Watanabe doing another space sci-fi story means that it's my duty to watch it.
My Megaman and MegaTen RPG LiveblogsI was not (wasn't even AT Otakon), just following the news via live feed.
Second time this year they've grabbed something I was interested in, so I wasn't happy to say the least. -_-
(x 7) SON OF A BITCH. I was so looking forward to purchasing this show, but hear that the EA of Anime has bought the rights to it really pisses me off.
No, I'm serious. I've been boycotting all Aniplex USA releases since what they did to the releases of Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Gurren Lagann. I, for one, am tired of their greedy practice of charging you $60-$80 for only two or three episodes when it costs the same for an entire series (or at least half of it) that is licensed by Funi or Sentai release. The fact that I have to fish for a decent fansub breaks my heart, because I love the creators of Gurren Lagann and I was excited by the premise of their latest show. I really want to support them, but I can't betray my morals by giving my hard-earned money to a immoral company like Aniplex USA. Now I know how Total Biscuit felt when he boycotted Mass Effect 3 for EA intentionally ripping out Javik and making him part of a Day 1 DLC.
edited 11th Aug '13 3:18:38 PM by sanfranman91
Why does Aniplex charge like you're paying for gold, again?
"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - Fighteer"REVERSE IMPORTATION!" I'm guessing that's it. Some companies were so scared of it that they ordered the DVD releases in North America to have crappy quality.
If a company like Funimation can turn a profit with a huge line of ~30$ releases, I think Aniplex can turn down their prices a bit. I mean, Sword Art Online is like 80$ for 7 episodes. Seriously?
The reason actually seems to vary, if you examine what they're selling at what price. If I were to make a few educated guesses:
Oreimo went for $60 on DVD because it wasn't a Blu-Ray release, and the later DVD release kept the $60 price tag because the series already went out of print in Japan by then. Meanwhile, we share a Blu-Ray region with Japan, so reverse-importation and the sheer speed of the release compared to any other series we've gotten made such a high price inevitable (I'd presume the high prices of the Oreimo and Monogatari Blu-Ray releases were also because of the shared Blu-Ray region). Most of their other high-priced series are either limited editions aimed at collectors (I guess they figure casual viewers would just use Crunchyroll, where they stream all of their series) or they're offering imported copies with subs added, at the same time as the Japanese release, and charging the same price Japan's charging plus a small mark-up to account for shipping and translation work.
So it's not always fear of reverse importation, sometimes it's solely an exchange for a fast release. If I weren't having trouble finding work, I'd have no trouble paying.
edited 11th Aug '13 8:49:45 PM by burnpsy
As I recall, part of it also has to do with the relative quality of the releases - Keeping the same number of episodes per disc as the Japanese release versus trying to compress everything onto as few discs as possible.
Right now, I'm definitely watching the second part of Valvrave and I'll give Blue Steel a few episodes to see just how terrible the adaption is. Walkure Romanze will take priority as my guilty pleasure of the season up and until it's confirmed to go down the all-too-likely awful childhood friend route, in which case Infinite Stratos 2 regains it's position as my safe bet.
I'll probably be tracking Golden Time simply because of the author, and I might watch Coppelion if the physics and/or anti-nuclear moralizing aren't too terrible. That Light Novel Adaption With The Really Long Name might get a watch if it generates positive buzz, but I'm not hopeful given that it doesn't seem to have an active translation project on Baka Tsuki.
edited 11th Aug '13 9:16:23 PM by HighVelocityPointyThings
Well, as with any other works with long titles, it's a pain to spell and memorise (especially if it's in a foreign language) correctly if you're not using a shortened form of the title.
edited 12th Aug '13 11:32:20 AM by MacronNotes
Macron's notesWhy does Aniplex charge like you're paying for gold, again?
Because Japan does the same thing. They still think charging up the butt for singles releases is still in (poor, poor Madoka Magica). -_-
While I think the people who are out for Henry Goto's blood are being unfair, I can see why they're thinking that way.
edited 12th Aug '13 3:19:28 PM by PikaHikariKT
Especially if you're a Blue Exorcist or Fate Zero fan. Bought the sub-only releases? Double dip if you want the dub. Want one season of the bilingual release at a somewhat-reasonable price? Bare bones DVD release only.
edited 12th Aug '13 4:40:26 PM by PikaHikariKT
So, in summary, Aniplex's high prices are because they're firmly aimed at collectors with their extras, release most of their series in an absurdly timely manner compared to their competition, and doesn't compress their anime as much for higher quality.
So it's no surprise at all that their stuff costs as much as it does.
Adding Tokyo Ravens to my 'Watching primarily to judge the adaption' list. The manga is fun, but I'm concerned about how much they'll cover and the potential for anime-original story arcs based on the preview.
Chart version 2
◊ is up. As a side note, Gaist Crusher seems interesting. If B-Daman gets another installment I might skip this, though.
edited 15th Aug '13 3:10:32 AM by murazrai

I ain't payin' $400.