A world without anime?!

[Kenryoku_Maxis]

Originally Posted by GatoFiero

If the U.S. stopped importing "anime, manga, videogames, ect..." from Japan then I would probably be happy and sad at the same time. Happy that I could start getting free anime and manga from the bootleggers. Sad because the anime companies wouldn't be getting as much cash.

Just to make a note here. Just to inform people because most really don't know.....

When you buy a DVD from an American Distributor of Anime, the original creators 99% of the time don't get any money off of it. The only money they get is small sums of money which are basically single payments for total, and I mean TOTAL ownership of said American Distributor to do whatever the heck it wants to the Anime in America. Hence why we have such things as edited Anime. The original company gave up the rights of the show to said company based in America and so, as long as the product is going to be released by the company in whatever area the contract specifies, they can do it in any way they want.

So, that's also why Anime DVDs are 2x-3x more exspensive than normal American Movies and prices never drop. Not just because they added subs to it (avg cost per episode is 100 dollars paid to a professional subtitler) or because they added dubs (which can be just as cheap or cheaper for the company).

[Dilandau]

Hey Kenryoku Maxis, I have a question. Your point is very true. However, if anime wasn't exported to America at all, then they'd still be fucked right? They wouldn't sell the rights and whatnot in the first place Not to try to argue, yadda yadda, but that's still the bottom line for the guys over in japan. Just making sure (: It is 2 30 am after all.

[Priest4hire]

So, that's also why Anime DVDs are 2x-3x more exspensive than normal American Movies and prices never drop. Not just because they added subs to it (avg cost per episode is 100 dollars paid to a professional subtitler) or because they added dubs (which can be just as cheap or cheaper for the company).

Anime is more expensive because it's a niche market, and the distributors jack the prices up to compensate for the lower sales. Also explains why most anime releases are bar bones. Still, there have been reductions in the price. The Miyazaki releases were all regular movie price, and my copy of the entire Blue Seed series was pretty decent. The SE re-release of Beautiful Dreamers is also at a more decent price, abut $25 Can, as is Key The Metal Idol: Complete Collection. In fact, Key is about the same price as a single DVD of Cowboy Bebop, so that's a definite improvement.

Whether or not the original company gets a share of the profit or is just paid a flat fee for the rights, the sales of anime help out the original company. For one thing, the larger the market the greater the demand, which in turn will mean better rates and more control for the parent company. Profits from other markets do help the bottom line, and the North American market is quite large and wealthy. So there is certainly the potential for some decent profits, which would help with the creation of anime in Japan.

PS. If the Japanese wish to avoid having their anime butchered they will have to set stricter limits along with the rights. Not every company will be as respectful of the original content as Disney has been. And I?m still amazed Disney was so respectful. Of course there has been a move by Japanese companies towards keeping control over their material. I know the original agreement, before Mononoke opened so weak, between Ghilbi and Disney allowed for no editing.

[Kenryoku_Maxis]

There are some good deals. Funny thing is, I own 3 of the 4 things you mentioned because I found them so cheap at the time. Trouble is....you named about 1/4 the total good deals I've ever seen for Anime DVDs.

And yes Anime is a Niche market, but as I have come to say, its a Multi-Million dollar niche market that is deemed such more by the amount of public press it gets and not by how much money it has brought in for the companies.

And my main argument besides the fact that Japanese companies are in fact getting even less money today than they use to for the rights to Anime is that eventhough the popularity for Anime rises at a substancial rate, the likewise lowering of cost for Anime DVDs on avg. has barely moved. So yeah...

Its a complicated mess and goes beyond simple monetary issues but I don't want to into it here so much because I know there will be people who feel the need to argue with me eventually because they stick by the distributors....and the last thing I need to do is het people angry at me because I feel so strongly against them.

At least you seem to see how much they do edit things and some of the price gouging (sp) Priest.

[Raiden]

Let's just say that no anime makes Raiden a very, very bad boy.

[Forever Zero]

A week ago, I wouldn't have cared much. A mixed set of my games are Anime based, but other then that it didn't effect me. However now that I've started watching Cowboy Bebop and Trigun, it would annoy me to no end not to be able to just watch them on TV, although I would resort to Kazaa and things like that if I needed too to see all the episodes of those series...

[Otaku Son]

Aerozoid, bootlegs are still sold on eBay, despite being illegal. And I highly doubt eBay doesn't monitor the transactions on their systems. In fact, once in a rare-blue-moon, they actually crack down on bootleg sellers.

Also, if I can direct people to my website, and to the Otaku Only section, they'll find an article I wrote on anime distributors, and retail stores. The price of anime and video games vary from store-to-store. When I got Gungrave, it was new, for $15 at Wal-Mart. I see it on Gamestop's "Used" shelves for $18. Likewise for anime, Suncoast is the most expensive, unless you pre-order it(take off abou $10~$15), while Hastings in the cheapest. Also, Funimation is pricing their DVDs by the content(each Kiddy Grade is only $25, or $20 if you pre-order it, for three episodes instead of the obscene $30). I won't complain much about Bandai because the episode-to-price ratio is fairly reasonable, and ADV used to be reasonable about it but they got greedy. And yes, there are times when prices will drop on anime; usually new DVDs will be $5 cheaper(except for boxsets, but again, pre-order!).

I came to realize something else. Going with the flow of a lot(note: "a lot" is two separate words, people; like "a parking lot") of people wouldn't be exposed to a new culture, as a result, a lot of would-be creative people wouldn't realize their creativity. Take my fanfiction for example: sure, there's some American-based stuff in there, but most of it is Japanese-oriented. An orignal novel I'm working on was also inspired partly by anime and video games.

[snuj]

A world without anime/manga would be an embodiment of such hellish and neurotic debauchery so ignominious and opprobrious as to abrogate all congenital and cognizant acumen. I have no idea what I just said, but yeah, it would suck if we didn't have anime/manga.

[synkr0nized]

Originally Posted by Otaku Son

Going with the flow of a lot(note: "a lot" is two separate words, people; like "a parking lot")

Language lessons on this board are a waste of time, but I applaud the effort.

[Raiden]

I would end up sobbing for a while, curled up in a fetal position in the corner of my room.

That would probably last for a few days.