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Answerman - Holiday Hustle

The way that films are made in Japan may be to blame.

Most commercial films are produced by TV networks and other media companies in a system of “production committees” (or seisaku iinkai) in which partners share investment, PR and other chores in return for a share of the profits. Six or eight partners, ranging from video distributors to radio broadcasters and advertising agencies, is common. And 12 partners is not uncommon.

“A lot of these so-called producers (on the production committee) are not film people and don’t know how to read a script,” adds Inoue. “In a film you can say a lot without words, but these guys don’t get that. And when they say ‘I don’t understand,’ someone has to add explanations to the script. The film becomes longer — and more boring.”

Another reason for the bloat in Japanese commercial films, says Inoue, is their origin in material from other media, including door-stopper bestsellers and long-running comics. “The publishers have too much power,” he explains. “They demand faithfulness (to the original material) and no one tries to fight them.” It didn’t always used to be this way, he adds. “Directors used to have fierce battles with creators (of original material), but that’s no longer the case. Everyone is just trying to get along.”

Very interesting Answerman this week. Thanks for clarifying the Studio Ghibli's blu-ray release out in US.

So dubtitling has reared its ugly head once again! I thought the practice died out in the mid to late 90s.

Similarly, I am not crazy about physical media like DVDs and BluRay. They take lots of space, are perishable/damageable, require a machine exclusively created to play them, and more often than not, I feel like I am paying too much for what I am getting.

The overprinting often tailed off. Ever wonder why things like the final Dunbine discs were so hard to find? Because nobody was ordering them by discs 11 and 12 so they stopped overprinting. When Righstuf had discs 1-10 in their massive ADV overstocks sale, they prompted a mad scramble to find the last copies of discs 11 and 12...

Do the clarifications for subtitles/dubtitles also fall into the DVD releases as well? (i.e. the 2005 DVD releases of Porco Rosso, Yamadas, Naussica/the 2010 rereleases of Kiki, Totoro, Laupta, etc)

Regarding Scott's question: Wow, I didn't know ADV and Geneon overprint their products during the anime DVD boom era.

[DVDs] take lots of space, are perishable/damageable...

I see plenty of people on MAL and elsewhere clamoring for a "Steam for anime" site, and touting it as the solution to all of the industry's global woes. But somehow, I doubt these folks are willing to pay anywhere near typical US per-episode prices, let alone Aniplex of America or Japanese per-episode prices.