Aniplex Bitch Thread

[Lord Dalek]

Title Says All.

[Lord Il]

^You're the best!
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@Aniplex USA: Bring your prices down to earth.
Not everyone has a mansion on the hill to better reach your products. You are not holding a monopoly over all licensed anime titles, so don't act like it. Piracy can't be fought unless you take the necessary steps to be competitive in the market. Get it together.

That is all.

[Foggle]

Seriously, it's cheaper to import a blu ray player and buy multiple Aniplex-owned shows from the UK than it is to buy just one official Aniplex USA release. Absolutely ridiculous.

[Lord Il]

We should present such facts to them in a nicely wrote email. I'd love to hear back their response.

[Foggle]

We should present such facts to them in a nicely wrote email. I'd love to hear back their response.

Others have tried such in the past. Sadly, their response is basically "deal with it", because somehow their release strategy actually works. Since they only need about 1/4-1/10 as many people to buy their DVDs/blu-rays as, say, Funimation, it only takes a few desperate people/fools with money for them to make back their investment and feel vindicated. They even have defenders on sites like ANN somehow.

[Daxdiv]

They need to learn that we're not Japan and that we have the resources to make home video releases cheap and affordable. I blame Japan being an island for this.

[VLordGTZ]

Honestly, if Aniplex would just lower their prices I bet they'd make even more money than they do now.  It's fucking ridiculous to price Blu-Rays of shows like Durarara at $150.

[Rynnec]

Even if I had enough money to buy all of Aniplex's stuff, I doubt I'd do it. There are much more worthwhile things I can blow $1275 on than some BD's. I love PMMM and Gurren Lagann to death, but a guy's gotta prioritize.

[Kiddington]

Has a legitimate reason for these prices ever been given? You know, something other than "just deal with it"?

I mean, when $550 is actually considered a sale price... 

[Rosalinas Spare Wand]

Has a legitimate reason for these prices ever been given? You know, something other than "just deal with it"?

I mean, when $550 is actually considered a sale price... 

I always figured they were selling the exact same discs as the japanese releases, just with english subtitles. Hence why the BD's have prices as high as your typical japanese release. Even the aftermarket prices are jacked up.

http://ekizo.mandarake.co.jp/shop/en/search.do?searchStrategy=keyword&action=keyword&doujin=all&keyword=blu-ray

Those prices are that high because the majority of home video purchases still come from rental stores that eventually make their money back, plus some hardcore fans on the side.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Except rental stores are a dying breed thanks to Netflix and other forms of streaming. As well as how buying a $100 set of twelve episodes would require at least 20 to 30 people willing to rent in order for a profit to be accumulated. Plus, that doesn't explain why Aniplex does this when you can find FUNi, Sentai, or Viz being much cheaper.

[Foggle]

I always figured they were selling the exact same discs as the japanese releases, just with english subtitles. Hence why the BD's have prices as high as your typical japanese release. Even the aftermarket prices are jacked up.

This is true in some instances, like with the original Fate/Zero release. If they were selling imports as soon as they came out and later released localized versions for decent prices, I wouldn't have any problems with them. But the official US versions with dubs are still ungodly expensive. Even the DVDs often cost twice as much as a BD from Funi or Sentai.

[Rosalinas Spare Wand]

Except rental stores are a dying breed thanks to Netflix and other forms of streaming. As well as how buying a $100 set of twelve episodes would require at least 20 to 30 people willing to rent in order for a profit to be accumulated. Plus, that doesn't explain why Aniplex does this when you can find FUNi, Sentai, or Viz being much cheaper.

I worded that weirdly, but the rental stuff is just in regards to the Japanese market. Obviously the model doesn't work outside of that country and its especially apparent in how much cheaper our video games and home video releases are compared to theirs.

[Lord Il]

Well.. I'm thinking Sentai could still use a kick in the ass after what I saw yesterday. Poked my head in the local HMV and saw Another (DVD) on the shelf for about 67 bucks. We're talking about a series of only 12 episodes here. On Sentai's site it goes for $59.98. Blu-ray puts it up by 10 bucks.
Still not as bad as a comparably sized series from Aniplex. But.. c'mon..

[Lord Dalek]

Well.. I'm thinking Sentai could still use a kick in the ass after what I saw yesterday. Poked my head in the local HMV and saw Another (DVD) on the shelf for about 67 bucks. We're talking about a series of only 12 episodes here. On Sentai's site it goes for $59.98. Blu-ray puts it up by 10 bucks.
Still not as bad as a comparably sized series from Aniplex. But.. c'mon..

Many specialty brick and mortars (B&N, FYE, etc.) tend to sell stuff at exactly MSRP (which is always 10-15 more than some other places would sell it).