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Fall of Anime 2012 |OT2| O cursed spite, that ever I was born to UUURRRRYYY!!

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duckroll

Member
Is Rebuild actually selling well in US? And I don't just mean in context of the anime market, but legitimately well?

Vidscan numbers aren't public, so that's a question for FUNimation to answer. But considering the ridiculously high licensing fees I heard they paid for each movie so far, they seem happy with it to continue.
 

Cwarrior

Member
It's not really a debate. If we're talking about pop culture influence, it's hard to factually determine if something really popular is more popular than something else which is also very popular. Obviously if we look at an entire franchise like Pokemon, it's bigger, but largely because of the games and not the anime. If we look at DBZ and One Piece, the manga are also much more popular, sure.

But if we're talking exclusively about anime, I would say that both in Japan and internationally, Ghibli movies and DBZ are the only things that compare to what Rebuild of Evangelion is enjoying now in actual commercial value. The highest licensing fees. The highest sales. The highest TV ratings for initial broadcast and reruns. Box office success that's climbing with each subsequent movie.

Gundam? Gundam is a great general franchise for making toy models and various spin-offs and sequels, but it has never sold as much as Eva has for any individual product. Not even compared to Eva TV. It's also dead in the US. No one was happy with the commercial performance of Gundam in the US, and Bandai Entertainment died. Lol.

Let's put things in perspective. Gundam Unicorn is the best selling Gundam anime these days. One release of Eva 2.22 outsold the first FOUR volumes of Gundam Unicorn combined.

trying to discount pokemon cause it started life as videogame franchise is pretty unfair(poor nintendo they never count), the anime adaption was huge success world wide and still airs & enjoys a high rating.

anime only example

The first pokemon movie Made a $163,644,662 @Box office that's more then both rebuild movies combined and mostly likely the third one added as well if it matches the success of 2.

The second pokemon movie made $133,949,270 @box office


edit: dragon ball z huge success world wide was due the anime not the manga, the opposite the anime is bigger then the manga.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
BD pressing is at worst around $1.25-$1.50 a disc extra at that 2,500 unit point; of that added cost, it's about 50/50 higher physical production cost per disc and a one-time cost of $1,500 or so for BD-related licenses. That said, it's entirely possible that those numbers refer to their DVD line rather than marquee titles.
The problem with BD is that up-front cost, at this point, and the fact that it's extremely difficult to have a surprise hit with it because the BD buyer is more educated; the US market's potential for hits is basically based on judge-by-the-cover purchases, because of the extremely weak critical and genre-marketing landscape, the fanbase that already has MKVs, and of course the far better results a US licensee has if something they picked up on the cheap hits big.

In the end, it's going to be pushed on the US market under either the Aniplex (slightly better for midrange titles, depends on a strong yen) or the Bandai/Warner (slightly better for huge hits and niche titles, benefits from a weak yen) models.

The anime industry must be fucked if what amounts to a dollar per disc is enough to break the bank for some of these companies. I figure all home release buyers are just collecting nerds at this point, because who goes to a store to buy anime these days? I don't even know where it is sold in Canada.

And well, given what happened to Bandai, I figure there's a clear winner here. :p

I just wonder whether or not Funimation and Sentai, which try to crap out everything under the sun, make money or if they're basically betting on streaming at this point.
(I also wonder, and maybe you'd know, if Sentai is going to do the HidaSketch BDs at some point.)

No, no, no. Lets say I license Sora no Woto and have 4 discs per set at 3 thousand sets, I assume that quote for that job would cost x amount. Now lets say I went to the same company and asked how much it'd cost to press Sora no Woto, Penquin Drum, Aria the Scarlet Ammo and, uh, Strike Witches. It owuld of course cost more, you're now doing 4 print runs but I imagine the cost per disc would actually go down.

I don't think it works that way, because you'd be doing four different pressings and not one large order. (Well, four x however many discs are in each set to be precise).
That's to say, it would be cheaper to do a 20k run of a single series vs a 5k run of four different series.

And the funny thing about BDs is that Rightstuf knows about piracy and they know that they are fighting piracy when it comes to anime sales. I just wonder what happens when, well, the inevitable Utena BDs are out in the wild and they're still trying to hock the Utena DVDs. Will it affect their bottom line? Or will you have this weird situation where people will buy the DVDs to support Rightstuf but watch the BDs in some "alternate format"?
 

jbug617

Banned
I wonder why they are a lot bluray/DVD combo sets for anime (NIS America and Funimation does it frequently). Wouldn't it cost more for these companies to do that.
 

Lafiel

と呼ぶがよい
Shin Seikai Yori / From The New World #5 - The editing in this episode was fucking incomprehensible; they were many times throughout the episode that made me go "wut?" in trying to comprehend how one scene flowed from the next, I can sort of get a idea of what yamauchi was aiming for here with this episode, but for the most part it felt like a failed experiment of his, although I didn't mind the art style change at all personally, unlike a number of people here. I actually thought the visuals were effectively done, it's just the direction that faltered, the one sequence where saki and satoru are alone, felt like classic yamauchi imo, and easily the best executed part of the episode.

Regardless, I actually really enjoyed the episode, I mean sure it has some obvious directorial problems and the editing was fucking awful, but I'm still finding myself heavily invested in the storytelling of the series, especially it's topics of evolution, religion, psychology and sexuality that I'm finding really fascinating to see all play out, and it more or less resonates with me very strongly on a personal subjective level, but still as a fan of yamauchi, it's kind of depressing to see him fail so hard on this episode, let's hope he can redeem himself with episode #10!
 

wonzo

Banned
No, it's only for their releases. For the old stuff they do, it doesn't matter. But if I had a choice, I would rather have Aoi Hana on BD than on DVD. Of course, there is no choice so I just accept the fact that I have to buy the DVDs and just watch the BD quality episodes elsewhere.
Just fyi but Aoi Hana never actually got a BD release in Japan so until it does there's absolutely no way it's getting a western BD release by anyone, let alone RightStuf/Nozomi.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
I wonder why they are a lot bluray/DVD combo sets for anime (NIS America and Funimation does it frequently). Wouldn't it cost more for these companies to do that.
IIRC, Funi has basically said it's cheaper to do that vs having two separate SKUs. DVDs are apparently super cheap to press nowadays as well.

Just fyi but Aoi Hana never actually got a BD release in Japan.
Oh really?
I suppose that helps. :p lol
 

SDBurton

World's #1 Cosmonaut Enthusiast
Sword Art Online - 20

lMCUP.png

The boob pic of the week.

Aside from the alright aerial fight and the boobs, everything else was downright nauseating. The fact that
Kirito suddenly becomes bros with that douchebag Salamander leader after their fight, as well as him pulling out a sack of million dollar coins out of his ass and giving it away like it was nothing was fucking ridiculous.

Again, let me fucking LOL at the moment where they made it seem this Salamander leader was the strongest player in the game as a way to may Kirito look "that much cooler" when he defeated him. This is some silly shit people are eating up.
 

duckroll

Member
trying to discount pokemon cause it started life as videogame franchise is pretty unfair, the anime adaption was huge success world wide and still airs & enjoys a high rating.

anime only example

The first pokemon movie Made a $163,644,662 @Box office that's more then both rebuild movies combined and mostly the third one added as well if it matches the success of 2.

I'm not discounting it though. I'm just saying the anime has not retained the same level of popularity as the games. It would be silly not to recognize the huge commercial value Evangelion has in the anime industry right now, which is why a new movie opening is a huge event in Japan. Could the popularity fade once Rebuild is finished and the hype is gone? Sure. But right now it's the hottest thing. That's all I'm saying.

The first Pokemon movie got a good release in the US theatrically and made a lot of money. It never happened again though. Each subsequent movie made less and less money. Meanwhile Rebuild is on a rise in Japan with each movie making much more than the previous one.

When 2.0 came out, One Piece and Pokemon movies still made more than it in Japan. But this time round, it looks like Eva 3.0 is going to outgross One Piece Z. But since they can't make an unlimited number of Evangelion movies, this obviously won't last. In 10 years, there might still be a One Piece movie in cinemas making 50-60 million domestically, or more, but there probably won't be an Eva movie.

That doesn't discount the fact that right now, Rebuild is bigger commercially than pretty much anything, even non-Miyazaki Ghibli movies.
 

jbug617

Banned
IIRC, Funi has basically said it's cheaper to do that vs having two separate SKUs. DVDs are apparently super cheap to press nowadays as well.

I want to know their decisions of what sets to do it. For example they releasing the Tenchi Muyo series and they have Tenchi Universe and Tenchi in Tokyo on DVD however for the OVA's and Movies they are doing a bluray/DVD combo. Is there any reason why not have both series on bluray instead of DVD? I think the only reason is they expect to sell more of the series and less of the OVA's and movies.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
I want to know their decisions of what sets to do it. For example they releasing the Tenchi Muyo series and they have Tenchi Universe and Tenchi in Tokyo on DVD however for the OVA's and Movies they are doing a bluray/DVD combo. Is there any reason why not have both series on bluray instead of DVD? I think the only reason is they expect to sell more of the series and less of the OVA's and movies.
The Rightstuf dude said that people still buy more DVDs than BDs, so there's still a bigger audience for DVDs. There are still people who complain that they have to pay 5-10 extra dollars for BDs that they don't want, for example.

As for specific releases... I have no idea. I know that for re-releases, they've been merging old DVD/BD releases into a single DVD+BD release. I don't know if they've done that for everything or not.

They probably also have special considerations for their "SAVE" line, which is DVD only I think?
 

yami4ct

Member
IIRC, Funi has basically said it's cheaper to do that vs having two separate SKUs. DVDs are apparently super cheap to press nowadays as well.


Oh really?
I suppose that helps. :p lol

A lot of niche movies and TV, not just anime, have moved to hybrid style releases. DVD's are almost free to press. It's less than a dollar for most releases, if the information I've seen is correct. Yet by bundling them with BD, you can charge a premium and still act like a "value". You also force DVD only buyers to pay the higher price. It's been a way that more niche titles have managed to squeak out more money out of fewer buyers/
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Sometimes they also just don't have materials which are suitable for a HD release. There's also that to consider.
And sometimes there are just brain-busting licensing shenanigans like Panty and Stocking, which is getting a discrete BD and DVD release.

Fucking anime man. lol

A lot of niche movies and TV, not just anime, have moved to hybrid style releases. DVD's are almost free to press. It's less than a dollar for most releases, if the information I've seen is correct. Yet by bundling them with BD, you can charge a premium and still act like a "value". You also force DVD only buyers to pay the higher price. It's been a way that more niche titles have managed to squeak out more money out of fewer buyers/
Without sounding so cynical about it, that's basically what the Funi guys said when asked about the issue.

Although strangely, this hasn't taken off in the US TV space for whatever reason. Movies come with like four versions of the film now (DVD, BD, 3D, iTunes) but TV is still stuck in the DVD or BD release model.
 

yami4ct

Member
And sometimes there are just brain-busting licensing shenanigans like Panty and Stocking, which is getting a discrete BD and DVD release.

Fucking anime man. lol

Or Sentai not getting rights to use the Japanese dub on the Persona 4 Blu-Ray. Licensing is nuts and is a problem that needs to be solved in all media.
 

Mandoric

Banned
And well, given what happened to Bandai, I figure there's a clear winner here. :p

I just wonder whether or not Funimation and Sentai, which try to crap out everything under the sun, make money or if they're basically betting on streaming at this point.
(I also wonder, and maybe you'd know, if Sentai is going to do the HidaSketch BDs at some point.)

I don't think either BEI or BV shed much light on the new sales model; BEI, according to management postmortem interviews, was operating at a profit at shutdown, and most BV releases were premium US sets with their own fixed costs rather than international marketing of the Japanese sets.

Funimation's finances were semi-public until they were taken private and they normally do fairly well. Sentai's are very much not, but what peeks we've had suggest that getting out from under the dead weight of boom-era contracts makes their model work. In either case, "ship everything" is not necessarily a bad model because there are a lot of fixed costs (staffing, maintaining voice talent pools in Texas, bundled licenses, so on) that make nominally break-even titles winning choices.

I've heard nothing about HidaSketch BDs, but they don't seem particularly likely in the near future. I'd love to be surprised though.

I wonder why they are a lot bluray/DVD combo sets for anime (NIS America and Funimation does it frequently). Wouldn't it cost more for these companies to do that.

Per unit costs go way down, way fast. Especially for BD, BD #1 costs around $2000 and BD #2 costs around $2. Dead stock also goes way down when you do this; your core market wants the BD and if you only ship DVDs they'll ignore them retail, while the general public isn't normally interested in BD but still views it as a bonus, so you can hit both markets.
This is vitally important in an industry so niche, because if you assume a 50/50 retail/mail-order mix, and want to put 2 copies of each SKU on the shelf of just every Best Buy and every FYE, that means a double-pack is bringing you from 10k units to 5k units.

trying to discount pokemon cause it started life as videogame franchise is pretty unfair, the anime adaption was huge success world wide and still airs & enjoys a high rating.

If "has an anime" is the bar to meet re: wide-ranging anime franchises, then we may as well shut this conversation down right now, X-Men's position is unassailable.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Or Sentai not getting rights to use the Japanese dub on the Persona 4 Blu-Ray. Licensing is nuts and is a problem that needs to be solved in all media.
I am waiting for the future where all releases are Aniplex-like releases and everyone pays the same price for the same BDs regardless of whether they are buying from Rightstuf or Amazon.co.jp.
 

Articalys

Member
They probably also have special considerations for their "SAVE" line, which is DVD only I think?
While an overwhelming majority of the S.A.V.E. line is DVD, there are an extremely minor handful of series that got a S.A.V.E. Blu-ray release, including their upcoming Casshern Sins rerelease.

I probably shouldn't be commenting in this discussion at all since I know jack squat about the U.S. anime retail industry, but I saw that comment, got curious, and looked it up.
 

Narag

Member
While an overwhelming majority of the S.A.V.E. line is DVD, there are an extremely minor handful of series that got a S.A.V.E. Blu-ray release, including their upcoming Casshern Sins rerelease.

I probably shouldn't be commenting in this discussion at all since I know jack squat about the U.S. anime retail industry, but I saw that comment, got curious, and looked it up.

Waiting to buy it has paid off!
 
Gintama' 244


New arc time!

I do find it pretty weird how one bad introduction of a character is kinda souring my whole enjoyment of this arc. I know the ending will be great, the action will all be there, the backstory already is great, just this one stupid character is just ruining everything about it. He has a bad intro, I don't care about his problems anymore, he's no where near any of the other arc characters where you enjoy to see their growth. Here, I rather just see him fall and never come back.
 

Mandoric

Banned
Or Sentai not getting rights to use the Japanese dub on the Persona 4 Blu-Ray. Licensing is nuts and is a problem that needs to be solved in all media.

This is another "be careful what you wish for". A world without licensing and the occasional catty terms war is probably coming your way. Personally, I welcome it. But licensing isn't the thing that keeps the JP track off your $50 set, licensing is the thing that creates an $50 budget set option for you; when it goes away, you'll be buying engsubs on your $50 2-episode discs.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
I don't think either BEI or BV shed much light on the new sales model; BEI, according to management postmortem interviews, was operating at a profit at shutdown, and most BV releases were premium US sets with their own fixed costs rather than international marketing of the Japanese sets.

Funimation's finances were semi-public until they were taken private and they normally do fairly well. Sentai's are very much not, but what peeks we've had suggest that getting out from under the dead weight of boom-era contracts makes their model work. In either case, "ship everything" is not necessarily a bad model because there are a lot of fixed costs (staffing, maintaining voice talent pools in Texas, bundled licenses, so on) that make nominally break-even titles winning choices.
Well, didn't the failure of K-On/Haruhi basically for them to move to their back-catalog status in the first place?

As for Funi/Sentai, I just find it interesting that they're betting on the streaming/simulcast thing as a way to supplement their home releases. I assume they're preparing for the inevitable time when home release becomes super niche and streaming is how most people watch anime.

I also find it interesting that ANN can't get Sentai guys to go on their podcast. Even the TAN guys have appeared, but no one running Sentai seems to be willing to go into their business model. lol

Either way, both companies seem to be avoiding total bombs. MediaBlasters/Section 23 seem to be the only casualties lately (well, excluding Bandai of course).

I've heard nothing about HidaSketch BDs, but they don't seem particularly likely in the near future. I'd love to be surprised though.
I'm going to assume that you had something to do with the BakeMono commentaries getting subbed, so I hope you can use your special powers to get the HidaSketch BDs to come to America. lol

While an overwhelming majority of the S.A.V.E. line is DVD, there are an extremely minor handful of series that got a S.A.V.E. Blu-ray release, including their upcoming Casshern Sins rerelease.

I probably shouldn't be commenting in this discussion at all since I know jack squat about the U.S. anime retail industry, but I saw that comment, got curious, and looked it up.
Huh, well, the economies of scale must be at a point where that's possible. I just wonder what it'll take for Rightstuf to make a go of BD themselves (I would totally be willing to double dip for Sora no Woto).

This is another "be careful what you wish for". A world without licensing and the occasional catty terms war is probably coming your way. Personally, I welcome it. But licensing isn't the thing that keeps the JP track off your $50 set, licensing is the thing that creates an $50 budget set option for you; when it goes away, you'll be buying engsubs on your $50 2-episode discs.
That's how they're selling Space Battleship Yamato 2199, isn't it? At least I thought english subs are on those releases.

Then again, Fate/Zero sales were "slow" and I don't expect the Bakemono sets to sell like wildfire either, so I don't even know.
 

yami4ct

Member
This is another "be careful what you wish for". A world without licensing and the occasional catty terms war is probably coming your way. Personally, I welcome it. But licensing isn't the thing that keeps the JP track off your $50 set, licensing is the thing that creates an $50 budget set option for you; when it goes away, you'll be buying engsubs on your $50 2-episode discs.

I didn't mean "it's nuts and should be done away with". I mean "it's over complicated and needs to be way simplified". My hope is that media companies realize there's a worldwide market and work out contracts in such a way that none of this funny business gets in the way of consumer experience.
 
Chuu2Koi 07

Oh god, the feels. Show continues to deliver laughs and character drama equally well, reminds me very much of Ano Natsu de Matteru, which also did both very well.

Looking forward to the next episode, I'm genuinely unsure where they will take the story.

The hand holding near the train was so awesome
 

Tomat

Wanna hear a good joke? Waste your time helping me! LOL!
JoJo 07

I'm getting caught up in the hype, but this show is literally too fucking cool, in my opinion. Everything about is either charming, cool, or both.

I love it, it's an absolute blast to watch.
 

trejo

Member
Fight Scene and Boobs Online 20

Every single woman in the world is part of Kirito's harem, they're just not aware of it until they actually meet him.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
I didn't mean "it's nuts and should be done away with". I mean "it's over complicated and needs to be way simplified". My hope is that media companies realize there's a worldwide market and work out contracts in such a way that none of this funny business gets in the way of consumer experience.

It looks like Japanese companies think that foreign sales are cannibalizing their own domestic sales though. Hence the Persona 4 hilarity.
 

yami4ct

Member
It looks like Japanese companies think that foreign sales are cannibalizing their own domestic sales though. Hence the Persona 4 hilarity.

Just because I said I hoped it would go that way, doesn't mean I think it's actually turning out that way. In fact, it seems to be getting more insane. Haha.
 

yami4ct

Member
I wonder what is more dysfunctional - the anime industry or the Japanese games industry?

The game industry may be messed up, but I feel like most of Japan's core big publishers have huge titles or western devs teams they can fall back on if things really go to shit. Nintendo's got all their insane franchises, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy still sell for SE and they have Eidos as a big western branch, Capcom still has RE and Monster Hunter. Heck, Sega even has Yakuza which does really well in Japan. The anime industry doesn't even have that stability, which leads to the guys there being more reactive and irrational.
 

Articalys

Member
Huh, well, the economies of scale must be at a point where that's possible. I just wonder what it'll take for Rightstuf to make a go of BD themselves (I would totally be willing to double dip for Sora no Woto).
Well, to be specific, when I say "extremely minor handful of series", I'm talking something like 7 shows out of 80.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Well, to be specific, when I say "extremely minor handful of series", I'm talking something like 7 shows out of 80.
Did those 7 shows already come out on BD previously? If that's the case, then it makes more sense I suppose.

The game industry may be messed up, but I feel like most of Japan's core big publishers have huge titles or western devs teams they can fall back on if things really go to shit. Nintendo's got all their insane franchises, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy still sell for SE and they have Eidos as a big western branch, Capcom still has RE and Monster Hunter. Heck, Sega even has Yakuza which does really well in Japan. The anime industry doesn't even have that stability, which leads to the guys there being more reactive and irrational.
So what you're saying is that Madhouse needs to buy the people who make Bob's Burgers and Venture Brothers in order to stay relevant?
Or we need Eva 5.0: You Can (Not) Sell Out and more Madoka Magica movies!
 

Mandoric

Banned
Well, didn't the failure of K-On/Haruhi basically for them to move to their back-catalog status in the first place?

I'm going to tread very lightly and in generalities here, and point out that titles like K-On and Haruhi have several strategic weaknesses independent of their tactical (straight-up profit/loss on each release) value. In particular, they're a combination of:
a) Hotter in Japan than in the US, which is unfavorable for a licensee as they're left in the negotiation position of "your title isn't as good as you think, but we still want it".
b) Funded in Japan by companies without close US ties; meaning, any prospective licensee is effectively building another company's brand for them if the release is a success, and taking the loss if it's a failure.
Now, this certainly isn't an untenable business model, but it can fall victim to both streamlining and cost-of-capital analysis very easily.

Either way, both companies seem to be avoiding total bombs. MediaBlasters/Section 23 seem to be the only casualties lately (well, excluding Bandai of course).


I'm going to assume that you had something to do with the BakeMono commentaries getting subbed, so I hope you can use your special powers to get the HidaSketch BDs to come to America. lol

From what I can tell, S23's fading appears to have less to do with any particular title and more to do with the entire ex-ADV pseudo-keiretsu settling into particular roles; in particular S23 appears to have become entirely dedicated to physical distribution and with minimal title holdings, the better to jettison in case of another Suncoast-style bankruptcy triggering a cash crunch due to millions in returns.

As for special powers, those special powers only relate to terrible, miserable luck, and there's nothing more I can do to exploit that.

Edit: For Fate/Zero sales, Fate/Zero was also exceptionally expensive and unwieldy even for a Japanese title; IMO it's a solid reminder that there really ISN'T anything resembling a global market in terms of how people plan and budget their expenditures, and why price tiering remains extremely useful.

And the P4 mess, as absurd as it sounds from the English-language side, appears to be a direct reaction to Amazon Japan ordering a stack of US P4 BDs and them proceeding to put up comparable preorder numbers to the Japanese ones. Which does imply that there's a market to be pursued there, but even if we assume that driving down prices would be beneficial long-term it still makes more sense to sink the reverse import and then ship your own budget set, so you don't have to let Sentai and FedEx in on a significant cut.
 

yami4ct

Member
Did those 7 shows already come out on BD previously? If that's the case, then it makes more sense I suppose.


So what you're saying is that Madhouse needs to buy the people who make Bob's Burgers and Venture Brothers in order to stay relevant?
Or we need Eva 5.0: You Can (Not) Sell Out and more Madoka Magica movies!

No, I'm saying the game industry has backups if things really go down the tubes. For a lot of anime studios, one failure can put them in a really bad place economically. That lack of stability is what leads to some of the insane decisions in order to protect what income they have. Not making a value judgment on what anime studios should or shouldn't do.
 

yami4ct

Member
Eva TV 1-2

Pretty good. Solid details in the visuals all around. Not sold on its excellence yet.

Eva is a show that doesn't show its true colors until like 10-15 episodes in. The End of Evangelion movie is also one of the most brilliant piece of trolling put to screen.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
hmmmm, should I watch Girls Und Panzer? What am I in for?
Girls and Panzers. lol
Title says it all really...

Girls and tanks.
Fuck me and my long replies.

Also, I don't think I've been this active in ages. I fucking love this stupid arcane industry talk for some reason. lol

It's like anime NPDs. :p

No, I'm saying the game industry has backups if things really go down the tubes. For a lot of anime studios, one failure can put them in a really bad place economically. That lack of stability is what leads to some of the insane decisions in order to protect what income they have. Not making a value judgment on what anime studios should or shouldn't do.
For most studios, the model seems to be to adapt was much shit as possible and hope something sticks. The 10k+ sellers seem to make up for the 2k-5k sellers anyway. Then again, when anime is just a commercial for the IP (the same way that Marvel and DC comic books are just commercials for the movies), it probably doesn't matter all that much anyway... besides the fact that being an animator is like living guaranteed poverty. lol

I'm going to tread very lightly and in generalities here, and point out that titles like K-On and Haruhi have several strategic weaknesses independent of their tactical (straight-up profit/loss on each release) value. In particular, they're a combination of:
a) Hotter in Japan than in the US, which is unfavorable for a licensee as they're left in the negotiation position of "your title isn't as good as you think, but we still want it".
b) Funded in Japan by companies without close US ties; meaning, any prospective licensee is effectively building another company's brand for them if the release is a success, and taking the loss if it's a failure.
Now, this certainly isn't an untenable business model, but it can fall victim to both streamlining and cost-of-capital analysis very easily.
Yeah, that's fair. And Bandai did say they basically bet the farm on those IPs on ANN ages ago and it's clear that they lost. That said, they seemed to have been in a precarious position to even consider going all in on K-On/Haruhi in the first place? But let's consider that a rhetorical question since I don't want to get you in trouble. :)

From what I can tell, S23's fading appears to have less to do with any particular title and more to do with the entire ex-ADV pseudo-keiretsu settling into particular roles; in particular S23 appears to have become entirely dedicated to physical distribution and with minimal title holdings, the better to jettison in case of another Suncoast-style bankruptcy triggering a cash crunch due to millions in returns.
So they're basically the legacy of the old model dying and not an indication of where Sentai/Funi could be headed in a few years? That's fine then (although I hope that means someone will rescue their titles at some point).

As for special powers, those special powers only relate to terrible, miserable luck, and there's nothing more I can do to exploit that.
Ah, so when is Kizumonogatari coming to America and when you are translating it?
(I really hope Sentai does HidaSketch anyway. They have the subs already done! It should be trivial to get the Japanese masters and put subs on them, right?! RIGHT?! lol)
 

yami4ct

Member
Girls and Panzers. lol

For most studios, the model seems to be to adapt was much shit as possible and hope something sticks. The 10k+ sellers seem to make up for the 2k-5k sellers anyway. Then again, when anime is just a commercial for the IP (the same way that Marvel and DC comic books are just commercials for the movies), it probably doesn't matter all that much anyway... besides the fact that being an animator is like living guaranteed poverty. lol

I guess that's the flip side of it. The lack of stability leads to consumer unfriendly moves, and some occasionally very pandering things like SAO, but it also leads to invention. Being under that constant pressure gives them incentive to try new things and we get some crazy awesome stuff because of it.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
I guess that's the flip side of it. The lack of stability leads to consumer unfriendly moves, and some occasionally very pandering things like SAO, but it also leads to invention. Being under that constant pressure gives them incentive to try new things and we get some crazy awesome stuff because of it.
Madoka Magica is the last "original" IP to hit it big, right? I'm sure it took some arm-twisting to get that show made anyway.

I hear that, felt the same way about it. Shinji kinda kills it for me too.
Shinji is the best anime protagonist ever.

Yeah, that seems to be it.
Ah, in that case it's just a matter of coming up with new box art and getting the factory to churn out more sets then.

It also means that you probably shouldn't buy any Funimation releases on release day and wait for the Steam SAVE sale.
 

wonzo

Banned
Space Bros 33

While the landing wasn't anywhere near as intense as the launch was, the reactions following it were incredibly well handled and really did bring in that overwhelming sense of triumph that the show loves to doll out. The
video with Apo and Hibito's first words were pretty damn funny.

spacebros33a.jpg

 
Psycho-Pass 6


Though the last episode was quite good, this was easily the best since the first. This episode felt superbly meticulous in it's construction, rather than the occasionally middling execution found in the majority of those that came before, as it deftly weaved a plethora of small, but meaningful character developments into the story, while also satisfyingly illuminating a heightened complexity within the larger narrative.

Akane's transition into an
Enforcer
and the possibility that
her mind could eventually succumb to her darker inclinations
continues to be foreshadowed, as intimated during
Ginoza's conversation with his Chief
. This particular scene alluded to the
intriguing mystery involving Kogami's irrevocable descent
, while also slipping in another element of characterization for
Ginoza
with the brief mention of his seemingly
disgraced father
. Surprisingly, the
case from the second episode
was momentarily focused on once more, which I thought was an excellent touch, since it contributes to a greater understanding of the narrative, as it could potentially indicate a much less episodic nature to the story than initially expected.

The opening and ending scenes were the best moments of the episode. The opening greatly elaborated on
Shinya's past
, effectively developing his character and fully divulging the
expected truth behind his motivations
. The final scene, in which
Satsuki's body had been dismembered and rearranged into a revolting work of art
, and the last line, in particular, provided an incredibly effective cliffhanger to conclude the episode with, as it excellently illustrated the unsettling brutality that permeates their society.


Akane and Shinya continue to be the only characters with a heightened level of satisfying characterization, but I felt this episode worked quite well in establishing another level of depth to several characters, particularly Ginoza. This episode also illustrated further parallels between
Akane and Shinya
, which have always been quite evident, but these similarities are starting to be noticed by the others as well. The character interactions are gradually improving. I especially enjoyed Akane's
drunken conversation with Kagari
, since their few scenes throughout the show have been rather engaging.

Shougo is a fascinating antagonist, as he subtly manipulates
murderous intent, providing the trigger
for the inevitability of their
mental deterioration
. As such,
though somewhat predictable, the reveal that he was assisting Rikako with her considerably disturbing desires
was terrific. It seems likely that these nuanced machinations will inevitably result in the orchestrated formation of a complex, all-encompassing plan, which very well could already be the reason for his intricately designed actions, rather than a purely simplistic explanation of mere enjoyment.

The direction was solid, but largely unspectacular, save for the first and final sequences. The opening, for example, was directed with a very effective approach towards visual storytelling. The distorted colors and bizarre camera angles illuminated the essential elements within
Shinya's nightmare
, such as
Shinya's anguished expression at the sight of his mangled friend
, followed by a shot of the
dead Sasayama's face
, culminating with
Shinya's own contorted face
reflected in his eyes.

All in all, Psycho-Pass, following several disappointing episodes, has impressed considerably with it's last two. It still has yet to reach it's potential, but, throughout the previous two episodes, there's been a noticeable improvement in that area. As such, for the first time since the introductory episode, the story that was told felt relatively ambitious. I definitely hope that continues and that it will eventually filter into the narrative.
 

CorvoSol

Member
I just don't like him man! He's whiny, even if it's pretty understandable. It's hard for me to relate because my parents don't fucking hate me.

I share this pain, but I think that when you remove his over-the-top whining, there is a lot that's to relate to in Shinji. I mean, minus his ridiculous angst moments, he's an awkward teenager who doesn't know how to relate to women, can't understand the adults in his life, and thinks that everything is about him and that everything depends on him, and that aspect of Shinji I found easy to relate to. What fourteen year old boy doesn't balance thinking the world of himself with a heaping dose of awkwardness and self-hate?

Anyway, I just finished ReBuild 1.11, and WTF at
the Lilith? on the Moon. I thought the one underneath NERV looked weird with two eyes when SEELE's logo retained the original seven, but now that I look at those deep black eyes, I wonder if that's not the body of Rei from the End of Evangelion. I dunno. CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY all the time, that's this show!

And you know what? I think the only character I don't like (barring Gendo, who you're meant not to like) is Kaworu. He's just so . . . I dunno. I just don't like him. I'm not hip on Rei, but over the course of the series she grows on you. Kaworu's there for 1 episode and Shinji instantly thinks he's so cool, and the fans, too. Kid bugs me. Maybe over the course of these movies he'll actually develop into a character and I'll like him. I dunno.
 

Uchip

Banned
Shounen anime day!

One Piece 573
This arc is finally over!
so long and boring, but it was a good final episode
luffy can be really creepy

Hunter x Hunter 56
continues to be an example of how to use ambient sound effects that don't sound canned
the music works really well too
 

Mandoric

Banned
So they're basically the legacy of the old model dying and not an indication of where Sentai/Funi could be headed in a few years? That's fine then (although I hope that means someone will rescue their titles at some point).

Well, more:
One of the things that really put the hurt on ADV and Geneon in the mid-00s, the start of the bust, was Suncoast going bankrupt. In addition to it being a retailer that traditionally pushed anime heavily, as part of its death throes it scrambled for every cent it could by taking advantage of return clauses.
Meaning, over a year or so, most companies which self-distributed were suddenly obligated to cut multi-million-dollar checks to Suncoast plus find warehouse space and workers to deal with massive piles of non-selling titles. This is where ADV's series of emergency $5 sales came from.
Now, on the other hand, if Sentai owns all the rights to titles, and S23 is a separate company that handles their distribution break-even, it means that when a massive return comes in like it will when Best Buy goes tits up in a couple years, they can be told "we're broke too, but we can send you over some packing tape and a couple more cases of discs!"

Ah, so when is Kizumonogatari coming to America and when you are translating it?
(I really hope Sentai does HidaSketch anyway. They have the subs already done! It should be trivial to get the Japanese masters and put subs on them, right?! RIGHT?! lol)

I don't know, and I don't know! Just to make things entirely clear, when I say "pure rotten luck" I mean that the announcement hit right when I had worked up a draft on my own and was contemplating how I wanted to publish it.

Madoka Magica is the last "original" IP to hit it big, right? I'm sure it took some arm-twisting to get that show made anyway.

Define "big"! Madoka hit on a level only rivaled by Eva and Gundam; it took a lot of convincing per-se but most of that convincing was done by sales results of previous projects.
Actually, lemme put together a list of original results recently.
 

trejo

Member
Blasty the Tempest 7

Another flashback and setup episode except this time it didn't make me want to fall asleep. I'm gonna level with you guys, I'm trying hard to form an opinion on this episode but so far all that comes to mind is "well at least it didn't suck donkey dick like ep 4". That's progress, I guess.

Now if only we could get some action in this action show that would be real swell.
 
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