Forum - View topicMy-HiME's English Release
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Ranma824
 Posts: 456 |
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I really cant believe all the hoopla around the box. I didn't even think that the whole "Artbox" idea was something everyone clamores for; until this release. Now (apparently), if an anime doesn't get a good BOX?!, it's automatically a "low quality" release. If anything, this just comes off to me as immature; like Bandai OWES you something (which they dont). I'm happy that I can own the show in R1, and having the small extras at the end of each ep. is the bonus: Expecting anything more is just greedy.
Personally, if the My-HiME box didn't have the T-shirt included, I wouldnt have given it a second thought. Speaking of which, the shirt is just my style: nothing big or tacky. Artboxes take up precious space on my shelf, and generally not worth the extra $5-7 JUST to hold a series. Extras/w box is cool (Kamichu!, Desert Punk), but a waste of money with nothing. I'm also happy with the dub, Bluewater seems to be doing a good job; and it's only going to get better. |
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PantsGoblin
 SubscriberEncyclopedia Editor  Posts: 2969 Location: L.A. |
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Normally I wouldn't mind something like this, but I know Bandai is more then capable of coming out with something far better then this. Also, My-HiME is somewhat of a big release in anime, I know a lot of people were looking forward to it. They just gave Gundam Seed Destiny that nice looking box, why can't they do this with My-HiME? I think more people would rather have the nice box with MH rather then GSD anyway. I'm basically saying that they aren't treating My-HiME as well as most of their other releases. I'm completely satisfied with the quality of the dubbing and the subs and everything else. |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6902 Location: Kazune City |
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Oh, there's quite a bit of hoopla about this on the AnimeonDVD forums. Like I said on my other post, I'd rather have a low-quality box than no box at all, and yes, I'm pointing the finger at Bandai and their Scrapped Princess release. It's not that the company "owes" us something, but it is good business sense. Surely the companies know by now that pretty much anything worth licensing has been fansubbed and downloaded thousands of times. If they want people to have incentive to buy DVDs, it's in their best interest to do quality releases, as in: a) having a box, and having a good one b) a well-acted dub that's faithful to the show's spirit, if not to every single word c) a good assortment of extras--even if there weren't too many extras in the Japanese version, there's always something you can do, like with ADV's Super Gals! where they made glorified AMVs with narration from the VAs about the cultural points in the series. d) quality subtitles; granted, DVD subs won't have fancy effects like in fansubs, but at least they can subtitle all dialogue, songs *cough*Viz*cough*, and relevant text (yes, I've seen dialogue left untranslated on R1 discs) to make as much as possible understandable to non-Japanese speakers without filling the screen with reference notes. Furthermore, there's no excuse for dumb English errors like confusion between your/you're, its/it's, to/too, or any other sloppiness in grammar and spelling. And yes, I've spotted all those on R1 discs, and it sometimes makes me wonder, "Why am I paying for the 'professionals' to do this when they don't hold themselves to a better standard than the people doing it for free?" (Leaving aside morality, of course--this post is O/T enough without bringing in that particular debate.) |
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Ranma824
Posts: 456 |
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While I cant say that I DONT want the things you mentioned; but I dont think it's "smart business sense". Those reasons sound like assumed or implied expectations from the more "hardcore" fans. While I agree that letting some subtitles fall thru the cracks are unexceptable, everything else they include is for the fans: artboxes, extras (physical and video), plus anything else to make the fans happy. While I know they do this to try and make more money in the end, if they could put less investment and make the same amount (or more) of profit; it's a no brainer. Buisness sense says you should make the most money off of the smallest investment.
Which is why (most likely) Bandai went with this thin-box, they know the show is going to sell itself. I think they're also banking on that a vast majority of anime buyers dont base they purchase on secondary factors, but just the show itself. That AoD thread was really absurd, I think I actually read that a user wasn't going to get My-HiME, a show they were looking forward too, JUST because of the box (maybe because of Bluewater too). To me that just reeks of being a spoiled rotten kid. Personally it's good to note that the negativity I found in that thread is few and far between, as I couldnt find anyone with that strong of an opinion this past weekend (Sakura-con). With threads like that I have to remind myself that, only like...10-20 people are complaining - out of the thousands (hopefully) that are going to purchase the show. |
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PantsGoblin
Subscriber Encyclopedia Editor Posts: 2969 Location: L.A. |
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I know you're refering to another thread but even though I'm complaining I have bought it and I do plan on buying the rest too. I'm just not satisfied with some things about the release. I think there's more people who are complaining then that though. |
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Zalis116
Moderator
Posts: 6902 Location: Kazune City |
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Well, it's true that I am a (slightly spoiled) hardcore fan, and I never was a business-type person (hippie language majors all the way, oh yeah  )...I still think that the anime industry is a bit different, in that companies have to compete with free fansubs and pirated products more than most industries do. So, producing quality releases to please the hardcore fans makes sense in my skewed view of the world. But you're right, small investment + big profit = the ideal result. To Bandai's credit, they did do figurines with every Scrapped Princess disc, and I can't think of too many other series where that's been the case. And while I do enjoy those fan extras, I'm still buying My-Hime because I like the series itself; none of this news about the dubbing studio or the box fiasco has made me reconsider my decision to collect the discs.
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Stupidman007
 Posts: 394 |
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You're not exactly right about business. It's not about making the most money off of the smallest investment, it's to have the maximum profit. Profit = Gains - Costs, simple as that. |
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Sabakyuu
 Posts: 47 Location: Canada |
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My-HiME is my favourite anime and personally because of that.. I was hoping for a better art box...either way it's not really an issue for me. I like the dub voices and I'm just happy to finally have the series on DVD.
 I'm surprised though that people are talking more about the box than the dub...which usually happens in these type of topics =/.
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Zalis116
Moderator
Posts: 6902 Location: Kazune City |
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Also a good point. One problem that shows up in the business world is the sacrifice of long-term stability for short-term gains. Companiese need to please their stockholders and show good results & profits, so they take cost-cutting steps that give a quick boost to profitablity in the short term, but may hurt the company in the long term. I sort of had that in mind when talking about this release...sure, My-Hime will "sell itself" and bring in good money in the short term, but over the long term, Bandai could be hurt by actions that disappoint the fans or create a reputation of substandard releases. Of course, this is all theory and speculation, so there's really no point to it... Anyway, I actually got the disc and box yesterday; as a fan of the series, I'm satisfied. The video doesn't have any major problems, the packaging is fine (the box, after all, does hold 7 DVDs, and that's what I really need out of it; the DVD cover itself looks nice too), and the dub...well, I wouldn't call it "great" at this point, but it's not bad, and shows potential for improvement. Imo, Nagi's voice gets better even between episodes 1 and 2. Props for including a Gone with the Wind reference in epiosde 1 ("Frankly, my dear ~ I don't really care..."). I'll have to keep the fansubs for reference, though, as some signs aren't translated, and there are a few cultural points that are "smoothed out," like the "moemoe" pun in the ep 1 preview and the "Seven Wonders of School." (Normally, I delete files when I buy DVDs of the same series, but I just can't bring myself to part with these My-Hime episodes...  )
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