Is The Industry Just As Confused As Us?

February 5, 2008 on 5:22 pm | In Anime, News, Other |

Shigofumi is the only series of the winter season I didn’t put on my plan to watch. I actually downloaded the first episode by mistake oddly enough, and since it was already there I decided to give it a shot anyway. I figured if I didn’t like it I would just delete the file and keep it off my anime list; however, out of all the series to premier this season it’s the only one I truly adore. This season isn’t bad, it’s just strangely average in a lot of aspects and in comparison to the last.

I don’t know if it’s because Shigofumi has a lot of twists and a wonderfully, haunting, metaphoric feel (despite seeming a bit like a modernized version of Jigoku Shoujo) for me to like or if it’s because it’s a bit different then the other shows offered this round. It’s well thought out too, which is something I like to see. Complexity, I believe, can be a really nice thing if done at a decent pace. We have no way of knowing if it’ll keep up such a gradual, but well timed speed yet it seems like it knows its own boundaries. It can extent within its world without breaking the rules it has already set out. Any type of media usually breaks from this, believing it can extent as far as possible to get just a bit more money out of the product.

Anyway, in the long run I’ve found a lot of people who also strongly enjoy Shigofumi. So, it isn’t a surprise people were displeased by the fact that Bandai Visual US licensed the product already (along with the show True Tears, which I have yet to really sit down and watch). However, I can’t yet blame the company for the license, in all honesty I’m proud and happy they decided to do as such so early. This was exactly what the anime fans were saying earlier, they wanted faster releases in the US market (and a two month wait isn’t too shabby at all). The problem, they only listened to us with one ear because they missed the part about the fact prices are a bit steep for the majority of us.

We are not Japan, we probably never will be because we are America (sure, we might all speak Spanish one day except for the die-hards like me who refuse to learn it). So not many of us are willing to spend forty dollars on a single DVD that contains two episodes, no dubs, and a booklet. Let me ask you something, when was the last time you opened a DVD, finished watching and put the DVD back only to say, “Goly gee! I wish there was a nifty booklet in here that told me about the characters, stated things I already knew from watching the series, and maybe an extra picture or two!” No one has any idea what will be in these booklets, but I assure you right now there is no way it’ll be worth forty dollars. There is no show with only two episodes worth forty dollars, maybe for some of you out there, but surely not for me.

As I said, I’m happy and almost proud of the company for listening just a bit. They just missed the major part of it is all. Maybe they’ll fix it in the next try, or possibly they have another strategy in mind. They might start sending out C&D letters, trying to stop all fansubbers for now. So we’re forced to buy their over-priced product to see the end of the anime. If that’s the main plan, Bandai Visual is officially pure evil. Okay, that’s exaggerating just a bit, but quite honestly is this a weak call to pity the industry or make us mad at you? I know that the struggle for money is constant, for both sides, thus why people turn to fansubs.

I think they need to step back, figure out a logical plan instead of something they conducted during a coffee break or shoved inside the suggestion box. It seems like a really simple concept, but I’m sure it is a lot harder to introduce into reality. There needs to be an overhaul, and hopefully we both can find some sort of compromise. Maybe we truly don’t care enough for each other anymore though, in a way I feel the relationship between the fans and the industry is kind of damaged as if we’re both weary of each other. That, no matter which way a person looks at it, is rather sad.

Source: MyAnimeList News

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9 Comments »

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  1. It’s true, we should thank them for listening. They did indeed not fully understand it yet though.

    I am not located in the US, that’s why I care less about release dates of Anime DVDs in the States (that’s the place where they’re released first after airing on Japanese TV aftrer all), it always takes them another year or two to release the stuff here in Germany. German dubs suck too so I for one am not happy about any licensing at all - to me it just means that the good Fansub Groups will most likely stop releasing the few good anime of the current season.

    You’re right Kana, apart from Spice & Wolf, True Tears, and Shigofumi, this season is terribly average. And some shows are just bad; Rosario + Vampire is one of the most stupid ecchi comedies up to date (no, the overly used fanservce is not funny - other shows do that way, WAY better, I’ve seen those, too) and H2O which started off pretty promising started to suck (bad) soon after episode 2. I’ll refrain from listing all the other Winter Anime right now.

    So yeah, the prices are rediculous. I’m sticking to my fansubs and no one’s going to stop my anytime soon. Fuck the industry.

    Comment by cyruz — February 5, 2008 #

  2. i wasn’t sure if i’d watch shigofumi at first, but now after watching the first 4, i really don’t regret starting the series. hopefully bandai won’t send out messages to the subgroups, because then they’ll go to hell. and i bet no one will !_evar_! buy the dvd’s (except for the fanatics). and about the 40$; GADGET GALORE PLEASE! :>

    Comment by skuchi — February 5, 2008 #

  3. BV USA is betting on harcore buyers to buy these releases. I think with Blue-ray coming out with no region coding, they are being extra-sensitive with reverse import. The thing is though, their release never was same as R2. Most of them missing R2 extras. Gunbuster with f*cked up audio etc. Gunbuster movie, my r2 has long-ass interview sessions with the cast. R1? nadda, but with almost matching price. So they are asking us to cough off the same amount of money as R2 buyers…when content is actually less. Which is ridiculous. But yeah, some will still buy their release, because it is not like the show will come from any other r1 licensors. ~_~ Quite sad really. As for me, I’m not interested in any of those series so I’m fine for now. As for this season being mediocre, I agree. I’m not really into any of the series this season. Wolf and spice showed some potential…but frankly, recent episodes were a bit disappointing. (probably because I already read the novel…)

    Comment by muhootsaver — February 5, 2008 #

  4. Honestly, I think that’s a tough call. On the one hand, Bandai Visual is making a bad decision by how they’re releasing their shows. But as much as I don’t think “supporting the industry” is a good argument for buying DVDs, but on the other hand I don’t think “punishing the company” is a good argument for not buying them. It’s a tough call.

    Comment by Cameron Probert — February 5, 2008 #

  5. […] the Bitch Knows had a pretty fascinating post on Shigofumi (and Bandai Visual’s release on it). The first part brought up an interesting […]

    Pingback by The Otakusphere: Pacing Problems, cultural literacy and the evil that is Bandai Visual « In Search of Number Nine — February 5, 2008 #

  6. “There is no show with only two episodes worth forty dollars, maybe for some of you out there, but surely not for me.”

    If said two episodes where the only two of an epic OVA, than I’d probably buy it.

    But I’m not made of money, and I’m not interested at the moment in buying an anime series with just two episodes at a time for a price where I could get an entire series from other companies. :/

    As other people have said though, if the bang was worth the buck or if there was more added value-wise than there need to be, if the series was good enough I would buy it.

    At the moment, I do think that Shigofumi is good, so we’ll see what happens. :P

    Comment by TheBigN — February 6, 2008 #

  7. 1. Bandai Visual is actually Bandai in disguise.

    2. Japan hates the R1 companies, and would love the entire industry to die a horrible death so that they can come in as the “heroes” and trick everyone into directly contributing to their coffers by doing what the people want.

    3. Bang for buck? You’ll only want more with that kind of thinking.

    Comment by DrmChsr0 — February 6, 2008 #

  8. The only anime dvd I ever bought was $10. I found it in the “random misc crap that no one buys” section of a dvd/music store. Ah! My Goddess Volume 1 (the old version). Comes to $3.33/episode.

    Most companies out there (Bandai specifically) don’t seem to understand the very simple concept of “lower the price, more people will buy it”. Especially nowadays when you can illegitimately download pretty much any show you want for free.

    I wouldn’t do so if anime didn’t cost $10, $15 or even $20 per episode.

    Another thing, I’m not even sure if I want to support licensing in North America. To be honest, it’s a far better situation to have no licensing, since we’d get the shows through fansubbers anyway.

    I’d love to know what kind of cut Japan get’s from the North American market anyway? DrmChsr0 made a good point about Japan. If you want to make the supporting the industry argument, I’d rather support Anime more directly if it were possible.

    Anyway, I enjoy your rant Kana! It’s an issue that hit’s a sore spot on many an anime fan (lot’s of replies to this post eh? lol).

    ~Chris aka CanadaAotS

    Comment by Chris — February 7, 2008 #

  9. Yes, there has been quite a lot of replies to this entry, which I don’t normally see. Maybe I should talk about news more often then boring episode opinions, eh?

    In the end, I don’t like to support an industry that makes bad decisions. I remember way back in the day I bought a lot of Pioneer products, remember them? Then again, the now Genon is now gone from the US. Thinking over my collection I have a lot of Urban Vision too, which is funny for me since they don’t really release a lot of popular titles. I also remember (since I’m not home right now I can’t really look at my collection) that I have a few ADV and a ton of Central Park Media. Though thinking back I’m sure I bought a majority of those items relatively cheap. Actually, I’m almost positive that many of the companies I listed had a decent price on the item in question buying them up to six or so years ago.

    I’m like any anime fan, if I see a title I love and I believe the dubbers will do a decent job I’ll buy it. I would have purchased Kanon if not for the pure evil produced by the English voice actors (I’m sorry Boone, it’s not for you). Yet I’ve found I’m rare in the fact I actually enjoy some dubs, so this is a crossroad for me. Subtitles are nice, but I like to see what the studio is trying to do as well to almost localize the product. If Bandai continues to make poor decisions then that’s their problem, I don’t see why I should support them for asking me to buy a DVD and make a donation to the ‘save the industry before fansubbers murder us foundation’.

    Comment by Kanashimi — February 8, 2008 #

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