Forum - View topicINTEREST: Gainax Co-Founder Okada Shares Thoughts on Illegal Copying
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5823 Location: Virginia, United States |
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They are not questioning the success the company has had, but rather the effect it is having on the fans that would like to buy it. |
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Charred Knight
 Posts: 3085 |
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It's not just going to be a single company soon, what happens when Bandai Visual comes back (and they will because they just closed Bandai Entertainment), what if Kadokawa decides that they want to sell anime directly to Americans using Japanese prices? If you want anime then you're going to have to pay 50 dollars for two episodes in that scenario. |
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agila61
 Posts: 3213 Location: NE Ohio |
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But that single company has not been doing all of its releases like that ~ not even a majority. And though Bandai released the Gundam Unicorn that way, they licensed Tiger & Bunny to an R1 licensee. So, no, in that scenario if you want some specific anime titles on physical media, you are going to have to pay 50 dollars for two episodes. But its not a scenario in which you are going to have to pay 50 dollars "if you want anime". Edit: And even in those scenarios, remember that the Garden of Sinners was available for much less per movie on iTunes rental, and Gundam Unicorn is $6/episode at PSN and Xbox/Zune. Last edited by agila61 on Thu Apr 26, 2012 10:29 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Mesonoxian Eve
Posts: 1858 |
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Taking into consideration of your past posts, this is what you're saying: Stop stealing anime because artist's deserve compensation for their works, but let's just make damn sure that compensation is capped at $50 box sets. From my perspective, you share the exact same entitlement you accuse others of. It's well established the markets outside of Japan do not return enough to "protect the industry", and while the DVD market is shrinking, you constantly perpetuate the false belief DVD sales are the only thing to save it. A successful title demands a higher price, because these are limited by their very nature when compared to the rest of the titles people are not buying, despite a lower price. Don't feel bad. Your position on the matter between copyright and market expectation isn't uncommon, and unfortunately, that's the majority of the problem in itself. But thanks for showing your true colors. I'm sure artists in Japan will thank you for your dedication to limit what they should earn based on the appreciation of their works. 
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Charred Knight
Posts: 3085 |
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When have I ever denied that was my position? I have made perfectly clear that I think the high price point of physical media in Japan has harmed the anime industry. At this point in time, the goal for an anime company isn't to make a good product it's simply to pander to the otaku and hope that your anime is the lucky one that sells 20,000 units and not 2,000. If you make a series and sell it for 50 dollars for two episodes, then all you're going to get is the exact same people buying a limited amount of product over and over again. The anime industry is not a healthy industry so I don't think the answer is to prevent the anime from ever becoming something other than a super niche product worldwide. |
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agila61
Posts: 3213 Location: NE Ohio |
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Someone who is not willing to pay $50, or $20, or $10 is not automatically acting "entitled" because of that. They have to be using the fact that the content is not available at $50, or $20, or $10 as a justification for something they are doing. The "entitlement" is normally a shorthand for the either implicit or explicit argument "I am entitled to this at $X, with a Y quality release and a delay of under Z weeks (or days), and if I do not get what I am entitled to, that excuses me for pirating a bootleg and viewing that instead". The term for someone who is not claiming any special privileges as a result of being priced out of the market, but who is simply unwilling to pay $50 for two episodes, or $30 for four episodes, or $4 to rent a four episode pack for two days ... ... is "potential customer". That's what the demand side of the market is all about: different numbers of people will buy at different price points. |
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TarsTarkas
Posts: 5823 Location: Virginia, United States |
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I tend to think it is the Japanese otaku who are funding the anime industry in Japan, and that there wouldn't be an anime industry if it wasn't for their willingness to pay those high prices. Believe Zac or Justin touched on this in that three part essay on the industry a month or two back.
Look at the U.S., all anime (cartoons) are mainly for kids or young teens. Not much out there for older teens or adults, at least on the scale coming out of Japan. True, culture and history has influenced this, but if there was a market they could profit off of, they would be doing so. The current Japanese anime industry formed naturally. I don't see mainstream Japanese clamoring for more nuanced or mature anime targeting the mainstream demographic. |
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dewlwieldthedarpachief
 Posts: 751 Location: Canada |
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Things that aren't somewhere between "really entertaining" and "classic" aren't even on my purchasing radar, so what something ends up costing is almost inconsequential. I guess it sucks if your goal is to amass great quantities of anime, but I'm just jubilant that I can even buy any of the preciously few things I truly want on Blu-ray. Personally, it's also difficult to see Aniplex or whoever voluntarily avoiding your money forever; give it a few years, I'm sure they want your money.
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Charred Knight
Posts: 3085 |
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Everything I have seen from the Japanese tells me that they simply see America as a place to sell a few extra copies of their hit new show. How many more anime series are going to get DVD only releases simply because they Japanese are afraid of reverse importation? |
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TitanXL
 Posts: 4036 |
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Pretty much. Anime is able to exist, along with Japan's more open view on animation, because of this market model. This is why the 90s had such a high amount of OVAs compared to now; they made an OVA and then people bought it, and it never really ran on TV. Nowadays, stuff airs on TV, and they bank on the home release being bough to fund it; the practice has shifted even if the mindset has not. You're not going to make a show like Seikon no Qwaser or Queens Blade and air in the same time slot as Doraemon and expect to make the profit back in Japan, let alone trying an American adult cartoon in similar vein in Spongebob's slot in America. |
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ArsenicSteel
 Posts: 2370 |
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The fan spends their money and gets the product of their choosing. That's the effect. Maybe you mean that the other poster means to point out how bad it would be if Americans accepted that price for a large number of releases. To me the fear-mongering over 2-3 expensive boxsets released in the American market per year is speculative stupidity. |
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luffypirate
 Posts: 3186 |
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Bandai Visual USA? Our Gundam Unicorn Blu-ray discs are being released under the Honneamise label so I guess you could stay they have been back in a way. If they like totally came back as BVUSA I would be ecstatic. I own like 95% of their catalog and I would love to add more to it. Now dated but they had the best looking and sounding DVDs I've ever seen released domestically. |
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Charred Knight
Posts: 3085 |
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The DVD I saw (the SRW OVA) was pretty good but it sure wasn't 35 bucks for 3 episodes pretty good. Personally BVUSA will always go down as one of the most hilariously stupid attempts to sell anime. They released anime the majority of people didn't want in the first place. They insulted everyone who worked in the anime industry here, and they claimed that because one dub sucked that meant all dubs sucked. |
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dewlwieldthedarpachief
Posts: 751 Location: Canada |
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You know, I kind of ignored that stuff I could take or leave or think even less of is potentially desireable to others. And don't get me wrong, this whole deal with Panty and Stocking and delayed release irritates me even though I'm not partial to the show itself. Japanese Blu-rays can be so expensive they're out of the reach of even the domestic fans; you can read on amazon Japan's website some disgusted comments about the astronomically high priced Macross TV box (that's ~35k yen, folks!). You'd think there'd be some kind of revolution, but if you know anything about Japan it's that it only has two speedy things: mobile networks and a nosediving birthrate! (rimshot) From the plodding oyaji to the stagnant civil rights arena, Japan is a piece of molasses doing everything everything in its power to become amber. Millions of years from now, holographic Patrick Swayze and Jeff Goldbum are going to get into kuh-razy hijinks when someone combines Japanese and frog DNA... As pathetic as it can sometimes be, I would be flabberghasted if anything approaching change, much less improvement, would characterize the domestic Japanese video market anytime soon. I think the way most people consume media there has just changed to accommodate this; video rental is alive and well as ever and people in general just dont buy tonnes of movies compared to the average North American. Given how alien this all is in the North American market, it's unfortunate but not surprising problems occur, and it could be worse (e.g. the state of catalogue Hong Kong cinema on home video everywhere). I guess it just goes to show how much you care about anime if you can still retain enthusiasm amongst this miasma of apathy from the licensor end. It's the opposite of fun for me to pine after something unobtainable, so I prefer to move on and take my money with me. |
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luffypirate
Posts: 3186 |
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Oh yes their representatives were complete jackasses when it came to discussing English dubs. There are a few panels on YouTube that ANN recorded, the president is a riot. They just happened to get a bunch of shows I wanted to own dearly so I just had to suck it up and pay the price. I view them like the Criterion of anime  My only issue was their low prints for a few of the BD releases and MS IGLOO. Naturally, I couldn't afford everything I wanted on the day of release so I missed out on a few and had to pay wayyyyyyyy more than I should have later on.
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