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Forum - View topicJapanese DVDs
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Amasa
 Posts: 340 Location: Japan |
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I did a bit of research in this forum and found out that Japanese Anime DVDs are as expensive if not more expensive than American retailers' prices. Is it true? Is the real reason that it's because the Japanese have so much money to spend on luxury goods so anime prices stay high? I'd just like to clarify this.
Also, it's been mentioned that Japanese anime DVDs do not have English Subtitles as an option. Doesn't almost every single American DVD have subtitles for several languages? Even some anime has more subtitle languages than english, but Japanese DVDs don't even have any subs? Why is this? What is the availability of anime DVDs in Japan? Are they fairly accessible, like an anime store as common as a CD store and are they apparent all over the country? Do people even buy anime DVDs in Japan? I don't see any particular reason why they wouldn't. And to make myself seem even more noob, what region are Japanese DVDs? What features do they have on them and can you buy an entire series in a Box-Set? |
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Asako
 Posts: 751 Location: Hawaii |
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I think they're Region 2 dvds...
As for subtitles, North America (region 1) is pretty diverse. How many people speak Spanish in the U.S.? How about French in Canada? I think it's because of significant languages in the regions make it more beneficial to put subtitles for those languages, or even dubbing. Though the spanish can differ from mexico spanish to spain spanish. Different accents and such (says my co-worker who speaks puerto rico spanish). Japan has different dialects but generally the same language, Japanese. There aren't many there who speak a different language other than that. Uhm.. as for everything else about the Japanese DVDs, I'm not too sure. I imagine there are some box sets. I'll have to take a look at it the next time I'm in the mall. I can't speak much about the price for the DVDs, but I do know that at a import store, Magic Knight Rayearth OAV VHS, 1 episode cost about $80 (that's with a slight markup for importing it to the US). But at places like Book Off it's much cheaper, but probably because it was used. As for the CD stores that I've been to there, the CDs in America are SO MUCH CHEAPER!!! I just bought a couple of CDs today from the mall. "Every Little Thing/ Every Best Single +3" says it's 3,059 yen. Gah, I can't imagine buying an album for that much money. |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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It is very true. Let me get one thing straight. No matter what, you are going to find things in Japan expensive compared to over here. Especially electronically related items.
That's because when they're region two they're not expecting someone who doesn't know Japanese to watch it. It's for Japanese people to enjoy by Japanese companies/makers/retailers, whatever.
A regular retail store you won't find many on sale, maybe newer releases. You'd have to go to a second hand store where you're guaranteed to find some, or you go to a store that specializes in selling anime DVDs. Gamers is one such store located in Yokohama. People do buy anime in Japan, because they have the money to do so. |
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d.yaro
Posts: 528 |
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Japanese box sets: My experience is that they tend to release collector's boxes rather than box sets. At least when it comes to anime. The two collector's boxes I have for R2 series (Pani Poni Dash! and NHK ni Yokoso!) were issued with limited editions of a particular volume of the series. I say "particular volume" because I think Pani Poni Dash! had the box with volume 3 or 4 and for NHK ni Yokoso! it looks like there'll be box released with the volume 7 limited edition (the first box came with the volume 1 limited edition). I don't really shop for all my shows off of Japanese online merchants so I don't really notice box sets. I suspect a few are released as special editions but I can only vaguely recall one such example. I've seen box sets of TV shows (I was really tempted to buy the Sukeban Deka 1 box set when I saw it in a local store but the price was about $200 - a bit dear for me).
I don't think I've ever come across a Japanese TV show on R2 DVD with English subtitles. I've come across English subtitles on a fair number of R2 DVDs for movies. (If you watch enough of them you'll start noticing the frequency of credits for English subtitles going to a certain Ms. Linda Hoagland.) I suspect the trend is to commission English subtitles for commercially successful domestic films. All in all, it seems to be a real hit and miss kind of thing, for example the very artsy "Eli Eli Lama Sabachtani" has English subtitles but "Linda Linda Linda" and "Shimotsuma Monogatari" (aka: Kamikaze Girls) don't. For anime, Ghost in the Shell - Innocence had English subtitles for a special international edition. I think all the Ghibli movies had English subtitles when they were released on R2 DVD about three years ago. That would make sense because they were all subsequently released on R1 DVD about a year or so later. Given that most anime are TV shows then it figures that no one will commission English subtitles for their R2 releases. Edit: Came across an example of a Japanese R2 DVD anime boxset release: the ¥63000 (after taxes) Creamy Mami boxset (12 DVDs). At current exchange rates that's a whopping $506 in US$. Yes, it's a limited edition release. |
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Amasa
Posts: 340 Location: Japan |
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Okay thanks for the feedback. So it's safe to say that it's far more money efficient to buy anime anywhere but Japan even if you're going to stay in Japan and know Japanese?
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d.yaro
Posts: 528 |
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On that point: They range from none to hardly anything at all. Really. If you're referring to trailers, extras, additional commentary tracks, etc then there is typically little content. I have some DVDs from short anime series where the two shows, chapter markers and a short slideshow of the DVD release schedule and mention of related goods are standard fare for "features". Series which cater to the more than casual to hardcore anime otaku tend to have more features such as textless OP/ED sequences, CMs (TV commercials) and short (10-15 minute) videos. |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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The Street Fighter Alpha R2 DVD has some interviews of the VAs as well as the first episode of the Street Fighter cartoon IN English.
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