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Interview: Garden of Sinners' Atsuhiro Iwakami and Hikaru Kondo

As to the dreaded specter of tiered pricing and seeming diverging business methods, I think ultimately people (especially on this forum) have to realize is that English-language land is second fiddle to their domestic market. I mean the 60k yen box set sold 25000+ units in the first week. That's gross 10 million USD if you count it at $400 a pop (which is cheaper than what you could possibly buy it for, in Japan). There's no way they would jeopardize that much money (and good will )for a cheap North American release, just to satisfy a couple thousand fans who just want to pay less? Seems like a no-brainer on their part to not pursuit that, at least at this point.

omoikane wrote:

As to the dreaded specter of tiered pricing and seeming diverging business methods, I think ultimately people (especially on this forum) have to realize is that English-language land is second fiddle to their domestic market. I mean the 60k yen box set sold 25000+ units in the first week. That's gross 10 million USD if you count it at $400 a pop (which is cheaper than what you could possibly buy it for, in Japan). There's no way they would jeopardize that much money (and good will )for a cheap North American release, just to satisfy a couple thousand fans who just want to pay less? Seems like a no-brainer on their part to not pursuit that, at least at this point.

The obvious counterargument, however, would suggest otherwise. If they've already made over 10 million USD from the Japanese fans, releasing a less expensive foreign version a year or two down the line isn't going to affect those earlier profits at all. Nothing is being jeopardized when that money's already in their pockets and the product's continued sales have most likely slowed down in the meanwhile too.

Ranma824 wrote:

I really don't want to get into this too deeply, but it does seem we are headed (or basically there) towards casual v. collectors when it comes to anime. Some just want DVD-only, and some want the whole nine-yards of the Japanese market. (with the latter group finally starting to grow)

alot of people who claim to only want the dvd and don't want anything extra that's on the blu-ray and special edition. They lied, They clearly want those extra. They always find a way to watch those extra illegally.

We released the Tales of Symphonia limited-edition DVD box set with bonus features for a price of about 8,000 yen (about US$97.85). It was different from the standard edition. We included a five-minute bonus feature for the fans who bought it. The feature was uploaded onto [Japanese video streaming site] Nico Nico Douga. We deleted it. But during the short period of time before we stopped it, it was accessed 100,000 times. I was shocked.

I think you're getting all communistic about it. So what's wrong with animation company making more money? It pays the people and the production in long run. In entertainment business, dry times without decent production contract forces production company to live off their savings. These guys are not living large with fancy cars and big houses. A fraction from $10 million is not much money when it comes to paying 100 animation professionals for almost 3 years.

No matter how vocal casual fans get on cheaper versions, does it represent demand from all casual fans? Not likely. How many casual fans in the US or Canada either seen or heard this about the movie? Again, not much.

The former actually add something over whatever will end up floating about on the internet, but the latter will invariable be worse.

I think ultimately people (especially on this forum) have to realize is that English-language land is second fiddle to their domestic market.

There's no way they would jeopardize that much money (and good will )for a cheap North American release, just to satisfy a couple thousand fans who just want to pay less?

We have built a relationship with Japanese fans and would like to [build the same relationship] with U.S. fans.

Just purchased a bootlegged copy from eBay.

If they don't want my money, I'll give it to somebody who does. Be it a Taiwanese pirate.

John Casey wrote:

Just purchased a bootlegged copy from eBay. If they don't want my money, I'll give it to somebody who does. Be it a Taiwanese pirate.

You're aware that buying those bootlegs funds things like sex slavery and drug trafficking, right? Those guys are *actual* gangsters and pirates.

omoikane wrote:

As to the dreaded specter of tiered pricing and seeming diverging business methods, I think ultimately people (especially on this forum) have to realize is that English-language land is second fiddle to their domestic market. I mean the 60k yen box set sold 25000+ units in the first week. That's gross 10 million USD if you count it at $400 a pop (which is cheaper than what you could possibly buy it for, in Japan). There's no way they would jeopardize that much money (and good will )for a cheap North American release, just to satisfy a couple thousand fans who just want to pay less? Seems like a no-brainer on their part to not pursuit that, at least at this point.

One of the many obvious counterarguments, however, would suggest otherwise. If they have already made over 10 million USD from the Japanese fans, releasing a less expensive foreign version a year or two down the line isn't going to affect those earlier profits at all. Nothing is being jeopardized when that money's already in their pockets and the product's continued sales have most likely slowed down in the meanwhile too. The domestic market has already been served and there's really no turning back.

At that point, any and all fears of reverse importation hurting their profits end up being exaggerated and essentially irrelevant.

Of course, one could always go ahead and try to argue that the entire business model is rotten to begin with and the cracks have started to show even within Japan itself. Nevertheless, that's obviously opening up a larger can of worms involving numerous additional factors and it's not the main point under discussion here. I suppose only the passage of time will be able to change any of this for better.

Quote:

We have built a relationship with Japanese fans and would like to [build the same relationship] with U.S. fans.

that's an abusive relationship and I don't want it.

Zac wrote:

John Casey wrote: Just purchased a bootlegged copy from eBay. If they don't want my money, I'll give it to somebody who does. Be it a Taiwanese pirate. You're aware that buying those bootlegs funds things like sex slavery and drug trafficking, right? Those guys are *actual* gangsters and pirates.

When I was in middle school, I used to hang out with guys from MS13. They're not as scary as the History Channel leads you to believe. They're more like bunnies. Fluffy bunnies, that when in the mood, turn into the rabbit from Monty Python.

That said, you've just made something of a very, very sweeping generalization... Kind of like saying...drinking tap water will lead to kidney failure due to the amount of flourine. That's not to say it isn't true, or that it won't happen... But the actuality and amount present is absurdly insignificant. Something tells me that my one, single purchase from an eBay seller whom does NOT trade in strictly bootlegged items alone (the guy just sells random stuff - that one DVD set was like....the only DVD set he had listed) won't sell a woman into prostitution, and something tells me I won't lose any sleep over it.

It isn't string theory: I want a physical copy of Kara no Kyoukai in my collection. Aniplex seems hell bent on preventing me from having one. And I don't happen to have a convenient printing studio next door. So, what else can I do?

I'm not terribly proud of the purchase, cause it sort of ruins my groove: This is the first ever bootleg I'll have, and probably only one - it's the black sheep in my collection. However, will I have the desired physical copy? Will I be able watch it anytime? Will I be able to prevent letting my dad down, and finally get to watching this series like he's been wanting to do with me for a while now? Yes, yes and yes.