So 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 1-episode disc at $29.99 = $269.93, divided by 13 = $20.76 per episode. I later talked about Right Stuf’s release of Emma as being more reasonable and was brought back to a per-episode price, and it came up again on IRC with Blood+.

So I started wondering: how much does an episode of anime generally cost? In search of this answer, I went through all January US anime DVD releases and calculated the price per episode of each release (excluding movies and special editions). I DID leave in a Geneon release for comparison, as well as a couple of other cancelled releases (like Hikaru no Go).

Now, keep in mind that this is really NOT enough samples to get a really solid view on all the companies. I mean, sure, ADV, FUNi, VIZ, and Bandai Entertainment each put out a good chunk of releases, but BVU only had two, Geneon only had one that I could find enough info on to include, and TRSI only had one period. Media Blasters and Manga Entertainment also both had only two each, and Manga’s were both box set re-releases (which, of course, tend to be much cheaper).

The average price of a single anime episode, though, was $5.65. The most expensive company was, of course, Bandai Visual USA (at an average of $16.66 per episode– but again, only two releases in January to work with). The cheapest was Manga Entertainment, who again only had box set re-releases that averaged to $1.99/ep; Bandai Entertainment was in second with $4.70/ep.

The cheapest anime was the Medabots box set (if I got the number of episodes right) at $1.35/ep; second place was Noein at $1.84/ep. The most expensive were, again, BVU’s releases, MS Gundam IGLOO and Super Robot Wars OG Divine Wars, both at $16.66/ep.

The average per-episode price for box sets and rereleases was $3.19/ep; for new releases it was $7.05/ep.

Let me reiterate that this is all pretty unscientific– I really should go through, say, all of 2007’s releases to provide a more accurate picture. (Maybe I’ll get to it someday.) But this is a bit of a taste, I suppose. If you want to see my spreadsheet you can grab it here.

Just got a press release from TRSI, whose sub-only release of Victorian Romance Emma will be previewed in the final issue of Newtype USA (the February issue). And allow me to point out, for those of you still reeling from BVU’s prices, that Emma is coming out in two 12-episode box sets (one for each season), and the first one is $49.99. Go TRSI!

They did want to point out, though, that although the Newtype USA DVD will feature a letterbox (4:3 aspect ratio) early cut of the first episode of Emma, the actual DVD set will have widescreen (16:9) video.

Allow me to also note that Emma is a fantastic show, even if (like me) you’re not usually all that in to romance. It’s a beautifully animated period piece with spectacular character development and I highly recommend it.

According to a report from Anime on DVD, Right Stuf is no longer going to carry Mythwear products once they run out of current stock, and all licensing agreements for Mythwear to produce merch for Right Stuf’s titles are hereby cancelled. (Mythwear, for those who don’t know offhand, is the company that makes all those anime bags.)

Yowch! Harsh breakup, amirite? You’d think Mythwear was cheating on Right Stuf!

But as it turns out, Right Stuf is just fed up with Mythwear’s inaccessibility– apparently the company’s phone has been disconnected and no one’s answering their e-mails. I can’t help but notice that their website is dead as well. Hmm!