Really? Bandai Visual USA Nabs Shigofumi, True Tears?
Anime, Licenses, News, Western News January 30th, 2008Tags: bandai-visual-usa, Licenses, shigofumi, true-tears
Well, kudos to BVU on speed: they’ve licensed both Shigofumi: Letters from the Departed and True Tears, according to Anime on DVD. Both shows are currently airing in Japan, having started in early January, and their first discs are both do out in the US in May. That means they won’t be out before their runs in Japan are over (each show is 13 episodes), but that’s still pretty quick turnaround for a full DVD release– as AoD points out, the North American DVDs will come out only a couple of months after the Japanese counterpart DVDs.
However, it’s Bandai Visual USA, so each 13-ep series will come out on 7 discs. Shigofumi will have 2 eps per disc except for the final disc, which will only have one; True Tears will have 2 eps per disc except for the FIRST disc, which will only have one– I guess BVU is experimenting. 1-episode discs will cost $29.99 and 2-episode discs will cost $39.99. For those of you counting, that means each series will cost about $270, or about $20.75 per episode. Yowch.
If you want my First Date reviews for these series, Shigofumi is here and True Tears is here.
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January 30th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Yowch indeed. Are BVU’s decision-makers ‘on speed’ in a more mind-altering sense?
January 30th, 2008 at 9:54 am
The pricing seems insane–I would have thought they’d learned their lesson trying to sell Galaxy Angel Rune at those prices, did anyone actually buy it? It’s one of those things where if everyone was selling anime at that price I wouldn’t complain, but when it’s so out of line with what the rest of the R1 distributors charge, it makes me think we’re being ripped off.
January 30th, 2008 at 10:11 am
It seems to me they are doing the same thing that the tech industry does. If you just “gotta have it now” you’re going to pay through the nose for it. If you can wait until it is all released, I’ll bet the prices will be amazingly cheaper. Everybody said they wanted more timely releases…*POOF*…your wish has been granted.
January 30th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Wow. When they go under, like ADV (germany?), they’re going to wonder what the hell happened.
(scoff) They’re going to blame it all on downloaders, and neglect the fact that they’re attempting to charge through the nose for a show (True Tears) that’s not especially good.
(no comment on Shigofumi, which I haven’t seen)
January 30th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Both are great shows which would probably do well over here… but you’ve gotta be fucking retarded to spend that much.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:01 am
@Auglaize: This is fast for the US anime industry, but it’s NOT fast compared to what people actually wish for– which would be accessibility (via download) within a week of the Japanese airing, if not sooner.
@Kitsune: Neither show seems like something I’d expect BVU to go for, and neither is one I’m likely to want to pay that much for. They’re both okay, but not amazing.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:45 am
I’d pick up these titles on DVD, but at this price? Got to be kidding me.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Gia: You’re 100% correct, fast by US DVD standards but not fast by download standards. Episodes at $.90 per/minute…prices like that will make non-downloaders, downloaders in a hurry, timely or not.
On your way back from Califorina, parachute into Houston and find out what is happening at ADV, please? I’ve got a shelf full of half-completed series that are rapidly looking like ophans.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:54 am
@Auglaize: Well, Houston isn’t exactly on the way to Portland from San Jose, but I’ll see what I can do ;)
January 30th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
[...] Visual USA: Those prices are still crazy. Just thought I’d let you know. Posted under Anime, Gossip, JP News, Legal, News, Western [...]
January 30th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Haha what a bunch of idiots who’s gonna buy poo tears for 2 episodes (or even 1 episode) per disk. LOL and they wonder why the industry is dying.
January 30th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
I could buy about 5 seasons of Battlestar Galactica for that much.
The thing is though, that’s how much it costs in Japan, the primary market.
Anime is over.
January 30th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
[...] 30, 2008 in Uncategorized YES! YES! [...]
January 30th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
$30 for one episode? You’re kidding right? 30 minutes….rather, 22 minutes of entertainment for thirty bucks.
Soooomeoone’s beeeen smooooking some craaaaaack…
January 31st, 2008 at 12:36 am
I used to buy R2 dvds back in the Love Hina era (started with LH of course) for around $60 each, which was the going retail price. All I can say is that I never got around to finishing the set (6 out of 9) because it got too ridiculously expensive. I can see why the prices in japan are much more expensive for the dvds because the market over there is of course much larger. But to price it like that over here where its just starting to pick up more momentum is just going to scare people off.
Charging $1 a minute for STANDARD DEFINITION content is beyond outrageous. That’s more expensive than what american studios charge per minute for High-def bluray or hddvd movies.
January 31st, 2008 at 11:06 am
>I can see why the prices in japan are much more expensive for the dvds because the market over there is of course much larger.
Actually, since the market is larger, the prices should be smaller (selling in larger numbers means you can charge less to make an equal profit). It has nothing to do with the size of the market, but rather, the intensity and insanity of the market audience. These are japanese otaku…half of them are probably hikikomori NEETs who are just living off of their parents anyways, and buy their precious moe shit mechanically and without any thought or reflection.
That’s probably a bit of an exaggeration, of course, but there’s probably at least some truth to it.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:41 am
[...] upon Bandai Visual USA’s announcement of True Tears and Shigofumi, I calculated the per-episode price of each 13-episode series– six 2-episode discs at $39.99 each plus one [...]
February 23rd, 2008 at 10:53 am
[...] released on DVD for obscene prices for the amount of content they provide, such as true tears from Bandai. This may perhaps label me as a hypocrite, and I accept that. I do admit I support piracy while [...]