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Hey, Answerman! - Building You A Better Cartoon Show

You should ask yourselves is paying $370 plus tax + plus shipping worth 13 episodes when you can buy a PS3 with a few games, a bunch of different animes or movies from another company, and go out with friends multiple times?

That's probably why they are offering three different price tiers for Madoka Magica, re-issuing Oreimo, and offering a Garden of sinners DVD set. It's the "no fan left behind" initiative.

but even that isn't much of a draw. For something like Madoka, you either pay the exorbitant $75 for 4 episodes (or 3 can't remember how many episodes per set) with extras that may or may not be worth it (personally I'm not a fan of the extras), or you pay $40 per volume for just the episodes and nothing else. One option is exceedingly expensive, the other option is comparatively cheaper but still pretty pricey. I understand that this is the pricing model they want, but it certainly isn't one I ever plan on buying into. Price points like this is what drives me to wait several months after the release of an item until the price drops to something more reasonable via secondary sellers on amazon. And for cripes sakes, no one wants to buy a series less than 26 episodes in volumes anymore

kakoishii wrote:

but even that isn't much of a draw. For something like Madoka, you either pay the exorbitant $75 for 4 episodes (or 3 can't remember how many episodes per set) with extras that may or may not be worth it (personally I'm not a fan of the extras), or you pay $40 per volume for just the episodes and nothing else. One option is exceedingly expensive, the other option is comparatively cheaper but still pretty pricey. I understand that this is the pricing model they want, but it certainly isn't one I ever plan on buying into. Price points like this is what drives me to wait several months after the release of an item until the price drops to something more reasonable via secondary sellers on amazon. And for cripes sakes, no one wants to buy a series less than 26 episodes in volumes anymore

Then don't buy it.

Problem solved.

Why exactly is Aniplex's marketing decisions being looked at in such a negative light? So far they have been releasing titles that they know will sell physical copies and then making the titles available through digital means; Crunchyroll got Oreimo and Madoka and even Garden of Sinners got a digital release. This seems like a wise business move to me

I think the fact that Aniplex USA's releases continue to sell out, each and every time, makes a pretty good case that they're doing fine, thanks.

Fast forward a few years, and Bandai Visual is shunted to the side as Bandai Entertainment itself slowly fizzles away.

and it's better than NOT getting it on DVD or Blu Ray at all, right?"

And the other thing is, for the people who actually do buy these sets, I hear nothing but praise. I mean, they're expensive, but lookit all this crap.

the 75 dollar asking price isn't that much more than the myriad of "Limited Editions" that would come out for every volume of everything ADV and Bandai used to dump onto the shelves of every Fry's and Best Buy in the country,

And the other thing is, a lot of these shows have pretty broad appeal; Madoka Magica was one of the biggest hits of last year.

Kenshin is still huge here, too.

There's certainly a healthy throng of people who adore Garden of Sinners and Fate/Zero, too.

kakoishii wrote:

but even that isn't much of a draw. For something like Madoka, you either pay the exorbitant $75 for 4 episodes (or 3 can't remember how many episodes per set) with extras that may or may not be worth it (personally I'm not a fan of the extras), or you pay $40 per volume for just the episodes and nothing else. One option is exceedingly expensive, the other option is comparatively cheaper but still pretty pricey. I understand that this is the pricing model they want, but it certainly isn't one I ever plan on buying into. Price points like this is what drives me to wait several months after the release of an item until the price drops to something more reasonable via secondary sellers on amazon. And for cripes sakes, no one wants to buy a series less than 26 episodes in volumes anymore

Then don't buy it.

Problem solved.

The messaging is much clearer, and so less people are looking at their high prices and limited availability as a dirty way to swindle their fans, and it's more of a sad but necessary financial reality.

Then don't buy it.

Problem solved.

when they're not divvying up shows into single volumes, they're releasing exorbitantly-priced boxed sets in limited quantities. Considering that we've been continually spoiled since 2008 or so with rich, full, easy-to-obtain boxed sets of 11 to 13 episodes apiece, all at a low low price, much of what Aniplex is doing seems so antiquated.

For Adult Swim, the important thing is always demographics.

There, now that that's out of the way. Did the sky fall? I guess it didn't. There's two things to pay attention to here: One, this is not a very popular piece of legislation, and even though it's been passed and ratified, it's still under an awful lot of scrutiny - scrutiny from some of the biggest and baddest and most popular figures in the manga, anime, and general Japanese entertainment industry. That triumvirate makes for a pretty powerful lobby. Two, this law has only been in effect since last July. Let's give it, I'll say, a good year or more before we can accurately dissect its open wounds and determine its efficacy or lack thereof.

It's a little too early, I think, to consider the law either a total bust, or the destruction of everything good, ever. Right now, it looks like a bureaucratic mess. Whether the Youth Ordinance Bill saves the soul of every Japanese child or ruins the manga and anime industry is yet to be known.

*Mind you, I'm still extremely pissed that we won't be getting a BD.

Seriously people. If you want to tell me that this is just too bad then I can live with that. But for goodness sake let's do away with this inane, wilfully ignorant posturing where we pretend like this actually isn't a problem when it clearly is.

ikillchicken wrote:

*Mind you, I'm still extremely pissed that we won't be getting a BD.

I'm in line behind you. I've also a tremendous difficulty accepting this "3 episodes" on bluray, a technological wonder which allows for many more episodes to be added than 3.