ADV Films Offers Best Buy Exclusives In July

List:

Gantz: Season 1 & 2 Collection 7/7/09
Blue Seed: Complete Collection 7/14/09
Cromartie High School: Complete Collection 7/14/09
Godannar: Complete Collection 7/21/09 |
Samurai Gun: Complete Collection 7/21/09
Maburaho: Complete Collection 7/28/09 |

ADV Films Offers Best Buy Exclusives

Interesting part of this:

This is a follow up story to our earlier scant information and discussion on ADV Cutting prices: http://www.theanimenetwork.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&Itemid=65&func=view&catid=4&id=2052

So it’s not an across the board cut in price, but only for this special Best Buy event eh?

This is great news for ADV as it’s certainly a sign of confidence and positive relationship between Best Buy (the biggest retailer) and ADV. With the Anime retail market skating on thin ice… Best Buy doing something like this is a strong statement of their continuing relationship.

Also, according to the reports coming out, these appear to be chipboard boxes, not stack packs. I can’t back them up myself, as I haven’t seen any of these. As far as I know, my store hasn’t received any of these yet, but I will keep any eye out for them.

But I’ve been waiting to buy Godannar and Cromartie, so now is probably the right time.

I might get Godannar.

You both should… Godannar is awesome. PP and I both loved it back in the day and still today is easily one of my favorite fun Giant Robo with fan service shows around.

It both has gotten A ratings at ANN and AoD for a reason. The dub is also excellent, one of Matt Greenfield’s best dubs, and an excellent dub all around… one of the very few English dubs where the cast recorded in groups… The pay off was huge, the chemistry of the cast was very apparent and it sounds really great on the whole, very smooth. Series like that was in my opinion why ADV was the best, they really went the extra mile for it – good times. :wink:

The music is also wonderful, with the homage to 70s style Anime Super Robo music, but of course here it’s updated to more contemporary sounds.

I bought the entire series digitally on Xbox Live for a pretty penny but still plan to buy the DVDs at one point and double dip (I can not say that of many series I’d do that for).

Oooh Godanner that was a fun show, I got some money I can spend on anime…I might have to get it too :slight_smile: And in store, my parents can’t find out and say “You should spend that on more important things.” (like what?)

Ohhh but if I get this I don’t think I can get Vandread later. Choices, choices.

Just thought I would let everyone know what I saw tonight at another Best Buy. They had the Gantz set for the sale, and it’s basically just the original first and second season thin packs shrink wrapped together with a new UPC. On the bright side, it means the extras will be intact for that series.

As for the others, I imagine they will just be the older thin packs with a new UPC and price, thought I could be wrong. Might be a good time to pick some nice thin packs at a good price though.

[quote=dragonrider_cody]
Just thought I would let everyone know what I saw tonight at another Best Buy. They had the Gantz set for the sale, and it’s basically just the original first and second season thin packs shrink wrapped together with a new UPC. On the bright side, it means the extras will be intact for that series.

As for the others, I imagine they will just be the older thin packs with a new UPC and price, thought I could be wrong. Might be a good time to pick some nice thin packs at a good price though.[/quote]

Thanks for the info.
If the others follow suit then it appears ADV is getting rid of leftover stock. Not a bad way to do it . Oh and Gantz has been one of the few series to never loose its extra’s even when they re-authored it to 5 disc.

Only missed opportunity here IMO is it would have been a good time for a contest.

So I went out to lunch today and decided to stop in my local Best Buy. I must have spent 15-20 minutes looking, but I DID NOT see Gantz in the anime section. When I left the store I had a chat with the guy who stands at the door and asks if you found anything. I told him what Gantz was and the what the special offer was, but he said he did know about it.

I hope Godannar is there at the right time, I kinda want to buy something from Best Buy.

If they don’t know what it is maybe you can give them the UPC Codes:

Gantz Season 1 and 2 (07/07/09 UPC: 702727206726)
Blue Seed Complete Collection (07/14/09 UPC: 702727207129)
Cromartie High School Complete Collection (07/14/09 UPC: 702727207327)
Godannar Complete Collection (07/21/09 UPC: 702727207426)
Samurai Gun Complete Collection (07/21/09 UPC: 702727207525)
Maburaho Complete Collection (07/28/09 UPC: 702727207723)

Problem with Anime and Retailers lately is the supply and shelf space is limited… that’s one of the things that’s been hitting extremely hard the US companies in the last years, but especially lately. They just aren’t being provided enough shelf space, and what little there is is very limited… the competition for the space is fierce, since a lot of titles are relegated to Online purchases (not on shelves).

Yeah I noticed that almost everything there was funimation…poo…and the shelf seemed pretty full. I also saw they gave up a bit of the shelf space to other movies that used to be for anime.

:frowning:

About how many ADV or Sentai Filmworks titles did your location carry?

I think I saw Blue Seed there, but it might have been Blue Gender :confused: Otherwise I think it was all funimation. I might have to get all my ADV stuff online now, which sux cuz I don’t have a credit card and I don’t like using my debit card over the internet.

Some of the Best Buys have issues with putting stuff out. My Best Buy usually takes from 2 days to a week to put out new Anime releases. Guy at mine has said many a time Anime is not a high priority unless its in the sales paper for that week.

I’d say keep checking back but it is very hard to tell with some of them if they have it sitting in back and just not gotten around to putting it out of if they did not get it in. I’ve had times when their computer system the employee’s use to check stock says they have copies but actually did not.

It’s not entirely our fault. A lot of the anime companies, in particular Funimation, have been shipping in their titles late, often a week or two past the release date. In fact, my store went nearly two months without receiving a single new Funimation release, other than the latest season of DBZ. And if someone at a Best Buy told you they just don’t put out anime, because it’s not a priority, they’re just being lazy. Our standard operating procedure is to have media products on the floor within 24 hours of being received, unless it is an upcoming release, or an ad hold. But I am well aware that many Best Buys ignore their media department, and do little to enforce the rules there.

The larger Best Buys near me, that have bigger anime selections, are in horrible shape. No one “farms” the sections to alphabetize the releases, or even make sure they are in the right section. It was common place to find cases with floaters, despite the fact that these are suppose to be pulled immediately and shipped back. This is probably due to that fact that they eliminated the media department. It is now part of our “Portable Electronics” department, and is over seen by the same people who sell in car electronics and digital imaging. All the “farming” and other tasks are now handled by our Product Process and Merchandising teams.

But yes, most Best Buy’s, especially the ones that had the recent clearance sale, have cut back their anime offerings. Some stores, including mine, have scaled back up a bit, but there is no rhyme or reason as to what titles we get. We have skipped over many of Funi’s newest releases, but have received several of ADV’s and Media Blasters recent ones. I actually want to buy Romeo X Juliet, but not any stores nearby carry it, not even the larger stores. And I recently bought Those Who Hunt Elves from Right Stuf, only to find out my store was getting it later, and I could have saved some cash buying it with my discount.

But on the bright side, nearly every Best Buy got several copies of the new Elfen Lied set :slight_smile:

[quote=ZakuAce]
So I went out to lunch today and decided to stop in my local Best Buy. I must have spent 15-20 minutes looking, but I DID NOT see Gantz in the anime section. When I left the store I had a chat with the guy who stands at the door and asks if you found anything. I told him what Gantz was and the what the special offer was, but he said he did know about it.

I hope Godannar is there at the right time, I kinda want to buy something from Best Buy.[/quote]

By the way it sounds like, from your description, that you went to a Best Buy with a more limited anime section. From what I can tell, these ADV specials are only being offered at larger volume stores. Basically, you need to look for one with a full selection that didn’t have the clearance sale. My store is on the small side and doesn’t have these, but the four larger stores in Pittsburgh all got it, though only a couple copies a piece.

I kinda figured that might be it, my store was one that had the clearence sale. I only know of maybe 1 store that could be bigger, and I don’t feel like driving 30 minutes to get to it. Guess I’ll stick to online buying.

Very interesting insight on BB related stuff, as always cody!

Hey Dragoon since you were wondering about how much stuff from ADV Best Buys are carrying I can tell yah what the two closest Best Buys near me have.

The smaller Best Buy has a lot of Media Blasters stuff for some reason, Viz and Bandia have a lot of space too, but ADV and Funi are about even there. I still find it odd that Media Blasters has so much stuff there. And even Animego has a title there, Yawara of course. It’s really weird IMO. But ADV does have a larger amount of titles here then you’d expect, so that’s a good thing. Lots of their recent re-releases were here (but they still didn’t get the newest stuff that came out the same time NTHT did), along with their new stuff like Clannad and PR. Since all the Best Buyscut back on anime a few months ago, they have got a lot more ADV and Media Blaster titles for some reason, and cut back on Funi a little.

The larger Best Buy seems to have so much more anime, and they also have a hell of a lot more ADV titles there. I think they have all the recent ADV relreleases, like the titles that came out with NTHT and lot’s of others too, not to mention their new shows like Clannad and PR. Funimation has a lot of stuff there too, almost no Media Blasters there though. Viz and Bandai have a couple titles, but one would think they’d have more here… Tis weird I say…

Anyway it’s cool ADV is doing this. I hope this means ADV has good relations with Best Buy. They probally do, seeing all their that still get into their stores… Maybe next time I’m at Best Buy I’ll check out these new Bes Buy-only items. See if there’s anything I want or need, or maybe I’ll blind buy something.

Just thought that I would note that Best Buy just added an exclusive edition of Evangelion for $40. So far, it appears to be the '08 Holiday Edition with a new Sku. It’s an excellent value for anyone that doesn’t have the series, as it includes all the extra features.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Neon+Genesis+Evangelion+Platinum+Complete+-+DVD/9633216.p?id=2064453&skuId=9633216&st=neon%20genesis%20evangelion&lp=1&cp=1