More Anime News and Editorialising
Man, they just keep coming. More editorialised rantings on my end...
Ginei Goods Offers LoGH Jackets to Foreigners (or how not to do merchandising)
As most people who signed the LoGH petition have probably heard, the Japanese merchandiser for Legend of the Galactic Heroes has opened preorders to foreigners for jackets based on the Free Planets Alliance uniform in the series (click here for the actual site). While I'm glad to see that they are considering the foreign market again (albeit the second time around - they already did a run of 500 just for people in Japan), this is proof once again that some people who work on this project have their heads far up their asses.
Cases in point:
1. Sizes. The sizes offered are the same as the ones offered just for Japanese customers. In other words, a 30" chest is an XXXL. For those wanting some reference to the insanity of this, I'm approximately a 44" chest (yay for fat people), and my US Army BDU shirt/tunic/whatevertheheckitis is a size LR (Large, Regular height). Yes, I'm a fairly large person, and yes, people in Europe tend to be smaller width-wise, but they're also taller, meaning that the jacket isn't going to fit anybody except for a small minority of cosplay-friendly fans within the small minority of fans who like LoGH.
2. Cost. The jacket costs US$240. I can go to Land's End and get a full length down coat for $160, and a fleece or thinsulate type jacket for under $100. Yes, the design is cool, and it's nifty to have a one-of-a-kind (or one-in-a-thousand in this case) item, but it's just not practical, unless it's made of suede or leather or some damn nice and expensive fabric (which it probably isn't).
3. Missing something? Oyeah, the show's not (legitimately) available on DVD yet outside of Japan. Bass-ackwards? A bit. The fact that they won't even open orders for real until they get 500 sigs (and then won't produce until 500 actual payments clear) says a lot about how successful the Japanese really think their scheme is going to be. For a series which exists solely due to risktaking by those involved (the novels were going to get canned and only became popular once the fourth book was out, the anime wasn't successful until the second or third series, etc.), those behind it are just too damn afraid to take the leap of faith needed to enter the foreign market. Yes, LoGH is a prestige license, but the rest of the world isn't going to jump through the hoops or fork over cash like the Japanese market.
In short: Nice jacket, poor sales model.
ADV to release Gantz across 13 DVDs
As if every other reason to think ADV sucks wasn't enough, here's a new one. Gantz, a 26-episode TV series, is going to be released across 13 DVDs. OK, sure, that's normal for R2 Japanese discs, but this is the US release we're talking about. For the record, this will make it the second title in recent years to have more DVDs than the Japanese release (the first being Initial D).
Allow me a quick moment to get the insult out of my system: This decision is incredibly fscking stupid.
There, it feels better.
Now, let's speculate as to what's up with this, as ADV is remaining silent.
The first thing that needs to be understood is that Gantz is a Gonzo title. For whatever the reason (they all escape me), Gonzo animation is the flavour of the month, and studios are bending over backwards to get as much of their stuff out as possible. Gonzo licenses are amongst the most expensive for TV shows, and their titles do apparently sell well enough to justify it. The fact that Gantz has a separate Home Video version that needed to be licensed didn't help, either.
Second, ADV tends to compensate for this by putting Gonzo stuff out on an extra DVD for the show if they can (most noticeably is Full Metal Panic, which was on 7 DVDs instead of an afore-promised 6).
Third, the price is lower on each of the 13 discs (They're looking to cost between $10 and $11 if you know where to look online), making the price not-that-much-more than buying the series on 6 discs.
Fourth, Gantz has no chance in hell of getting on US TV. Lots of nudity, lots of extreme violence. Apparently it rivals the Spawn cartoon for both of these. As such, video sales are the only way to recoup cost, and Joe Suncoast buys what's cheap on the shelf. Who cares how many discs it is, each disc is cheaper than the rest.
OK, so this makes for a 7, possibly 8 disc release with a lowered price point. That could be understandable for some, forgiveable for most. But 13 discs?!
The most common speculation on the boards is that Gonzo demanded it out of ADV as Gantz is a high-ticket title which could suffer heavily from reverse-importation. I have no idea if that's true or not, but there are times when Japanese demands are enough to make sane people say to hell with it and move on. Then again, ADV has never been known to do that, such their lack of an attempt to get better Sailor Moon masters and hold out against Toei for the missing SMR episode. Of course, they may be REQUIRED to put Gantz out, as I've also seen posts that ADV was a member of the financing committee (hence the C&D sent out earlier this year to BT sites a good couple months before the actual announcement).
If ADV got stuck doing this despite having paid for production, I can only sit back and laugh - somebody was too stupid to have properly read their contracts. Of course, the Gantz issue may be a one-time deal. On the other hand, Elfen Lied, another ADV CoPro is coming out 2 eps/DVD in Japan, so we shall have to wait and see what happens next. I sure as hell hope that R2 disc counts don't become a trend over here, though. I'm running out of shelf space as it is.
Macross Goes Out of Print
The uncut, subtitled AnimEigo DVDs of Macross are going out of print at the end of the year. Make sure to stock up now.
Me, I bought fireye's boxset off of him about a month ago, so I'm set. Everyone else, AnimEigo is selling the miniboxes and individuals for 40% off, and Right Stuf has already announced that they'll be offering a deal on their remaining stock.
This is pretty sad news, IMHO. Besides the content, the work AnimEigo did on the DVDs is top notch - the remastered version is simply beautiful to behold, and it's a pity that fans in the future won't be able to get ahold of it. Macross also shows the power of fans. It was Macross that made the power of fan preordering blatantly visible to everyone (Sure Tylor managed to do it and get out the door first, but the sheer QUANTITY of people who paid up for Macross and got the MSRP dropped by $70 or so is notable). Bleh. Maybe HG will do something with it besides Robodreck Remastered, but I doubt it, unless it's reselling the sublicense to ADV *shudder*.
I wanted to end on some good news, but couldn't find any, except that Otakon is expression interest in the Yuusha panel...
Ginei Goods Offers LoGH Jackets to Foreigners (or how not to do merchandising)
As most people who signed the LoGH petition have probably heard, the Japanese merchandiser for Legend of the Galactic Heroes has opened preorders to foreigners for jackets based on the Free Planets Alliance uniform in the series (click here for the actual site). While I'm glad to see that they are considering the foreign market again (albeit the second time around - they already did a run of 500 just for people in Japan), this is proof once again that some people who work on this project have their heads far up their asses.
Cases in point:
1. Sizes. The sizes offered are the same as the ones offered just for Japanese customers. In other words, a 30" chest is an XXXL. For those wanting some reference to the insanity of this, I'm approximately a 44" chest (yay for fat people), and my US Army BDU shirt/tunic/whatevertheheckitis is a size LR (Large, Regular height). Yes, I'm a fairly large person, and yes, people in Europe tend to be smaller width-wise, but they're also taller, meaning that the jacket isn't going to fit anybody except for a small minority of cosplay-friendly fans within the small minority of fans who like LoGH.
2. Cost. The jacket costs US$240. I can go to Land's End and get a full length down coat for $160, and a fleece or thinsulate type jacket for under $100. Yes, the design is cool, and it's nifty to have a one-of-a-kind (or one-in-a-thousand in this case) item, but it's just not practical, unless it's made of suede or leather or some damn nice and expensive fabric (which it probably isn't).
3. Missing something? Oyeah, the show's not (legitimately) available on DVD yet outside of Japan. Bass-ackwards? A bit. The fact that they won't even open orders for real until they get 500 sigs (and then won't produce until 500 actual payments clear) says a lot about how successful the Japanese really think their scheme is going to be. For a series which exists solely due to risktaking by those involved (the novels were going to get canned and only became popular once the fourth book was out, the anime wasn't successful until the second or third series, etc.), those behind it are just too damn afraid to take the leap of faith needed to enter the foreign market. Yes, LoGH is a prestige license, but the rest of the world isn't going to jump through the hoops or fork over cash like the Japanese market.
In short: Nice jacket, poor sales model.
ADV to release Gantz across 13 DVDs
As if every other reason to think ADV sucks wasn't enough, here's a new one. Gantz, a 26-episode TV series, is going to be released across 13 DVDs. OK, sure, that's normal for R2 Japanese discs, but this is the US release we're talking about. For the record, this will make it the second title in recent years to have more DVDs than the Japanese release (the first being Initial D).
Allow me a quick moment to get the insult out of my system: This decision is incredibly fscking stupid.
There, it feels better.
Now, let's speculate as to what's up with this, as ADV is remaining silent.
The first thing that needs to be understood is that Gantz is a Gonzo title. For whatever the reason (they all escape me), Gonzo animation is the flavour of the month, and studios are bending over backwards to get as much of their stuff out as possible. Gonzo licenses are amongst the most expensive for TV shows, and their titles do apparently sell well enough to justify it. The fact that Gantz has a separate Home Video version that needed to be licensed didn't help, either.
Second, ADV tends to compensate for this by putting Gonzo stuff out on an extra DVD for the show if they can (most noticeably is Full Metal Panic, which was on 7 DVDs instead of an afore-promised 6).
Third, the price is lower on each of the 13 discs (They're looking to cost between $10 and $11 if you know where to look online), making the price not-that-much-more than buying the series on 6 discs.
Fourth, Gantz has no chance in hell of getting on US TV. Lots of nudity, lots of extreme violence. Apparently it rivals the Spawn cartoon for both of these. As such, video sales are the only way to recoup cost, and Joe Suncoast buys what's cheap on the shelf. Who cares how many discs it is, each disc is cheaper than the rest.
OK, so this makes for a 7, possibly 8 disc release with a lowered price point. That could be understandable for some, forgiveable for most. But 13 discs?!
The most common speculation on the boards is that Gonzo demanded it out of ADV as Gantz is a high-ticket title which could suffer heavily from reverse-importation. I have no idea if that's true or not, but there are times when Japanese demands are enough to make sane people say to hell with it and move on. Then again, ADV has never been known to do that, such their lack of an attempt to get better Sailor Moon masters and hold out against Toei for the missing SMR episode. Of course, they may be REQUIRED to put Gantz out, as I've also seen posts that ADV was a member of the financing committee (hence the C&D sent out earlier this year to BT sites a good couple months before the actual announcement).
If ADV got stuck doing this despite having paid for production, I can only sit back and laugh - somebody was too stupid to have properly read their contracts. Of course, the Gantz issue may be a one-time deal. On the other hand, Elfen Lied, another ADV CoPro is coming out 2 eps/DVD in Japan, so we shall have to wait and see what happens next. I sure as hell hope that R2 disc counts don't become a trend over here, though. I'm running out of shelf space as it is.
Macross Goes Out of Print
The uncut, subtitled AnimEigo DVDs of Macross are going out of print at the end of the year. Make sure to stock up now.
Me, I bought fireye's boxset off of him about a month ago, so I'm set. Everyone else, AnimEigo is selling the miniboxes and individuals for 40% off, and Right Stuf has already announced that they'll be offering a deal on their remaining stock.
This is pretty sad news, IMHO. Besides the content, the work AnimEigo did on the DVDs is top notch - the remastered version is simply beautiful to behold, and it's a pity that fans in the future won't be able to get ahold of it. Macross also shows the power of fans. It was Macross that made the power of fan preordering blatantly visible to everyone (Sure Tylor managed to do it and get out the door first, but the sheer QUANTITY of people who paid up for Macross and got the MSRP dropped by $70 or so is notable). Bleh. Maybe HG will do something with it besides Robodreck Remastered, but I doubt it, unless it's reselling the sublicense to ADV *shudder*.
I wanted to end on some good news, but couldn't find any, except that Otakon is expression interest in the Yuusha panel...