Forum - View topicAnswerman - Are Physical Anime Releases In Danger?
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KitKat1721
 Posts: 963 |
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I still collect anime blu rays, but I know plenty of people who, while they don't mind streaming shows on Netflix, Crunchyroll, or Funimation, are much more likely to buy blu rays of anime films. Probably on account of they are cheaper, less likely to be streaming in many cases, and have more re-watchability since its not as significant of a time commitment.
Actually, the last time I went to a theater to see a film that wasn't/hasn't been licensed for a blu ray here was for Miss Hokusai (Yay for free DC screenings during Cherry Blossom Festivities) |
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Hoppy800
 Posts: 3331 |
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I still buy BDs from time to time, but Streaming and hopefully downloading via a Steam for Anime client is the future, not many people re-watch anime these days, and want it cheaper.
As for Cassettes they have a strong following in the Enka community which is why they still exist. Same with vinyl records with hardcore video game music audiophiles and Reggae artists and CDs for idol fans. I like having soundtrack and character CDs especially on my nice wooden shelf I made just for them a few months ago. |
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CooperRC
Posts: 22 |
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I see the number of units sold of physical copies declining and the US market moving more towards an expensive collector's market like Japan (but probably not quite as high in price).
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staab99
 Posts: 123 |
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I agree with this article regarding physical media, but like everyone is saying, DVD's will still be around because there are some rare anime dvds that haven't made it way (or will never) towards Blu Ray.
In regards to cd's, while i agree that CD's are in decline (especially hip hop and pop albums or mostly the top 40 bands/artist), I feel that the Heavy Metal scene are still somewhat big on CD's. I'm not saying sales are great for them either, but for me since I am big into that scene, i still support metal bands who release cd's (or even Vinyls depending on the band), there are still heavy metal fans who still buy albums from the artist they still love/support. |
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mike.motaku
 Posts: 160 Location: Indiana |
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I hate hate hate the assumption that every fan has equal access to the most current cutting edge technologies and therefore the older technology is dead or dying. It's like a group of people say, "we have this new thing so no one will ever use that old thing ever again." In my experience that has never been true. Heck, this phone I use is the closest thing to a computer I own & the payment plan I have, which I think is wildly expensive, doesn't allow for any level of streaming. And I don't have internet at home. So DVDs & Blurays are the only option I have. And I know people who still buy VHS.
It kills me that shows I want to watch might be relegated to super-deluxe collector's editions that only the wealthy can afford. I don't need bells & whistles. Even an English dub is optional to me. Surely I can't be the only one. |
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Top Gun
 Posts: 4709 |
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I feel like something of a luddite in that I have no real interest in streaming, whether for anime or otherwise. I don't watch enough shows to make a Netflix/Hulu/whatever subscription worth the cost, and for me at least it seems like far more effort to track down something through logins and episode searches and such than it does to just pop in the next volume of a show and get to watching. I've bought absurd amounts of anime sight-unseen, and by and large I've lucked out. I try to avoid watching things that I don't think I'd want to re-watch, so I don't have much use for checking out the current season's new hotness anyway.
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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I think people also realized that there's more to cassettes than shit boomboxes and Ferro tape. Get some hi-fi equipment and metal tapes, and your cassette can find new life, like what this YouTuber named Techmoan was doing. It is kind of fascinating because I never though of the power and fidelity of those tapes could be so decent, but you'd have to plop down a lot of money to build a setup like that. I agree with Justin's take on VHS though, there's just no upside to those things. |
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BigOnAnime
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 1241 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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Definitely vastly prefer physical releases for a variety of reasons. Streaming is nice for the first viewing, it's how I consume nearly all of my anime, but it's not good for achival purposes. The quality isn't as good (especially if an HD title is streaming SD-only, like AnoHana on CR when it switched from NISA to Aniplex. CR didn't get HD materials), and they do not last. Not to mention there's nothing tangible with streaming.
I'm hoping it becomes more and more of a collectors thing because I vastly prefer nicer releases over just discs in the case with a white/black background, and also I prefer to have nice disc art (*glares at FUNimation's obsession with bland disc art since mid-2012*). This is one reason why I vastly prefer say singles from back in the day, they're pretty awesome, especially what ADV Films would do, as well as Bandai with their LE's. With collectors sets, I want more than just freaking art cards or artbooks with only art, give me interviews and such. I can rather like the former, but the latter is much nicer. Shame Aniplex is seemingly moving even further away from booklets. They've for years been cutting the interviews from their releases (All the Anime in the UK typically would get all of the JP booklet content, like so) and they even lately didn't include a translation booklet for Anthem of the Heart's LE import. It's already bad enough the special features aren't subbed and many fail to hit our domestic release, but not even giving us a translation booklet? Come on. Needing to learn Japanese is becoming more of a necessary thing for the anime collector if they want extras, and physical releases of shows that are doomed to remain streaming-only (Ex: Anything Aniplex AoA will never release: Mushishi S2, Hotarubi no Mori e (not licensed for even streaming)).
http://i.imgur.com/u6HenEh.jpg You were saying? |
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GhostOfSide3
 Posts: 75 Location: Memphis, TN |
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Vinyl and Cassette for life!
I'm definitely one of these people collecting music on these formats. I've noticed more and more people have been offering their music on cassette since at least the last two years. BD's and such are definitely for the collector's market. |
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jdnation
Posts: 2052 |
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Music cassettes are back???
I guess that explains how MGSV soundtrack got a cassette tape... I thought that was just Kojima pulling strings and me wondering about who he got to make that happen... So are these cassettes somehow better technology or something? or pretty much identical to the old school tapes? |
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Mune
Posts: 379 Location: Minnesota |
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I saw this becoming an issue a few years ago and held a panel about it called Physical, File, or Stream. It was fairly interesting because the consensus at the time was that anime was going the route of stream, manga was going the route of physical, and games were going the route of file. I of course asked why to those attending and it came down to availability, costs, and portability.
While manga can be put in as files, most people tend to care more for the comfort of a book in their hand. Anime and games have little interaction with the media aside that it is on the screen. Plenty of games are files instead of stream because stream/servers costs money which are not typically covered aside from the initial cost of the game, unless it is free-to-play with in-game costs, but when this happened, free-to-play wasn't really a thing yet. Plus, files are cheaper to distribute than creating a game disc, marketing in stores and hoping someone prioritizes it, and waste after use is basically cut to nearly zero. Streaming is also like this, but it requires dedicated streaming services, like Netflix or Crunchyroll that charge and deliver content on a regular basis. The reason why anime are not typically files is because of the fear of unauthorized distribution that plagued the film and anime industry about a decade or so ago. This does not mean that streaming is always legal though and there have always been arguments as to why people pirate anything, but that is a story for another time. The fact of the matter is that streaming is slowly replacing the physical anime industry. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's a good thing because it is reducing long-term waste (because DVDs and Blu-rays just take forever to break down) and giving fans content in a faster fashion than ever before (and combating a pirate defense that used to be used). There is also the option to have a variety at a portion of the cost ($30 anime series can pay for 3-4 months of an online streaming subscription that has hundreds of anime titles). It's a bad thing because it does not leave the availability open (internet goes down or you reach your data cap, you are out of luck) and leaves historical artifacts as proof (image a file on a computer and the computer gets wiped- no proof it really existed in the first place). Now, if I had a choice, I would always select physical because I have the hardware to run most modern media when it comes to anime. Manga requires no hardware to be physical. Games are restricted to whatever device they were created for. The kicker is that I still stream anime despite owning over 30 anime series on DVD and Blu-ray because of the easy accessibility and the variety of the selection available in services like Crunchyroll. Now, I wouldn't call this the end of physical anime by any means because most anime makes it to the next step up, but sometimes it doesn't. I still own anime on VHS (despite not owning a VHS player) because it has never been re-released on DVD or Blu-ray or even in a legal stream. This could be in part that the anime was not well received or that that there was some licensing issue(s). In addition, there are anime on DVDs that were released in the US which have been re-licensed, but have no streaming options available, like Lucky Star (Funimation), The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Funimation), or Ikkitousen Dragon Destiny (Media Blasters). This creates an expensive anime market for titles that were at one point, under $60 for an entire series. I mean, Lucky Star Complete Collection is about $175 on Amazon and $80 on Ebay and it was originally released for $35 in 2010. Until all anime is available for online streaming, I do not think that the physical anime industry will sink completely. Hell, I expect companies that don't release as much will last the longest, like Media Blasters. It may even become a niche market to exclusive shops and/or online ordering exclusively. It will likely become a collector's market for physical anime, but most fans will gravitate toward streaming eventually because of the accessibility and costs. We have started to see this by the sheer number of subscribers to anime streaming sites like Crunchyroll and Funimation. Now, if you disagree with the mindset that physical anime will start to fade and become a collector's market and want physical anime to stay around for a cheap price, you should start buying new DVDs and Blu-rays from stores (online and/or brick and mortar). DVDs and Blu-rays should be from companies that have prices and content you like. Sorry about the super long post. |
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HaruhiToy
 Posts: 4118 |
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I am surprised that nobody yet has mentioned that you often have to buy the media if you want to see the anime uncensored. And often there are extras including OVAs that come on the media that aren't available streaming.
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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As long as the streaming/broadcast version of anime is always the incomplete version, then there will be need for blu-rays. Not nice-to-have but need in terms final product.
Since Knights of Sidonia was brought up as an example, without the Sentai blu-rays, how would people watch the complete edition, where there are uncensored scenes, 20 different cuts per volume and a last episode extended by 15mins? Netflix subscribers may not even be aware of such changes. Or remember Attack on Titan and production issues? The animation was massively revised for home video. It was significant enough that even Funimation made a big deal about this with an advertorial on ANN. They must have combed over every single frame. The same applies to Kill La Kill and virtually all anime, from big to small. All the subscribers to streaming simulcasts--Netflix, Amazon Prime, Crunchyroll, Hulu, etc--are out of luck on getting the final or uncut versions, save for subscribers to Funimation and TAN dubs. |
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leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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Oh yes, something else to mention: Special features. I love special features on my home video. It's why I will never ever give up my first nine season sets of The Simpsons. You don't really get those through streaming.
Probably less pronounced with anime releases though, as the localization companies and distributors have to play by the rules of the production committee, and they'd usually be in another language anyway. |
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Mr. Oshawott
 Posts: 6773 |
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VHS's market nearing extinction, but the DVDs, despite experiencing a decline in the late 2000's, is still faring well and the Blu-Ray market is gaining some ground. As long as the problems that routinely occur with streaming exists (buffering, poor Internet connection, disappearance of older shows, etc.), I don't see physical versions of anime shows going away any time soon.
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