Forum - View topicwhy aren't anime released in complete collections?
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Sunni
Posts: 4 |
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why aren't all anime released as complete collections straight away instead of volumes? so studios get more money? fans can have time to get more money? fans can buy volume 1 to see if they like it?
anime usually gets released unnoticed anyway and doesn't sell as much as family guy or whatever. |
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Steventheeunuch
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The stock, generic answer is that Anime doesn't have the same markettability or exposure that other TV series gets more or less, and as such they have to release it volume by volume because it helps build good faith between companies and customers, by not forcing them to buy $150 for a piece of crap they don't like.
Subsequently, the extra revenue gained from the sales of singles helps to pay for license fees and what not, which can be somewhat expensive depending on the property and when it was bought. It's the method that has technically worked the best so far, and change as we know is not a fast paced thing. |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16963 |
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Part of it is money of course. This is a BUSINESS they're running here. Sure fan support is nice and sales are great but at the end of the day the anime industry is a business. You don't make enough money you can't make more product. It's as simple as that. If you think our prices are bad, trying having to buy the way the Japanese do. They have their anime in 2-3 episode dvds which means they haveto spend even more money. That's why so many of the Japanese anime fans import the American dvds because they're cheaper and they can simply switch to the Japanese audio track. The main reason is they aren't finished products. Many shows aren't even done with the dubbing until half the series is released. You can't very well put out a product until it's done. Plus, if you simply released everything in collections and not single volumes you'd flood the market. If you got enough to afford 1 $60 buck complete set a month but there's 3 shows you wanna get which do you choose? Instead you can get a volume a month of all 3 series and spend the same money. In the long run you'll spend more but most people live on a paycheck by paycheck basis. Last but not least, if you're a company like ADV or Funimation you don't want to release all your stuff together in collection packs. Now you're shooting yourself in the foot as people decide which of your products to get. You might as well compete against yourself at that point.
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KyuuA4
 Posts: 1361 Location: America, where anime and manga can be made |
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Furthermore, as the saying goes - time is money. While one volume is complete - with the dubbing, packaging, etc. - why not let it sell while working on the rest of the volumes?
Mafia bot says -- "We'll give you one more week to get $5,000. If you don't have the money by then, you'll be swimming with the fish. Capeesh?" |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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A simple way of putting it, they release all the singles and take forever to get the next volume out so that you'll buy it to see the next episode, and then they pull a fast one on you and release the complete collection later. And like people have been saying, it's about money and how you're advertising your product.
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar Posts: 16963 |
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One other thing to keep in mind is most voice actors work on several series at once. That's one reason why so many can be released monthly or bi-monthly is because they're not focusing on just one work and then movig on. Most of the hard core voice actors work on anywhere from 3-5, or more, series at a time. Plus the ADR scripting takes a while to translate everything.
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Ichigo77
 Posts: 389 Location: California |
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Another reason is the series needs to last here. If the whole series is realesed at once then you can finish it in a week then thats it, its over. With singles it keeps it going for a while and keeps the series alive in the US. Lets say Funimation realesed Dragon Ball GT is a total of 2 box sets. In less then a year it would be done so the Dragon Ball franchise would be over that fast. Atleast by buying starter sets you get a box to hold all the DVD's in.
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6902 Location: Kazune City |
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This AnswerMan column may hold some of the answers you seek. Actually, some series have been released initially as complete collections, such as Avenger, The World of Narue, Sentimental Journey, and Seraphim Call.
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Emerje
 Posts: 7415 Location: Maine |
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Nowadays you really can't call releasing a box set "pulling a fast one." Five years ago, sure, but today it's almost an expectation. Now some would say holding out through a series entire single release for a cheaper box set and not getting one "pulling a fast one." Emerje |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18480 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Series released initially as boxed sets are usually short ones (12-13 eps or less) whose licenses were quite cheap to get. Otherwise the economics of it all make it unfeasible.
And that's really what it's about: pure economics. In the volume-by-volume release format (and especially for the most expensive licenses), sales of earlier volumes are often needed to finance the production for later volumes. The later seemingly inevitable release of boxed sets is, from what I've heard, where a good amount of the profit margin (if there is any) for a more expensive series actually comes from. |
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Mephistophilus
 Posts: 200 Location: Fresno, CA, United States |
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(I'm not in the business, so I don't know exactly, but...)
The chain of anime from Japan to the US seems to go as follows (money paid is indicated by a $ and an arrow <-): Japanese Distributor: <-$ American Licensor: <American>$: Dubbing (actors, etc.): Distributor: DVD production company (if applicable): <-$ Distributor: <-$ You The American TV show chain seems to be much simpler by comparison, as all seems to be done mostly in-house: Original Producers/Owners (Fox, etc.): DVD production company (if applicable): <-$ Original Producers/Owners: <-$ You Since there is generally no need for licensing and all the other in-between steps, the distribution of American TV shows on DVD is much cheaper and simpler. This is all not mentioning the fact that American TV shows and movies fall on the assumption that they are going to sell in great volume, so price per unit drops some more. If it weren't so expensive to the distributors, it wouldn't be so expensive to us. (again, I may have made some chain mistakes, but I'm not in the business) |
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Zalis116
Moderator
Posts: 6902 Location: Kazune City |
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The case of Ah! My Goddess TV (1st Season) comes to mind for a more expensive license--according to Media-Blasters' John Sirabella, MB didn't really expect to make very much money from AMG because the licensing fees were so high. MB needed a "flagship" title with a relatively guaranteed sales performance in order to keep good relations with retailers, and AMG was the best choice of the titles available at the time. And as things turned out, they made little or no money on it in the end (or maybe lost money), according to random forum posts seen here and there. |
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Maryohki
 Posts: 526 |
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Not sure if this was mentioned, but it takes time to sub and dub anime. They figure you'd probably like to have the option of buying singles as they're done or buying the complete collection once everything has been subbed. I for one wouldn't have enjoyed having to wait until October to see ANY of Fate/Stay Night, and greatly prefer buying individual volumes. Other things, CCS being a good example, I can wait around for. It's partially about keeping the fans' options open, so if you're trying to say it's a bad thing, look at others' opinions and not just your own before whining. (if you're just curious, ignore the last sentence)
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar Posts: 16963 |
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this is just based on the sales of my local area mind you, but I think AMG tv series did fairly well. It's not Naruto or other shonen jump title which is almost but assured to bring in the money but it held it's own. For a flagship title I think it's a great choice because it's a very popular and very well established series with one of the longest running mangas behind it. |
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