Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! - Con Crud
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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We can't buy everything, and that's what happens when a market is suddenly inundated with new product. Remember, it's not just these new 17 licenses, Sentai alone was sitting on whole bunch more that they picked up this year and that's not including whatever FUNi also grabbed. Combine that with legal streaming giving consumers some discretion in their purchases for lesser titles, and how can the market not change in some ways?
Judging that T&A shows have reportedly sold well for FUNi, I'd think Qwaser and Mayo Chiki would get the priority here. Then there's also that Shinkai film that obviously will be needing a dub and BluRay, so that should be prioritized and budgeted for the most. |
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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If you think that's bad here, how much worse must it be for the Japanese since they of course, already get everything. But everything there costs between $500 - $1000. However from Sentai's perspective, given that like half of their releases end up DVD-only (  ) and sub-only, they don't have to sell as much to be profitable
Personally speaking, I can handle the costs, and I like the fact that there's something for everyone. I think their approach reaches out to niches/demographics/audiences that are under-served so there is really no market saturation yet.
I think the fact that most of the niche, otaku-y and fujoshi shows, including dramas and romances end up sadly as DVD & sub-only and given how much they are willing to spend on BD licensing and dubs for more mainstream shows that Brian wants, and continuously so, he has nothing to worry about in terms of "priorities" |
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dandelion_rose
 Posts: 657 Location: Kuala Lumpur |
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Regarding 3D in anime, the upcoming anime film, Re: Cyborg 009, will be a 2D animated film with 3D effects (as in 'pictures popping out of the screen' effects, not 'photorealism').
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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Actually, Re:Cyborg 009 is really 3D CG, just cel shaded.
That type of rendering does work to emulate the 2D look... but the 3D CG aspect becomes obvious when they move |
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5454 Location: Iscandar |
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I do realize that we cannot exactly ensure that Sentai or any other anime distributor will not go under by simply buying the product, but it will help a lot. Like configspace says, Sentai has a selection from various genres, and it is not as if we are being asked to pay $400 per series. The way I look at it, if Sentai releases 30 new series within the next years, the 10 or so BD dub should probably sell enough to recoup costs (8000-10000 copies). 7 or so DVD dub could sell 5000-7000 copies because they have a dub. The remaining 13 or so niche DVD sub-only would have the hardest time selling, but I assume hardcore collectors can buy 2500-3000 copies (probably enough to recoup costs). Maybe I am being too optimistic, but I hope things work out for Sentai, FUNi and all other anime distributors. |
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eyeresist
 Posts: 995 Location: a 320x240 resolution igloo (Sydney) |
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I can't believe that guy really hasn't noticed the use of CG in a great many contemporary animes. I can sometimes overlook it if it's only used briefly or in a dream/virtual reality setting, but I can always see it because it's just too hard-edged and its angles and lines are too mathematically perfect. I hope 3D doesn't kill "real" animation, which is beautiful because it is less perfect and more organic.
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Mesonoxian Eve
Posts: 1858 |
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"We"? Then allow me to take a moment to separate myself from those who care, because I do not. If Sentai fails, it will be of no consequence to me as I will never buy another title from them again. I find their quality horrendous and inexcusable. I'm also with the firm belief they're shaving so much cost, they're using fansub groups to do their subtitling. The last products I purchased from them were the three seasons of Koihime Musou, thanks to having just finished watching them on Crunchyroll. What I discovered was an identical copy of what I just watched, grammar and spelling mistakes included. That's all it took for me to distrust this company's products. As for the worries about Sentai's title flooding, allow me to address these concerns with a few words:
I just love it when a few around here try to convince me it's piracy's fault for low sales. 
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dragonrider_cody
Posts: 2541 |
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Neither Sentai not Crunchyroll use fansub groups to do their subtitles, though some of the professionals who do subtitles for them did fansubs in the past. If the show already has subtitles made for it, it's not unusual for them to use the subtitles and translation that already exist. I will admit it's a shame that neither CR of Sentai have bothered to fix the subs on Koihime Muso, but one poor showing does not automatically make all their products bad. I just finished watching Kurenai and the subs were extremely good with zero misspellings and only one grammatical error, which was the ommission of the word "have" or use of "I've" instead.
I've been badly burned in the past by Funimation and Bandai, but I don't write off all of their products or automatically don't give a damn should they go out of business. I just wait for reviews before I purchase any products from them (at least for Funi, since Bandai hardly matters now.). If you had bothered to research Koihime Muso at all, you would have known that subtitles were the same as CRs. It was a pretty well known issue. It may not personally matter to me if Funi leaves R1, but I know it's bad for the market as a whole and many would disappointed by their departure. I'm not trying to excuse anything that anyone of the R1 companies do, as they all have their faults, but I'm tired of hearing "I don't care if Sentai, Funi, Bandai, Media Blasters, Nozomi, NISA, Aniplex, or whoever goes out of business.". We don't exactly need less product and fewer companies releasing it. As for Sentai and ADV, there are a huge number of differences between the two that people are missing. Sentai doesn't have the number of side businesses that ADV did. They don't have a magazine, a toy line, a record label, or a manga division. The only license and release anime. Also, they pay quite a bit less for titles than ADV did. They are no longer bidding against as many companies as before, and they certainly aren't paying a million bucks like ADV did for Kurau Phantom Memory. In fact, both Sentai and Funimation have stated that they have licensed titles with no up front guarantee. As others have mentioned, Sentai appears to have some sort of streaming relationship with CR, which likely saves them some money on the digital rights. Plus, they air nearly all of their shows on Anime Network, which helps pay back some of the fees. Finally, Sentai isn't exactly licensing a ton more shows than they have over the past three years. They have been releasing between four and six new titles each month for quite a while now. The big difference here is that since so many are simulcasts, they are announcing them right away as opposed to waiting until closer to the solicitations, as they had in the past. |
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Mesonoxian Eve
Posts: 1858 |
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I should note I used "fansubs" only because I'm not sure what one calls the groups used by CR. And CR does use several of these groups. They used to have this info on their website, but now I can't find it.
I would agree, but I'm not basing my position from one series. The KM purchases were the last one I'll tolerate. Of all the Sentai products I own, every single one of them has spelling/grammar mistakes.
I know this may sound anal, but that's still one mistake too many. If the costs of not dubbing are there to help build revenue, then the cost of a much cheaper quality control should be between translation and product ready-for-print. Okay, one mistake is too strict, but that's all they get. When a business is dependent on its translated products, the last thing it's allowed to be afforded are mistakes in English. I'm much more tolerant on translation flubs than seeing "vile" used throughout a series when it should have been "vial". You may be upset to hear my position regarding Sentai, but I'm not going to sacrifice quality just because it's been released on DVD. Sentai's not going anywhere. It's obvious fans find the releases more important than the quality and with this attitude, I can't see how any business in R1 can fail. Last edited by Mesonoxian Eve on Mon Jul 09, 2012 10:02 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Maidenoftheredhand
 Posts: 2633 |
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Yep you are being Wayyyyyy optimistic. All you have to do is look at what the series that Sentai picked up sold in Japan and you would see that even there a lot of those series didn't sell close to this much. |
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Angel M Cazares
Posts: 5454 Location: Iscandar |
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That maybe so, but I am not sure you can estimate what Sentai could sell in North America just by looking at how those series did in Japan. They are simply different markets. At the worst, I am assuming that Sentai can break even with their DVD sub-only releases selling 2500-3000 copies (which the hardcore collectors can probably acquire). I think the recent lineup of acquisitions does look shaky. And i think Sentai should carefully choose what to dub. Kids on the Slope, Space Brothers, Another, Queen's Blade: Rebellion and Bodacious Space Pirates seems as the only good series to dub and sell enough to make profit.
I know. I dislike anime that uses a lot of CG because it looks cheap. I also prefer "real" animation for the reasons you mention. Frankly, I am a bit shock that someone wants more CG in anime; GOD NO. |
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Maidenoftheredhand
Posts: 2633 |
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I know some series are surprise hits and sell better in the NA market then in Japan but from what I understand most series usually sell better in Japan. If a series gets on TV that might increase its sales but heck you can look at some of the viewing numbers on CR and see a lot of these aren't going to turn in huge profits. Maybe some will make a small profit and maybe a lot will break even but I just don't see a lot of series going for 8000-10000 units or even 5000-7000. I think 2000-3000 would be good. And of course not dubbing more niche series is going to help with costs. I also hope the licensing fees of some of these series were moderate. Certainly Japan already knows the anime bubble has burst in NA. Last edited by Maidenoftheredhand on Mon Jul 09, 2012 11:21 am; edited 2 times in total |
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superdry
 Posts: 1309 |
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You mean a company contracted like MX Media? |
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Polycell
 Posts: 4623 |
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IIRC, Crunchyroll uses the same company Toei does for Pretty Cure(the transcript is used for other languages' dubs). I'd say that's a bit above fansubbing.
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Angel M Cazares
Posts: 5454 Location: Iscandar |
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So, what do you expect? If Sentai ( and other R1 companies?) does not give a crap about grammatical errors, would you rather see only 5 or so releases a year with subs with perfect grammar? I know I don't. I have noted grammatical errors here and there on the subs of series I own, but are not enough to kill my experience. Sentai: keep selling DVD's/BD's, I WILL FORGIVE YOU for a few grammatical errors in you subs. |
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