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Interview: Aniplex of America President Henry Goto

Samurai Flamenco US release never. )-;

SpacemanHardy wrote:

MarshalBanana wrote: I had no idea SAO was that big, I remember it getting a lot of buzz when it came out, but that seemed to of died down. I'm dissapointed that he didn't ask him about what he thinks of the Funimation and Crunchyroll partnership. Henry usually screens the questions that the interviewers ask before hand. He probably refused to let them ask about it. There's also the chance that the actual interview took place before the announcement was made.

It sounds like it was an interview that took place at Anime Expo. At one point, he says, "here we have one announcement." and then goes on to talk about a couple of other cons. I think ANN did a whole bunch of these interviews at Anime Expo and is just spacing out when they publish them.

Definitely interesting to read, though.

We sat down with Mr. Goto and John Inada, Aniplex of America's director of business development at Anime Expo to talk about the festival and how things are going at Aniplex of America.

Or Mushi-shi: Next Chapter, or Nanana's Buried Treasure, or Silver Spoon, Magi, Blast of Tempest and World Conquest Zvezda Plot on Blu-ray. This is the one thing I resent AoA for. They are just holding on to these titles with no intention of ever releasing them. Anyone else would have put them out by now, but since they are too niche to support AoA's pricing model we'll never get them.

This will never happen, so no need to worry .

The concern some have is that they'll try to at least try to pander to a more global audience and drain away everything that's good about anime(think Hollywood). Goto's absolutely right that anime needs to stay Japanese or else it'll stop being anime.

I tend to avoid AOA titles, because I dread the price as soon as I hear they licensed it. There are a few exceptions that I have made.. but for the most part.. I'll pass and stick with my fansubs.. (haha yep I said it)

Everyone! Let's crash the party, take it over, and hold this guy hostage until we get a full refund on all the extra money we spent on their home releases!

Just kidding.

A few of my friends would actually take that up on your offer. No joke. If it weren't handling a relatively niche product, AoA would've already been sued up the eyeballs.

relyat08 wrote:

Or Mushi-shi: Next Chapter, or Nanana's Buried Treasure, or Silver Spoon, Magi, Blast of Tempest and World Conquest Zvezda Plot on Blu-ray. This is the one thing I resent AoA for. They are just holding on to these titles with no intention of ever releasing them. Anyone else would have put them out by now, but since they are too niche to support AoA's pricing model we'll never get them.

Yeah, I don't understand why they just sit on them. I mean, from a business perspective I understand why Aniplex Japan is refusing to re-license their titles to the various U.S. distributors that aren't AoA, to maximize their profit from and control over their various properties. I assume they're planning to license the ones they think will sell well to AoA in the future. But for the ones that they aren't planning to do a physical release for, why not license those out to other companies that would?

I guess the question that needs answering is: Which nets Aniplex more money, streaming-only for their various titles that they don't plan to release to home video, or sub-licensing those titles to other companies in the U.S. that would release them to home video?

Actually, now that I think about it more, that question is a false dichotomy, because AoA could still stream their titles that are currently streaming-only while sub-licensing them to other companies specifically for release to home video. So, yeah, I don't understand their reasoning for just sitting on them regarding physical release, even from a pure business perspective.

You also have to look at it with regard to other things like customer loyalty. I know that AoA's typical practices really aggravate a lot of people, and I can't help but think that their selection of titles is really the main thing in their favor, because many of them are really popular. I think it would help them gain some more goodwill if they at least sub-licensed for home video those titles that they don't want to release that way themselves.

But for the ones that they aren't planning to do a physical release for, why not license those out to other companies that would?

If it weren't handling a relatively niche product, AoA would've already been sued up the eyeballs.

This was less an interview and more a valentine. But I guess pressing him for the millionth time on Aniplex's horrendous price-gouging is just going to have the same effect: Goto glibly dismissing price concerns because a handful of "people" (read: monsters) actually buy these releases.

Sued for what? Selling THEIR product at the price they decide. Even in sue-happy America that will get laughed out of court.

SouthPacific wrote:

This will never happen, so no need to worry .

The concern some have is that they'll try to at least try to pander to a more global audience and drain away everything that's good about anime(think Hollywood). Goto's absolutely right that anime needs to stay Japanese or else it'll stop being anime.

Because that is not what recent scholarship (surprise, the humanities and social sciences are not useless) supports.

Please, can somebody explain to me how anime becoming mainstream (scoop: it already is, that is why Hollywood has taken an interest, and certainly not the other way around) has ever had damaging consequences on the medium? Because that is not what recent scholarship (surprise, the humanities and social sciences are not useless) supports.

With all due respect – and absolutely no disrespect intended – may I trouble you to to provide citations?