Forum - View topicNEWS: Gonzo Halts Romeo×Juliet Fansub with FUNimation's Help
|
Goto page Previous Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
ximpalullaorg
Posts: 396 |
|
|||||
PR stunt. Sorry, but I won't believe it till I see it with my own eyes. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
|
|||||
Watching the entire thing for free is not a "preview", you're just getting the entire product for free. Seeing the first episode for free is a "preview", I guess. People pay $10.50 to see a film they've never seen before based on a 3-minute trailer. I'd like to know where you're getting the "$250 for 26 episodes" thing when most 26-episode series are released across 5, maybe 6 discs, and are generally priced at online and major retailers around $20. That's closer to $100. Also, if the show "jumps the shark" at episode 7 and you're buying the DVDs, you could always, you know, stop buying the DVDs and resell or trade the ones you bought already. There are a lot of holes in your argument. |
||||||
|
||||||
CitizenGeek
 Posts: 136 Location: Ireland |
|
|||||
|
Good work FUNimation, keep it up!
|
||||||
|
||||||
Omega13
 Posts: 78 |
|
|||||
There is, however, the occasional series that does the exact opposite of jumping the shark (is there a term for that?). Anyway, Mai Hime comes to mind here. For the first few episodes it seems like its just cute girls fighting the monster of the day, some sexual overtones and well-placed misunderstandings, yadda yadda. Then around episode 10 (I think) it changes to more of a 'Oh Shi-! There're actually consequences for this!' Had I not watched that far (which, incidentally, is as far as I got in fansubs until real life kicked my rear, but the full series is currently on order with TRSI), I probably would've thought, 'yea, it would be fun, but it's not worth me buying it'. Also for the 'watch it all first' side of the argument, there're episodes 25 and 26 of Eva. Last edited by Omega13 on Fri Sep 28, 2007 3:01 pm; edited 2 times in total |
||||||
|
||||||
Dargonxtc
 Posts: 4463 Location: Nc5xd7+ スターダストの海洋 |
|
|||||
Promises to come out with quicker releases may in fact be a "stunt". Although it would make no sense to make such claims when it would clearly be in the companies and consumers best interest to do so. But falling prices due to people buying more is no stunt, its a fact of life. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Xanas
Posts: 2058 |
|
|||||
|
Yeah, I think Omega's point is valid on that. Trailers can misrepresent media poorly where a fansub actually increases the chance of purchase due to longer length.
Anyway, I could care less about the "getting entire product for free" argument in the first place. If you weren't going to pay for it before you started watching then you didn't do anything. If you end up actually purchasing it because of viewing it then that's something that's a $ bonus to those who otherwise would have made nothing on you. I do believe it does go the other way sometimes where people download and don't buy, but generally those people are going to be buying other things in that same general category. Once again, if you value anime and you like anime, what are you going to spend money on instead of it? Assuming you aren't some kid, it's obvious where your money is going to go, it's going to go to what you like. Just because I watch TV for free and don't buy every show I see on it, doesn't mean I'm not going to buy any shows I see there.
In what industry are you referring to? Supply and demand usually dictates rising prices when there is rising demand. Only in this weird upside-down media industry do we get these ideas that more people = lower prices. If the demand was really high they'd use that as a reason to charge more, because they are in business to make $ ultimately. If they start making more, the japanese companies will start charging more for licenses, etc. This said, I think you are saying this is true because anime is a "niche" market (the theory being that niche markets violate principles because they are charging the small set of demanding individuals more $ just to make it by). The problem with your viewpoint here is that you fail to see why anime is a niche market. Anime is not a niche market because of fansubs. Anime is a niche market because of small viewership and interest domestically. Whether we like to admit it or not, there is less interest in anime than there is in domestic animation or television. That's why you see huge sales on domestic TV in comparison to very small sales in anime, and this despite the fact that many of these shows are on broadcast television for free. Last edited by Xanas on Fri Sep 28, 2007 3:09 pm; edited 1 time in total |
||||||
|
||||||
pedrowear
 Posts: 7 |
|
|||||
The cost? Samurai Champloo, at Amazon.ca for about $30 each disk, the entire series, after tax, $236.13 - a pretty big investment. And yes, watching the entire thing for free is exactly how people watch this in Japan - before buying the series they like on DVD. Not to mention, that's exactly how it works with TV shows here in North America. It seems that many people - most anime distributors - think that fans should just buy buy buy everything they put out. Isn't there some middle ground? Last edited by pedrowear on Fri Sep 28, 2007 3:06 pm; edited 1 time in total |
||||||
|
||||||
chrisb
 Subscriber Posts: 617 Location: USA |
|
|||||
|
Didn't they do this with Suzuka too? They said they didn't have license and were just acting on part of the Japanese company, then a month or so later Suzuka is licensed?
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
la_contessa
Posts: 200 Location: Pennsylvania |
|
|||||
But . . . what does your not benefitting from it have to do with anything? Companies are allowed to do things to benefit themselves, considering that they have to stay in business. While I would also love to see something done about the Chinese mafia and the other unsavory organizations involved in bootlegging, that's a job for the police, not private companies with civil suits.
I buy shows I've never even seen trailers for if they sound good--it's a combination of knowing what I like and finding good sales. I ADORE Wedding Peach and Petite Princess Yucie, and I didn't see more than one Petite Princess Yucie trailer before buying the box sets. And, I paid $40 for each 26 episode season, not $250. |
||||||
|
||||||
Evelas
 Posts: 107 Location: AL (inactive, now using Aeriven) |
|
|||||
I don't know if it works differently in Japan (I seriously doubt it), but around here, someone has to pay that cable/satellite bill that allows them to see the channels that air said anime. So, no, it's not free. Anyway, first time I saw that letter, I thought it meant that Funimation had licensed the series, which would make me happy as I'm looking forward to this show coming here. Hopefully someone will grab that license soon. *Edit for extra paragraph. Last edited by Evelas on Fri Sep 28, 2007 3:14 pm; edited 1 time in total |
||||||
|
||||||
|
jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
 Posts: 1684 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
|
|||||
Which assmumes that the industry over here is growing at all. Which it is not. In fact, the opposite is true in a major way -- we're seeing consolidation. Fewer choices for the "legit consumer". That's bad. Nobody is saying fansubs need to go away and not have anything to replace them. Certainly, the entire industry needs to change to accomodate the desires of fans, or they will find a way to get it for free. In particular, the sight-unseen purchase issue is being dealt with in a few ways, from increased attention in getting the shows on TV (and the labels' own initiatives like Anime Network and Funimation Channel) to streaming internet previews (like Toonami Jetstream). They're not dumb people, the people that run these companies. They know all this. There's just a lot of red tape involved in making the changes that need to take place. Meanwhile, this is a good first step. I hope it's not the last. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Xanas
Posts: 2058 |
|
|||||
I assume the japanese have something similar to broadcast television? Is this not correct? Broadcast TV in the US is absolutely free. Even if we go to cable though I think you'd have to admit that 20-40$ a month for cable is a lot less than 20$ for 4 episodes. It's not really a comparable price range. I think if most of us had more anime channels there isn't a single one of us (fansub watcher or non-fansub watcher) who wouldn't be willing to pay that. But most of us don't have access to those things or if we do they aren't showing what we want to see. |
||||||
|
||||||
loka
 Posts: 373 Location: Pittsburgh, PA |
|
|||||
|
i cannot see how people can look forward to this becoming widespread!
there is a lot of good stuff that has never been licensed. or that takes the better part of a decade to get licensed. apparently, those sorts of people enjoy being fed only what r1 companies allow. sure, it's a bit of leap to censorship -- but that's probably because we are so used to having the bypass channel of fansubs readily available to thwart the american culture screening of r1 release -- it could easily become that. and it's not just about censorship or alterations that people will never know about. how many were sure to have friends watch Melancholy of Haruhi in the broadcast order? would you even have known about the broadcast order without fansubs? |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Swissman
Posts: 768 Location: Switzerland |
|
|||||
You could still continue to buy the dvds after, just an example, reading in a magazine or online how the story continues and the mood darkens, or a well-informed friend tells you about it. Information and awareness in one's own tastes as well as experience as a long time anime fan, that's the whole trick. What's wrong with putting up a bit of consumer effort instead of just using the easy way of downloading? I never understood the lament of people expecting to "preview" a whole show only to find out if they like it in the end or not. For me, that's lazyness combined with a notion every content media is for free. I'm from a generation where anime on vhs was common and import laserdiscs were luxury. 40$ for a slimpack of a 26-episodes show? If somebody told me that in the mid-nineties, where 2 episodes of your standart tv anime on a 4'800 Yen import LD costed around 70$+, I'd have said "no way!". Not, it's a reality, as much as, sadly, people who bitch around and simply have no idea how lucky they are.
The arthouse direction of the series begins way further back, at least around ep. 16, IIRC. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
ximpalullaorg
Posts: 396 |
|
|||||
Well, and I can decide to buy their DVDs or go for R2 versions. Usually it's the second choice, for this and other reasons not worth discussing. Mostly is due extremely late releases (like, to make a recent example, Funimation's Witchblade). It's good they're fighting piracy, but that has little meaning to me if something (not necessarily price eh) doesn't change for the better after a while. And criminal organizations may have to be dealt with police..but they're the ones chopping the market more. |
||||||
|
||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group