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ADV Films [2008-03-23]


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Rosyna



Joined: 28 Mar 2006
Posts: 40
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 12:33 am Reply with quote
Key wrote:

The comments about the unfinished Geneon series are disturbing, however. I have to think there's still a good amount of fan interest in seeing When They Cry finished, and I'd certainly like to see someone pick up the rest of Story of Saiunkoku.


Well, it made sense to me as it was stated.

As more time passes, the amount of money that can be generated by these partially released series drops significantly.

Some possible "outcomes" (in my mind) if ADV licensed all these...

1. ADV releases all the remaining volumes. Since it's becoming longer and longer since the initial release, ADV can only market these to people that own the initial volumes (from Geneon). And buying the initial volumes may harder and harder as the these are taken off the shelves (ie, bought). Especially since most stores don't like having inventory that doesn't sell.

This significantly reduces the potential market for these volumes.

2. ADV rereleases from Volume 1. People that bought volumes 1-2 or 1-3 may feel "screwed" or otherwise won't buy what they already own. Secondly, it might mean ADV would have to repackage/remaster the volumes already released. It also might lead to customer confusion if they see two volumes of the same show under different companies.

Also, ADV might not choose the same #eps per volume, making it harder for people that owned the volumes to want to buy new ones.

3. The people that bought these initial volumes might have felt screwed (I did). And when people feel screwed after spending so much money on the volumes, they may just resort to piracy to finish the series out. Even people that would have never resorted to piracy before might feel the urge to pirate. This makes ADV have a much smaller potential customer base, leading the titles to be worth less (not worthless, worth less).

4. ADV could release these as half-season or season boxsets. While this may placate people that were "screwed", series released as initial boxsets just "feel" C-level. And series that "feel" C-level are less likely to be bought at B&M stores. Of course, this may only applies to series that aren't airing on TV. The boxsets of Naruto and Blood+ don't feel like they are of less value.

Personally, I'm more likely to impulse buy boxsets than individual items.




These are just some of the ways I thought some company could "rescue" these series and the different ways I'd feel about potentially purchasing them. And during the last 6-7 months (or whatever), I've repeatedly thought that a company would only rescue these series as a service to hard-core fans. Because of this, I thought TSRI or Manga Entertainment would be the most likely to do it as they tend to acquire series that seem to only cater to fans.

Geneon's closure and Viz's cancellations really made me feel like I wasted my money.
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:10 am Reply with quote
Rosyna wrote:
Key wrote:

The comments about the unfinished Geneon series are disturbing, however. I have to think there's still a good amount of fan interest in seeing When They Cry finished, and I'd certainly like to see someone pick up the rest of Story of Saiunkoku.


Well, it made sense to me as it was stated.

As more time passes, the amount of money that can be generated by these partially released series drops significantly.
All the more reason for them to get their finger out then!
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Toshirodragon



Joined: 14 May 2005
Posts: 166
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:48 am Reply with quote
I just recieved an email from Deep Discount.com informing me that they expect to ship Gurren Lagann within the next 21 days.

Whether that's accurate or not, I can't say.
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BladeDragoonZETA



Joined: 31 Jan 2008
Posts: 586
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 11:08 am Reply with quote
Dargonxtc wrote:

ADV Films wrote:
Similarly, while some other companies are beginning to look into novel release formats, such as half-season sets, he argues that for the industry as a whole, abandoning single DVD releases are not yet economically feasible. Ultimately, those remain a significant revenue generator to recoup licensing and production costs. ADV may consider full-season distribution for some future "C-level" titles, but even for those, half-season sets are not likely.

I am having trouble understanding the paragraph the way it is written. Could someone please tell me what it means? Does this mean more or less season sets? Common sense tells me more, but the way I am reading it, it seems to contradict itself. Particularly the first sentence.


If I reading this right he's saying that they still need the revenue of singles and have no plans to change that distribution method (singles----->thinpack)

and he goes on to say that they don't plan to do half season releases with any bigger titles but that some titles(in a similar vein to Mospeda or Southern Cross) will get full-season releases initially

(also I don't know if it's was added since but your quote was incomplete)
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Evelas



Joined: 17 Feb 2007
Posts: 107
Location: AL (inactive, now using Aeriven)
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 11:11 am Reply with quote
I'm also especially concerned with their comments on the Geneon titles that were stopped mid-release. That was the one thing I was looking to be touched on at Anime Boston. Among a few others, I really want to own When They Cry on DVD, but don't want to buy the old Geneon DVDs if someone is going to re-release them from the beginning, so I'm holding out on buying them right now.

I don't think I saw this in the other panels, but did any of the other companies at Anime Boston mention if they were interested in any Geneon titles?
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Dargonxtc



Joined: 13 Apr 2006
Posts: 4463
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 1:20 pm Reply with quote
BladeDragoonZETA wrote:
(also I don't know if it's was added since but your quote was incomplete)


The article was changed. I was hesitant to outright call it a typo, since I know that contradictory statements can sometimes be made at these things.

HitokiriShadow wrote:
But how commonly accepted that explanation was depends on what board you are talking about.

I was only talking about this one.

hmm....
_______________________________

I didn't bring it up before, but I am also sad to hear the comments about the Geneon titles. It's something I figured I already knew, but hate to admit to myself. Since I really want those titles to be rescued. Crying or Very sad
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indrik



Joined: 22 Jul 2006
Posts: 365
Location: yonder
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 4:40 pm Reply with quote
Zalis116 wrote:
Something doesn't add up about the Geneon comments, though. I've seen posts on AoD from M-B's John Sirabella saying the same thing, "I don't want the unfinished stuff, but the unreleased titles could have potential." But seriously, you'd think titles like Black Lagoon and Karin would be far more marketable than some of the unreleased shows like Nanoha* and Deltora Quest. Not to mention that dubbing work got finished on several series like When they Cry, Rozen Maiden, and Black Lagoon, so that's another cost that could be reduced or avoided.


Don't series typically sell the most copies of the first and second volumes? I think I heard someplace (!) that you can gauge sales by the sales of the first volume of a series, and that first volumes almost invariably sell the most. Maybe armed with sales figures on the first volumes of those series, nobody wants to touch them. I also seem to recall folks talking on here about Higurashi and some others not doing nearly as well as expected.

Speculation, naturally, and I really don't know what I'm talking about, and etc.
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rg4619



Joined: 30 Jun 2007
Posts: 163
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 5:17 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Don't series typically sell the most copies of the first and second volumes? I think I heard someplace (!) that you can gauge sales by the sales of the first volume of a series, and that first volumes almost invariably sell the most. Maybe armed with sales figures on the first volumes of those series, nobody wants to touch them. I also seem to recall folks talking on here about Higurashi and some others not doing nearly as well as expected.


That's what I'm thinking. Continuing unfinished series might make sense if those titles sold very well. However, if they were only mildly popular (or money-losing liabilities to Geneon), it's obvious where the insecurities lie. The chances of a successful relaunch (hooking new customers and even keeping all the old) seem slim.

With a fresh series, you get a clean slate - a new promotional campaign and a well-paced schedule to maximize momentum. At the very least, there's a shot at coming up with a hit, whereas an existing series might handicap you from the start.
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ikillchicken



Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 7272
Location: Vancouver
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 7:23 pm Reply with quote
Mohawk52 wrote:
minakichan wrote:
Quote:
He also argued that even making English-language dubs available at the same time as the Japanese release is not impossible. Ultimately, in his words, day-and-date releases between the U.S. and Japan will happen "because they have to happen", if the entire industry is to survive.


HOLY CRAP! Amazing. All those naysayers who insisted that it was impossible were all a bunch of liars. Apparently it ISN'T impossible, and we can stop making excuses, yes?
No if that ultimately means poorer quality dubs again. Haste makes waste and all that. I'd rather wait a few months if it means a much better dub with proper talent.


As would I. I wouldn't rather wait years though. It's important to not put too much emphasis on it being truly simultaneous. I think all that was meant was that it might be possible. If it would cause a drop in quality I think they would be smart enough to not do it. What is important is getting releases that are at least somewhat close. If they could cut it down to a month or two then I think the vast majority of people would be satisfied.
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grgspunk



Joined: 03 Mar 2007
Posts: 136
PostPosted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 10:09 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
With a fresh series, you get a clean slate - a new promotional campaign and a well-paced schedule to maximize momentum. At the very least, there's a shot at coming up with a hit, whereas an existing series might handicap you from the start.


To be perfectly fair to the C-titles, the ones that were cut short didn't have much advertising or promotion to begin with, so Geneon never really put much value into the titles when they were released. I mean, how many ads for Geneon's titles have you seen on the internet when they were still alive, compared to the amount of ads by Funimation, ADV or TRSI ? I've an ad for Rozen Maiden once, and that's about it, much less any trailers or other promotional material.

I don't think those unfinished titles had a fair chance from the start with the way Geneon was promoting them. If a company were to give it more extensive advertising and made said rescues known, then the chances of getting more out of it could be higher, and some of the value lost by time would be subsequently compensated by increased exposure. Hype is the key word: In retrospect, Geneon never really did try producing much of it for their titles beyond the initial press release, compared to other companies. Rolling Eyes

The "guessing game" for When They Cry was a brilliant start. However, after the solicitation date for the first volume was announced, I did not see a single web advertisement for it, or any trailers ,or any other promotional material for that matter. You can't expect to keep hype/exposure up without doing anything to retain it.


To be honest though, if an unfinished title was rescued, I would recommend selling every volume that had been initially released along with an additional volume that was unreleased, all at the same time. Needless to say, episode counts and mastering should be untouched. Then, announce solicitation dates for remaining volumes later. Hell, to cut costs involved in redesigning, I'd just leave the cover art/packaging the exact same as Geneon left it, except it would have an ADV/Funi/MB/TRSI logo on the spine in the place of the Geneon logo.

For example, if When They Cry was rescued, I'd recommend releasing volumes 1-3 (initially released and in their original pre-license rescue form) and volume 4 (unreleased) all at the same time. Then, announce solicitation dates for the other two volumes a little bit later.

This way, people who had bought the series prior to the rescue can continue where they stopped, without screwing them over by making them re-buy anything, and it won't intimidate B&M stores by giving the series a percieved decrease in value, as opposed to releasing it as a collection.

...All the while putting actual effort into advertising the title.
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