Comments on: Sunday News Bites: February 3rd

By: Tiamat's Disciple

Tiamat's Disciple — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 23:23:23 +0000

So, to stop reverse importing they’re uping the price to a region where 99% of their current fans will stop buying them, until they’re available on the grey market as box sets. Thats a great way to boost your income :)

If they do that we’ll have another Geneon on our hands, only a lot quicker

And i have to agree, why bother with bluray, sure it sounds good, but i was tlking to a mate of mine who has one, well two if you count the PS3. Without buying a HD TV it’s pointless having a bluray player. Then there’s the life span of the players, he’s had 4 in 8 months, all of them the lens breaks after a short while. The disks are over priced and there’s very little difference in the content. So why wast all that cash?

If bluray was a viable product like DVD’s were when they came out, it wouldn’t be so bad. However bluray players won’t play other HD media, only the sony brand bluray, so your going to ned 2 or 3 players to play all the media out there.

By: Karura

Karura — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 21:21:59 +0000

Well as I said these series are due out in the US in May, which would make them still pretty current. Not that I’m trying to defend Bandai Visual or anything, because I certainly don’t think it’s a good pricing strategy.

By: Hanners

Hanners — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 21:12:30 +0000

Hmmm, considering how long it often takes these shows to make it to US retail shelves, is reverse importing really that big an issue?

By: Karura

Karura — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 19:58:36 +0000

manga: I want to get Air on DVD, but again I’d rather wait for a boxset

Neriya: Haha, I completely agree.

Tiamat, Hanners: They’re using that pricing strategy to stop the Japanese reverse importing, but at the same time they’re alienating the very English-speaking market they’re trying to sell to. Well, except the rich fools with nothing better to spend their money on…

By: Hanners

Hanners — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 19:32:38 +0000

$40 for two episodes? That’s two series I might just have bought on DVD (True Tears especially on its current form), but not in that kind of price bracket. Good work Bandai…

By: Neriya

Neriya — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 18:39:32 +0000

>> manga: Blueray for anime? Why bother?

I’d personally generalise that to “Blueray? Why bother?”

By: Tiamat's Disciple

Tiamat's Disciple — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 15:48:30 +0000

nlu-ray may be the future, but right now it’s to expensive for it be considered for anime. You need a lot of cash to play them. Sure you can pick up a player for $300 and up, but what goods the player going to be if you don’t have a tv capable of displaying it right?

If ADV does as others have said, and releases all of those pulled titles on blu-ray only, ADV will go the way of geneon, down the toilet super fast.

as for this:

“Unfortunately, the plan is to spread these short 12-13 episode series across seven DVDs in a mirror of the Japanese releases, with each DVD retailing at either $29.99 (1 episode discs) or $39.99 (2 episode discs). The DVDs are to start being released in May, and will not contain an English dub.”

Do they seriously expect people to buy them at that price?? I know i sure as hell won’t. If that turns out to be true, they’ll basically of shot themselves in the foot, since i can’t really see anyone forking out $30 for a dvd with 1 episode on it, let alone $40 for 2 episodes. Most people will wait for the collection release, or go to the grey market and buy them that way.

Congratulations Bandai, way to alienate yet even more fans!! Though i give you credit for dropping the terrible dubs, it’s a shame other companies don’t drop them aswell.

By: Necromancer

Necromancer — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 12:16:31 +0000

“Any game with a catgirl in it must be good :)” *agrees strongly*

Blu-ray will be good for some anime (I should’ve waited and bought Paprika Blu-ray instead of DVD) but since there are no multi-region players for it yet us here in the UK will miss out on alot of it till there are some *kicks PS3 for being region locked*

By: manga

manga — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 11:41:13 +0000

Any game with a catgirl in it must be good :)
I just hope it´ll reach the eastern shores.

Blueray for anime? Why bother? As it is now it isn´t worth the cost of having blueray disc for anime as it would turn the buying a lot more expensive than it is today.

Getting only 1 ep on a disc is way to small for me. Atleast 3 eps. Buying the anime you watched way back can be a really nice move, atleast if you´re a Kyoani fanboy like I am. Now when Kanon is starting to be released I feel that I must buy the DVDs. And to complete my KyoAni collection Air isn´t that far of either.

I´m just waiting for Lucky Star and Clannad to reach us here as well. Feels like I need a bigger room…