Kara no Kyoukai BD: Rank, Region and Control

So, some tidbits about Kara no Kyoukai BD box. I’m not sure why I’m so hyped on it, but it reminds me of last year’s True Tears ordeal. At least this time I know this isn’t a 720i (pardon the terminology) release…

RightStuf is listing the item as US and Canada only, with limited quantities. That is code for things like:

• They’re not selling it to Japan.
• They’re still going to ship to the UK and other locales west of the Pacific. For my English-language brethren elsewhere, good luck?
• This is not a localized production but a hijack of a set of the Japanese print run, so once it’s out it’s out.

Why “US and Canada” I don’t know, but I suspect they are just playing it safe about being able to deny people of other countries from buying it (if it comes to that). Why do I know this? Well we all assume part of this deal with RS (and Bandai’s US store) is out of reverse import fears (though at $400 that’s not much of a difference) , the rest I know from hearsay. Don’t we believe everything we read on the internets?

Well another possible reason why “US and Canada” is because they don’t want to enumerate every country they want to sell to; or vice versa, in order to avoid pissing off their home customers. If I was writing that up at RS, I would be like, uh, let’s be pretty tongue in cheek about this.

While I don’t know how I can link to it, I also confirm that at one point Rakkyo box made it to RightStuf’s top 10 weekly preorders, the week after it came live on the site. As of this writing it is #2 on the RS top BD list. It looks like a lot of people took the bait over Christmas. Does this mean we will still only see 40 units sold and Aniplex of America explode like a flaming effigy made of explosives, I have no clue. And I’m not entirely sarcastic: RightStuf is a place a lot of hardcore collectors go to buy their BDs, but the US anime BD scene is not exactly replete of stuff off of the shelf. I mean, FLCL is not even out yet (that one is doing pretty well at #4 on RS’s top 10) so I’m thinking the count for that category is going to be low to begin with. Can we use Eva 2.22’s sales as a marker? that’s #7. Or how about that delicious FMA Brotherhood sandwich at #6 and #1? Or the fact that pr0n, especially exploding acid boobs pr0n, sells (Queen’s Blade BD at #5)?

But surely the fact that it can rank that high on that list probably says something. Something about rich people and their fig newtons or some such.

PS. Since this is like an AoDVD research post, let’s go all the way: Chris B. has posted his reviews of the thing. Because he doesn’t post BD caps (and refuses to because “this is a check disk”) you can read it mostly for technical completeness (“hey it does have 5.1 PCM”) and for his anime reviewer’s function. Well he’s always been a pretty easy critic when it comes to content and he finds Rakkyo, as a whole package, completely compelling. Of course he is also one of the very, very few reviewers (if not the only?) for anime that goes at it with the full glorified visual experience, rather than a more conservative and, dare I say, manga-esqe, take on story and content. For AVhogs like me his review provides that juicy technical information that I want to know, as I am already sold on the content.