Forum - View topicANNCast - Kleckbait
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Pepperidge
 Posts: 1106 Location: British Columbia, Canada |
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Glad Nozomi is looking into some possibilities for Blu-ray. Fingers crossed for Utena.
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Mr. sickVisionz
 Posts: 2175 |
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Good interview.
I was glad to hear things are going well on the retail front, that Nozomi is expanding, and that Aniplex puts out some of TRSI's best sellers. It's a shame about the merchandise and to hear about how print-on-demand could be doing better but Japan is hesitant to give it a shot. It's funny how as a child I always thought of Japan as this technology wonder ground but as I get older and older they seem more and more afraid of anything new and have to be dragged kicking and screaming into it. |
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Felis
 Posts: 80 |
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As long Nozomi/Lucky Penny keep up the excellent quality of their DVDs at reasonable prices, I don't mind if they don't release their shows on blu-ray. Of course it would be nice to see a blu-ray release from them if they find the right show/movie.
It is disappointing about a lack of merchandise for shows. Does Right Stuf make lithographs anymore? The few I see on their web site are from a few years ago. I would love to buy a Toradora or Spice and Wolf lithograph if they were available. |
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Dfens
Posts: 462 |
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Certain shows even in Japan that have little to no merchandise while others it's never ending.
The main thing is Rightstuf just can't compete with other over seas retailers. Their is 3 off the top of my head English speaking online retailers that have websites in English that sale pretty much everything the Japanese get in the way of merchandise. And they charge the same price as them plus shipping and you get it about a week after it hits shelves. They are based in Japan and specialize in sales to customers outside of Japan. So it's kind of hard to compete with that. I've bought many of T-Shirts, figures, and other goods that Righstuf would never carry or could ever get. But I do use them exclusively for all my domestic Anime and Manga. As for dealing with Japan executives for licensing or whatever deals it's never going to change. They hate and fear change, also they groom the next replacement to be exactly like them. So when someone is promoted or takes over it's basically the same guy still in charge in the way they do things. |
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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^ I agree. I also use Rightstuff for my anime and manga, but it's hard to compete with Japanese retailers that have literally everything and ship overseas. The advantage I can see using US retailers is saving on shipping costs and time. But it's hard to see how a retailer can stock up on everything Japan gets and not loose money since I don't think there is the same demand on all sorts of merchandise for all series in general as there is for anime and manga in the US.
Japanese retailers have the advantage of immediate merch access and the entire world as their customer base. The only thing I hate is the reliance on preorders. Availability is probably the only other advantage of US retailers carrying the same items later, and usually marked up. I know TokyoOtaku Mode has recently setup a small CA warehouse, splitting stock between Japan and US, but I think it's telling that they are only stocking up on specific, select items for the US warehouse. It's the same with JList and other retailers who are more niche or specialized. edit: Regarding Zac's comment if the Cobra blu-rays would look appreciably better, yes it absolutely would! (click for full-size) 
So I really hope Shawn will move to blu-ray soon. I think they are the last anime publisher doing DVD only.  Yes, I know it has to be financially feasible, but it seems like if they're targeting the collector's market that was discussed, it should be somehow.
Last edited by configspace on Sat Oct 04, 2014 7:26 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Blanchimont
 Posts: 3567 Location: Finland |
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Price is definitely a thing. Some of the English online retailers prices are, well, how should I put it, not exactly on favorable levels, when compared. Unless there's some other benefits... I do sometimes use a few UK retailers I trust as I then don't then have to deal with Customs hassles and fees(no Customs duties when shipping within European Union).
Trust is another issue. I'm far to worried about possible bootlegs of merch than being made to pay a few bucks more. Let's just say there's a lot of Western shops that don't exactly have the best of reputation in this arena... So I prefer to go as close to the source as possible. And that's the overseas Japanese retailers who ship. Oh, and the fact euro has been very favorable to yen when ordering stuff for a good while now, of course. 
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fuuma_monou
 Posts: 1853 Location: Quezon City, Philippines |
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I'd buy the Aniplex USA titles I like if it weren't for the pesky shipping restrictions. Third-party resellers for, like, Kill la Kill on Amazon.com charge way too much. As it is the only Aniplex USA releases I own are the Madoka Magica TV series limited editions, thanks to pre-ordering all three before the shipping restriction changed from worldwide except Japan to just U.S. and Canada. |
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Dfens
Posts: 462 |
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Actually ordering from Japan usually is the same price and other than the transit time for the actual shipping of the said item it's much faster than what a US based retailer can offer for sale.
Example I use Hobby Link Japan, they get their stuff 1 week after it hits stores in Japan. I can pre-order from them months in advance and I pay the exact same price Japan pays plus reasonable shipping charges depending on how fast I want the item. Also the US Dollar has been very strong again vs a few years ago so you are getting a 20-30 percent discount just by paying in USD. I don't have to pay until it's ready to ship and since they are based in Japan I know it's all authentic merchandise. Now once in a blue moon RightStuf has for order the same item lets say a figure. But they won't ship it out until after 3-6 months after it's released in Japan, so they can't offer it as soon as it's available. If you want it right away your out of luck. And price wise I've noticed it's only a measly few dollars savings at most for the much longer wait. Only real downside of ordering from HLJ or others like it, since you are competing with other customers world wide, some items sell out right away even during the pre-order period. So if you don't jump on it or constantly check when it goes live for pre-order you may miss your chance. Since rarely does a item get a re-release unless the franchise is releasing another show etc. Sometimes you can get lucky and a person cancels their order and it frees up one. |
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Blanchimont
Posts: 3567 Location: Finland |
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Whether shipping charge feels reasonable depends a lot on the item. Anime discs, games, figures, yes, it has an impact but it's still somewhat understandable share of the overall price. With things like artbooks, manga, magazines, calendars on the other hand... Hell yeah when 2/3 of the item price can be seen as a good deal  ...and it doesn't exactly help buying in bulk as the charge scales with weight.
And that's for SAL. With EMS you'd pay for the shipping with item price tagged on... |
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kibasnowpaw
 Posts: 2 Location: Denmark |
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I allways buy DVD and Blu-rays even anime i wasn't that glad for
i also buy stuff from japan even anime, i don't care if its only on japaness if i can't get it here and its an anime i want then i get it from japan and if you make a mix of buying from Amazon and get a freight company to Ship it then you can save a lot but it still cost more then when you buy it in your own country. |
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SHODAN93
Posts: 37 |
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Had I known I would of asked how Sweet Blue Flowers fared in terms of sales. Here's hoping that Rightstuf can get their hands on Wandering Son.
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tuxedocat
 Posts: 2183 |
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I don't know if Shawne K. is following this thread, but in reference to the Holiday shipping slam: If other customers are like me, they will wait until all the 12 days and other sales "days" are posted before making their orders.
Those holiday sales are big selfish pig-outs for anime fans. I usually buy way too much, and most of it ends up filling all the empty spots on my shelves. 
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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I haven't seen the Cobra TV series yet, standard or HD, but the damn did the movie look great on BD. If the DVD is sourced from a remaster and the upscaled back using a BD player, sure it'll still look fantastic, but the BD will always look better. Maybe it's not so noticeable with Cobra, but with stuff like Five Star Stories it jumps out. It may not financially make sense for Rightstuf to pursue BluRay, but it always makes sense on the Japanese side to remaster any anime they can their mitts on. If the film stock exists, do it.
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Touma
 Posts: 2651 Location: Colorado, USA |
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I order as soon as I have enough for free shipping. If there is something that I really want that has a great price I might just pay for the shipping instead of waiting. Some of those items are limited and get sold out quickly. Some get restocked, but some do not. I think that I made three orders last year.
I still have some anime from last year's sale that I have not watched yet. 
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