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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?
Profitmon, I choose you!
It's a hand twinkler, you dumbass! And I got a bag of whoopass for you!
Yeah unfortunately a lot of that anime has the terms "DragonBall" or "-mon" in it. :-/
Well this makes sense, because anime isn't necessarily one big genre. Often anime movies and shows have similar themes / plot devices / etc., but when you get down to it Bubblegum Crisis is really pretty different from Neon Genesis Evangelion. I'm not too much of an anime geek, but I watch anime occaisionally. I think it should be phrased "Anime gains acceptance as a medium" rather than "Anime gains acceptance as a genre."
It fails to mention ADV's recent financial troubles, highlighted by the fact that in the past year they've had to give up funding the creation of several new shows and didn't announce any licenses during this year's con season (which is very unusual.)
It also fails to account for the fact that despite how small all of the anime companies are compared to say the music and movie giants in the states, the size of the warez base is MUCH LARGER relatively. There's a prevalent attitude among anime "fans" that paying for it is somehow supporting "the man" despite the fact that international licensors provide the japanese with a non-trivial amount of funding.
I like to call you the anti-fan.
The money is from the fact that a lot of morons will pay $24.95 for a DVD with three or four episodes on it.
Yeah, because that's near full MSRP. I buy online at dvdpacific.com where I can get them for $16 to $19 per disc. That's the price to pay if you want to support what you enjoy. And it's probably the best price the world over, considering the Japanese pay 5x that for TWO episodes.
Thanks, but I'll take a fansub instead.
You may think you're only spitting on the US licensor, but you're also spitting on the creator as well.
It's available earlier
You can do that when you ignore both the law and paying the creator for their time and effort.
the translation is rarely better (although rife with typos and other silliness)
Fixed that for you.
and I don't have to rip it to avoid the stupid non-skippable intro animations on anime DVDs, especially those from ADV films.
What non-skippable intros? I hit the menu button during the FBI logo on all of my DVDs and it jumps right to the menu. Every anime company does that (even ADV.)
I have been one of those morons on occasion
There we go. Only morons support that which they like. Everyone else screws them over.
I agree - I've been introducing people to it on a regular basis. I think its because of the raw quality of the work and the lack of good engaging material from this side of the planet.
I primarily download my anime via bittorrent. I check out what I like, and eventually buy the boxed set. Just this morning I recieved my box set of Azumanga Diaoh (funniest anime EVAR). If you have an easy method of previewing your content, it makes the purchase easier.
And I feel like I'm actually supporting something with anime, as most anime shops (in japan) are small and have very thin profit margins.
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To be perfectly honest, the reason ADV is raking in the dough, is that as one of the biggest anime distributers in America, they can charge an arm, a leg, and three kidneys for their product, and it will sell. You'll notice there are not a lot of anime distributers out there, so there are only a few mediums where you can get it from. While it is still cheaper to obtain it from online sources (AnimeNation and the like), it is still costly. I could buy all of Buffy, Angel, or even Hercules right now, and it would be cheaper than getting a box set of a particular anime series.
They won't come down in price, cause pretty much there is no reason for them too. While I download the occassional anime series, I still buy some of my stuff from Brick N' Mortar, or other various online sources. Hell, I am going to buy Grenadier, even though I have the fansubs to it on my computer.
Seriously, if they want to really rank in the dough, start dropping the prices to under the $20 level. At least then, it might make is justifiable to only the DVD for its extras. Keeping it at $29.99 might net you big profits in the short term, but as the years progress, there is only so much people are willing to take before they forever go the way of fansubs.
The Galatic Freedom Force marches on! Defend!
Most anime fans avoid hentai...but you seem to know alot about it. ^_~
Ooo man the floppy drive is broken. No wait. The computer is just upside down.