What's Your Favorite Japanese Anime

[HdE]

as yet the hmv preorder is still going strong and ive had no email about code geass and I hope I dont, I dont relay want the expensive vershion

Beez seem to have indicated pretty positively via their Twitter account that the Code Geass R2 box set has been cancelled.

As for the issue on pricing... yes, unfortunately, it looks like Bandai are trying once again to force western anime fans to pay Japanese prices.

If you check out some of the comments and statements made in connection to Bandia Entertainment shutting up shop, it seems pretty clear that Bandai Japan don't really need (or arguably want) Western trade. And they're letting Western fans know it.

I absolutely love anime, and Bandai withdrawing like this means we lose the affordable access we had to franchises like Gundam, and pretty much all of Sunrise's output. Very sad.

But make no mistake. I'm not a Japanese citizen, and I'm not inclined to pay their prices for some of these shows. Bandai are, frankly, stupid to expect us to support their realeases if they insist on that. I also need to cut down my spending this year, so... well, with developments like this becoming commonplace, I think I'm done with the stuff for the foreseeable.

[Cyberleader2000]

as yet the hmv preorder is still going strong and ive had no email about code geass and I hope I dont, I dont relay want the expensive vershion

Beez seem to have indicated pretty positively via their Twitter account that the Code Geass R2 box set has been cancelled.

As for the issue on pricing... yes, unfortunately, it looks like Bandai are trying once again to force western anime fans to pay Japanese prices.

If you check out some of the comments and statements made in connection to Bandia Entertainment shutting up shop, it seems pretty clear that Bandai Japan don't really need (or arguably want) Western trade. And they're letting Western fans know it.

I absolutely love anime, and Bandai withdrawing like this means we lose the affordable access we had to franchises like Gundam, and pretty much all of Sunrise's output. Very sad.

But make no mistake. I'm not a Japanese citizen, and I'm not inclined to pay their prices for some of these shows. Bandai are, frankly, stupid to expect us to support their realeases if they insist on that. I also need to cut down my spending this year, so... well, with developments like this becoming commonplace, I think I'm done with the stuff for the foreseeable.

yea I hered about it yesterday im currentley looking into geting the expensive vershion of season 2 my wallet is going to cry

[Cyberleader2000]

good news managed to get hold of season 2 of code geass each half season boxset for £17 I think thats the best I could have done still expensive thor but im so looking foward to it espechily as I just finished eureka seven now im going to watch the movie vershion

[Cyberleader2000]

I just read online there making a new season of Eureka Seven any one elses hered about this or have any info to confirm if its true?

[HdE]

Not only is it true, but there's already some footage of it out there somewhere.

It's a side story, though, not a direct continuation. And we can pretty much forget about it coming here unless Manga snap it up.

[klute]

Seen this thread a few times and really other than Akira and Ghost in the Shell i've never bothered buying anyting else over the years BUT i really liked Cyber City OEDO 808 and AD police are the dvd's easy to get hold of for those 2??

[HdE]

Ooohh... there's a question.

Short answer: No.

Long answer: A good deal of anime that first surfaced in the UK around the early 90s is becoming very difficult to find now.

I actually own a copy of the AD Police DVD which I nabbed from an Amazon Marketplace seller for just a couple of quid. That's your best bet. You may get REALLY lucky and find a seller who has a brand new copy for not much moolah. My advice, though, would be not to bother. In my opinion, it's really not very good, and hasn't aged at all well.

Cyber City Oedo 808, though, is a different kettle of fish. It's out of print in the UK, as Manga Entertainment lost the license. If playing region 1 DVDs isn't an issue for you, though, you can get the complete series on one DVD Stateside. BE WARNED, though, that the content of that release differs from the UK edition, which was given a new musical score. You may find that the US edition lacks the punch and atmosphere of the old Manga Entertainment release.

Have a look, and if you find anything that you're not sure about, feel free to lob me a PM  and I'll do my best to help out.

[vzzbux]

I have all my old 90's VHS anime stored in the attic and it's not a small collection.




V

[Professor Bear]

As for the issue on pricing... yes, unfortunately, it looks like Bandai are trying once again to force western anime fans to pay Japanese prices.

This is a company with a history of wanting big rewards from minimal risk, and I think that's what we're seeing (a conservative business plan) more than we are an aggressive pricing policy for an increasingly smaller number of western fans.  I'm not defending Bandai's head-in-the-sand approach to marketing (that led them to effectively scupper not just their own western publishing arm but to also destroy the presence of anime in the North American market), but in the last decade or so, Bandai has seen an increase in exported merchandise that strongly suggests they don't need an official western arm quite as much as they need a stronger web sales outlet so less money goers to grey importers.  A good indicator of this is their strong sales of Kamen Rider merchandise to a market that is almost completely unaware of Kamen Rider as a franchise - aside from the forum's own Cyberleader inexplicably buying Faiz figures that have nothing to do with Gundam or Transformers, the deluxe KR figures are a steady presence in western toy mags, and Super Sentai merch sells well even when the same stuff is available in the west under the Power Rangers brand.  When you factor in how it's still expensive to produce collections in the Blu-ray format, the current market glut of anime available and a shrinking consumer base, it just makes more sense for Bandai to concentrate their efforts on Japanese product and let the die-hards import whatever they might want desperately enough.

For the rest of us - unless you're one of those deviants who is frightened by subtitles and can only watch dubs - there's always fansubbing to fall back on.

[HdE]

I really can't even guess at what's going on with the anime market in the West these days. Some fo the business models that are either in place or mooted for future use just seem... suicidal.

One thing's for sure, though. I will NEVER advocate funsubbing or any other form of piracy, irrespective of whether the shows in question are available legitimately over here or not.

It may well be the case that some of the distributors and licensors have done themselves and their prospective customer base a disservice with their business plans and practices. But I have literally NO sympathy for so-called fans who are wilfully damaging an industry that produces something they profess to love by supporting illegal downloads, fansubs and other forms of piracy.

Theft is theft. End of discussion.

[Professor Bear]

Considering how aggressively most fansubbers track and report downloading or rips of their work once something gets a western release and they've removed those fansubs from the web, and how fansubbing is an ultimately thankless job whose only reward is a constant stream of abuse even from those who enjoy fansubs (I am looking at you, Naruto fans), you'll have a time convincing me the argument that the average fansubbers don't care about the impact they have upon the anime industry isn't a thin one.  To be honest, they seem to care a great deal too much for a hobby where their labors often result in companies making money and which will ultimately result either in their either coming to hate someting they once loved, or going to jail.

Theft is theft. End of discussion.

Theft is indeed theft, but copyright violations are violations of the right to copy.  These two things are not the same.

The discussion about fansubbers also has nuances beyond the basic arguments about piracy of music or movies, even before you wheel out the argument that only a small fraction of anime produced ever gets any kind of western release and you can't negatively impact upon the financial performance of something which is not actually on sale and was never going to be.
What about corporate-sponsored shows which (naturally) only air in Japan, for instance?  Companies like Bandai support production of the likes of Kamen Rider, Precure and Super Sentai as a means to advertise attendant merchandising like toys, videogames and manga, and sales of Japanese-exclusive merchandise in the west has been growing significantly as fansubbing has taken off.  Fansubs are free advertising in foreign territories that makes money for the companies who sponsor the creation of content, thus creating a revenue stream that wouldn't exist without fansubs and which the companies - Bandai especially - are well aware of.

[The Adventurer]

All I know is that without Fansubs I wouldn't have access to many of my most beloved franchises; Macross and Armored Trooper Votoms in particular. I would pay fat cash in a heart beat for North American region releases on DVD (or Blu-Ray!). And have for whatever few pieces of the franchises have managed to come out in NA. But nobody is budging on offical releases, and I'm sure as hell not going to wait around.

I always pay for content that is made avalible to me to buy. If I watched something fansubbed and it's gets licenced I buy it ASAP. But if nobody is going to sell me what I want to watch I'm not going to feel bad about utilizing fansubs.

[Cyberleader2000]

A good indicator of this is their strong sales of Kamen Rider merchandise to a market that is almost completely unaware of Kamen Rider as a franchise - aside from the forum's own Cyberleader inexplicably buying Faiz figures that have nothing to do with Gundam or Transformers

you think thats sperising my next perchases that im waitiung for in the post will realy knock you on your arse in sperises.

as for the fansubs and torrents my police is if its not on dvd in the uk and not a rip off on usa dvd then I will uses fansubs and torrents thro I ditest them as they take forever to down load. torrents and fansubs in my opioun shoud only be used if its imposibile to get hold of the series or film you want to watch legeley.

[HdE]

Fansubs are free advertising in foreign territories that makes money for the companies who sponsor the creation of content, thus creating a revenue stream that wouldn't exist without fansubs and which the companies - Bandai especially - are well aware of.

And as a result of this awareness - OH LOOK! Bandai have ceased production of books and DVDs outside of Japan.

Sorry, Prof. I don't mean to come off as harsh there. And I'm not responding to this to be deliberately argumentative. In fact, reading back over my previous post, I think I worded that a bit too bluntly. However, I don't think the issue of fansubbing is REMOTELY clear cut, either in terms of legality or the effect it has on the western arm of the industry. Plenty of fans are inclined to grab an official release of a show they've already checked out via less legit means / fansubs. Equally, plenty have no intention. And we've got a few precedents to look at which suggest THAT factors into the decisions that are made regarding western licenses.

The point (or problem) is, the numbers obviously aren't adding up in a way that satisfies the guys who put out the product. And it's not just Bandai. You may recall that one of the head honchos at ADV, who imploded and then resurfaced stateside under another name, quite famously suggested that the anime fan base in the UK was so poorly catered to because of their propensity to get their hands on material illegally. And that comes from a distro whose products (and there were many of them) sometimes sold only in the double figures.

My over-riding point, though, is just how circular and self-defeating the industry has become. I think it's stupid how we have stellar quality shows that we can't legitimately get our hands on, too. I'd love it if we could get the likes of Macross Frontier, After War Gundam X, Patlabor On The TV, Armoured Trooper VOTOMS and many others over here. But unless the business climate suggests to the guys who make this stuff available that there's an audience who'll lap it up and PAY for it... it ain't gonna happen.

(Apart form the Macross stuff, which just AIN'T gonna happen. Gotta love those legal wrangles. Fuh.)

[Professor Bear]

No offence taken, H!

Equally I hope you don't take any offence when I say that Bandai didn't quit the western market because of fansubbers or scanlators, they quit the western market because they were a very badly run company with a niche product whose objective merit was minimal in the west, as you have to remember that these are backwards comics printed on lavvy paper or cartoons with appallingly bad voice acting at the best of times if they have an English dub at all - why buy those when we have perfectly good cartoons and comics of our own that haven't got dialogue that sounds like it was written by a child?
Bandai also adversely affected the market for everyone else by destroying anime's visibility in North America in setting the precedent for paying networks to show anime rather than the networks licencing first-to-air rights as they do with any other programming, so their woes aren't the result of piracy or a shrinking market, they're the result of Bandai applying an unnecessary Japanese business model to the US market that saw them having to pay money to get their shows aired whereas before they were being paid to get their shows aired, and this practice was extended to all anime distributors as time went on.  To repeat: Bandai stopped taking money and started paying it out when they did not have to do so.  They lost a shitload of money through poor management and now, like any company, they are paying the inevitable price for that.

As for fansubbers, they have absolutely no reason to sub a title that has already been released - people who do that are straight-up pirates.  It's worth noting that a lot of industry criticism comes from western anime publishers who cannot be said to be unbiased about the subject of unpaid hobbyists more often than not seen to be doing a better job than paid professionals, while their Eastern counterparts are notably quieter on the subject of all that unpaid and highly enthusiastic advertising even when they aren't shy of venom to spew at dojinshi publishers.

I will uses fansubs and torrents thro I ditest them as they take forever to down load.

Bittorrents are fast as long as they're well-seeded, otherwise you likely have a shit connection.  Batches of anime episodes usually aren't terribly well-seeded, though, especially older shows, or shows that got an official release over here.