Bandai Visual USA DVDs

[bluemax151]

Here's my opinion on Anime DVDs overall. I no longer buy single dvds but instead wait for the eventual slim case or foldout complete set. Why? Becuase it's invariably substantially cheaper and it takes up less space on my DVD shelf. I remember I bought the complete Blue Gender series individually for like $25 a piece and then later the much smaller (physically) boxset not only costs less but also included the movie version "Warrior" or whatever. So since the movie separately cost nearly as much as the boxset I just bought the boxset and got rid of my singles.

Now Bandai in particular is releasing all their old stuff in that Anime Legends series for substantially less money. I figure you can just wait and get the stuff later that you don't absolutely need now. If it's something that comes with something cool with the initial release like how .Hack came with all those soundtracks you don't get in the complete collection by all means get it if you want the Bonus/Omake stuff.

As far as the whole Japanese original sub only that's fine. Generally unless I'm lazy I always watch subs not dubs. I am always reminded of the atrocious Love Hina dub. Not that all dubs are inherently bad, Cowboy Bebop and Onegai Teacher were actually pretty good. More on topic I have a Patlabor volume and I don't feel cheated by the lack of a dub option.

[Aegis]

I am very happy to have finally watched Gunbuster in all its glory, and managed to spend about thirty odd dollars from Best Buy as opposed to fifty to sixty dollars bought anywhere else (HMV for example). Didn't care much about the extras, especially given the low quality in which they were recorded from in the first place. Still, it's thanks to that series that I very much want to watch Diebuster.

Thus, I must say that I'm not exactly all that pleased with the higher price, and the lack of episodes per disc. Lack of dubs, I can live with since I've always been quick enough to read subtitles, and I am rather fond of the Japanese voices anyways. With everything else, however, I love Gunbuster, and I would love to see its sequel, but I'm not THAT desperate.

And I agree that there's something to be said about boxsets.

[Saikuba]

Yeah, I was not happy when I found out that it'd cost me about the same to buy Wings of Rean as it would to finally pick up the fourth season of Farscape. I really had wanted to see that series, but I guess I'm waiting around until it gets box setted and hopefully the price drops quite a bit.

The problem is that there is so much competition. I don't have much a disposable income to spend on DVDs and computer games (it mainly goes to stuff like, I don't know, food), so when a price gets jacked up on something I just accept that I'm not going to be buying it any time soon. There are things to buy that I can actually afford, even in regards to anime (usually box sets that are just trying to get a last little bit of money off a failed series, like Brain Powerd).

But then again I don't think that I'm in the target anime demographic anymore for precisely that reason.

[YazanGable]

You know, I find it kind of funny that a company tied to Bandai would still continue to believe that the Japanese and US markets can be treated simultaneously.

They should probably take some advice from the folks over at BandaiEntertainment. They used the idea 'If a Gundam show is a success in Japan, it'll be a hit in the US' when they brought over MSG...
...and, because it was a market that hadn't been raised up on it, the show was slaughtered in ratings.
Hell, the anime industry in the US in general is a major testament to the idea that you can't treat the market as interchangable.

Several of the series that have met successes over here (Trigun, Berserk, GoLion, Big O) were actually either only lukewarm or flat-out failed in Japan (the directors of the anime version of Berserk were actually amazed to learn the show was well received in America, since its rather loose adaptation of the manga cost it big in Japan.)

So why, with a market that's shown time and again it doesn't work the way the Japanese market does, does BV think they can apply the same marketing practices and be successful

Insanity is, by defintion, the act of repeating the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

[DeltasTaii]

Pft, they didn't take BEI's advice at the time.

Force-feeding North America Gundam has always been moreorless Bandai Visual's idea.

[Dunpeal]

Does anybody know why the last episode of Gunbuster got letterboxed? And too bad that BV didn't include the bonus disc with the full-framed last eps like the Japanese did.

[padre]

Does anybody know why the last episode of Gunbuster got letterboxed? And too bad that BV didn't include the bonus disc with the full-framed last eps like the Japanese did.

That's the way it was made. The full framed version was re-cropped from the cells, and sometimes shows off unfinished bits that were never meant to be in frame (Jung's unfinished legs spring to mind).

[razgriz]

the latest seed destiny dvds have really gone down in quality too, where as the first couple basically took off after the seed dvds in menu animation and details the last few have had fewer animated menu segments and less and less filler material. they even use the blitz gundam as the gundam featured on the main episode menu. the blitz? that hasnt been around since ep. 30 of seed.

[Chris]

the latest seed destiny dvds have really gone down in quality too, where as the first couple basically took off after the seed dvds in menu animation and details the last few have had fewer animated menu segments and less and less filler material. they even use the blitz gundam as the gundam featured on the main episode menu. the blitz? that hasnt been around since ep. 30 of seed.

Please look carefully before you start complaining about DVDs. This thread is about Bandai Visual, not Bandai Entertainment. It's not the same thing.

[DeltasTaii]

'Tis worth noting, the Blitz appeared on the first disc of that menu style. Yay, flashbacks. Also, the menu design seemed to be farmed out, so it's mostly just made of stuff that looks cool now, making sense or not. Heck, I suspect the use of PRIDE as the main menu music is shearly for CD pushing too.


On a more relevant note, Bandai Visual is now releasing Japanese market HD-DVD and Blu-Ray (which stuff gets which format(s) seeming rather random) with the English content, dubs for some, just subs for others. Which begs why we need a Bandai Visual USA other than R1 and and getting Geneon to distribute, but if their market is people who like to import DVDs...

[Scyron]

I try to buy things other than anime, I don't have the time to work an extra job to support a hobby I hardly have any time for as is.

[Zeonic Glory]

While extras can be nice, they are just the thing they are called. Extras. Unless the extras enable you to enter a virtual reality world where you pilot the mech featured in the DVD, I could care less for them (extras like that would take some time to make and it would be expensive anyways). I prefer more eps over extras. More for your money, so to speak.