The writing was on the wall. It was interesting to see how they would crank down their operation. When the store got axed you knew it was going to happen. At the same time, you wondered how that impact Aniplex’s fledgling operation. I get the feeling thanks to their partnership, Bandai lasted longer and long enough to do something like, say, K-ON on single Blu-ray volumes.
Admittedly my perspective is really skewed–someone who would spend a lot of money to buy, say, Madoka CE or the Rakkyo set. I don’t really like what that implies. I mean, again, K-ON was a simple, bare-bones, $30/pop sort of a deal. At least give us something like Madoka’s release? But now there’s just one less player. According to the Justin/Chris write-up from Iyadomi, it may mean that more Gundam Unicorn-esqe releases. That would make an acceptable trade-off for someone like me.
It’s kind of sad that I’m more concerned about “will there be a Bandai After Dark panel at Otakon?” than any of this. Including the people that got let go! That sucks, man. I hope you guys get some time to enjoy your unemployment benefits and have no problem finding a new and better job.
In the midst of this, I think it’s important to note that Bandai’s shifting out of this new release thing because of a strategic restructuring from the Motherland. It’s that time of the year. It isn’t just because title X or Y didn’t sell well, or because they’re still doing single releases–if anything I think we will see more single releases in 2012. That’s what Japan wants. And when it’s done right, that is what I want, too. Actually I want whatever that is done right, single or sets.
And in the end, that is what matters. That and “what is going to happen to K-ON“? All those people pining for Turn-A Gundam, I feel you. But I’ve been feeling you for so long, I don’t know why you’re still worrying about a 1999 title. It’s not healthy.
January 3rd, 2012 at 2:54 pm
I did not understand anything you said in this article. Sorry, otherwise, I like your blog.
January 3rd, 2012 at 5:19 pm
You know, other than the price point, single disc releases are fine to me. It’s a time commitment thing (or at least a perceived one). 3-4 episodes is about as long as a movie, so I have no problem pressing “play.” These box-sets, with 7-9 episodes on the first disc creates this mental barrier and I stall out or say, don’t have all day to watch this.
Anyway, since I like watching anime with English audio, the bummer for me is it pretty much leaves just one pool of voice actors left as far as English dubbing goes. And related to that, “what is going to happen to K-ON.”
January 3rd, 2012 at 5:27 pm
I don’t mind single disc releases, too. I mean if someone puts out a 12-ep show for $30, that’s maybe 2/3 of the price of a 3-SKU single release of the same. And you get better packaging usually. Now K-ON was a 4-disc release. I half suspect this was due to some licensing restriction (lol reverse imports; or selling to Europe).
So in the end it was still the Japanese that wanted to sell their stuff their way, and got their way. And there is no escape from this besides the slow and torturous road of dealing with the Japanese directly. That is something I actually look forward to! Maybe that is the future after all.
January 3rd, 2012 at 6:23 pm
I failed to see how people “worrying” about a 1999 anime is unhealthy than worrying about a recent one.
January 3rd, 2012 at 10:39 pm
It’s been 13 years!
January 5th, 2012 at 8:58 am
The last bunch of posts here have been about 15 and 19 year old anime series, so let us line for our series from 13 years ago.
January 5th, 2012 at 9:52 am
Anime series they are not.
I have no problem with you wanting to watch something old, but whining about Turn-A not being licensed is something that would have to persisted for 13 years. I mean I understand most people didn’t get into Turn-A until like…6? years or so ago, and that would explain it. Plus, a couple more years is not going to really hurt any more.
I mean, FFS, Ocean Waves is still not lined up for a DVD release, and that is from 1993.
January 5th, 2012 at 8:22 pm
Ocean Waves DVD: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ocean-Waves-DVD-Nobuo-Tobita/dp/B002BC9YHA/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1325812882&sr=1-1
January 6th, 2012 at 12:26 am
I have it on my shelves. Then again, I’ve also seen Turn-A on DVD (just not legit).
January 8th, 2012 at 11:46 pm
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