Topic: Why do anime DVDs cost so much? (Read 999 times)

ai-chan · « **on:** April 11, 2007, 01:55:03 PM »

One of the most frequently asked question is why do anime DVDs cost so much as compared to popular TV series/movie DVD.

Some times back I found an interesting article posted on AN site on this particular question. The following answer is based on that.

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Mainstream TV series on DVD are relatively inexpensive for two primary reasons. Mainstream TV series have already recovered their initial production costs during their original broadcast and possible syndication. The advertising and merchandising revenue these programs earned when they were new was their originally intended revenue source, so a later DVD release is merely a bonus, additional revenue source. Therefore a mainstream DVD release can be sold relatively cheap. Second, mainstream DVDs sell many times more copies than anime DVDs. Mainstream DVD releases may sell hundreds of thousand or even millions of copies. They can be sold relatively cheap because they earn their profits from sheer number of sales. On the other hand, anime DVDs almost never break a million copies sold. In fact, the overwhelming majority of anime DVDs even in US never even reach a hundred thousand copies sold. There are many anime DVDs in US that literally sell only a few thousand copies during their entire lifespan, and some anime DVDs sell literally only a few hundred copies during their entire availability period. An excellent illustration of this principle is Media Blasters' CEO John Sirabella's public statement that he doesn't expect the first Ah! My Goddess TV series to ever turn a profit in America. The licensing cost of the series was so high that Media Blasters is just hoping to sell enough copies to break even on the series before their distribution license expires.

According to unconfirmed report, average contemporary anime licensing starts at around $20,000 per episode and can go as high as $80,000 per episode! And adding an English dub can easily double the cost of releasing an anime series. When just getting an anime series onto DVD may cost hundreds of thousands, or even millions, yet the series may sell only a few thousand copies, it's just not financially possible to release the series at a price that competes with Mainstream Hollywood releases. It's a safe estimate to say that Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest DVD sold as many, if not more copies on its release day alone than the cumulative total of all the Cowboy Bebop DVDs ever sold in America. That's not an exaggeration.

The retail cost of anime cannot be directly compared to the retail price of mainstream DVDs because the investment necessary to release anime on DVD is far greater, and the sales potential of anime in much smaller than average mainstream DVDs. Mainstream retailers can only release inexpensive anime DVD sets after they've broken even on the series' licensing and localization costs from the sale of individual discs, or if the company is consciously taking a loss on releasing the discount priced sets just to get the show to market. Anime is regrettably not a cheap hobby, and it never will be. Licensing and translating anime is an expensive endeavor, and anime is likely to never be commercially successful enough to compete with the sales statistics of mainstream DVDs. That's why anime can't compete or compare with the cost of mainstream DVDs.

6pack · « **Reply #1 on:** December 15, 2010, 05:39:35 PM »

I know this is an old post but need to mention something here of importance. Was looking at a fansub site where they had bought american version bluray discs. They mentioned that the bluray discs were of worse quality than the original japanese version. The color, contrast, picture and audio quality was inferior than the japanese version.
Only plus between the japanese discs and the american discs was the price. The JPN disc whole set cost about 100+ USD while the US version was just about 45 USD shipped. lolz.

A lot of comments on the topic by US people who had bought dvd's before pointed to generally bad dubs and picture quality etc. Seems with lower cost, quality of encodes goes for a toss.
Guess where to source your discs from now onwards...

ai-chan · « **Reply #2 on:** December 16, 2010, 02:11:57 PM »

^
If you are implying that all US anime blu-ray release are of inferior quality then I would beg to differ.

In all fairness you need to evaluate each series or movie separately. It would be grossly unfair to lump all of them together.

While there are many good to excellent releases, there are many bad releases as well.

This depends on a lot of factors like - whether the native HD masters were made available to the studios, the amount of compression/bitrate used by the studio.

Then there are cases where studios (Funimation in particular) up-scaled the videos to 1080p and passed it on as blu-ray. While the result is better than the DVD release but can never match the Japanese blu-ray release.

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The JPN disc whole set cost about 100+ USD while the US version was just about 45 USD shipped.

A 13 episode Japanese blu-ray series box would cost anywhere between 20,000-30,000 Yen. Similarly, a 26 episode box would cost 40,000-60,000 Yen.

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Seems with lower cost, quality of encodes goes for a toss. Guess where to source your discs from now onwards...

With Aniplex (formerly Sony Pictures Entertainment), launching its US subsidiary - one can get the original Japanese blu-ray DVDs at a lower price in US.

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Aniplex of America announced on Monday that it will release ufotable's entire Kara no Kyoukai - the Garden of sinners film series in an English-subtitled Blu-ray Disc box in North America on February 8, 2011. The eight-disc box will include the seven theatrical chapters of the franchise plus the bonus Final Chapter that will be available for the first time in February. The online retailer Right Stuf will be the exclusive distributor.

The Japanese Blu-ray Disc box of the film series will ship less than a week earlier on February 2. Right Stuf will offer the North American version for US$398.98. (The Japanese release will sell for 52,500 yen or about US$620, although that is the suggested retail price before discounts.)

Source: ANN

6pack · « **Reply #3 on:** December 16, 2010, 04:09:36 PM »

I wasn't implying that all of the releases are of bad quality. I said most are inferior compared to the japanese versions. Some of your links point out to the differences - like Akira, where the audio is recorded in 5.1 in English but of lower bitrate, compared to the 2.1 and high bitrate track the japanese studios prefer.

And if they do this to the audio they must be encoding in lower bitrates for the video track as well. Its true that we'll need to get side by side png frame grabs of each version to make out the differences though. But considering the US versions come out for a lot less than half of what the Japanese versions cost people can't really complain i guess.

ai-chan · « **Reply #4 on:** December 16, 2010, 04:55:31 PM »

^
In case of Akira both the tracks are included, so the user has the discretion of using the Japanese audio with subtitles.

Kyo · « **Reply #5 on:** December 22, 2010, 12:16:57 PM »

Viewed the BR rip... best watched in Japanese Audio IMO... Given the vintage of the animation... BR didnt really do much for visual satisfaction...

Author Topic: Why do anime DVDs cost so much? (Read 999 times)

ai-chan

Why do anime DVDs cost so much?

6pack

Re: Why do anime DVDs cost so much?

ai-chan

Re: Why do anime DVDs cost so much?

6pack

Re: Why do anime DVDs cost so much?

ai-chan

Re: Why do anime DVDs cost so much?

Kyo

Re: Why do anime DVDs cost so much?