Forum - View topicREVIEW: World Conquest Zvezda Plot Sub.DVD
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EricJ2
 Posts: 4016 |
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That's another good point, too: If we can draw a line between the genre of the "Minimum-Wage World Conqueror" comedy, and the "Magic Loser's Club" comedy--like Yuyushiki or When Magical Battles Become Commonplace, where a group of oddballs have their own afterschool-club outpost hangout without the world's rules--then Haruhi Suzumiya and the Brigade would be just over the "School club" side of the line, and Zvezda would be just over the "World Conquest" side. Both have stubbornly ambitious delusions about conquering the world, but probably wouldn't be able to survive in the real one if they didn't have their "family" of followers, and the weary rational male protagonist in both shows is the one who senses that bond the clearest. |
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BodaciousSpacePirate
 Subscriber Posts: 3018 |
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This definitely becomes a bigger and bigger problem as more anime is made with HD in mind. If Aniplex had released Nisekoi on DVD only, it would be extremely obvious that we weren't getting Nisekoi as it was "meant to be seen"; shows like that are meant to be watched in HD, and part of the intended experience would be missing from a DVD release. However, if Legend of Galactic Heroes was suddenly licensed by RightStuf, and they released the show as a series of DVD box sets, there would definitely be people saying "this isn't worth my money because it isn't on BluRay". Some of these people might even be the same ones who were asking for the show on VHS 20 years ago... but now that the BluRays are available in Japan, they wouldn't buy the show unless they got the same thing the Japanese consumers are getting. That's the kind of mindset that I don't understand - the idea that video quality alone is enough to determine whether a product is worth buying.
Yeah, I get where you're coming from there. In the case of World Conquest, I'd say that the DVDs have video quality that's a little bit better looking than what Crunchyroll calls "480", but that the DVD version of World Conquest is better looking (certainly better sounding) than the broadcast version of the show. It feels a bit "cleaner", if that makes any sense. |
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Polycell
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zztop
Posts: 650 |
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The names of the Zvezda members are actual Russian words, so anyone here who knows Russian will get an extra kick from this.
Venera = Venus Dva = Two Plamya = Flame Pepel = Ash Um = Mind Оdin = One(pronounced ‘a-deen’ in Russian) Zvezda = Star. Also, the Kurukurus are the cutest part of the show. |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6896 Location: Kazune City |
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Blanchimont
 Posts: 3533 Location: Finland |
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That is very much the choice and right of the customer, no matter what others like you might think of it. If a publisher gives out a version that's inferior to prior ones, then sorry publisher but you ain't seeing any of my money, no matter how much of a favorite whatever it was of mine. I'm a collector type sort of, mainly focused on figures and artbooks but sometimes disc version of a show I cared a lot about. Not that I watch those discs mind you, there's enough rips of those same discs out there soon enough I don't even need to make my own(I could, and have...) to cover all shows I might possibly have time and will to watch. However if I want to support something enough to add it to my shelf, it doesn't somehow magically give a publisher carte blanche to ignore stuff like quality, for example if DVD-only when Bluray could be possible my wallet keeps shut, period! You might add that if I'm so adamant about stuff like that and not even touch the discs, why not go to the source, Japanese releases? Yes, I mostly do, it's a rare Western release that hits my shelves... On the show itself, It was one of the shows last year I followed to the end. Not top favorite, but sure was something different from the usual. Haven't re-watched it yet though... But buying this version? Ha ha... |
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John Thacker
Posts: 1008 |
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If I understand you correctly, you're saying that you wouldn't buy it for any price because it's not essential. That actually more justifies their pricing than the people who say "I would love to buy this if only it were cheaper." You say that they have disregard for the market, but in a lot of ways it's that the market has disregard for these niche shows (and people in general moving away from media.) It's often the case that niche products are more expensive simply to overcome the fixed cost of production. Just look at how Sentai retooled the first season of Chuunibyou when it looked more popular than they originally thought. We could pretend that companies would make money hand over fist by releasing lots of niche shows at deep discount with tons of extras, but I think we've had enough anime crashes and bankruptcy companies and closed subsidiaries to demonstrate that that doesn't work. Reverse import is a real issue too. They know that the Japanese market is less likely to buy DVDs than BluRays (and Japan and the US being the same region for BluRay only exacerbates that.) Of course people absolutely have the right and the choice to refuse to buy something that is too expensive or not high enough quality. But the blame has to be also apportioned to a show for not being interesting enough to a wider audience and an audience for not liking what you like. (In general; of course companies can be wrong on individual shows and fail to sell them properly.) The alternative, and one that we have seen in the past and may see again, is simply no US home video release for the more niche shows. In a world where nearly everything is available (legally, even!) streaming, that may not be so bad. |
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Stretch2424
 Posts: 167 |
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I only watched the first episode. Why didn't a tale of strange characters, led by a little girl, who are out to conquer the world, pique my interest much at all? Perhaps because these struck me as strange, but not colorful characters. They were not given much personality in this opening episode, instead just their flamboyant costumes and dramatic, unconventional actions are supposed to persuade me to take their side, I guess. But I don't see why these people are entitled to do multi-billion Yen damage to the hardware of the JSDF (Japanese Army). These people annoy me rather than charm me. Perhaps the show didn't interest me because there were no really funny jokes, and a couple distinctly unfunny ones--namely, violence being played for laughs. A story as crazy as this one can only be a comedy, but it wasn't very funny. And perhaps the show didn't interest me because the story doesn't make any sense at all. Why does the world need to be conquered? What would improve if it were? How do likeable people conquer the world without hurting anybody? If a show isn't going to be funny, it needs to tell an interesting, comprehensible story. I guess I go into a new show with a skeptical attitude, perhaps due to my long experience of having watched the first episode of countless miserable anime, and I sort of assume that this will be another crappy show unless it surprises me and delivers some quality entertainment--good laughs, an intriguing plot, likeable characters, etc. That's a tough standard for a new show to meet, but if it does, it will almost certainly be worth watching to the end, provided the first episode wasn't an anomaly and the quality of the rest is comparable. Zvezda couldn't deliver much of anything, and the best thing I can say about it is that the confusion it stirred up left me uncertain if it was really terrible or not. But that's not much of a recommendation.
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BodaciousSpacePirate
Subscriber Posts: 3018 |
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I'm not saying they can't do what they want. It's their money. I'm also not saying it's a "bad" thing. (Maybe I need to work on my tone if it seems like that's what I'm doing.) I'm just saying I have trouble understanding it. I'm starting to "get it" thanks to people's responses, though. |
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Foxaika
 Posts: 365 Location: Columbus, Ohio |
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I'm not going to write out a long, drawn out argument against what you are saying, but I really don't know how you can watch one episode of something and have such a view on it. I mean, a lot of the questions you ask and characteristics you say the show is lacking are things you could learn/see by watching the show...giving it one episode and saying so much about what it does or doesn't have seems odd to me. I could see if you watched two or three perhaps, but only one? I'd be more surprised if you did know all of what you are asking for.
Well, at least it's nice for what it is. I'm still reluctant to buy for the reasons I highlighted earlier, but it is good to know, thanks. |
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5912 Location: Virginia, United States |
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I would think Legend of Galactic Heroes is a bad example. As old as the series is and as long as it is, I would think it would be a patch work of masters (and other sources) to even get it to look sort of nice. A BD version simply would show it to be a Frankenstein effort. DVD in this case would be a mercy. We are all individuals, with differing tastes and ideas. I can understand the reasoning of the mindset you are referring to. Another issue is also the sense of being cheated. Hard core collectors get that feeling when the Japanese deny the western market certain extras, that the Japanese fans got. For fans that want to own anime, we get that cheating feeling when the Japanese pawn off a DVD release to the western market, when actual BDs were released in Japan.
People keep up bringing the streaming thing, when we are talking about purchasing physical releases. They are two separate things. Streaming is for people that have a good internet connection and who want to watch anime now. Purchasing physical media is for people who want to watch anime when they want to (without the need for an internet connection), and to watch it far into the future (when it will no longer be available via streaming). Streaming for watching now, and buying for owning forever. The problem is not the Japanese trying to break even off the western market. Anime lives or dies off the Japanese market. The western market is just gravy. My shelves are littered with niche shows, and there are plenty of niche shows that I haven't even bought. The Japanese are trying to eliminate the western middlemen and increase revenue by only selling anime at extremely exorbitant prices to a select fanbase or collector. They have no intentions of selling those anime at western standard BD rates. Even arguments of reverse importation are falling flat as the Aniplex baseline shows (KnK and SAO) are getting old. SAO is now two and a half years old and counting; KnK is even older. These exorbitant prices are not about getting a premium product, not about reverse importation fears, nor about surviving. It is solely about squeezing more gravy out of the western fan base, for as little effort as possible. SAO and Fate/Zero would have been sure bets to be picked up by western distributors and would have been sold around 50-60 dollars a season most likely. There are plenty of niche anime shows being released by western distributors. In fact I just received the latest one released by Funimation from RightStuf. I simply don't buy the niche argument. I do not begrudge the hardcore collectors and those that have to own it now. If they want to have that neat Japanese collector box, with all the physical extras, more power to them. I know why, after all, I did buy all five Kill la Kill LE's for the same reason. But not releasing standard BDs at standard BD prices, after a reasonable amount of time, has nothing to do with any of the arguments above. We are merely gravy. |
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#839679
Posts: 1 |
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When I was watching Zvezda I almost at every time wondered what the hell the target audience was. From time to time it seemed to have elements targeted at small children, at others it did not. So I am thankful, that someone tried to make sense of this anime, even if the statement would be: it does not make sense, because it doesn't want to make sense.
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iatheia
Posts: 130 |
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I always buy dvds unless there is no other option. Bit of a cheapskate, but considering I don't really watch them since I've already seen the stream, and even when rewatching try to stick with the streaming if it is still available. I am mainly getting them for posterity. Even when I do end up watching them, a) my tv is small enough that there is virtually no difference, and b) I am not too picky about the image quality. If it means I could by a few more series per year I'm quite happy with that.
I did watch Zvezda, and I was quite happy with it. Still haven't bought it, though, it came out at a very bad time when ~5 other series I enjoyed more were coming out, and it still had an Aniplex pricetag on it, even though it is cheaper in comparison to some of their other releases. It is still on the wish list, though. Will probably get it by the end of the year or so. |
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Jackanapes
Posts: 119 |
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Not sure how this one could be in B+ territory. I thought it was awful really.
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TarsTarkas
Posts: 5912 Location: Virginia, United States |
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Does anybody know if the Japanese BD has English subtitles?
Nevermind. It is about 360 dollars to collect all the Japanese BDs, too rich for me (that is not counting shipping and handling). That makes Pony Canyon's release of Yuki Yuna almost acceptable. Last edited by TarsTarkas on Sat Jul 25, 2015 9:38 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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