Aniplex of America will be gone by 2014

[TheSubtleDoctor]

If they last that long...



Bluray Re-release. SRP: 81.98, AOA Store Price: 64.98
Vintage: 1999. Running Time: 2 Hours

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Bluray Re-release: SRP 69.98, AOA Store Price 54.98
Vintage: 2001. Running Time: 84 Minutes (half of which is recap)

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Bluray Re-release: SRP 69.98, AOA Store Price 54.98
Vintage: 1997. Running Time: 91 Minutes

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DVD Release: SRP 49.98 per volume (3 volumes), AOA Store Price 42.48 pv
Vintage: 2009-10. Running Time: 24 eps + 2 specials @ 24 minutes per

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AOA will go to the grave within two and a half years because, like Bandai Visual before them, they don't understand the U.S. anime market. They learned nothing from BV's epic failure. Whatever the reasons (and there are plenty), fans here will not pay the exorbitant Japanese prices. DRRR!! being over five dollars an episode is enough of a bad move, and they might have gotten away with it, but a 12 year old 2 hour feature for, at best, 65 bucks? That isn't made for high-def? So ludicrous. Gundam Unicorn is new, made for high def, equally long, and cheaper.

Let me be clear: I don't want this company, or any anime distributor here, to fail. I am simply stating the value-neutral fact that they will fail if their pricing strategy remains constant. Sure, a certain percentage of fans were never going going to buy anything anyway, but people that would actually purchase the above items are unable or unwilling to do so because of the J-prices.

But, the part that bothers me the most is that, when AOA has to pack up and go home, they will blame us. Not their pricing. Not their marketing. Not their title selection. The American anime consumer will be blamed because, after all, AOA tried. It's just that nobody would pony up the dough. And they will actively discourage other Japanese companies from distributing titles here with stories of their excuse me, our failure. It is the market's fault and not theirs.

And nobody will have learned anything.

[ChristianKitsune]

Funny I thought the EXACT SAme thing last night when I saw them selling the Ruroken OVAs for THAT Price. Are they KIDDING?! I already own those OVAs, and I only paid 20 bucks for both >_>

It's a shame, but I have no idea why they are considering these prices, it's a bit ridiculous. Is there some sort of translation error?

I mean they aren't even redubbing the OVAs, just reselling the ADV set... XD

This is silly, but I don't feel bad for a company with no brains.

[mechana2015]

*edit: just realized that's PER volume, not a box set* Those prices are insane.

[ChristianKitsune]

I think Durarara is priced in line with other season DVD boxes for US shows... the rest of those are insane though.

Not where I'm from... O_o I haven't paid 50 dollars for a box set in YEARS. It's usually $24-$40. depending on the age and episode number.

I can buy FMA Brotherhood for like 35 buckeroonies and those are the most recent releases...

Edit: Also just noticed the DRRR prices were per vol. LOL WHUT?! Even if they have 9 episodes per volume, that's still crazy... O_o

[mechana2015]

FMA is about 50 for 12 eps... on BluRay. Someone over in Aniplex whiffed on their price adjustments, which seems to be becoming a disturbing trend with overseas entertainment companies.

[MasterDias]

From the press release:

Aniplex of America will import the Japanese editions of the Blu-ray discs, with each release sporting exclusive packaging that features new illustration artwork by Rurouni Kenshin OVA animation director/animator Atsuko Nakajima (Trinity Blood, Ranma ½, You're Under Arrest!), along with the inclusion of an English translated booklet. Each Blu-ray release (digitally remastered and includes both the English and Japanese audio with English subtitles), will be distributed in limited quantities and sold through while supplies last.

The Kenshin releases are Limited Editions. In other words, they are aimed at collectors who are perfectly willing to pay those prices...not fans who mostly buy cheap boxsets.
This appears somewhat similar to their Kara no Kyoukai release.

[blkmage]

I was going to assume that given that the Japanese BD re-release was coming up soon too, reverse-importation fears probably caused that pricing. But, yeah, if it is a thing that's similar to the Kara no Kyoukai release, then there's nothing to worry about. And actually, importing Japanese limited editions of BD releases is totally a thing I can get behind.

I don't know, I don't think the Durarara pricing is that unreasonable. Yeah, it's definitely more expensive than average, but it's nowhere near Bandai Visual ludicrous ($50 for three episodes). And Aniplex has far better shows than what Bandai Visual was offering.

EDIT: also, that boxart is inaccurate, since it would be the much classier Japanese boxart for the Kenshin re-release

[mechana2015]

I guess I just find it irking when one companies BR prices are the same as a different companies DVDs.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

And Aniplex has far better shows than what Bandai Visual was offering.

Opinion.

EDIT: also, that boxart is inaccurate, since it would be the much classier Japanese boxart for the Kenshin re-release

I was in rant mode, and it's the only thing I could find on short notice =).

The Kenshin releases are Limited Editions. In other words, they are aimed at collectors who are perfectly willing to pay those prices...not fans who mostly buy cheap boxsets.

But Bandai Visual had the exact same strategy with their releases (they actually offered more extra stuff than AOA is offering), and they still took a bath and blamed the market I don't want them to fail, but history says that they probably will.

I guess I just find it irking when one companies BR prices are the same as a different companies DVDs.

Yes.

Eden of the East: The King of Eden. Bluray/DVD combo pack = $15.

And people wonder why Funimation is currently on top.

EDIT: Has anyone here bought and/or pre-ordered any AOA discs?

[blkmage]

But in this case, Aniplex is importing the Japanese releases, which isn't the same at all as what Bandai Visual was doing. For the consumer, it's the equivalent of going on Amazon.co.jp and ordering a set, minus shipping.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

But in this case, Aniplex is importing the Japanese releases, which isn't the same at all as what Bandai Visual was doing. For the consumer, it's the equivalent of going on Amazon.co.jp and ordering a set, minus shipping.

What's the difference? You are getting the show, a classy box and LE extras either way, right? The difference b/w $80 and $100 in the home video market is like the difference b/w a death toll of 8,000 and 10,000...both are too high.

The extras BV provided in their Patlabor boxes, for example, were amazing, and on par with any release of the show anywhere. But, nobody wanted to pat $90.00 for a Patlabor movie, as good as they are.

Does the simple fact that you've got the "official Japanese release" have cache? That doesn't translate to value in my own opinion, though, hey, maybe people are willing to pay through the nose for that.

Even if you are right and more people are willing to take out a loan to buy some AOA discs than did so for BV discs, I still think the business model is doomed. I want them to succeed because they do have some quality wares to pedal.

[blkmage]

Like I mentioned earlier, a big reason is likely the release timeline, being released at the same time in Japan means that we will be hit with Japanese prices. Besides, offering North American fans the exact same product as they do in Japan for a fraction of the price will never happen. Secondly, like MasterDias mentioned, it's a LE release and doesn't represent their regular pricing strategy.

Lastly, there's a lot of reasons why Japanese releases are preferred. Especially for Blu-ray releases, there are a lot of low-quality (in terms of audio and video) North American BD releases (K-ON!, for example) and that's one reason a lot of people are going the import route. Another reason is that while it's certainly possible that North American distributors offer the same goods as Japanese releases, the reality is that they don't.

Finally, there's the fact that Japanese releases are produced as part of the Japanese print run, as opposed to being produced separately, which means less risk overall. They just reserve a bunch to ship over to North America. If demand is lacking, then they've just got more Japanese sets that they can sell in the domestic market. This is as opposed to printing a North American run and the finding out no one wants it.

And the fact is that there's a growing contingent of people outside of Japan (and not necessarily in North America) who are already bypassing local distributors and just ordering stuff off of Amazon.co.jp. I think that Aniplex understands this and is trying to capture those people and people who are on the fence about it.

EDIT: also the only Bandai Visual shows I remembered were True Tears and sola

[MasterDias]

But Bandai Visual had the exact same strategy with their releases (they actually offered more extra stuff than AOA is offering), and they still took a bath and blamed the market I don't want them to fail, but history says that they probably will.Yes.

"Limited" is the key word here. It is the difference between specifically targeting a niche within a niche, and mistaking the entire NA anime industry for being that niche within a niche. The latter is what Bandai Visual's fatal mistake was.
There is a small subset that is willing to pay expensive prices for nice packaging, extras, and better video quality. They are a different audience than Funimation; with its bare-bones, cheap, always dubbed boxsets, is targeting.

[mechana2015]

Does that mean there will be not-special editions later that won't cost an arm and a pancreas to buy? I don't need Durarara postcards... I just want the show itself.

[blkmage]

Based on the "goods", I'm actually guessing that the Durarara release isn't a limited edition thing and it just is that expensive. That's not to say it can't get cheaper later on for non-limited edition reasons though.

But yeah, Aniplex USA's limited releases are actually limited and not "the same with more stuff but sold in perpetuity". They take preorders and it's over forever.

[crazypackersfan]

You can watch Durarara on adult swim, one episode per week, for free. That's what I'm doing. (On an unrelated note, through 3 episodes, I'm extremely unimpressed.)

[Yamamaya]

You can watch Durarara on adult swim, one episode per week, for free. That's what I'm doing. (On an unrelated note, through 3 episodes, I'm extremely unimpressed.)

Or you can just stream it on crunchyroll.

I can see the reasoning behind this decision as blkmage mentioned. However, I don't think this experiment will be very successful. It's targeting a very niche audience.

The only time I might be tempted to spend a lot for a box set if it contains a whole lot of extra crap, like manga, figurines, OST, sound drama, etc. The reason why Funi is so successful is because they offer far lower prices with less extras. Most of the time, unless it's an anime you really enjoy, you don't care about all the extra crap.

[blkmage]

Actually, now that I think about it, it might make sense for prices to go up slightly. Before, the expectation (however unrealistic) was that the only way to watch was to watch the DVD. And so, like I've mentioned before elsewhere, what you were buying was access to watch the anime, again since this was the only way to do so. Now, obviously, fansubs exist, but for obvious reasons, distributors don't like to acknowledge that reality and continued to push people to make DVD viewing the only way to watch anime and prices have sort of followed in that view.

Of course, this changed recently. Durarara, specifically, is a show that has a very low barrier to access: just go on Crunchyroll and watch it. So what Aniplex is selling isn't access anymore. They're selling to people who want to own it and not people who are forced to buy it so they can check it out. And people who want to own it are willing to pay more for it, especially if they get more stuff to go with it. People who are only interested in watching it don't care about the stuff, but that's okay, because Aniplex doesn't have to sell to them anymore since they've already collected the money they can get from them through the CR deal.

In a way, this is moving towards the Japanese model, where access is cheap (our streaming would be equivalent to TV broadcasts there) and owning is priced at a premium and comes with stuff for people who really, really like a show.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

So what Aniplex is selling isn't access anymore. They're selling to people who want to own it and not people who are forced to buy it so they can check it out. And people who want to own it are willing to pay more for it, especially if they get more stuff to go with it.

If I'm paying $20-$30 more than I think is reasonable for DVDs, then I'd expect more in the way of extras than postcards. Surely, since Aniplex owns the show, they can bring over more and better goodies?

Try harder Aniplex.

[MasterDias]

Well, what extras do you think are worth $20?

Honestly, I don't think it is that big an issue. Take advantage of Rightstuf's sales, or wait awhile for the show to get put in a cheaper boxset. This is pricier than usual, but I hardly ever buy anime at full price anyway. It's already an expensive hobby.

[blkmage]

If I'm paying $20-$30 more than I think is reasonable for DVDs, then I'd expect more in the way of extras than postcards. Surely, since Aniplex owns the show, they can bring over more and better goodies?

Try harder Aniplex.

My main point is exactly the part that you didn't emphasize. They don't need to throw in more extras to price it higher now. Feel like it's too expensive? Fine, then you didn't want to own it enough and you can keep watching on Crunchyroll anyway.

As a side note, I actually like the idea of the postcards because I find the Japanese box art super classy (for Durarara!! and most shows) and am always disappointed when I have to buy North American releases because people here are so bad at making box art (video games tend to have this problem too).

I was thinking that I would have loved for them to include the OST like they do in Japanese releases, but then I realized that OSTs are way more expensive than the extra $20-30. Drama CDs or character songs might work better, except it seems like they might not be as popular here.

However, I wonder how well Aniplex would do if all they did was import their big Japanese releases at Japanese prices. That'd be an interesting experiment, I think.