Slashdot Mirror
Profitmon Catches The Dollars
An anonymous reader writes "The mainstream press has finally discovered the cash in anime. Fortune's Daniel Roth profiles ADV, the largest anime distributor in the U.S.. He uses it as a way to talk about how the anime and manga business has, in what's become a rarity in showbiz, managed to find a way to do 'more than not alienate its customers: It has found ways to keep them buying and buying.' The article also details the madness of the anime superfans--the Otaku--and the likely Neon Genesis Evangelion live-action flick that Weta's Richard Taylor is pushing for." Good Content + Bittorrent = Profit?
There used to be a recent trend (around 1-2 years ago) where more and more American companies are funding Japanese productions, so if that trend continues, you're going to see more anime catered more towards a North American audience. Geneon USA funds quite a few productions in Japan that are produced by its parent company Geneon JP. ADV used to fund some shows, too, or planned to anyway. Somehow, their current state of financial affairs doesn't bode well for more funding of anime.
I see this and it tells me you only shop at places like Suncoast, which always charge full MSRP for stuff.
Look around online at legit shops like deepdiscountdvd.com or dvdplanet.com (or my fave, dvdplanet.com) and you can find shows for just over half MSRP.
That and ADV is releasing a lot of shows that only came out this year as thinpak complete collections. While they lack extras (which are of variable quality), you can get an entire show for $30-$60 in a nice, small box. And you support the industry as a whole.