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AnimeCornerStore wrote:

I would advise everyone to stay calm until we get the official word from ADV. Take a breath, go have a drink.

Bob (aka Robert)
www.animecornerstore.com

Thank you for keeping us posted! If you can say this considering what you have at stake I will take your advise. I would also like to add that RACS still has a bunch of Geneon titles available (everything besides the few underlined titles) and if the worse happens with ADV I'm really glad that you keep a good amount of inventory in stock.

Calculusman wrote:

We may find out something either when ADV says something or next Tuesday when Devil May Cry v1 and Magikano v2 are scheduled to be released.

Those likely already shipped as well. It's pretty common practice in the packaged media industry to ship product some weeks, or even a month, in advance. Though perhaps not everybody got their orders.

jsevakis wrote:

It's pretty common practice in the packaged media industry to ship product some weeks, or even a month, in advance. Though perhaps not everybody got their orders.

For example I already received Media Blaster's Tactics 5 which has a February 12th release date. As for ADV my Red Garden 3 was shipped on January 3rd with a January 22nd street date along with TRSI's Third 4 which had a street date of this week. These are the dates that these titles were shipped to me, and not the dates that these titles were shipped to TRSI, so I'm pretty sure next Tuesdays titles are still being released unless there is a costly legality issue that forces ADV to yank them back.

jsevakis wrote:

Calculusman wrote:

We may find out something either when ADV says something or next Tuesday when Devil May Cry v1 and Magikano v2 are scheduled to be released.

Those likely already shipped as well. It's pretty common practice in the packaged media industry to ship product some weeks, or even a month, in advance. Though perhaps not everybody got their orders.

Thanks for the clarification.

ryoga2pchan wrote:

*P.S.* MokonaModoki- The rules of Anime Licensing Club brought a smile to me. Thanks. I really needed that right now. Smile

You're very welcome. As an early adherent of the "it must be an IT issue" position, I'm feeling rather chagrined by the poor quality of my prognostication, so I'm glad I got something right.

Having well-established my lack of qualification at telling the future, I'm going to compound the problem by saying that I'm taking ADV's staunch adherence to rules 1 and 2 (not saying anything) as a good sign. If they had a letter ready to go on friday that didn't get sent, then there's a basis to hope that they are working on the situation. They may be saying nothing because there's nothing definitive to say yet.

And if they end up invoking rule 7 (releases will take as long as they have to) then I can accept that too.

Not that I have any more confidence in my fortune-telling than anyone else should. Personally I'm feeling a bit pessimistic about the whole situation, but if you are looking for a silver-lining, the above is probably it.

I wonder what the Voice Actors have to say about this situation (ADV, Geneon, etc.)? I would think they were "in tune" with what is going on as much as anyone could be without being on the "inside" (and at the top). Was a trend developing already to release more subs and not dubs? Will we see some of them move out of anime completely, or will this cause a glut of talent resulting in lower cost (pay) of dubs?

Anyway, I just wondered what the VAs think about all this...

AnimeCornerStore wrote:

I would advise everyone to stay calm until we get the official word from ADV. Take a breath, go have a drink.

Bob (aka Robert)
www.animecornerstore.com

Robert's right here, maybe we should just calm down for a bit. No use getting gray hairs over something we can't control. I don't like the situation anymore then the rest of you. And the growing silence is very nerve recking, but in the end, the only thing we can do is just wait.

*cracks open a bottle of Captain Morgan*

I'll be enjoying some good old rum, or at least till I have to get up and go to work at 3Am. Maybe there will be some more news in the morning.

stevek504 wrote:

I wonder what the Voice Actors have to say about this situation (ADV, Geneon, etc.)? I would think they were "in tune" with what is going on as much as anyone could be without being on the "inside" (and at the top). Was a trend developing already to release more subs and not dubs? Will we see some of them move out of anime completely, or will this cause a glut of talent resulting in lower cost (pay) of dubs?

Anyway, I just wondered what the VAs think about all this...

I highly doubt the VAs would know anything at all about what's going on. I'm reminded of the premiere run of Eureka seveN on [adult swim], when a blog entry by Johnny Yong Bosch insinuated that the series would be pulled off the air long before reaching its finale. A few months later, the finale aired just as it had always been scheduled to (though not without incident, but that's a story for another time). The vast majority of VAs don't have anything to do with the inner workings of licensing companies, so I'd assume the first news they'd hear of a potential series cancellation/delay would be the call telling them not to report for dubbing as originally scheduled.

Our Anime UK News saw a report on IC2V about this, but no sooner had it appeared it got pulled, but one of our members was quick on the screen capture an got a snapshotof it. It's a bit rough but some what readable.

adv going under is kind of funny. They started the whole only buy box sets culture with their super cheap thinpaks. They essentially priced themselves out of their own market since they are highly dependent on sales of sing volumes

Blaming the consumers for not buying single releases is a very flawed way of looking at the issue.

What matters really is the market as a whole, and here is where the strategy is flawed. You don't blame the consumer for not buying individual dvds because of distrust for the industry. You blame the industry for creating a reason for distrust in the first place.

It's common sense that once a company creates a reputation for releasing bad/incomplete products that consumers will buy less of those products. Because of that, demand for products from that company from the entire market will naturally decrease.

Because consumers are merely responding to incentives, it is not the consumer's fault that said product isn't selling, but rather the natural fact that demand just isn't very high anime with no guarantee of being good in the long run, or anime that may not even be completed. Hoping that consumers as a whole would act otherwise would be violating an essential economic principle that consumers (even anime fans) are rational beings.

The other reason for not buying single releases, box sets, touches on a tricky issue. A rational consumer will always by something of equal quality at a cheaper price if possible. That being said, if the quality of a box set is comparable to the single releases, the same people who would have bought the single releases would of course by the box set instead if given the choice. On the other hand, a significant amount of people who would otherwise have not bought the single releases at the higher price would by a box set a cheaper price. So the box set release ultimately results in an overall loss of producer surplus (since many consumers would otherwise have paid more for their product), but an overall gain in total consumption. Clearly this results in an ultimate net gain, as if it was otherwise, they just wouldn't release box sets (assuming the distributors are rational as well).

A smart company would look at this situation and try to figure out a why to ultimately take back that surplus, otherwise known as price discrimination. This means, somehow giving more incentive for those who would pay more to pay more, currently being faster releases, more extras, and a general enjoyment of the act of collecting these dvds. When an effective solution can't be found, they just have to bite the bullet like every other company and accept the status quo.

The overall issue is that the anime industry functions in the exact same way that any other industry does. That means that consumers do what's best for themselves, and it's the supplier's job to determine whether or not they can make a profit by meeting the consumer's demand. When the company like ADV can't break even, they just have to minimize their losses or leave the market like any other company in any other industry, and like in any other industry, a company must be able to produce viable strategies and be able to react appropriately when shifts in consumer demand occur, as well as try to shift consumer demand in the positive direction while preventing a shift to the negative.

That implies people would stop downloading if they trusted the industry. That seems flawed in and of itself. This isn't a fansub debate however so we won't go there. But it's a huge factor you didn't even touch on and is very likely the bulk of the consumer side of the problem. It's so much easier to blame the company, sure, and while they deserve some of the blame it just isn't that simple; sorry.

That is scary because I was waiting to buy the complete box set of Kanon when they finished releasing the singles. Is ADV in that bad of shape? They keep licensing stuff.

Keonyn wrote:

That implies people would stop downloading if they trusted the industry. That seems flawed in and of itself. This isn't a fansub debate however so we won't go there. But it's a huge factor you didn't even touch on and is very likely the bulk of the consumer side of the problem. It's so much easier to blame the company, sure, and while they deserve some of the blame it just isn't that simple; sorry.

When it comes to fansubs, it's more or less a case of factors that can make either the consumer and the industry at fault, depending on why a consumer chooses to use them in the first place. Neither side has had a record of being 100% innocent in terms of the usage of fansubs.

On one side, if a consumer is using a fansub for the sake of using it as an excuse for not spending any money DVDs that are otherwise readly available in his locality through legal means, then yes, the consumer is to be blamed for his irresponsibility. This holds especially true if a series has been completed; there's no way a person can use his distrust for a particular company as a reason not to buy the DVD's when every episode has already been released. That just means he doesn't want to spend any money at all.

There will always be asshats in the above category that are always too cheap or lazy to buy a series that has been completed by a trustworthy company. However, to say that every person who uses a fansub falls into this category is just as flawed as saying there are no people that are like this. There are various other reasons why a person may use fansubs.

It's a different story if the consumer keeps a fansub of a title, though technically illegal, either because a localization company abandons it halfway through, the consumer is afraid of having it abandoned halfway through while not every volume is available, or the company botched up a series altogether ala 4kids. In that case, then there isn't as much blame to be placed on the consumer as the company/shareholders for either failing to bring the products that the consumers demanded, or not creating enough trust in the consumer base to make the non-asshat fansub downloaders get rid of their fansubs as soon as a solicitations has been announced.

Even if a title falls halfway short, chances are, the demand for it among the consumer won't go away. In that case, I can't possibly hound a person for keeping fansubs for shows like Nanoha or Higurashi.

In my eye, both the consumers and the companies have shown guilt because nobody's perfect. There have been plenty of screwups on both sides of the equation that turning a blind eye on one group is not a good way to look at the situation as a whole.

Just stating my opinion. Please don't start a nasty debate.

Keonyn wrote:

Sadly the largest cost in R1 releases are the licensing fees the studio charges for the rights and the fact it's a niche market that isn't going to yield the sales domestic products generally do. Anime is just higher risk for these companies so a lot of the price is in place to lessen the risk to them and help them earn back that licensing fee.

According to that interview with the Funimation rep that came out not too long ago, the Japanese were starting to reduce and in some cases outright wave some of those initial costs. I very much agree with most of what you posted regarding the value of the English dub. I honestly don't see the benefit of going sub-only since it only guarentees less sales. Of course, I'm also surprised Bandai Visual actually has customers.

I'm not a very patient guy, so I usually buy things as they come out. I'd probably save some money and some headaches if I waited.

(Again, sorry about before. Glad there's no hard feelings.)

Porcupine wrote:

At the same time I agree with what Keonyn said regarding how this type of business economics works. So I agree with both of you, if that's even possible.

It's possible. Though I really don't want to see the scenario you mention come about. The idea of a total collapse makes me physically ill.

Zac wrote:

Settle down folks, we're all friends here.

Group glomps all around? Wink

Joking aside, we really do need to refrain from attacking each other. Our emotions are high but, hey, let's not make things worse by getting each other's fur up.

Randall Miyashiro wrote:

For example I already received Media Blaster's Tactics 5 which has a February 12th release date.

Unless I missed the memo (which is entirely possible as I have a tendency to only occasionally be in the loop) Tactics is being released by Manga Entertainment.

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