Forum - View topicNEWS: Aniplex of America to Release Plastic Memories, Wagnaria!!3 on Blu-ray
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relyat08
 Posts: 4125 Location: Northern Virginia |
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Yep. It's extremely clear based on their previous actions that Aniplex will not change their prices regardless of sales. Rather than that, they will take their shows and go home(Mushi-shi, Samurai Flamenco, Nanana's Buried Treasure, all of their DVD-only releases, etc.). If you want one of their shows, you'll pay what they want you to pay, otherwise, you won't get it at all. This isn't a case where you can just boycott them and after they fail someone else will release it at a better price. Nope. They'll just stop trying. Nobody bought their super expensive DVDs so they straight up said, "we're not releasing anymore DVD-only sets". They said they have no interest in releasing catalog titles anymore either, yet they are very likely to pick up several over the next year. Why? Because they can. They have more control and that's all they really want. Nah, this isn't the fault of a few poor souls who really like a show AoA has, this is 100% the fault of Aniplex. |
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Ali07
 Posts: 3333 Location: Victoria, Australia |
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Thing is, that may not necessarily mean that their shows will become cheaper if another licensor was to be releasing them in the west. Hell, the Aniplex stuff Hanabee releases in Australia is pretty much the same price as it is in the US. I buy the Monogatari releases here, and they're the same price as they are in the US (as in whole dollar amount, not conversion). If they're $69.99USD, they're $69.99AUD. |
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Covnam
 Posts: 3644 |
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True, but luckily it's easy to plan to not buy something in that scenario  I have no problem waiting to see it drop or not get it.
I'll have to disagree though on who's to blame. While obviously AoA is to blame for the high prices initially and their follow up practices (no standard releases etc), it's the consumer who is to blame for supporting it. If a product doesn't sell, the company either has to change to something that works or goes out of business. If it sells, then it will stay the course. Bandai Visual tried to release titles for a premium, people didn't buy them, and they left the business. If people had supported them, they might still be around (Bandai leaving the US industry later not-withstanding). |
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relyat08
Posts: 4125 Location: Northern Virginia |
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^This has already been addressed. Read my last comment. Not buying from them won't cause them to change anything. And if AoA goes out of business because we all stop buying, that just means fewer physical releases for us. They aren't going to be rescued and released by a different company for less money. Aniplex cares about protecting their domestic disc market. They can make enough streaming overseas at this point that they don't need to do any physical releases outside of Japan at all if it could potentially take away from domestic sales. If we won't pay what they want us to, we don't get to have their toys. It's as simple as that. It's not the consumers fault.
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Covnam
Posts: 3644 |
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In your opinion. All companies like money. If they aren't making money through AoA, it's true, they may simply stop licensing for domestic (NA) releases all together, but they also can fall back on licensing to other domestic companies after their local release sales have slowed (12-24 months) because that would mean additional revenue. If it's not profitable for them to have a local branch for short term releases, but it is profitable to license to domestic companies down the line for long term releases, they I think they would choose that over no additional revenue. What company ever says that they've "made enough money" when they can make more with little additional effort? |
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5823 Location: Virginia, United States |
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Or they will wait a long long time, and release another really expense set.
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relyat08
Posts: 4125 Location: Northern Virginia |
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Almost Every Japanese Company Ever. If their way doesn't work, they rarely change in any meaningful way. We've seen it happen over and over and over again all across the board. Not just anime. Pretty much everything. Japanese companies are notoriously stubborn. Things happen their way, or not at all. Changing is tantamount to accepting you are wrong. Japanese companies would rather erase the existence of something, than adapt to a different market. AoA is more of a change than I ever imagined it would be. PonyCan is much more in line with what I would expect. Your premise assumes that they are interested solely in making money here. That's not true. They are designed to protect their market. That's extremely obvious at this point. Reverse importation is absolutely a massive fear. And the best way to control it is to take as much control over their properties as possible. If they can use AoA to make money while protecting their market, great! If they can't. They go home. And if we ever do get a re-release it's either going to be years and years down the road, or, like TarsTarkas said, it's going to be from Aniplex trying the same thing again with AoA 2.0. What fan of a property would boycott the best and only available option to own a show they like, with literally no reason to believe they will ever have another chance to own it again? Once again, not their fault. |
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Covnam
Posts: 3644 |
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Considering every company that has either not succeeded or closed up shop in the US has had many (yes, of course, not all) of their titles get picked up and re-released down the line I'm willing to wager AoA (and PonyCan) titles would do the same.
Though I wouldn't put it past them to try again.
The ones that feel that they're being over charged? There are also alternate options to owning these titles too. The US market isn't the only one. And yes, it does fall on consumers to not support business practices they don't agree with. |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 9832 Location: Virginia |
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Covnam wrote:
They are also capable of deciding that their failure was due to the decline of physical media outside Japan and limit all future foreign distribution to streaming only. 
That would depend on the business practices in question. There is a significant difference between boycotting a company because they are, for instance, destroying the environment and because their prices are higher than you are comfortable with. In any case you are demanding that people not support practices you don't like, which is not the same thing. |
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TarsTarkas
Posts: 5823 Location: Virginia, United States |
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Don't know about Pony Canyon, but that is not AoA's plan. AoA, or rather Aniplex are all about hoarding their titles to increase their value and selling them at beyond premium prices. It is not about reverse importation fears, but rather scarcity.
That is not really a very viable option for most consumers. As to your second comment, if the consumer really wants to own an Aniplex title, they are going to buy it because it is not going to be available later at a standard western BD price. |
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relyat08
Posts: 4125 Location: Northern Virginia |
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I almost mentioned it my last response, but with the way the industry is going, those future releases are much less likely to happen. I wouldn't be surprised if Aniplex can make enough money internationally just from streaming revenue in a few years, to the point that physical releases aren't even necessary and will pose more of a risk to their domestic sales than anything else. At which point, no more releases outside of Japan(or at least in region A territories) for anything other than their biggest titles. Good job sticking with those morals.
There's a difference between not supporting a business and blaming everyone else who supports that business. This is a matter of people ganging up on anyone who buys AoA products and literally telling them that they are the reason we can't have nice things(and calling them many other much worse names). That's extremely unfair and not true at all. To many people, owning a show is the biggest way to show how much they love and appreciate it. Not being able to own that show because there isn't a release in their language is much more tragic then spending more than they're used to. |
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Ali07
Posts: 3333 Location: Victoria, Australia |
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Was there another market that got Wagnaria? I'm unsure if the UK did, but Australia didn't...which is why I'll be buying my first AoA release in Wagnaria 3's releases. I don't usually shell out the kind of money they're asking, but I want to own the whole series, as it is a series I want to rewatch and share with others. |
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relyat08
Posts: 4125 Location: Northern Virginia |
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^Speaking of which, did you guys ever get that Mushi-shi Next Chapter release? I was thinking about importing it, since there isn't any other English release that I know of outside of Japan, but last I checked the listing was pulled.
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Ali07
Posts: 3333 Location: Victoria, Australia |
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I don't think so. Hell, you can't even find Mushishi on Madman's website anymore!
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relyat08
Posts: 4125 Location: Northern Virginia |
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Yeah, I noticed that. Really weird. Wonder what happened. Maybe Aniplex didn't want it to happen. |
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