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Forum - View topicPR: Bandai Visual USA Announces Release Dates
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Ryusui
 Posts: 461 |
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This is pissing me off. Where are my English dubs? Surely they're not so cheap as to screw over those who sensibly want to enjoy the Gunbuster saga in their native tongue? Or have the demented weeaboos taken over all aspects of Bandai Visual?
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HitokiriShadow
 Posts: 6251 |
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Actually, BV appears to be owned by a bunch of morons who think that charging twice the normal retail price for half the episodes is a good way to do business. Few people will be willing to pay $40-$50 for 1-2 episodes per disc. I was interested in Gunbuster 2/Diebuster and Wings of Rean, but there is no way I'm paying those prices. Only people who really like those shows are going to buy the shows at these prices. I'd doubt there are more than 100 people willing to do so for any given series.
The lack of a dub may be the only justifiable part of their release in that they probably couldn't sell enough copies, even with decently priced release, to recoup the costs. |
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Deltakiral
 Posts: 3338 Location: Glendora, CA (Avatar Hei from Darker than BLACK) |
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Especially when BV decides not to include a dub, basically BV is trying to come into the US market and price thing with for a Japanese Market......Personally I really want to own Gunbuster, Gunbuster 2, Wing of Rean, Wing of Honneamise, Patlabor etc etc but I am not going to spent a ton of money on something that I am not getting a dub for and only get 40 minutes of animation......so instead of owning some really great series/movies I am going to just rent them. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15345 |
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Hitokiri: Gunbuster will do alright. Not sure about the rest...
I can deal w/ sub-only discs, but I ain't payin' through the nose for a dvd of an anime I might not even like. |
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10円
Posts: 605 |
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Only 100? I'd estimate you're off by a wide margin there. That being said, I still hope they do just poorly enough to abandon the model but not the market and revert to the standard US retail pricing scheme of 3-4 episodes for $20-30. They must have a lot of faith in American anime fans to even attempt a model similar to Japan's.
Renting makes the most sense for me as well. I still buy some anime and even import some but I don't plunk down $50 just for the hell of it. |
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HitokiriShadow
Posts: 6251 |
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Gunbuster 2 will probably do the best. It may even sell in the triple digits. Maybe.
Wings of Rean seems to be a prequel to Aura Battler Dunbine. All evidence suggests that ABD completely bombed in the U.S. I recall ADV offers for a free volume of ABD after purchasing two others. Its about the only show that ADV hasn't bothered to release in thinpack form. And apparently only a few retailers ever got the last two volumes and they got very, very few of them. I'm still trying to find volume 11 somewhere. So its not like there are much of a fanbase, let alone ones willing to pay the price BV is asking. Galaxy Angel doesn't seem to have done too well in the U.S. and Galaxy Angel Rune isn't liked much by GA fans, it seems. Freedom is an orignal series that looks like it has something to do with the moon. It also probably has the honor of the highest price per episode for a non-LE DVD in the U.S. Hellsing Ultimate is about the same for the LE, but A) Hellsing is pretty popular, B) there is a regular edition, C) many people are getting those LEs with Geneon sales. Freedom's one possible tiny advantage is that its on a HD/DVD combo disc. Demon Prince Enma.... is by Go Nagai. That's all I know about it. It doesn't seem like many people know or care what its about or knew it existed before BV picked it up. Go Nagai doesn't seem to be very popular in the U.S. so there aren't exactly a lot of people that even know what this show is about, let alone like it (or Go Nagai) enough pay BV's prices. With the prices BV is charging for the number of episodes they are sticking on them, only people who are already fans of those shows are going to be willing to pay those prices. And only a small portion of those fans will be willing to pay that.
Okay, maybe Gunbuster 2 will even sell 200 copies per volume. I think 100 is being fair if not generous for the rest of the series. The prices BV is charging is absurd and shows a lack of understanding of the R1 market. I know they aren't trying to sell to the casual fan (outside of GA Rune), but even most hardcore fans will find these prices laughable. |
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PantsGoblin
 SubscriberEncyclopedia Editor  Posts: 2969 Location: L.A. |
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Yep yep. I'm quite positive I'm THE ONLY one crazy enough to actually buy Galaxy Angel Rune when it comes out (Actually, frequenting a forum with the only few hard-core English speaking GA fans I know of, none of them are willing to buy it. And they're actually the few who don't hate GA Rune, unlike most other GA anime fans. They don't love it either though. As for me I'm just crazy.
 ). I also have a feeling it's not even going to make it to the end of its run though. I mean, with releases like these they aren't gonna last long at all...
And as I said before, I don't think Bandai Visual is doing this purposely to upset fans. They're just completely oblivious. They're going with the type of marketing that they're used to. And they're going to learn the hard way that they're doing it the wrong way. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15345 |
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Pantsgoblin:
With the exception of that Gunbuster music change, of course.... 
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Randall Miyashiro
 Posts: 2451 Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park |
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I think this is the best candidate for Bandai Visual until they release Honneamise since HD format pricing is still in flux, and early HD adopters are more likely to spend more for the release. I expect the HD prices to drop once there are more titles available, and I believe the higher price for Freedom is reflective of BV overall higher pricing. I do hope they go all out with the HD Honnamise like they did with the Patlabor releases. The HD Patlabor have the disadvantage of having already been released in SD form. I really don't mind paying $90 for 2 hour film which comes a nice reflective box with a bonus DVD, the complete translated storyboards, and a nice book filled with interviews and artwork, . It's these $40 for two episode with a 16 page "book" that bothers me. The outlook for Demon Prince Emma and Wings of Rean doesn't look very good. Galaxy Angel isn't as bad at around $13 per episode compared to these titles that are slated at $20 per episode! |
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pat_payne
Posts: 179 |
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Exactly, PG. Over on the AOD forums, they hit the nail on the head in that regard -- BV has closer ties to Bandai than Bandai USA (meaning they're trying to be a Japanese company doing business in the US rather than a US subsidiary of a Japanese company), and this kind of pricing is prevalent in Japan, where low-count DVDs are highly expensive because they know that's what their Japanese market (rabid otaku) will gladly pay. They are going to get a VERY EXCRUCIATINGLY rude awakening here if they think that a US consumer, expecting 5 episodes for $20-$30 is going to sit still and take that. In short, get Gunbuster and Patlabor while you can. I seet them going out of print very soon if BV doesn't wise up. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15345 |
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pat:
To be fair, these titles do cost money, so I'm assuming part of the high fees are to off-set production and distribution costs. But the dvd market in the 'States is clearly more competitive. To ignore that is suicide. At least Toei sold off the shows which got screwed by 4Kids, so they didn't lose as much money as they could have, but BV is paying for everything, and thus taking on a greater risk. They might save some money by not handling the production and distribution of dvds themselves, but they're probably going to have a smaller market share than they anticipated.
I'll get Gunbuster when it has the original music. |
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Deltakiral
Posts: 3338 Location: Glendora, CA (Avatar Hei from Darker than BLACK) |
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Please those shows are going to be on the shelfs forever. My local Bestbuy still has all of there Special Edition of Patlabor (they didn't bother getting any special edition for Patlabor 2) and plenty of standard edition available......and with the price of Gunbuster it's still going to be available after BV leave the market....believe it. |
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indrik
 Posts: 365 Location: yonder |
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I think the difference might be that the Patlabor movies and Gunbuster are recognized classics- there are probably a small but significant number of people willing to pay premium prices for them. I'm not sure about the rest of these, unless we really are talking about the low hundreds in terms of units they expect to move, at which point the prices might be reasonable compared to what production probably costs. I don't think I'd want to take any bets on how many units Bandai expects to (or will) move.
Gunbuster wasn't dubbed because of a problem with the masters, wasn't it? They didn't have separate tracks for audio and music, I think. Is that the case with the rest of these, or are they just plain not doing dubs? Either way, Gunbuster was pushing my limit for what I was willing to pay for a series, and I've already seen it and knew I wanted it. I don' t think I'll be bothered with Gunbuster 2 at $90 retail for the six episodes. Also- when did people stop calling it Diebuster? I thought Gunbuster 2 was a new show entirely until a couple of weeks ago. |
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Deltakiral
Posts: 3338 Location: Glendora, CA (Avatar Hei from Darker than BLACK) |
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Yeah Gunbuster doesn't have seperate track so it's not like you pull the audio and music apart....so that's a no go with for dub, but it's still no reason why some of the other titles are being dub.
Not $90 which would be somewhat better deal for a six episode ova of high quality aka FLCL....but BV wants $120 for all of Gunbuster 2....they broke the series up into 3 different volumes at $40 each.
I guess BV can be praise for not waiting months in between releases but when the discs are this pricey perhaps 2 months in between releases would be a good thing .
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indrik
Posts: 365 Location: yonder |
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Sur sure- but you can find the volumes pretty easily for $30 each, just like you could find FLCL for $20 each if you looked.
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