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NEWS: Pony Canyon Production Company Expands to US Market

I am not happy. It's going to kill my hobby and I will bitch, moan, argue, and whine about it until the bitter end.

animefanworried wrote:

Aniplex-like business models are so inferior and dumb

Inferior and dumb - a recent article on ANN by someone who is in the industry says that Aniplex of America is the industry success story right now, their sales are good and they've been adding more employees.

Indeed, what you're saying must be correct! Inferior + dumb = company growth.

If Pony Canyon does go the AoA route, and the rest of the industry does move in that direction, it will be boom days for the fansub community again.

They're successful in that they're not going bankrupt with an insane business model. Making profit doesn't mean they're making the most profit they could make with a better model. What we've seen of the Japanese indicates they are willing to take a profit cut to stop reverse importation. When a company like Aniplex gets high profile series and doesn't even dub all of them because their release format doesn't guarantee a return that would justify the expense, whereas the business model of other R1 companies would allow them to dub such titles and therefor indicate they could potentially make more with the same title, I'll say their business model (Aniplex) is inferior; not unprofitable, just inferior!

Aniplex has the titles necessary to be on top of the R1 industry, all high profile stuff. If they started licensing more stuff from other studios to release at fair prices with more dubs and used their high profile shows as backbone, they could potentially be as big if not bigger than FUNimation. Yet, they remain a collector's hive with limited growth. When you have a business model that is maintained alive on life-support only by the high profile nature of the shows you have, you'll forgive me if I don't call that a smart business model; especially when the reason for it is to combat a paranoid delusion known as reverse importation.

If this model is so great why are the companies not adapting it? Everyone switched over to collections after the singles died, except Bandai, who is now closed; so why are other companies not switching over to the much more successful overpriced trinket selling model? Sure, learning that there is a collector's market has led to companies now making Limited Editions of some of their titles but regular editions have remained, in spite of that fact that they have had more than enough time to make the switch since Aniplex showed them the path years ago. Could it be the Japanese model is fueled by reverse importation fears and achieves limited success while ignoring greater profit potential which the other R1 companies are willing to embrace?

Japanese companies getting directly involved to this level is always a bad thing.

When a company like Aniplex gets high profile series and doesn't even dub all of them because their release format doesn't guarantee a return that would justify the expense,

whereas the business model of other R1 companies would allow them to dub such titles and therefor indicate they could potentially make more with the same title,

When you have a business model that is maintained alive on life-support only by the high profile nature of the shows you have, you'll forgive me if I don't call that a smart business model; especially when the reason for it is to combat a paranoid delusion known as reverse importation.

If this model is so great why are the companies not adapting it? Everyone switched over to collections after the singles died, except Bandai, who is now closed; so why are other companies not switching over to the much more successful overpriced trinket selling model?

animefanworried wrote:

When a company like Aniplex gets high profile series and doesn't even dub all of them because their release format doesn't guarantee a return that would justify the expense,

AoA has dubbed all their high profile series: Durarara!!, Blue Exorcist, Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero, Sword Art Online and Kill la Kill. Name me one high profile series that they have not dubbed. Don't mention Oreimo and Monogatari because they are too niche.

They're successful in that they're not going bankrupt with an insane business model. Making profit doesn't mean they're making the most profit they could make with a better model. What we've seen of the Japanese indicates they are willing to take a profit cut to stop reverse importation. When a company like Aniplex gets high profile series and doesn't even dub all of them because their release format doesn't guarantee a return that would justify the expense, whereas the business model of other R1 companies would allow them to dub such titles and therefor indicate they could potentially make more with the same title, I'll say their business model (Aniplex) is inferior; not unprofitable, just inferior!

Aniplex has the titles necessary to be on top of the R1 industry, all high profile stuff. If they started licensing more stuff from other studios to release at fair prices with more dubs and used their high profile shows as backbone, they could potentially be as big if not bigger than FUNimation. Yet, they remain a collector's hive with limited growth. When you have a business model that is maintained alive on life-support only by the high profile nature of the shows you have, you'll forgive me if I don't call that a smart business model; especially when the reason for it is to combat a paranoid delusion known as reverse importation.

If this model is so great why are the companies not adapting it? Everyone switched over to collections after the singles died, except Bandai, who is now closed; so why are other companies not switching over to the much more successful overpriced trinket selling model? Sure, learning that there is a collector's market has led to companies now making Limited Editions of some of their titles but regular editions have remained, in spite of that fact that they have had more than enough time to make the switch since Aniplex showed them the path years ago. Could it be the Japanese model is fueled by reverse importation fears and achieves limited success while ignoring greater profit potential which the other R1 companies are willing to embrace?

Japanese companies getting directly involved to this level is always a bad thing.

animefanworried wrote:

They're successful in that they're not going bankrupt with an insane business model. Making profit doesn't mean they're making the most profit they could make with a better model. What we've seen of the Japanese indicates they are willing to take a profit cut to stop reverse importation. When a company like Aniplex gets high profile series and doesn't even dub all of them because their release format doesn't guarantee a return that would justify the expense, whereas the business model of other R1 companies would allow them to dub such titles and therefor indicate they could potentially make more with the same title, I'll say their business model (Aniplex) is inferior; not unprofitable, just inferior! Aniplex has the titles necessary to be on top of the R1 industry, all high profile stuff. If they started licensing more stuff from other studios to release at fair prices with more dubs and used their high profile shows as backbone, they could potentially be as big if not bigger than FUNimation. Yet, they remain a collector's hive with limited growth. When you have a business model that is maintained alive on life-support only by the high profile nature of the shows you have, you'll forgive me if I don't call that a smart business model; especially when the reason for it is to combat a paranoid delusion known as reverse importation. If this model is so great why are the companies not adapting it? Everyone switched over to collections after the singles died, except Bandai, who is now closed; so why are other companies not switching over to the much more successful overpriced trinket selling model? Sure, learning that there is a collector's market has led to companies now making Limited Editions of some of their titles but regular editions have remained, in spite of that fact that they have had more than enough time to make the switch since Aniplex showed them the path years ago. Could it be the Japanese model is fueled by reverse importation fears and achieves limited success while ignoring greater profit potential which the other R1 companies are willing to embrace? Japanese companies getting directly involved to this level is always a bad thing.

Even though they may cater to a more limited market, I don't get why AoA hasn't seem to figure out to get rid with the single release format and price them at Sentai/Funi level prices.

From a business standpoint, I think that it is better to have to as much as often as you can on than to have seldom growth. With AoA, enough misses means they lose money that could severely cripple licensing as
much as you can.

Finally, I find that Pony Canyon has possibly the weirdest name for a Japanese studio/company.

Can you honestly tell me stuff like Blast of Tempest, Valvrave and Garden of Sinners wouldn't have seen a dubbed release from other companies? Less popular shows get dubbed and are successful all the time.

Finally, I find that Pony Canyon has possibly the weirdest name for a Japanese studio/company.

Yes, other companies (especially Funimation) would have dubbed them...