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[Mailbox]

The video quality (bitrates, encode quality) are easily worth the enthusiast prices they ask for. I get a pristine release of a series I like in the best quality.

A bit weird to be paying double to get higher bitrate on a product that would normally have a higher bitrate to streaming anyway.... I mean, the bitrate isn't gonna be twice the money better, is it?

What is an example of an anime release with extras you appreciate? I'd like to get an idea of what you're looking for.

Rather than what extras I appreciate, I would rather state: what extras are worth $60 extra dollars. Having Textless openings and EDs should be standard, for example and don't add to the evaluations. In the case of something like Nisekoi 2 Volume 1 (which is 6 episodes for the price of 12) all you get extra is "8 collectible illustrations cards". Does that seem like $60 extra dollars worth of material?

Again, I'd be fine with $10, $20, hell, for dubbed material and some extras on the side, $30 extra on top of the $60 standard for 12 episodes. But double standard pricing is bullshit. There is no reason for them to be having the price outside of them trying to make their products be perceived as "quality" material when they aren't that much better. AoA is trying to be the rolls royce (or even apple to some extent, but i don't wanna go down that rabbit hole) of anime.

Alright, fair point on the standard pricing, though some of Funimation's standard editions are lower than that for the same amount of episodes. Their Haruhi standard edition is around $50, for example. For their limited edition, they feel that there's an audience who will pay an extra $75 for a nicer box and some chibi shorts. So while it may not be as prevalent as I assumed, I do think that they're obviously capitalizing on a collectors market.

I wouldn't say that Aniplex forces you to do anything, given that there's still the option to stream several of their titles (or see them in theaters in some cases). Even some of their dubbed titles are available to stream if I remember correctly (I think Fate/Zero and Madoka have their dubs on Netflix).

Though it's true that if you want to own an Aniplex title physically, you have to pay more. That's how it is, and the model works quite well for them. They're not trying to be like Funimation or Sentai. The closest company I could compare them to would be Bandai Visual USA, though they've avoided the mistakes they made that caused them to fail (offering high priced discs in general retail settings).

Saying "its just what they do and we should accept it" is a bit weird from a consumer standpoint.

 

[Thoraxes]

You can also sometimes get day one sales of Funimation limited editions, and they do go down in price...which is pretty rare for anything Aniplex releases!

Anyone paying more than $40 for Funimation stuff on day 1 is not looking in the right places.

A bit weird to be paying double to get higher bitrate on a product that would normally have a higher bitrate to streaming anyway.... I mean, the bitrate isn't gonna be twice the money better, is it?

Sometimes AoA releases are double to triple the bitrates of Funimation's releases, and the difference in IQ is very distinguishable.

 

[Mailbox]

Anyone paying more than $40 for Funimation stuff on day 1 is not looking in the right places.

Or is Canadian, like me

 

[Clov]

Saying "its just what they do and we should accept it" is a bit weird from a consumer standpoint.

I think this ties into something else I said; Aniplex isn't forcing anyone to do anything. If you want to show them that you won't buy expensive releases, then don't buy from them! What else is there to do as a consumer other than vote with your wallet and to voice any complaints to them? I suppose the problem is that people have voted with their wallets, and Aniplex naturally is going to do whatever gets them the most money. I wouldn't be expecting their business model to change anytime soon.

 

[Thoraxes]

Or is Canadian, like me

Fair enough

 

[Clov]

Fair enough

Amazon.ca actually can have pretty good deals on Funimation BDs, especially if you order early. I only paid $45 for thier Lucky Star BD set, for example.

 

[Man God]

Anyone paying more than $40 for Funimation stuff on day 1 is not looking in the right places.

Sometimes AoA releases are double to triple the bitrates of Funimation's releases, and the difference in IQ is very distinguishable.

I didn't actually believe this to be true until someone pointed out the filesizes on a pirate site one time and wow. Big difference.

 

[Line_HTX]

Fair enough

Do you have Funi's release of Yuri Bear Storm?

 

[GoldCrusader]

Amazon.ca actually can have pretty good deals on Fumimation BDs, especially if you order early. I only paid $45 for thier Lucky Star BD set, for example.

Yea but you have to order really early, like before they add an image to the product page. If you do you can save sometimes up to 15$.

 

[Cornbread78]

ReZero ep.21
Pretty on poibtvwith what Names ssid:

Episode was awesome. To that user who said last week that they wanted more action for fighting the whale, it's right here. On top of that we got a bunch of emotional moments, with Wilfheim's memory, Subaru's congratulatoty truce with what would have otherwise been a foe in the race for the throne, and his little moment with Rem.

Thus episode was awesome and that Wilhelm flashback was great stuff. Felt soo good for the old man getting his revenge and green haired girl was awesome. Episode was just so damn goid and had a little bit of everything for everyone.

 

[Thoraxes]

Do you have Funi's release of Yuri Bear Storm?

Yep, because I wanted to watch it at work (which I can't stream at)! I paid $30 for it.

I didn't actually believe this to be true until someone pointed out the filesizes on a pirate site one time and wow. Big difference.

All the Monogatari releases are typically around 38-45k mpbs. I haven't ripped my whole series yet though!

 

[Mailbox]

Anyone paying more than $40 for Funimation stuff on day 1 is not looking in the right places.

Sometimes AoA releases are double to triple the bitrates of Funimation's releases, and the difference in IQ is very distinguishable.

I didn't actually believe you until i just did a bit of research. You're point stands. Though (and sorry for moving the goal posts a bit) I'm not sure that better encoding would cost them that much more, would it?

I think this ties into something else I said; Aniplex isn't forcing anyone to do anything. If you want to show them that you won't buy expensive releases, then don't buy from them! What else is there to do as a consumer other than vote with your wallet and to voice any complaints to them? I suppose the problem is that people have voted with their wallets, and Aniplex naturally is going to do whatever gets them the most money. I wouldn't be expecting their business model to change anytime soon.

I guess it just peeves me when they sometimes don't offer standard BD releases to big stuff (Fate/zero), but do to smaller stuff (Plastic memories). It feels like they are always playing the consumer base, and when on their site it says shit like "we are always for the consumer" it pisses me right the fuck off, because if they were, then they wouldn't be so dumb with some of their pricing. The BIGGEST problem is that we have no idea if this IS actually working for AoA or not. We literally can't see their books and they don't talk profits or sales numbers at all. They're very hush hush.

But i kinda get your point regardless.

Amazon.ca actually can have pretty good deals on Fumimation BDs, especially if you order early. I only paid $45 for thier Lucky Star BD set, for example.

They do, and I do have a trial of Student Prime right now... >.> But they always send it in bubble envelopes that bends packaging a bit. Not a dealbreaker for me, but its annoying. Rightstuff never does that (but i have to pay $15 for shipping with them )

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

A bit weird to be paying double to get higher bitrate on a product that would normally have a higher bitrate to streaming anyway.... I mean, the bitrate isn't gonna be twice the money better, is it?

Rather than what extras I appreciate, I would rather state: what extras are worth $60 extra dollars. Having Textless openings and EDs should be standard, for example and don't add to the evaluations. In the case of something like Nisekoi 2 Volume 1 (which is 6 episodes for the price of 12) all you get extra is "8 collectible illustrations cards". Does that seem like $60 extra dollars worth of material?

Again, I'd be fine with $10, $20, hell, for dubbed material and some extras on the side, $30 extra on top of the $60 standard for 12 episodes. But double standard pricing is bullshit. There is no reason for them to be having the price outside of them trying to make their products be perceived as "quality" material when they aren't that much better. AoA is trying to be the rolls royce (or even apple to some extent, but i don't wanna go down that rabbit hole) of anime.

I don't own a lot of Aniplex of America releases, but one I do own is the Blue Exorcist movie, and that has a number of extra material: a bonus DVD with a staff interview, two audio commentaries, a booklet with production designs, and yes, some postcards. That's the kind of extra material I appreciate, particularly the interview and commentaries.

At a time when most licensed anime can be easily seen on one streaming site or another, there is little point in owning a physical disc release unless it provides some benefit over streaming, whether it be in the quality of the video, the quality of the packaging, or material useful to understanding the making of the work. I cannot understand why people who don't want to invest in this hobby are not content with the free streaming options readily available.

 

[Qurupeke]

Orange 8

How can Naho be so dense, twice? Did Kakeru have to spell it out for her? I didn't know holding hands was so advanced for people that openly said they love each other.

 

[Nestled_Grizzly]

Orange 8

How can Naho be so dense, twice? Did Kakeru have to spell it out for her? I didn't know holding hands was so advanced for people that openly said they love each other.

It took me a month to hold my ex's hand.

 

[Mailbox]

I don't own a lot of Aniplex of America releases, but one I do own is the Blue Exorcist movie, and that has a number of extra material: a bonus DVD with a staff interview, two audio commentaries, a booklet with production designs, and yes, some postcards. That's the kind of extra material I appreciate, particularly the interview and commentaries.

At a time when most licensed anime can be easily seen on one streaming site or another, there is little point in owning a physical disc release unless it provides some benefit over streaming, whether it be in the quality of the video, the quality of the packaging, or material useful to understanding the making of the work. I cannot understand why people who don't want to invest in this hobby are not content with the free streaming options readily available.

You won't ever hear me shit on AoA's movie BDs (its a bit weird of me to say that, but their Movies (outside of the "faux-imported" ones like what the fuck their doing to the persona 3 movies...) are actually priced close enough to standard that I can't be overtly mad.) The stuff you listed are all (minus the cards stuff) good additions and I love having that stuff too, but for a lot of their releases (as i said, look at Nisekoi and Plastic memories for examples) don't have those.

But yeah, commentaries are definitely a reason for me to buy the thing. Its one of the reasons I bought a couple of funimation products, honestly.

 

[Narag]

I guess it just peeves me when they sometimes don't offer standard BD releases to big stuff (Fate/zero), but do to smaller stuff (Plastic memories). It feels like they are always playing the consumer base, and when on their site it says shit like "we are always for the consumer" it pisses me right the fuck off, because if they were, then they wouldn't be so dumb with some of their pricing. The BIGGEST problem is that we have no idea if this IS actually working for AoA or not. We literally can't see their books and they don't talk profits or sales numbers at all. They're very hush hush.

Obviously demand is enough at that price point to keep it there. Apparently there's enough demand to warrant a reprint: https://twitter.com/WTK/status/765347962838855680
At first, I thought you were complaining about the original import release pricing. Just feels silly to be handwringing over a boutique product available at boutique pricing because they don't want to ship out a wal-mart edition.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Orange 8

How can Naho be so dense, twice? Did Kakeru have to spell it out for her? I didn't know holding hands was so advanced for people that openly said they love each other.

this shit bothers me too much, husbando in future but different boyfriend in this timeline.

 

[Clov]

Yep, because I wanted to watch it at work (which I can't stream at)! I paid $30 for it.

I also own their release of it. From the episode I watched on the BD, it doesn't look that bad for a Funimation release. I still think their best release of a TV show was Ping-Pong though. That surprised me with how clear the image quality looked at times.

The BIGGEST problem is that we have no idea if this IS actually working for AoA or not. We literally can't see their books and they don't talk profits or sales numbers at all. They're very hush hush.

But i kinda get your point regardless.



They do, and I do have a trial of Student Prime right now... >.> But they always send it in bubble envelopes that bends packaging a bit. Not a dealbreaker for me, but its annoying. Rightstuff never does that (but i have to pay $15 for shipping with them )

While we don't have access to their books or anything, it's pretty evident that they're successful. They've been around for 6 years already, and have seen companies that started around the same time frame like NISA go quiet and stop their releases. They're still actively getting new titles every season, and they still are releasing products at a good pace. We couldn't say the same for Pony Canyon USA for example, who was formed after Aniplex USA but don't have any products in the pipeline outside of Sound Euphonium.

As for Amazon, yeah, their shipping can leave a bit to be desired. The slipcases I get from them occasionally have damage. RightStuf definitely sends their stuff more securely, though I haven't used them in some time due to the low CAD.

(outside of the "faux-imported" ones like what the fuck their doing to the persona 3 movies...).

Those are actual imports. It's the Japanese disc and Japanese packaging, sometimes with a translation booklet for an included artbook. You can save a lot of money just by importing those right from Japan through sites like AmiAmi or CD-Japan.

 

[Thoraxes]

Obviously demand is enough at that price point to keep it there. Apparently there's enough demand to warrant a reprint: https://twitter.com/WTK/status/765347962838855680
At first, I thought you were complaining about the original import release pricing. Just feels silly to be handwringing over a boutique product available at boutique pricing because they don't want to ship out a wal-mart edition.

Reminds me... I need to buy F/Z and the new Madoka set.

I also own their release of it. From the episode I watched on the BD, it doesn't look that bad for a Funimation release. I still think their best release of a TV show was Ping-Pong though. That surprised me with how clear the image quality looked at times.

Yeah, those two were good. Space Dandy was also decent. The last disc of BBB also has almost double the bitrate of the episodes on the first disc too, fyi.

 

[TUSR]

ReZero was so lit this week

i was feelsing all over the place

 

[Narag]

Reminds me... I need to buy F/Z and the new Madoka set.

Kinda wish Sunrise/TRSI was offering import editions of G Gundam myself. I'd be all over that shit.

 

[Man God]

I've seen G Gundam enough now that I don't even need subtitles...but I still think I'm going to wait to see if I can't get it dubbed in a few years. I will own the Blu Rays one day though no matter what.

 

[Mailbox]

Obviously demand is enough at that price point to keep it there. Apparently there's enough demand to warrant a reprint: https://twitter.com/WTK/status/765347962838855680
At first, I thought you were complaining about the original import release pricing. Just feels silly to be handwringing over a boutique product available at boutique pricing because they don't want to ship out a wal-mart edition.

No real need to use hyperbole for my statement Narag. Didn't know about a reprint of the limited edition (Okay, seriously... those words don't make sense together... come on!) My problem is that Fate/ zero's "limited" (or not so limited now?) release was a weird thing to me. Its high profile, but they won't make enough for it to have a standard release (they have standard BD releases for some things), and yet now they are reprinting for another limited release...

its just weird is all.

 

[Clov]

I've seen G Gundam enough now that I don't even need subtitles...but I still think I'm going to wait to see if I can't get it dubbed in a few years. I will own the Blu Rays one day though no matter what.

The chances of Sunrise and RightStuf bringing the BD version are very high, so the wait will be worth it to you. It just might take a bit, since the BDs in Japan are recent.

 

[Thoraxes]

The chances of Sunrise and RightStuf bringing the BD version are very high, so the wait will be worth it to you. It just might take a bit, since the BDs in Japan are recent.

For the domestic release it's just a matter of when. But he's talking about an import version for those that want to early adopt, so to speak.

Errr, oh I thought you responded to Narag.

 

[Man God]

The chances of Sunrise and RightStuf bringing the BD version are very high, so the wait will be worth it to you. It just might take a bit, since the BDs in Japan are recent.

I'm actually considering just importing and buying it again years later if and when they release the dub. The reasons are simple. It's my favorite anime and one of my favorite dubs. I already own three different DVD releases of it!

 

[Qurupeke]

It took me a month to hold my ex's hand.

I thought it's a natural response for a couple.

 

[Mailbox]

Those are actual imports. It's the Japanese disc and Japanese packaging, sometimes with a translation booklet for an included artbook. You can save a lot of money just by importing those right from Japan through sites like AmiAmi or CD-Japan.

I should have been a bit more clear when I said "faux-imports". They are definitely selling the JP version, I get that. But its not really importing it from the country itself. They are just selling the JP version of the movie so they don't have to sell a "US" version. Its just kind of a lazy way of selling that version, calling it Import (even though its not "imported"... per se) and just leaving things as is. If they ever sell a "US" version of the P3 movies, I'll be proven wrong. idk, maybe i'm a little off base with this one.

 

[Line_HTX]

All this physical copy talk makes me hope that Funimation better not fuck up the Code Geass BD release.

 

[kewlmyc]

All this physical copy talk makes me hope that Funimation better not fuck up the Code Geass BD release.

So Code Geass BDs are finally making it over the US? What took them so long? Europe had them for a while now.

 

[Eumi]

I don't like Subaru when he's competent and not a jerk.

Spoiler

Luckily, that last scene implies there's still some jerk left in him. Hope he'll overcome it and it won't be revealed that purple hair is actually evil or some shit.

 

[Haly]

Reread Takemitsu Zamurai.

If this ever gets an anime, holy shit. Your collective asses will be disintegrated.

 

[Narag]

So Code Geass BDs are finally making it over the US? What took them so long? Europe had them for a while now.

Funimation sitting on the license. They're out in October iirc.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

Reread Takemitsu Zamurai.

If this ever gets an anime, holy shit. Your collective asses will be disintegrated.

we will never be so blessed

 

[ShinRPGamer]

So Code Geass BDs are finally making it over the US? What took them so long? Europe had them for a while now.

Funimation sitting on the license. They're out in October iirc.

I think it was because Sunrise was taking forever to give Funimation the materials they needed to actually re release it over here.

 

[Narag]

I think it was because Sunrise was taking forever to give Funimation the materials they needed to actually re release it over here.

I do believe you're right!

 

[jgminto]

GBF Try OVA
They condensed every bad quality of Try into a 35 minute block, what an impressive feat.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

Build Fighters or crap harem anime? You decide

 

[ShinRPGamer]

Also to add on the Aniplex's BD/DVD releases, There are two things that I don't like about their limited editions.

One: the prices for the standard editions: One DVD release costs the same as a Sentai Blu-Ray at retail price. Not a huge fan of that TBH
Two: The fact they don't actually sell their BD's here in Canada. The only ways I can get them is either through an anime store that imported (which of course means that the price gets marked up a considerable amount) or through either Rightstuf or Aniplex which then you have to take into account the CAD to USD conversion and shipping costs if you're not spending 250 bucks on RS.

 

[DiGiKerot]

I didn't actually believe you until i just did a bit of research. You're point stands. Though (and sorry for moving the goal posts a bit) I'm not sure that better encoding would cost them that much more, would it?

This is a schism in the market that I don't think the opposing parties are ever likely to see eye-to-eye on.

From my point of view, the days of buying anime to see it, or even just to own it, are over. Seeing anime these days, even legally, is remarkably easy, 720/1080 quality streams are of acceptable quality for casual viewing, and the sheer amount of even half-decent new material that's available in English makes rewatching things a luxury I rarely have the time-budget to accommodate. Also, quite honestly, watching stuff streaming is just way, way easier to deal with - even for stuff I own copies of, I'll often just watch it online because it's way less hassle than getting disks out and using the BD player.

To that end, if I actually care enough to actually want to buy something, I actually want to own the thing at as close to archival quality as it's feasibly possible on regular consumer media. If this means paying more for a copy of something spread across more disks, with better video compression, I'd rather throw down the extra for that than own copies of two or three more additional shows I'm only comparatively so-so on. If it means the release comes out earlier or with some of the Japanese releases production material, which would otherwise likely be blocked from the release due to reverse importation worries, than that's all the better.

(Dubs...are generally neither here-nor-there for me)

I understand that's not the way that a lot of people are looking for when it comes to a release, and that the likes of what Funi or Sentai put out are fine for a lot of folks, and that's fine. It's not really what I'm looking for in an ideal release, though. Then again, I've been importing stuff directly from Japan for, like, 15 years at this point, so Aniplex prices aren't that intimidating.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Build Fighters or crap harem anime? You decide

*skatesboard in*

What's the difference?

 

[Hellwarden]

Hunter x Hunter 17

Didn't really feel this episode to be honest. Mainly because it focused on the part of Hunter x Hunter that I'm just not feeling at all.

Yeah, I get it!

Killua is that character that I know is going to get more focus in the future, hell maybe the immediate future for all I know, but for right now he's just kind of a boring strong kid with an edgy side underneath. (The fact that he walks around with his hands in his pockets a lot doesn't help.) Watching him effortlessly take on three unnamed jobber brothers who don't even get to do whatever they were planning, and getting one up on the bald ninja just felt like padding. Of course he's not gonna go out to these nerds. The whole scene just felt like it didn't even need to be shown. The art also looked pretty flat and boring for the first half of the episode.

The latter half of the episode was more enjoyable, but the episode ended before anything got rolling.

Not an awful episode, just kind of dull.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

Re:Zero 21

This show is wearing extremely thin for me. It's not a good sign when the only reason I'm still following a show is "Well, I've made it this far and it's almost over I guess." There were plotlines and characters that I was interested in, but I don't really give a shit anymore. Rem's a caricature. Subaru is as unlikable as ever, and he's one of those characters that makes everyone around him worse by proxy of being near Subaru like Rem and Crusch. Ram, Beatrice and Puck don't exist anymore. Nothing ever gets resolved and stuff just keeps piling up as a distraction like Attack on Titan so why the fuck am I watching this. The dialogue is also really grating to me, like come on. If I hear "do u like flowerz" or "why do you wield the sword" one more fucking time I'm going to flip.

So why don't I drop it? Too bad I just did. Shows a waste of time.

 

[Copper]

Hunter x Hunter 17

Didn't really feel this episode to be honest. Mainly because it focused on the part of Hunter x Hunter that I'm just not feeling at all.


Killua is that character that I know is going to get more focus in the future, hell maybe the immediate future for all I know, but for right now he's just kind of a boring strong kid with an edgy side underneath. (The fact that he walks around with his hands in his pockets a lot doesn't help.) Watching him effortlessly take on three unnamed jobber brothers who don't even get to do whatever they were planning, and getting one up on the bald ninja just felt like padding. Of course he's not gonna go out to these nerds. The whole scene just felt like it didn't even need to be shown. The art also looked pretty flat and boring for the first half of the episode.

The latter half of the episode was more enjoyable, but the episode ended before anything got rolling.

Not an awful episode, just kind of dull.

Just keep watching man. The show really picks up after the Hunter Exam Arc.

 

[Hellwarden]

Just keep watching man. The show really picks up after the Hunter Exam Arc.

Don't get me wrong, I am.

I enjoyed the last episode too much not to watch till the series apparently really starts.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

Just keep watching man. The show really picks up after the Hunter Exam Arc.

Watching the 2011 version of the Hunter Exam is a mistake, given how mediocre it is compared to the excellent rendition in the 1999 anime.

 

[Narag]

Tantei Opera Milky Holmes 2 - 2

Another mystery solved by the world's greatest detectives.

 

[Jarmel]

Re:Zero 21

This show is wearing extremely thin for me. It's not a good sign when the only reason I'm still following a show is "Well, I've made it this far and it's almost over I guess." There were plotlines and characters that I was interested in, but I don't really give a shit anymore. Rem's a caricature. Subaru is as unlikable as ever, and he's one of those characters that makes everyone around him worse by proxy of being near Subaru like Rem and Crusch. Ram, Beatrice and Puck don't exist anymore. Nothing ever gets resolved and stuff just keeps piling up as a distraction like Attack on Titan so why the fuck am I watching this. The dialogue is also really grating to me, like come on. If I hear "do u like flowerz" or "why do you wield the sword" one more fucking time I'm going to flip.

So why don't I drop it? Too bad I just did. Shows a waste of time.

Time for me to pick it back up.

 

[nintendoman58]

Re:Zero 21

So why don't I drop it? Too bad I just did. Shows a waste of time.

Time to watch the good fantasy anime with Zero in its title.