Forum - View topicDo you think anime is too expensive?
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ShinobiX
 Posts: 889 Location: NY |
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Hmm well u know if I'm selling a product I want to make money. Anime producers could care less about the public if they are not making any money. Well I'm a business guy but I think you should know most Japanese people are all about money. They won’t do anything unless they can make a profit from it. So what that means in my eyes is something is not popular if you’re not making any dough. If a million people like it but don’t buy it who cares? Theoretically that would mean people don’t like it because they believe it’s not worth their money. If something is worthless it's not popular |
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Bitter Almonds
Posts: 57 |
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You don't know what "expensive" is until you pay 40 bucks for a videocassette of Devil Hunter Yohko by AD Vision and 75 bucks for a Japanese videocassette of Shin Enjeru back in 1995 (or 1996?). LD box sets of shows such as Urusei Yatsura and Maison Ikkoku were - what? - 300, 400, maybe 500USD? One day, I woke up from my stupor and realised not all anime is great and worth owning (or even watching).
Prioritise and buy what you really like. Also, one man's financial tragedy is another one's way of getting stuff for cheap. If you don't mind buying used, there's plenty of junk out there at crazycheep prices (sometimes new). CPM's recent demise loosened up a few old titles. I managed to get a new Urotsukidoji 2-dvd set for 40USD when I had seen this thing go for at least 100 USED (f-that). Once I see a title go for a higher price than it was worth new, I won't consider buying it anymore 
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Bitter Almonds
Posts: 57 |
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chinese bootlegs don't count for s**t. I wouldn't pay a dime for that because I can download and burn just as easily. By the way, monopolies suck and wouldn't do squat for the anime industry (or any industry), except we'd take it in @$$ whenever the sole distributor wants to jack up the prices (which they will inevitably do). Ever play Monopoly™? Not just that, but if they want to sell you edited and censored titles, you have nobody else to turn to. |
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wizardz199
Posts: 112 Location: Hayward, CA |
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It all depends. I remember when I was young and I remember walking around the stores of Suncoast when I was around ten years old and seeing boxsets of series which ranged around the price of one hundred dollars a set and now I see the same series and new series for around 40-80 dollars a set which definitely much cheaper!
It also depends on how much of a fan you are. This applies to anything in life, what could be super expensive to one person if another person really loves that particular peice of fandom, then it would totally worth the price no matter how much it is. I think anime boxsets nowadays are reasonably priced for what they are worth. |
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Mushi-Man
 Posts: 1537 Location: KCMO |
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Actually a monopoly of the anime industry wouldn't be worth to much. They wouldn't be able to jack up the prices any time they want (just look at Geneon). The companies know that if prices are to high the fans will just go back to torrents. And They wouldn't be able to sell us censored products for the same reason. I'm just saying that the anime industry doesn't have to much leverage in these matters. |
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Zopelthe543
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I don't see whats the big deal about coughing up 20 bucks on a volume. I guess it all depends on a length of a series for me and how much I'm a fan. I would think its stupid if someone were paying 20 bucks per volume of a +100 episode series like bleach, naruto, and ect. Sure I am the type to wait for a sale or wait for a part sets/ box sets instead of buying individual volumes, but there have been times where I buy individual volumes instead of waiting because of how much of a fan I am of the series or that I just can't.
Sure you can call me stupid because of this but last I remember, the japanese are getting more screwed than us. Lets see for example I've coughed up bout 20 bucks per vol. of Baccano. each volume has 4 episodes, so 20 bucks for 4 episodes. Now the japanese have to pay about 60 bucks just for 2 episodes, So I'm not complaining and I don't see why anyone should when the Japanese get it much worse. but I'd guess if anime started costing us 30 bucks a vol. again I'd be complaining even if the japanese still get it worse, lol. ( that is a bit shallow of me) |
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Richard J.
 Posts: 3367 Location: Sic Semper Tyrannis. |
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Great series.
I've said before, I think prices are better than they were and I think they're more or less fair. Frugal living and at this point basically just having one company I'm buying from allows me to get what I want, when I want for the most part. I know not everyone's that fortunate but I can't ask for more than what I believe to be a reasonable price. Now, if a company starts releasing box sets with multiple discs, extra features and an English dub in high quality packaging at prices below the current norms and that company doesn't go under, then I'm going to start feeling less friendly to the current prices but I don't see that happening. |
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LydiaDianne
 Posts: 5634 Location: Southern California |
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When I first got my DVD player, it cost me about $900 total (not counting tax) for the Compete Fushigi Yugi series. And that was buying at Suncoast with a Rewards Card.
So to hear people complain about how expensive anime is THESE days is laughable. And for those who bought anime in the days of poor quality bootlegged and otherwise VHS - I'm sure they are laughing at you too! It's fairly easy to find the right sale. So what if you have to wait. (if you want to wait) Getting the sale price is worth it in the long run. |
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eyeresist
 Posts: 995 Location: a 320x240 resolution igloo (Sydney) |
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And we are laughing right back at them! 
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Bitter Almonds
Posts: 57 |
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Except I never complained about how expensive anime is - I just bought it if I wanted it
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Blue1
Posts: 2 |
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Overpiced? Buying the complete set of Maison Ikkoku will cost me 400 dollars (Viz's website). 400 dollars for around 2100 minutes worth of episodes. Now, let's compare that to say, Lost. Two seasons of Lost, worth ~2000 minutes, are priced at ~ 75 usd from amazon.com
With the average american income, who the hell would actually dish out 400 usd over it? I truly love Maison Ikkoku, and yet hell would have to freeze over for me to splurge that much on it. Before the advent of the internet and p2p, had I been in the need to watch it, I would have bought some second hand, recorded from tv vhs tapes for 30 usd, given that I was still at school. There's all this talk about how the anime industry in America is contracting. Putting aside the fact that I don't like 75% of anime ever produced (side note: what the hell are clannad, cardcaptor sakura, aiohanna, k-on, love hina, haruhi?? the anime market is varied and only a small percentage of all its titles ever produced have a wide appeal, but I tend to see too much crap produced, especially in the recent years - anime is a form of art, produced to mimick all that is beautiful, but the girl from aihanna looks botched and fugly, the characters from love hina which screams of mediocrity are ugly and cannot be looked at, sakura has not so subtle hints of perversion to it (hey, sibling love is not morally wrong, but pedo?), and etc.. and what the fcuk is up with all this lolicon tendency? you think that anime is going to go mainstream? i went to the crunchy roll website a few days ago, and saw an ad on the main page for this anime like multiplayer game which portrayed a female character on the right side of the advertisement with a cleavage that shows developed breasts but who could not have been more than 8 years old - this says alot about the current state of anime. I remember the good old days when things such as haikara san ga tooru were shown - this is how I remember anime. I find the italian intro especially beautiful, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v06bSFyDATU), how the hell does the american anime industry hope to expand its audience if it charges that kind of a markup on its animes? Obviously the american distributors already know the truth - the market is not gonna expand any time soon, except for false positives such as Pokemon (which is also one of my favorite animes - even though childish at times, the world is presented in such a beautiful and idealistic way in this show and its games that you cannot but fall in love with the franchise). I would say that it'll take a decade for actual, substantial, and long-term changes to happen in public perception if the japanese anime producers make a significant overhaul and 45 degree turn in content production, where currently 95% of the titles produced are vile (out of the recent titles made, I love spice and wolf). Restructure the production and profit derivation process too, given that the actual model is quite inefficient (I see a lot of middle-men) and ineffective. Aim at halving annual anime production (say, lowering it to 40% of the current annual anime title generation) if this means that the public (casual buyer) perception of the overall anime market substantially improves (and it would) - quality over quantity, discarding botched products and lolicon harvests. Currently, the casual western person sees a botched and lolicon filled industry that might offer some pearls. Problem though for the casual person is, how the hell does he or she unearth those hidden gems? Compare the production costs of typical tv series such as lost or dr. house to Maison Ikkoku, and then reason out if Maison Ikkoku can price itself at 4x the cost of Lost / Dr. House in the eye of the casual citizen. I don't like either of them, and consider Maison Ikkoku one of the best animes ever produced, but I am not stupid enough to believe that Maison Ikkoku needs to be priced that high in order to have a healthy profit margin, both in the US and in Japan, licensing costs included (supply and demand). The run down maniacs (and anime addicted) in Japan might think that the price is correct (not surprising, given the many wrong things about their economy and working habits - Japan is the best country on earth, whilst India comes second (two beautiful songs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ketLm2G3pRk which is slightly out of sync because the poster inserted a better quality version of the same song in the original video, and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9Vw2fL1Hw4 - the latter song is beautifully poetic), but I pity the average worker living in Tokyo), but normal consumers in the western world already know the truth. I remember when Mitsubishi presented its 65' laser dlp rear projection tv a year ago. They priced it at 7.5k usd, compared to the king of the plasma tv sets, the Pioneer Kuro 60', which was priced at 6k. All would be fine, and the picture quality of the laser tv is actually quite beautiful with its vibrant color gamut, had it not been that it cost Mitsubishi 1.7k usd per set to make it (the set is relatively simple and cheap to produce, when compared to a similarly sized lcd or plasma) - Mitsubishi was charging almost 4.5x. Great profit per capita, but who is actually going to buy it? Most of its intended target will shift towards a top of the line Plasma 60', if not for the fact that they would save substantially by getting a Panasonic instead of the Pioneer, and that the plasma set would be substantially thinner. Needless to say, the laservue has not been a great success (it is not even available in europe). Had they priced it at 3.5k, things would have been different. The profit margin would still be healthy, and they would have discovered that gaining a multiple of buyers would have made them at least as much profit through their failed strategy of ripping off consumers. That is what the complete set of Maison Ikkoku and the almost totality of animes are doing - they are ripping off consumers. Had it been priced at 100 usd, I would recommend it. At over 100 usd, I would rather tell people to give the money to charity. Not that viz's strategy is completely flawed, mind you. They do not intend to expand the current anime market (that's the job of the tv and of the internet, even though they are not having that much success), because of its inherent characteristic - what they are doing is squeezing the max out of the current market, believing that they do not have the power to make anime more mainstream, and thus, substantially increase overall demand from casual buyers. And who can blame them? As I said, 75% of all animes ever produced not only do not have a broad appeal, but are actually crap. But they, like similar companies, should not start blaming anime consumers for their economic woes. Keep the prices at where they are at, and they will only induce a good amount of people into saying that spending such large amounts of cash is not worth it (they will also not allow the anime market to grow - as I said, why the hell should the casual buyer buy a good anime title, given the inherent prices?). Anime consumers instead mainly resort to pirating, and sometimes buy second hand or unsold titles at a very substantial discount. Believe it or not, those at the heart of anime production actually value seeing their works of art appreciated by as many people as possible, and to justly receive recognition from their work. Only mediocre things can be produced by those who put wealth gathering as their foremost objective in creating all that can be appreciated. Significant works of art can only be produced by those who cherish in actually producing works of art, and monetary gain is merely needed to help them lead a healthy life. Perhaps I am suggesting that Rumiko Takahashi does not need to be worth 300m dollars (she would not notice any difference in happiness had she been worth 5m instead of 300m usd), and that attributing Maison Ikkoku as a whole solely to her, a manga artist, is very erroneous. The anime version is what actually shines through, not the manga version, and the producers in the anime project need to be thanked for making this possible. And buying Maison Ikkoku at 400 usd is not the way to do it, as monetary gain does not equal success, from an artist's (and any human being's) point of view. Such success, instead, stems from having as many people as possible appreciating it, which is the true value of a work of art, widely known or not. I can see supporting the Pirate Party myself - upholding copyright for 18 months sounds good. |
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Ktimene's Lover
 Posts: 2242 Location: Glendale, AZ (Proudly living in the desert) |
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I'd rather pay $35-$80 for a half-season, full season, or full series boxset than to shell out $20-$30 for a 3-5 episode individual volume.
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16961 |
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Ya know that's why I stayed at Sam Goody/Suncoast for 4 years.I made minimum wage, got no holiday or sick leave, and no benefits. The higher ups were a bunch of dumb asses and it's not wonder to me that Music Land (parents company that owned them and others) went belly up. The ONLY saving grace was the employee discount. We got 35% off od dvds which INCLUDED box sets, and 40% off of cds. That's the only reason my anime collection is so high. Add that with my Replay card I had with Suncoast I saved like 50% monthly on my anime. We weren't supposed to have Replay cards but because I had mine for 2 years before I started working there they couldn't say no. I just couldn't renew it (no biggie as it renewed it for 5 years before I started working heh) nor use it on the clock. Even in those days the Japanese themselves still payed more and this is their product. To me it seems a bit....ungrateful that people here in America complain about the prices, which are lower now then ever before, for a product not even created for us while their own people pay 50-100% more and complain about 50-75% less. Hell more and more of their fans are buying R1 dvds to save money and just using the original Japanese audio tracks. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24092 |
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Exackery. And remember: he who laughs with the most money in his pocket, laughs best. I'm glad I discovered anime recently. If I had been an enthusiast in the "olden days" I'm sure the price points would have kept me out in the cold. |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar Posts: 16961 |
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Even back in the olden days there were deals to be had. You just had to look harder to find them. Used dvds/vhs were a very good source of deals. Plus back then people actually took care of their dvds/vhs so it wasn't like you were buying some POS. Plus in those days it paid to have a membership card wherever you bought your dvds so you could save that way too. Beyond being cheaper now with the base price there are also many more places to find deals and sales.
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