products.
In this new strategy it didn't make sense to keep a sub company like Bandai Entertainment around. In fact having it license things in the US just made it harder to control a global marketing strategy from HQ. Bandai Group wants to treat the global market as much as possible as a single entity.

Now whether this is a smart decision or the epitome of hubris you can be the judge. What I can say is that it clearly was shortsighted in the way it _horribly wasted_ great talent.


The problem is that the Japanese don't understand the American market. They don't seem to be even trying to understand the American market. The Japanese still think that by doing things the Japanese way then the rest of the world will just become like Japan and all of a sudden you are going to get a flood of new anime fans all wanting the latest sub only Blu-ray 2 episodes for 70 dollars. They are going to buy hug pillows and action figures of the cutest giant headed anime girl.

The expectation is that Gundam Unicorn is going to become the norm not the exception.

The thing getting in the way of Japan's expansion as a global market isnt having American branches (thats Absurd, a ton of global american companies have branches in other parts of the world) the problem is that you cant have 4 million customers worldwide when your product is exclusively aimed at 100,000 Japanese people.

It would be the equivalent of McDonalds announcing that they are having only one type of menu worldwide and then wondering why people from India are not buying the Big Mac.
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JulieYBM



Joined: 07 Apr 2012
Posts: 209
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:15 pm Reply with quote
Bandai switching to exporting the Japanese model is really only going to backfire if they print too high. Printing in small quantities and knowing ahead of time how many units you can pass is all that is required to help make back their money and maybe even make foreign markets useful again. Bandai isn't interested in selling animation on the cheap--if they were they wouldn't just release Gundam on home video for fifty dollars a cour--they would put actual elbow grease into promoting the show internationally like they do in the homeland. Buy a TV slot and advertising time and work with merchandising partners to get their figures and model kits out to Wal-Mart, Target, and Toys 'r Us. Clearly this isn't what Bandai is interested in or else we would be in the middle of a very different industry right now.
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Charred Knight



Joined: 29 Sep 2008
Posts: 3085
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:23 pm Reply with quote
JacobYBM wrote:
Bandai switching to exporting the Japanese model is really only going to backfire if they print too high. Printing in small quantities and knowing ahead of time how many units you can pass is all that is required to help make back their money and maybe even make foreign markets useful again. Bandai isn't interested in selling animation on the cheap--if they were they wouldn't just release Gundam on home video for fifty dollars a cour--they would put actual elbow grease into promoting the show internationally like they do in the homeland. Buy a TV slot and advertising time and work with merchandising partners to get their figures and model kits out to Wal-Mart, Target, and Toys 'r Us. Clearly this isn't what Bandai is interested in or else we would be in the middle of a very different industry right now.


And if Bandai wants Gundam to be extremely niche than by all means sell it for 70 bucks for 3 episodes sub only. I just dont think Japanese anime should be this extreme niche that can only be enjoyed by this exclusive club.
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JulieYBM



Joined: 07 Apr 2012
Posts: 209
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:39 pm Reply with quote
Charred Knight wrote:

And if Bandai wants Gundam to be extremely niche than by all means sell it for 70 bucks for 3 episodes sub only. I just don't think Japanese anime should be this extreme niche that can only be enjoyed by this exclusive club.


I apologize is this appears rude in advance, but I maintain what I am about to write is written with the most sincere of attitudes: It's only 'exclusive' because you have convinced yourself you are entitled to the product under your terms. We're talking about cartoons here, not something much more important like forks. Forks!!

Besides, the Japanese market and industry is going to collapse in twenty years no matter what happens now so it's best to enjoy the ride while it lasts.
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Charred Knight



Joined: 29 Sep 2008
Posts: 3085
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:43 pm Reply with quote
JacobYBM wrote:
Charred Knight wrote:

And if Bandai wants Gundam to be extremely niche than by all means sell it for 70 bucks for 3 episodes sub only. I just don't think Japanese anime should be this extreme niche that can only be enjoyed by this exclusive club.


I apologize is this appears rude in advance, but I maintain what I am about to write is written with the most sincere of attitudes: It's only 'exclusive' because you have convinced yourself you are entitled to the product under your terms. We're talking about cartoons here, not something much more important like forks. Forks!!

Besides, the Japanese market and industry is going to collapse in twenty years no matter what happens now so it's best to enjoy the ride while it lasts.


They can help keep the industry going if they come up with an actually sound plan to Globalize and not just pick up a thousand copies here, and a thousand copies there.

I dont buy this idea of anime can only function as mainly concentrated in Japan, with the rest of the world supporting it until the eventual collapse of the industry when the Japanese market shrinks.
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:51 pm Reply with quote
I'm sure going to miss Bandai USA. Those were the days indeed. They contributed to a large portion of my interest in anime in the first place.

Last edited by belvadeer on Thu Feb 28, 2013 6:12 pm; edited 1 time in total
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JulieYBM



Joined: 07 Apr 2012
Posts: 209
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:04 pm Reply with quote
Charred Knight wrote:

They can help keep the industry going if they come up with an actually sound plan to Globalize and not just pick up a thousand copies here, and a thousand copies there.

I don't buy this idea of anime can only function as mainly concentrated in Japan, with the rest of the world supporting it until the eventual collapse of the industry when the Japanese market shrinks.


Animation is a niche globally as it is. For a small industry like Japan's to try to overcome that is simply not practicle. Even Ghibli and Toei barely make a dent as it is internationally with their 'mainstream' titles. Bandai (or any other super-niche brand) is not even going to appear as a ripple in a puddle in comparison to them.
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GWOtaku



Joined: 19 Jul 2003
Posts: 678
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:29 pm Reply with quote
JacobYBM wrote:


I apologize is this appears rude in advance, but I maintain what I am about to write is written with the most sincere of attitudes: It's only 'exclusive' because you have convinced yourself you are entitled to the product under your terms.


I like you Jacob but this argument sucks. It's about the basic idea that succeeding in a market requires understanding and adjusting to the realities of that market. Simply repeating the obvious truth that it's possible to get by selling to very committed collectors doesn't get us anywhere or refut the notion that real opportunities were missed, as opposed to this odd fatalistic well-it-was-fated-to-be-this-way conclusion that you are embracing.

Also please entertain the idea that this can be about wanting to see cartoons disseminated as far as possible as a fan, as opposed to a base sense of "entitlement".
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neocloud9



Joined: 06 Oct 2008
Posts: 1178
Location: Atlanta, GA
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:48 pm Reply with quote
Man, what a downer... I hate that Bandai Japan pulled the plug on them like that. They deserved so much better. Bandai USA was responsible for my becoming an anime fan in the first place - watching their shows on Toonami after school was what got me involved in the fandom.

And I'm seriously bummed we never got the chance to see their release of Gosick, I'm sure that would've been great. Alas.
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v1cious



Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6199
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:53 pm Reply with quote
Heh, count me among the Texans that liked FLAG. God that series is underrated.
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cecilbdemented



Joined: 23 Feb 2005
Posts: 19
Location: Three feet to your left. No, your other left.
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:57 pm Reply with quote
Robert, if you're reading this, I'm the guy at the San Diego Comic-Con 2008 panel who chewed you out for a disc that was printed incorrectly (broken) and just vented on you and the other Bandai reps at your panel. From the bottom of my heart I apologize. I heard the podcast and while you seem okay with the crap you took while you held that job, for me, I just want to apologize.
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dm
Subscriber



Joined: 24 Sep 2010
Posts: 1346
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:59 pm Reply with quote
Especially because of Robert's role in creating Bandai's manga line, I want to express my appreciation for the high quality of Bandai's manga offerings. I buy a lot of manga, and merely on a purely physical basis, Bandai's manga were superior. The increased size of the volumes gave more room for the art to breathe. The quality of the paper and cover stock made the books a pleasures to hold.

The contents were also excellent. Bandai mostly published manga adaptations of their anime works. Adaptations are usually pretty disappointing, but the ones from Bandai, especially Eureka 7 and Gurren Lagann, were excellent, and were works that stood on their own instead of relying on the thing they were adapting.

It wasn't a big manga line, but it was certainly an excellent one.
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Maidenoftheredhand



Joined: 21 Jun 2007
Posts: 2633
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 2:49 pm Reply with quote
Great interview, Bandai was one of my favorite companies. They released so many great titles. I still miss them.

On another note I also always loved their panel at Otakon. It was always the best industry panel (which I now find amusing because Robert kind of indicated how he disliked this aspect, well I am not sure how much he was responsible for those Bandai panels, but they were great.)

I have not heard the whole interview yet but I loved the tidbit of hearing about Steve Blum's first role.


Last edited by Maidenoftheredhand on Thu Feb 28, 2013 3:03 pm; edited 1 time in total
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GhostOfSide3



Joined: 14 Jan 2013
Posts: 75
Location: Memphis, TN
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 2:51 pm Reply with quote
Very great podcast, guys. I love Bandai Entertainment so much.

Anybody know what's gonna happen to a lot of their titles? I assume they'll eventually get auctioned off or something but It'd be great to know what titles are coming back sooner than later before I pay a ridiculous price for an out of print collection.
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Charred Knight



Joined: 29 Sep 2008
Posts: 3085
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 3:21 pm Reply with quote
GhostOfSide3 wrote:
Very great podcast, guys. I love Bandai Entertainment so much.

Anybody know what's gonna happen to a lot of their titles? I assume they'll eventually get auctioned off or something but It'd be great to know what titles are coming back sooner than later before I pay a ridiculous price for an out of print collection.


Depends on who owns them, the jewels which are mainly Sunrise (Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Escaflowne, Gundam) will most likely be brought over by Bandai Visual. Dont expect to get Cowboy Bebop for under 50 bucks.
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