Well, we’re not Japanese, so no need for us to pay those sucker prices that they do.
I think that falls under the definition of “virtually”.
I don’t think that this would present an issue as I, based on funimation’s current slow release schedule, think funi would have no problem waiting for the Japanese to okay the north american bluray before releasing any part of the product. With no legal competition, what would inspire funimation to strive for rapid releasing?
Alternately, if funimation releases a DVD only version and then releases a combo pack later, that’s still a release with a combo pack. I’d count that lol.
On combo packs,
I’d pay a few bucks more than a combo pack, and I expect that more people would pay say 10 bucks more for a Sentai combo pack than do what I currently try to do, which is to pay ~80 bucks to get both the DVDs and blurays for a release to make a faux “combo pack”.
btw:origin, air gear, negima! ?
I rather take blu-ray. I got the Fairy Tail combo pack and it was just annoying that I had to view the show twice to make sure it was working right. Now, if they would set up where you can buy a case and cover art and split the two sets, I would like. Give the DVD set to a friend, that’s what I would do.
A lot of people already complain that Sentai’s prices are too high, so a lot of people aren’t willing to pay the extra ten bucks.
Maybe they would if they had extras on them that are worth it.
Please, they’d still find something to complain about…like why it’s not in 3-D or in Smell-a-vision. :lol:
Personaly, extras are all nice and good, but if I find the show is crap, all the extras in the world wouldn’t get me to buy it.
[quote=“tonka”]
Please, they’d still find something to complain about…like why it’s not in 3-D or in Smell-a-vision. :lol:
Personaly, extras are all nice and good, but if I find the show is crap, all the extras in the world wouldn’t get me to buy it.[/quote]
NISA sets have a ton of extras and people complain that they are too expensive. Some anime fans will always complain about the pricing, no matter what it is.
I sort of wish the limited editions from NISA weren’t so limited. I just got into Pandora Hearts and sort of wanted the extras. At least they have a standard edition out.
NISA LE stuff usually sticks around for several months some of it for over a year. I’ve pre-ordered two of the three upcoming titles I want from them. Still debating on Bunny Drop. Other then that I only have Toradora premiums sets from them. Space they take up is my only complaint about them otherwise the price it goes for is more then fair.
Mea Culpa, I’m one of the fans that will unhesitantly complain about prices.
I have bought LE’s and don’t have an issue with them being more expensive, it just has to be reasonable. Near Japanese domestic release pricing for Anime fails that test here in North America, for me.
Everything that I’ve wanted from either Sentai or Funimation, LE or not, has been available at reasonable or more than reasonable prices and I’ve bought as much as my budget allows.
Mark Gosdin
[quote=“Vata_Raven”]
And that’ll do what? It’ll just cause Funimation and Sentai to lose sells. They wouldn’t do that.[/quote]
Here’s the deal. Same product, same cost to make it, retail is just raised. After a while people will figure out that three months later the price comes down and they’ll buy then unless they really really want it. Price comes down, it looks like it’s a bargain, more people will bite. Same profit as before because the lowered price is the same as the original MSRP. Pacifies Japanese interests but lets Blue-Ray releases come out sooner here. I mean, the smart Japanese are going to play the same waiting game anynow and it would make more sense for them to just lower the price in Japan, but that’s not going to happen.
I already tend to think the prices are high for anime, but I understand that because the market’s become so much smaller the prices have to be higher for the importers to make money. The days of waiting for stuff to get written off and clearanced out are coming to an end -
Not sure the point of a combo pack, really; if I buy blue-ray clearly I have the ability to watch that, what do I need the old regular format for?
[quote=“rebecca1/2”]Here’s the deal. Same product, same cost to make it, retail is just raised. After a while people will figure out that three months later the price comes down and they’ll buy then unless they really really want it. Price comes down, it looks like it’s a bargain, more people will bite. Same profit as before because the lowered price is the same as the original MSRP. Pacifies Japanese interests but lets Blue-Ray releases come out sooner here. I mean, the smart Japanese are going to play the same waiting game anynow and it would make more sense for them to just lower the price in Japan, but that’s not going to happen.
I already tend to think the prices are high for anime, but I understand that because the market’s become so much smaller the prices have to be higher for the importers to make money. The days of waiting for stuff to get written off and clearanced out are coming to an end -
Not sure the point of a combo pack, really; if I buy blue-ray clearly I have the ability to watch that, what do I need the old regular format for?[/quote]
There’s structural reasons why Japanese domestic anime videos cost what they do. If they could sell at prices comparable to U.S. pricing, cover the costs they have to cover and sell more product I suspect they would.
There will always be “Fire Sales”, it will just depend on what it was that caught fire. If it was the last R1 distributor standing that “burned” then it all may come to an end. :silly:
Blu-ray is still not quite there on market penetration, so combo packs still have a place in the market.
Mark Gosdin
Combo packs are there for the people that have not quite made the move to Blu-ray or those that want a second copy for trips or for kids to have. Their is very few portable Blu-ray players. Least ones for under $100.00. Most of them at least new releases are only a few dollars more then what the standard DVD is anymore. I like having them for when I want to watch something in another room really.
The reason we have so much trouble with Anime on Blu-ray here all goes back to we are in the same region as Japan. Perfect example is the UK is going to get Madoka on Blu-ray for a lot cheaper then we are because they are not in the same region. After conversion about $50.00 US for the whole series on 3 Blu-ray.
I think by end of the Holiday season we will see Blu-ray make the move to out selling DVD releases. The players have already hit the below $60 for a cheapo one. Something it took at bit longer of DVD to do. Also HDTV’s are getting dirt cheap. While still not at the point they handle everything thrown at them most of the cheap ones work well enough. Not sure what that will mean for the combo pack as even at dirt cheap there is still people that will cling to a dead or dieing media. Heck some woman a month back was asking at Walmart if they had movies on VHS tapes still. Then I saw her at Target asking the same thing after the guy at Walmart clearly told her they’ve not made VHS movies for a while now.
I personally feel as if they could reissue reprints of them. I heard like Pandora hearts and a couple other titles sold out within the month. Seriously? If it was that damn popular, why didn’t the dub the damned thing? The least they could do is keep the fancy box in-print for as long as they have the license.
[quote=“Vata_Raven”]
I personally feel as if they could reissue reprints of them. I heard like Pandora hearts and a couple other titles sold out within the month. Seriously? If it was that damn popular, why didn’t the dub the damned thing? The least they could do is keep the fancy box in-print for as long as they have the license.[/quote]
It was limited edition and the number sold wouldn’t have paid for a dub. I believe each on was limited to about 2500 or so. A dub usually requires at least 10,000 units just to break even.
Also, if they reprinted them, they wouldn’t be limited edition. 
Not sure about Pandora Hearts thing in a month. I believe if it did it may have had something to do with Rightstuf having them as part of their Christmas stuff last year. I believe so far only a few of the sets have sold out within the first years time. I still wonder sometimes if the only reason they are able to do Blu-ray sub only is they have a good deal with whoever produces their PS3 disc.
Again, what good would that do? Most sells come in the first 6 months of the release. The R1 market will just take a hit if they release it at $300 for 3 months. People just need to wait it out. Hell, I remember waiting for 2 months for the next VHS of YYH…and the last one never came out. People can wait 3-6 months to get a whole series.
[quote=“dragonrider_cody”]It was limited edition and the number sold wouldn’t have paid for a dub. I believe each on was limited to about 2500 or so. A dub usually requires at least 10,000 units just to break even.
Also, if they reprinted them, they wouldn’t be limited edition. ;)[/quote]
They’re premium editions, not really limited. They just make them limited, for whatever effing reason. Them and RightStuf made sub-only releases worth it, so what is the point of buying a sub-only if all you get is the anime? They made it a point to make the sub-only releases worth it by giving people an art book and telling people “yes, you can view it for free online, but out releases have extra goodies.”
[quote=“Vata_Raven”]
[quote=“dragonrider_cody”]It was limited edition and the number sold wouldn’t have paid for a dub. I believe each on was limited to about 2500 or so. A dub usually requires at least 10,000 units just to break even.
Also, if they reprinted them, they wouldn’t be limited edition. ;)[/quote]
They’re premium editions, not really limited. They just make them limited, for whatever effing reason. Them and RightStuf made sub-only releases worth it, so what is the point of buying a sub-only if all you get is the anime? They made it a point to make the sub-only releases worth it by giving people an art book and telling people “yes, you can view it for free online, but out releases have extra goodies.”[/quote]
If they only print a certain amount and don’t continuously reprint them when they run out of stock, then it effectively makes them limited edition, whether they are premium or not.
Premium , Ultimate , Special Edition , etc , etc , etc… It usually all means the same thing Limited Editions. Large Print runs of “Limited Editions” was one of those things that hurt the Industry of yesteryear here. They did do a few runs of all their Premium Editions that sold well and let it be known they’d not be doing anymore sometime in advance.
The point of any anime release sub only or whatever is you bought it and helped keep the dream alive for another hour or more like 10 minutes.lol