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Made in Abyss, Armed Girl's Machiavellism English Dubs, Legend of the Galactic Heroes Box Set Announ


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Beatdigga



Joined: 26 Oct 2003
Posts: 4352
Location: New York
PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 3:39 pm Reply with quote
There are no plans for a standard edition.

Sentai can piss right off. This is why people still pirate!
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GoldCrusader



Joined: 25 Apr 2017
Posts: 1021
PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 3:52 pm Reply with quote
Beatdigga wrote:
There are no plans for a standard edition.

Sentai can piss right off. This is why people still pirate!

Why does this encourage piracy? The whole series can be streamed for 4.99$ on hidive.
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Triltaison



Joined: 03 Jul 2011
Posts: 717
PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 3:55 pm Reply with quote
angelmcazares wrote:
All this negativity toward the price of the LotGH set is breaking my anime fan heart a little. People have been pleading for a physical release for decades, and now that it is here $5 per episode is extortion. No company should charge less than $500 for these many episodes. Anime is a business, not charity.

If this is going to be the reaction by fans, I advice all companies to never again license long and old titles because apparently FANS ARE UNWILLING TO PAY MORE THAN $2 PER EPISODE.


I'm going to totally disagree with you. Many fans are unwilling to pay through the nose with little warning for everything all at once in an expensive first-come-first-serve line where it is all or nothing and only open to people who can access one online store. As someone who buys new releases of old shows and is a proud owner of the likes of Anime Sols' Dear Brother release, Dororo, and the Utena LE sets, this is a ridiculous way to release LotGH. It's fine to release a fancy LE version for $800 in one fell swoop. It is ridiculous to not provide an alternative when announcing that the property will ONLY be available as that LE version to 1000 people that will come out in less than 3 months to an exclusive platform and also will cost $800.

It would be far more reasonable as a consumer for the series to maybe be broken up into 25-30 episode chunks in 4 to 6 boxsets (maybe group the movies together or something), and sold at intervals where people can actually budget to purchase them. Viz has been releasing Sailor Moon in $70 DVD/BD sets with 2 for each of its 5 seasons, which is still $700 (not including movies). It's more reasonable to the individual only because you're shelling out in increments of $70 maybe twice a year over the course of several years . I know plenty of people who want to buy LotGH, and very little (if any of them) have or can get $800 in disposable income ready in 3 months.

I was expecting something along the line of Discotek's Fist of the North Star (SD BD MSRP $90) or Sentai's own Gatchaman TV+OVA release (BD MSRP $150), leaning toward $350ish for the original and $50ish for the subsequent material. I was absolutely not expecting to be off by half, and I'm super disappointed that they don't have the faith (or perhaps the permission) to release this normally. The limited-to-1000 LE box should not be the only option. Even an SD BD like Discotek's Fist of the North Star release would be an acceptible alternative option. It doesn't NEED to have 26 BDs as a standard option for those who simply wish to own a copy of the show.

I'm just feeling really bitter and betrayed by this whole announcement. I sincerely hope Sentai reconsiders/renegotiates and makes a more affordable standard version available.
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8458
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 3:57 pm Reply with quote
angelmcazares wrote:
All this negativity toward the price of the LotGH set is breaking my anime fan heart a little. People have been pleading for a physical release for decades, and now that it is here $5 per episode is extortion. No company should charge less than $500 for these many episodes. Anime is a business, not charity,


It’s immoral to charge this much, or to buy it for this much. It’s not even a new series. The Japanese executives are out of touch, They could and should release this s little bit at a time so the customers can recoup their losses.
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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 5296
PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 3:57 pm Reply with quote
Beatdigga wrote:
There are no plans for a standard edition.

Sentai can piss right off. This is why people still pirate!
Despite the fact that they can legally stream the entire series on HiDive. And if this was standard, you would still end up paying close to this if you tally up all the sets.
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4566
PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 4:13 pm Reply with quote
For those saying that this is a fair price-per-episode, you may be right in the grand scheme of things, but that's not the issue here. The issue is needing to pay a ridiculous amount up-front, sight-unseen, all in one huge chunk. I don't know about most anime fans, but I'm neither willing nor able to throw down a lump-sum of several hundred dollars for a single television series. (Seriously, you could get a decent entry-to-mid laptop for that price. Or hell, an extremely large 4K TV.) It's absurd. And the worst part is that Sentai has handled titles of comparable length far more reasonably in the past. Look at their releases of Space Brothers or Patlabor: each was broken into 12- to 13-episode sets that retailed for around $60 a pop. Older and/or more niche interest shows, just like LOGH, but in those cases they were staggered out over a period of time, which allowed fans to budget for them and purchase them bit by bit. Between Sentai's periodic ridiculous sales and holiday bundles, I think I wound up getting one of them for no more than $15 per set. But this? No sales, no timed release, just a single massive lump sum, and if you can't pay that much then **** you.

And honestly, all else being equal, I'd expect older series to be cheaper to purchase, not more expensive. With a hot new release at least you know the licensing fees are going back to the production company to recoup the cost of making the series. But LOGH is decades old; its production costs have long since been made up. This is just pure, unadulterated greed.
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Lynx Amali





PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 4:27 pm Reply with quote
MarshalBanana wrote:
Despite the fact that they can legally stream the entire series on HiDive. And if this was standard, you would still end up paying close to this if you tally up all the sets.


The thing is if it were in the standard format, people could pick up the releases as they wanted rather than have to put it 800 USD flat up. Hell, if I could even get this (I can't because US-only store) I wouldn't want everything. Golden Wings is one of the worst pieces of content throughout the entire series so standard releases could let me skip it.

I don't blame people for not wanting to support's release after this to be honest, especially if they're not from the US. Because hey, thats their choice. I'll probably stick with the novels and skip any Sentai releases for the next year or so. What I'll find funny is if Funi's release is better handled but also more succesful. Maybe that'll give Sentai the kick to get a standard edition out.
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Zin5ki



Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 4:38 pm Reply with quote
classicalzawa wrote:
Hot DAMN if only I could justify spending $800 on a single anime series (even if said series is LoGH and is 110+24+28 eps + 3 movies, so at least it's a lot).

For that price, it would be good value if the box also doubled as a road-legal car. Alas, I expect they are blithely content to keep this particular Legend firmly in the legendary category...
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katscradle



Joined: 05 Jan 2013
Posts: 469
PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 4:48 pm Reply with quote
I was expecting LoGH to be pricey and even saving up (been awhile since the license was announced). On the other hand, to only do a limited set available so exclusively, and charging pre-orders right away makes me a little miffed. I guess many fans can only hope Sentai will eventually be convinced to do a more standard accessible release. I’m not going to be pre-ordering the set right away anyway, maybe not at all because this decision is disappointing and sad instead of exciting.
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Maidenoftheredhand



Joined: 21 Jun 2007
Posts: 2633
PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 5:11 pm Reply with quote
People saying this is fair no it’s not fair. Very few people have $800 to pay up front. And it’s limited so only 1000 people who have a lot of money will be able to own this series. Great for you if you can afford it but what about the rest of us?

Now $200 a set would still be over priced in my opinion but at least that is a bit more palatable then paying $800 all at once. Especially if it was spread out one set a year.

But even better if they would have released a non-limited standard set.
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Punch Drunk Marc



Joined: 04 Oct 2013
Posts: 1742
PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 5:27 pm Reply with quote
I don't really have an interest in the original series, but if I did it would have been effectively snuffed by the pricing of the set. I will admit that it looks nice, and the pricing may have been fair to some, but this is wild all the same.

Sentai jumped all the way out the window with this. Like others have said, they could have probably cut the print run of this set in half or lower ( i suck at numbers) and then released a few standard editions. That way you please everyone. Hardcores (or people who just don't want to drop a stack) can get theirs, and casuals can get their feet wet with the standard sets.

Quote:
What I'll find funny is if Funi's release is better handled but also more successful.


People can say what they want about Funi's Premium sets or whatever, but to my knowledge every time they did one they also released a standard a couple of months later, or at the same time. Did it with Tokyo Ghoul, Psycho-Pass, AoT, and a few others.

Quote:
Maybe that'll give Sentai the kick to get a standard edition out.


Hopefully. I mean didn't Sentai do something similar with Chunibyou? It wasn't 800 bucks, but didn't they only release a LE at first and that was the only way you could hear the dub?

If I'm wrong someone please correct me.
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dragonrider_cody



Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 2541
PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 5:38 pm Reply with quote
penguintruth wrote:
angelmcazares wrote:
All this negativity toward the price of the LotGH set is breaking my anime fan heart a little. People have been pleading for a physical release for decades, and now that it is here $5 per episode is extortion. No company should charge less than $500 for these many episodes. Anime is a business, not charity,


It’s immoral to charge this much, or to buy it for this much. It’s not even a new series. The Japanese executives are out of touch, They could and should release this s little bit at a time so the customers can recoup their losses.


Immoral? Really? Are some people so entitled that they feel charging a premium price for a product is now immoral? To be “moral”, do they need to give it away for free? Should we force everyone to work for free then too? And is it really moral to tell people what they should feel okay spending their money on? Why give someone grief over buying a Bluray set that they really want?

If it’s too much money for you, that sucks, but don’t use laughable morality arguments. It’s a TV show, not something that is required for life. It’s not like they’re profiteering off food or water. Not to mention, someone could pay $5 and watch the entire show in 30 days, or keep the subscription and take as long as they want to watch it. It’s not even like the $800 set is the only way to experience it.

@Punch Drunk Marc, while we will never know why they aren’t releasing a standard edition at this time, we do know that decreasing the number of limited editions available wouldn’t help the affordability. Blurays have minimum print orders, and it’s unlikely Sentai could have ordered less than 1,000, especially when you factor in the custom box. Decreasing the number of sets would probably not have been feasible, and if they had, the unit cost per set would have been much larger. Not to mention, there would still be no guarantee that a standard edition would be available.

If people really want a standard edition, the best thing to do is to keep contacting Sentai and let them know there is demand for one. Even if this is a current requirement of the license, or if there is some weird stipulation about price per episode or profit sharing, they may still be able to convince the rights holders to let them put one out. Even Aniplex eventually relented on allowing Sentai to do dual language Persona 4 Bluray. Occasionally, it just takes a little more time than we would like.
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DeTroyes



Joined: 30 May 2016
Posts: 520
PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 5:48 pm Reply with quote
They can certainly break it up into smaller units, like say 20 episodes per volume and release it without all the non-DVD extras. Lots of older series have been done that way, and successfully. But $799 all in one lump, take it or leave it, is pretty damn pricey. I was expecting $300-$400 at most for the full box set, which is I think about what most fans can reasonably justify for this series. Sad
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Finny-chan



Joined: 18 Dec 2008
Posts: 447
Location: West Virginia, U.S.A
PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 6:52 pm Reply with quote
Lord Geo wrote:
ANN should probably make an update for this article, because the LOGH release will be limited edition only, as revealed via the successive Q&A:
Quote:
Q: Standard Edition release for LoGH?
A: There are no plans for a Standard Edition.


This sounds almost exactly like what Wright Staff Co. tried pulling back in 2003, except that they were asking for ~$1,700 dollars for the entire thing. The biggest difference with Sentai, though, is that they at least managed to negotiate a streaming option, but people who actually want the own LOGH are, once again, effectively told, "Screw you! We want exorbitant amounts of money for this only!"


Well that is a shame cause I was looking forward to owning it I'm guessing this is all they are allowed to do or they can't afford to release it standard cause it must have cost someone an kidney to license. xD

I really hope that means no plans for the moment and not "we are never releasing one in the future". I rarely buy anime, but I was really wanting to own this classic. Crying or Very sad


Last edited by Finny-chan on Fri Mar 30, 2018 6:56 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Errinundra
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Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 6516
Location: Melbourne, Oz
PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 6:54 pm Reply with quote
To put this in perspective, I can order from Madman the entire first three seasons of Sailor Moon totalling 127 episodes, for $280 on bluray or $196 on DVD. They're a similar vintage, too.

$800,000 in sales will make for a tidy margin.
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