Forum - View topicAnswerman - Are Physical Anime Releases In Danger?
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mgosdin
 Posts: 1302 Location: Kissimmee, Florida, USA |
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Yes, a $60 12 episode set here in the US in an incredible bargain vs the same # of episodes in Japan. I don't see much to complain about for most all the releases from the major distributors, Funimation, Sentai, NISA, Nozomi, they do a great job with basic releases and put out very nice collector's editions when the Fan demand is there for them. It's the releases that price their episodes at price levels that begin to mimic Japanese releases where I get concerned.
I've another hobby ( Model Railroading ) that has gone down a similar limited release / quality / pricing path and has priced itself out of contention with the younger generations. So much so that the average age of one of it's hobbyists is 65 + years old, at 57 I'm a youngster. Almost no younger people are involved and they won't be when it costs more to buy a model locomotive than it does to buy a 3DS or a single model car costs more than a game for the same 3DS. So, I don't want to see it get to where someone who streams a series, and decided they want to own it, has severe sticker shock when they price the physical release. Mark Gosdin |
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Junyo19
 Posts: 1 Location: Amsterdam |
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There seems to be a market for laserdiscs and compact cassettes as well, so BluRay will probably stay around for a while yet.
To each his/her own. 
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DerekL1963
 Subscriber Posts: 1116 Location: Puget Sound |
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Model railroading has been dying since the early 90's - long before the limited release / quality/ pricing path became common. And it's not just model railroading - a lot of hobbies that involve large quantities of physical stuff, or significant or specialized space, or significant or specialized skills are dying out among the younger generations. (I'm 53 FWIW.) The reasons are complicated and way off topic here, but the shift upmarket you describe is more of an effect than it is a cause. |
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Lord Geo
Posts: 2569 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
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Well, at least for LDs, there is still a market mainly because there are simply titles you can't get on DVD to this very day, and if you want the best quality possible for those titles then you have to go with LD if there is one, because VHS can only look so good. For anime especially, there's actually been a focus in some circles about putting out new (unofficial) releases of various OVAs & TV series that were previously only available to fans via VHS (or VHS rips), with the new versions using the LDs as the sources. Titles like Ozanari Dungeon, Next Senki Ehrgeiz, Del Power X, & even Maze TV (since the LDs were uncensored, unlike what CPM used for their DVDs) are now available in one way or another in the best quality possible for people to see them, which is pretty cool to see happen. In that same regard, I think DVD will always be around in some way because, much like the switch from VHS & LD to DVD, not everything will be put out on BD. This is especially true when it comes to anime, mainly because of the digipaint-produced titles of the 00s, which have (seemingly) rarely been put out on BD without some sort of notable loss in video quality. Not just that, but even today there are some anime that have been made in HD but not released on BD in Japan, like Gifu Dodo: Kanetsugu & Keiji, Rowdy Sumo Wrestler Matsutaro, or the last two seasons of Ring ni Kakero 1, to my immediate recollection. |
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leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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As long as at least one dedicated group preserves a hobby though, it'll never truly die out, even though there may no longer be a manufacturer. It's when this group is unable to recruit newcomers that it'll die. Unfortunately, many of these groups consist of middle-aged to elderly people without a lot of young people.
Accompanying the trend in retro consumption of media, though, is a small side-revival in everything else that is decidedly old-fashioned. Microbreweries are making a comeback, for instance, and that was something thought to be nearing its end. Taking something upmarket is pretty much a guarantee that younger people are not going to get into it in significant quantities though. Unless you were born into a wealthy family or you found amazing success early on, you'd need decades of experience and work to get the levels of disposable income needed to have these hobbies. (And, of course, anyone who pays attention to my posts knows pinball is one of the things I am thinking of--the price of these machines have risen way out of proportion with inflation. The Big Lebowski is meant to feel like the 90's Bally-Williams machines. Those Bally-Williams machines cost about US$1,500 back then. The Big Lebowski is $10,000.) |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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I could ignore the mentions made in the article for things like Vinyl, but really if people are going to say things aren't "going away" simply because there are some really obscure HARDCORE collectors out there, that's just silly. I have a Laserdisc player and several anime laserdiscs, but the format is (for all intents and purposes) DEAD. So are audio cassettes, and VHS tapes, and yeah I have a mound of those too. But there are also people who collect old CocaCola machines or weird antiques. That doesn't mean thos things are still around as a true MARKET, it just means there's some weird collectors for just about anything.
I think anime DVDs/BDs are destined for the realm of the "collector", not necessarily because the format itself is doomed (altho I'm not sure the "mainstream" future of it) but because I think the number of people that want to OWN a LARGE collection of physical media will decline. I think you'll always have a few "must buy" titles, but as the newer generations transition in and streaming becomes the normal way to watch, I think most people will just get a view in and move on. I wonder (long-term) how many people will forge a "deep" connection with anime titles, and if they do, how many. Reading the review about Magic Users Club and comments about how older series are received years later just makes me wonder if people will look at the MAJORITY of titles as so much more "disposable". |
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Ryo Hazuki
Posts: 364 Location: Finland |
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For me it's less about owning discs and more about importing discs being easier than accessing region locked streams.
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Touma
 Posts: 2651 Location: Colorado, USA |
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Streaming is not practical for me. I need a disc if I am going to watch anything.
I am probably in the minority but I know that I am not the only person in that situation. As I have said several times in similar threads here, DVD and Blu-ray might be replaced by another medium but physical releases of some kind will be around for a long time. Personally, I think that the DVD will be with us for quite a while yet because it is just too useful, versatile, and economical to discard. |
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Tempest_Wing
Posts: 305 |
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Call me back when someone decides to release my animu on laserdisc.
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H. Guderian
Posts: 1255 |
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That Vinyl made that much more money is a shocker.
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Lemonchest
Posts: 1771 |
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I enjoy blind buying cheap older DVDs that catch my eye. Still haven't made the leap to blu-ray since I really don't see the difference most of the time & don't think it's worth the price premium that often accompanies new blu-ray releases (rather like vinyl, really).
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SailorTralfamadore
 Posts: 499 Location: Keep Austin Weeb |
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Despite being a music fan, I didn't know cassette tapes were making a comeback.
But upon learning this, I share Justin's confusion. 
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fathergoat
Posts: 90 |
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From what I'm seeing popular anime will still get a physical release because they can make more off of it that way. But streaming is bringing us opportunity to legally watch stuff that would probably never see a release otherwise.
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RHorsman
 Posts: 151 Location: Loch Loman |
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Rolling Stone (speaking of outmoded things that never quite die) just published this story on the cassette mini-boom.
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/why-the-cassette-tape-is-still-not-dead-20160418 I thought it was just an indy/artsy thing, but even the major labels are getting into the act now. |
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Wrial Huden
 Posts: 149 Location: McKinney, TX |
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Even more mystifying is that there's a small cult following for 8-track tapes. I was watching some show the other night featuring some guy restoring old 8-track cassettes. And I'm thinking "Why?" He has to have some kind of device to play them on. As far as I know, there is no current production anywhere for 8-track players; the only ones to be had are old, possibly refurbished or restored, players sold on eBay and Amazon. I don't think I 'd want to see an 8-track comeback. About half of my 8-track collection I had as a kid got eaten by the player...
I'm pleased that anime is so affordable on discs. If you think it's too expensive, how about anime VHS in the early/mid 90s? Animeigo released Bubblegum Crisis one episode at a time for about $40 a pop! The releases got better over time as companies like ADV, Central Park Media, Viz, etc. popped up and added more episodes to each tape (2 to 4 depending on the company and the series), but you were still looking at spending from $20 to $30 a tape depending if you wanted the dub or subtitled tape (yes, you had to choose; you didn't get both, and subtitled was almost always the most expensive). If a series is too expensive brand new, you can always wait for a bit to see if there's a price drop or sale. Shop around and compare. |
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