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REVIEW: Kara no Kyoukai - the Garden of sinners

Personally, I don't think spending $400 in one sitting on entertainment is fiscally responsible, but then again, I've been broke and underemployed for 18 months, so my perspective has been skewed to the "cheap." I really liked Kara no Kyoukai, but not enough to use up almost four years' worth of the "anime budget" that I give myself. Make it only $154, I could save up and buy that (after Utena comes out).

I'm very curious if anyone here bought this blind?

I can't really see myself ever paying $400 on a blind buy.

Sadly, Canada customs will likely turn a profit. Stupid fees.

tuxedocat wrote:

While I don't agree that this type of marketing destroys all hope of a localized release here in the U.S., I think it entirely possible that such a business strategy may make the wait for that localized release a bit longer than we already do.

It's also entirely possible that this type of marketing will be used for precisely those titles that are delayed for several Japanese release cycles anyway for fear of reverse importation ... so it just provides a limited release in the same wait that there would be in any event.

tuxedocat wrote:

I remember being called "stupid" for pre-ordering Durarara, for kind of the same reasons. (Though Drrrr is not coming with the fancy packaging and did not get a simultaneous release, it did get an expensive Bang-Zoom dub, and they pay the actors S.A.G scale at that studio, IIRC.)

I think that the Durarara release strategy, which is decidedly different ~ simulcast subtitled stream release, followed by hybrid DVD release at $4.60/episode ~ is more likely to see a much longer delay before a discount set is offered.

That is, at that price point, a discount set would be a S.A.V.E type release in a flipack, and that adds at least a year and possibly several to the time that we might hope to see a discount set.

However, I'd expect the Durarara type of release, if the strategy survives, to shortly morph into a combined BD and DVD set.

You can't compare a simultaneous DVD release (like Kite: Liberator) with a simultaneous Blu-ray release because region codes for America and Japan are different with DVD. This isn't the case with Blu-ray, which is why a cheaper release of KnK on Blu-ray in the US won't happen for a while. A R1 DVD is more likely since that wouldn't be playable on most DVD players in Japan.

And anybody who pisses and moans about "elitism" simply because some people exercised their democratic right to buy a product ... well, the "be polite and respectful" rule around here prevents me from giving full vent to what I think of that limpdick attitude but let me just leave behind one of these ...

The ONLY thing that is happening is that Aniplex is offering this premium product at the same time its being released in Japan. Normally, absolutely nothing would be offered right now and any NA collector who wanted the set would have to import directly from Japan. Now, if two years from now, there still isn't a non-premium set available at a more affordable price THEN people can legitimately start whining about price blocking.

DTJB wrote:

$400? F*** that noise, if I'm interested, I'll just rent them.

I already checked netflix. It ain't there.

I'm not sure if I should call this a straw man because it may be a fair response to the odd person in this thread. However, I think it's true that in the vast majority of cases, people don't object to someone buying this. People object to those people then turning around and telling the rest of us that this is a perfectly reasonable amount to pay or acting like we're cheap because we won't buy this. At that point it's not an issue of 'democratic rights'. It's just them being snobs.

For the record, I'm not complaining about price blocking. I object to the whole Japanese pricing scheme that creates all these problems in the first place. So yes, I understand that this is par for the course for Japanese releases. I just don't see that as an excuse.

I still can't figure out the strategy behind the R.O.D release. It seems very expensive to me considering this is an older show, using a dub that was done by another company... I mean, $150 ($200msrp) for packaging?

ikillchicken wrote:

I'm not sure if I should call this a straw man because it may be a fair response to the odd person in this thread. However, I think it's true that in the vast majority of cases, people don't object to someone buying this. People object to those people then turning around and telling the rest of us that this is a perfectly reasonable amount to pay or acting like we're cheap because we won't buy this. At that point it's not an issue of 'democratic rights'. It's just them being snobs.

I would agree with you in the examples you specify. However, the person flinging around charges of elitism (who isn't you, by the way) doesn't appear to be making any distinctions. I've read posts by a number of people at ANN who did buy the set and they aren't a bunch of snooty country club types lounging around, lighting up their cohibas with thousand dollar bills. They strike me as regular people who are willing to pay the price for a premium product that they are excited to be receiving. To tar them with an elitist brush or call them stupid for buying this set (which I know you are not doing) really galls me.

ikillchicken wrote:

I'm not sure if I should call this a straw man because it may be a fair response to the odd person in this thread. However, I think it's true that in the vast majority of cases, people don't object to someone buying this. People object to those people then turning around and telling the rest of us that this is a perfectly reasonable amount to pay or acting like we're cheap because we won't buy this. At that point it's not an issue of 'democratic rights'. It's just them being snobs.

I would agree with you in the examples you specify. However, the person flinging around charges of elitism (who isn't you, by the way) doesn't appear to be making any distinctions. I've read posts by a number of people at ANN who did buy the set and they aren't a bunch of snooty country club types lounging around, lighting up their cohibas with thousand dollar bills. They strike me as regular people who are willing to pay the price for a premium product that they are excited to be receiving. To tar them with an elitist brush or call them stupid for buying this set (which I know you are not doing) really galls me.