Forum - View topicNEWS: Bandai Visual USA Picks Up sola Anime
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BladeDragoonZETA
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every time I think of BV USA
I cry I cry, for Super Robot Wars If ADV or Bandai Ent. dubbed it we may have gotten OGs as a result but alas no dub and horrible prices for an -average- mecha series *returns to his tissue* |
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Dorcas_Aurelia
 Posts: 5344 Location: Philly |
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This makes me so sad. I really wanted to buy sola, but not at this price. Also, as my shelf space is becoming ever more cluttered, the higher number of volumes is also a factor for me, however minor. And while the quality may be absolutely breath-taking, I don't pay enough attention for it to matter as long as it's at least decent.
On the other hand, I did spend almost $200 on Haruhi. Maybe if the extras are impressive enough I'll cave. If not, I guess I'll just have to live with my guilty conscience and the two-hundred-some dollars can go to college textbooks this fall (and buy me two books). |
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Ranma824
 Posts: 456 |
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There's no way I can buy THIS MUCH CHEESE thread - I just can't. Seriously though, I actually have a question for those who acknowledge BVUSA's existence:
************************************** So, on their press release for sola, they mention a exclusive gift if you buy through dot-anime. I'm cool with that, but here's my question: Have they ever ADDED an exclusive gift to a title really close to the release date?? Example: True Tears and Shigofumi have no exclusive as of now, but will they add something to those releases right before their release date? Basically, just wondering if dot-anime had any past history of adding extras late...? |
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darkchibi07
 Posts: 5471 |
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Unfortunately, this becomes a question of what's considered "valuable" which ended up being so subjective (of course it's all relative on the money you actually have). Like for example some of the regular forum members in AnimeOnDVD actually go for this stuff (they do like their high-quality video and audio and untranslated credit sequences), and some are actually willing to bend and spend these high prices. I guess what's really frustrating about this whole thing is we're coming to realize that this might happen to a lot of these niche anime series considering the state of the market is right now. Pretty much any sense of a casual fan or a "medium" fan being curious about it is gone; people who saw it through fansubs and wants to own it now has to become so hardcore that they're willing to spend a lot more money than your usual standard price and get the "true Japanese experience". |
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GATSU
Posts: 15319 |
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Well, if it's gonna be niche, make it niche and good, not niche and so-so.
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CCSYueh
 Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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Questionable business practices? They started with-what?-3 titles? Demonm Prince Enma, Gunbuster & GA Rune, right? I would say they eased into the market. If sales on those titles hadn't meet BV's expectations, I doubt we'd see this absolute flurry of activity on their part. Someone is buying their titles besides me & a handful of other posters. It's like movies-some play in the art houses & some play to the masses. Those of us who support the art house theaters are used to paying a bit more. Most of the art house theaters in this town don't particularly run huge ads in the papers. Can't say I've seen their films advertized on tv all that much, either. They go more on that the type of people who appreciate these types of films know where to look to find them. I'm assuming BV can function in the same manner. I don't get post cards pitching BV titles with all of my Right Stuf orders. (wallpapering my cubicle with Black Blood Brothers right now) I can't say I've seen their titles advertized on CN so I'll assume they're managing to operate under a smaller pr budget
MB sells hentai & near hentai. They also sell older titles others have passed on. I love them for it. I count on them for my yaoi. I support them for bringing me my yaoi & including all of the Japanese extras (sub only). Not that it's alway cheaper. Some, yes. No Money, as I recall, listed for $30 for 2 sub-only eps. I believe it's still $30 for 1 ep of Level C, a dvd they've been offering for several years. 30 bucks for one ep. Even BV isn't that bold. No Money for $15 per ep. "But those are porn. You pay more for porn." And you'll pay more for BV titles if you want them. Look at Blood+. Columbia wants $120 for the box. Most other anime companies other than the late Geneon start box sets around $90 or less. If you want Blood+, you pay Columbia's price. It's really comparing apples & oranges. Or cars. Most car companies offer similar products at similar prices, so shoppers check out the offering & go for the package they want. Maybe they want the look. Maybe they want the most extras for theit money. People who buy a Mercedes are willing to pay more to get what they perceive they are getting in that car. George Lucas once said the only dif between the Toyota he drove before Star Wars made him rich & the Mercedes he drove after was the Mercedes cost more to repair. I knew a lot of young people in the 80's who had to have a Suzuki Samurai because it was cool, even though it cost an arm & a leg for insurance because it rolled easy.
BV's mission statement is they are looking for the American otaku-the collectors. Who did they license Haruka for? Those of us who, according to the Geneon nay-sayers, were the target for Fushigi Yugi, Saiyuki, Saiunkoku, Shonen Onmyoji & all those other titles I've seen accused of causing the demize of Geneon? What was Geneon doing licensing all those chick titles for? Everyone in the American anime fandom (here on ANN at least) knows shojo titles don't sell. So please enlighten me as to who they licensed Haruka for? You guys all keep saying chick titles are death.
Niche, according to many at this site, are shojo titles. Go look at the Geneon demise threads. It was the shojo titles that killed Geneon. That makes shojo harem titles perfect for BV Even more, the yaoi audience I have contact with support their licensees. They buy the stuff. You do realize 801 lists at $15.95 a pop, not the $7.99-$9.99 Viz brings manga over for. And we gals are buying it. Even Blu, which was $9.99 has jumped up to $12.99 to give us a couple pages in color. "It's porn. You pay more for porn" DMP charges us $12.95 for the "light" BL stuff-equivelent to the usual shojo romance Viz sells for $8.99-$9.99-not even in the realm of Sensual Phrase raciness. Some of us do have a certain moral aversion to downloading, so we would rather pay whatever to have a licensed copy of a title.
Lowest common denominator? Did you see Shonen Onmyoji? 10 eps in, it was shaping up to quite the unusual shojo title with the boy in love with a princess fated to be a concubine to the ruler of the land & vanish into the palace, never to leave its confines again in less than 1 yr. Do the 2 young ones plot to prevent this? Not yet at least. (Sigh. I keep hoping for the rest to be picked up. Even BV prices are preferrable to never seeing the end.) Most people here who've seen it seem to insist Saiunkoku is similar to the wonderful 12 Kingdoms. Lowest common denominator?
I was hopeful when they offered Haruka at $30, but that doesn't stop me from buying SRW since it's still listing at $50
No, they seem to be going for titles there is some demand for, but that the usual players would never bother to bring over so those of us who want a licensed version over fansubs or bootlegs will jump at buying. I honestly, as time went on, ever thought we would see Haruka here in the States.
Nordstrom's is wrong. Walmart is the only successful store int he US. Or maybe Nordstroms (& BV) know some people are willing to pay more for some stuff. Nordstroms doesn't need to sell thousands of a single item(say a pair of shoes) for $20 when their customers will buy a similar item for $100-$200.
I'd say there was enough of a lag between the release of their first titles & the recent activity on their part to suggest they are satisfied with the numbers. They've been releasing titles for about a year now. They surely know what their sales look like. They could have altered they sales practice if it wasn't working for them.
We got the tv series & the OVA What else do you want? I can take or leave most mech titles, but I'm very much enjoying this one. I don't see it as an average title |
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Serge
 Posts: 162 |
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Is there a customer service number for BV-USA where I can flame them about the prices of their DVD's?
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HitokiriShadow
 Posts: 6251 |
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I don't think you'll have those problems with True Tears then. True Tears is a much more down to earth series with no fanservice, no slaptstick, or any of those things you had an issue with. My main issue with it is that, on occasion, they use CG for people and it usually looks really awkward. It's only for a couple of seconds an episode at worst, but its still annoying. But those other issues you had an issue with are non-existent. I was really hoping BV would only charge $40 (when that is "only", that's pretty sad) but I was expecting $50 since that's what it was in Japan. But what is interesting is that they are giving us reversible covers (one from the LE the other from the RE) and the post cards that came with the LEs. So we aren't getting completely shafted in the extras. I don't like BV's absurd prices and release plans, but this is probably the most reasonable one yet and I really want sola, so I'm getting this. |
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Porcupine
 Posts: 1033 |
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CCSYueh, you can't compare porn to BVUSA titles and use that as a justification for higher prices. Whoever made the comment that "you pay more for porn" is right.
There are laws and such, and other physical restrictions, that make porn non-comparible to other types of anime. If there were no laws and porn were in all stores in all countries, and purchasable by anyone regardless of their age...then perhaps you could compare porn to BVUSA titles fairly. But that's not the world we live in and such a comparison is asymmetric, unfair, and unapplicable. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15319 |
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CCS:
I'm sure they made money on those, but I doubt they'll be able to keep it up at the rate they're going.
Actually, the art-house theaters tend to be cheaper for me than the multiplexes. And what BV's releasing can hardly be called "artsy".
The art-house theaters are getting their asses kicked by Netflix even more than the chain theaters. They'd need the kind of collateral Bandai Visual has in Japan to be able to stay in business.
Yeah, they just sell Freedom @ $40.
Yes, and Rune was $20 per ep.
BV titles can reach more people than porn.
I complained about that, too. But at least you got the option of buying the individual disc.
I buy my cars used.
Their President also stated on his blog that he's hoping their stuff expands beyond the niche collector audience.
You seriously believe that Geneon was licensing those exclusively for otaku?! I imagine the otaku would be buying stuff like that double dip of FF7: AC, not Saiyuki.
It's not that they don't sell. [How else did CCS make money?] It's that they're badly marketed.
The Shojo Beat readers. Who else?
Most of their latter licenses weren't shojo, but shonen-themed dating sim crap.
BV has nothing which appeals to yaoi fans ATM, but I'm sure even they will realize they can get better deals elsewhere in due time.
But those are still within the market price for manga. If you started seeing each volume go for $25 a pop, it'd be a different story.
Not really, because all their fan service anime got in the way.
Good for you.
Some, but not much demand.
But they're likely charging a higher price for an item which has just as much of a chance to have been produced in a sweatshop as Wal-Mart's item. |
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Tumalu
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Ah, I was actually interested in this show (never watched any fansubs of it), but when I realized it was BV that licensed it I figured it would end up like this. Well, so much for that idea - there's plenty of other anime I'd like to buy from companies who do dubs - and charge more reasonable prices for that matter.
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Monsieur Pink
Posts: 141 |
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Thanks a lot HitokiriShadow! Without any of the issues I had with Shuffle and H2O, True Tears should be good then. I'll check it out. |
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CCSYueh
Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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Gatsu-
It might be interesting to see their pricing criteria, but it looks like they estimate the number of dvds they're going to sell. Maybe they expect higher sales on Haruka because there are shojo harem fans out here who have supported Geneon ($200 per box for Fushigi Yugi for how long? That was $400 for the whole series)
I never had luck with used cars. It always seemed I was buying someone else's headache. I buy a car new & keep it. I have a '98 neon & a 2000 Frontier & no plans to replace either at this time. Can't think of any used car I was able to keep more than 5 yrs.
I only do matinees-$5.50-$7 depending on the theater. THe Kensington doesn't do matinees. I paid something like $7 per ticket to see Bebop 4-5 yrs ago.
My point was the advertizing. I don't see Netflix as eating into the theater experience. The issue is more & more people could care less about the theater experience. The morning show I listen to was whining a couple days ago movies should be release on all media on the same day because the head DJ doesn't want to have to go to a theater. When I'm in the mood for a film, I look to see what's playing because I want to see it in a theater on a big screen.
I'm staying away from that one. Isn't it a BIG DEAL title? Not unlike my paying $30 or $35 for M because it's a classic big deal German flick?
I buy from online sources. Porn & BV are equally accessable. All you have to do is click the "I am over 18" button
Just as MediaBlasters has stated their support for yaoi titles, Geneon offered shojo titles with a dedication other licensees never did. Saiyuki wound down & they replaced it with Shonen Onmyoji & Saiunkoku. They offered us titles we wanted.
I thought they were aiming for Geneon's harem fans.
That's why I'm sitting here with unfinished Kyo Kara Maoh (shojo harem), Saiunkoku (shojo harem), Shonen Onmyoji (shojo Harem) & Hellsing Ultimate (horror) unfinished.
What yaoi communities do you hang out at? There's lots of support for harem titles in the ones I frequent. Most actually got into yaoi thru slash. Most harem titles also have yaoi undercurrents. Saiyuki is by an artist who does a lot of yaoi. Fushigi Yugi has several pairings popular with fans (the author liked NakagoXTamahome) & the title itself featured Nuriko chasing after Hotohori. You saying there are no "couples" in Haruka the fans can't come up with all their little fanfics & fan art of? Yeah, I buy that.
I paid $35 on sale for a pair of Deerstalkers for my teen to wear at work-lasted less than 3 months. She's been wearing the Sas I paid $100 for myself since last May. Some things are worth paying more for |
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ivanchoFAA
 Posts: 35 |
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The anime in japan in going in the wrong path. Moe is boring. I won't buy sola because the price is high and sola's story is not well done
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Ryokosha
Posts: 107 Location: North Eastern United States |
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I like the Sola story and moe is actually fascinating in many ways in many stories, also this whining of "I want this or that instead of moe" and then bashing of moe is getting old fast... all of that aside though, I am still a bit surprised at these prices (where were they gotten from again) especially for something that isn't given a dub treatment.
That said the animation does look very impressive and it is a story that I already know I like... geez they leave me fighting two instincts, one is to get what I like and hopefully can afford with scrimping and saving and the other is to save money. Oh well might get the series because I already know I like it. |
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