Forum - View topicInterview: Henry Goto, President, Aniplex of America
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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It's still a good price even without the booklet. I mean, the show itself is great, easily five times better than the typical mediocre fare that can be bought for US$30. Therefore the dollar-per-unit-of-quality (A.K.A. value for money) of Bakemonogatari is just as good - if not outright better - than most other releases. PMMM was another fantastic release, sold at half the price it could have been. I mean, a mere US$225 to own the dubbed Blu-Ray + DVD LE of one of the best Anime shows ever made; it's a bargain no matter how you slice it. People have argued that they can buy nine or ten lesser series for the same price, but those titles combined would not match the quality of PMMM. No two titles are the same and people should stop comparing the overall price and start comparing value for money. I can't say all of AoA's releases are worth buying; Garden of Sinners was a poorly-written movie series and not even worth US$100 let alone whatever the heck it was. That said it sold out, so obviously die-hard fans were willing to dig deeper than the quality of the title should have necessitated. Companies don't price on what things ought to be, they price on what they think fans will pay. This means there will be rip-offs, true, but it also allows room for good bargains like PMMM and Bakemonogatari. |
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fuuma_monou
 Posts: 1817 Location: Quezon City, Philippines |
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Good question. If it's anything like mainstream music, I'd guess that ticket and event merchandise sales revenue mostly go to the seiyuu (and their agencies), so the video/record labels have to rely on DVD sales. |
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crosswithyou
 Posts: 2892 Location: California |
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But not all events have a DVD release. |
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ElectricDork
Posts: 73 |
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There's also the in-character commentaries for every episode, all written by Nisioisin. That's what swung it for me. One of the best things (if not the best thing) about Bakemonogatari is the witty dialogue exchanges between the characters, and getting another 15 episodes worth of that was enough to convince me that the Aniplex USA release was worth the price. Still hurts the wallet some, mind, and will sting even more when I get an inevitable customs charge on top... |
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crosswithyou
Posts: 2892 Location: California |
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I've heard about those as well, and am pretty eager to watch/listen to them. WORKING!! had character commentaries too but NISA didn't include them on their release. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Wow, that is a fantastic feature. Now I'm even more keen to get my mitts on this show than I was before, which is saying something since I was already a huge fan of it. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18200 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Um, no, that's just your fanboyism talking. As much as I respect the series, too (It will certainly make my Top 5 list for the year for American releases), there's no way that even its deluxe Blu-Ray releases warrant $150 per volume prices. I thought they were ridiculously overpriced at $75, and I only bought the first one because I wanted the soundtrack - and I regretted it, since the first set's soundtrack didn't include "Magia," the song I most wanted. I only got the non-LEs BRs for the other two and felt that I was still being burned at their lower base $40 price points. (And no, I didn't pay full price for any of them, but that's beside the point.) So yeah, put me in the camp which feels that AoA is gouging customers with their prices.
One of the series from the past decade that I would rank equal to or above PMMM on every qualitative measure cost an MSRP of $200 for its entire 26-episode run if one looks at the MSRP for the original DVD singles with 3-4 episodes per disc. Even if you factor in an extra premium for Blu-Ray disks, add in the soundtrack's price separately, and make some allowance for some of the other extras (which, I'll point out, have been available for no extra charge on some other releases), you're still talking about an average per-episode price that's only about 60% of PMMM's - and, again, that's for a series that I would consider to be of equal or greater merit. (And while you might not agree that the series in question is as great as PMMM, it is one that you have rated "Excellent" on your My Anime list.) |
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getchman
 Space CowboyPosts: 9120 Location: Bedford, NH |
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and what show would that be Key, you didn't tell us
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Saffire
 Posts: 1256 Location: Iowa, USA |
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Fencedude5609
 Posts: 5088 |
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Thats your own fault since the tracklist for those OSTs has been available for over a year, and OP/ED themes are almost never on OSTs anyway. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Why the secrecy Key? Why didn't you just come out and say the title?
Well, I've rated the following twenty-six-episode series as Excellent: GiTS: SAC PlanetES Princess Tutu Samurai Champloo Seirei no Moribito Zipang I'm going to go with Princess Tutu, since Key is in love with that series. As much as I enjoyed it and respected it (as you would expect from a series rated Excellent), the writing of PMMM is tighter, grander and more polished. The soundtrack and visuals also handily beat Princess Tutu's. The only areas where Princess Tutu is competitive are the characters and - funnily enough - the animation (and PMMM still holds it own on both of them). PMMM is better, but is it better value for money? I would argue "yes". Of course I would say that, wouldn't I.
Only in the top five for the year? What the heck? What other titles could possibly even rival it as the supreme series? Have I been in a coma for the last year and missed something? PMMM is the second-best title I've ever watched, just behind my beloved RahXephon. Part of me even thinks the two titles should - gasp - share the top spot and be first-equal.
Someone's been spoilt by low prices. Yes, it's a higher cost per episode than in the boom years even, but then I don't remember Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid (as an example) being so incredible that it blew me away. What is the average series worth to you? And how much better do you think PMMM is compared to the average FUNi release? If you're willing to pay - say - $45 for a cour of mediocre episodes, then what's wrong with paying five times that amount to own a series more than five times better? |
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Ingraman
Posts: 1077 |
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Aren't the TV-length versions still often on OSTs, or has that general practice been abandoned? I'm buying mostly singles these days, for the themes, so I'm not too certain what's up with the OSTs at the moment. I wonder if Key looked up the track lists for the CDs that came with the other two volumes after his mistake with the first... |
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stardf29
Posts: 171 |
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...we're still talking about this?
Anyways, I only bought the LE for Vol. 3 of Madoka. It's a Masterpiece show for me for sure, but that's only really because of the content of the last volume, particularly the ending. The rest, well, it's important for setting up the ending, I guess, but I just don't feel like it's worth splurging $150 on both of them. I'm not even sure I want to pay $80 for the two standalone Blu-rays. Hopefully AoA will release a cheaper complete collection somewhere down the line... |
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superdry
 Posts: 1309 |
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And, one of the reasons, in my opinion, that what Aniplex USA is charging for their Bake release is well worth it. Really excited to listen and understand these finally after all these years. |
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Fencedude5609
Posts: 5088 |
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It just depends. Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't. Its not like tracklists are a secret or anything, so its easy to find out. |
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