Another Article that Avoids Katrina: Anime Pricing
I first was introduced to anime back in jr. high. This was when I watched the two syndicated seasons of Dragonball Z. This was back when the Internet still mostly consisted of dial up and anime didn't penetrate much of American television, with a few exceptions.
When Cartoon Network first aired Gundam Wing alongside seasons 3+ of Dragonball Z, this was a time I actually became interested in anime. Mostly, if it wasn't on TV, I got my fix from what my friends got.
For Cartoon Network, it didn't take that long for anime to become an integral part of the station's lineup. TechTV also got a short lineup of anime, which is still being aired on G4. We are also seeing it's influence on other series and movies, the major one being The Matrix. Even Disney has anime in it's corner with translating Miyazaki's films.
The Internet also has expanded anime for it's fans, since series or movies no longer need go through a studio to get fan-subs (titles that are subtitled by fans). Studios still go though getting licenses to dub anime into english, as well as channels such as Cartoon Network airing them.
Unfortunatly, anime still has a problem here in the US. Anime is simply too expensive.
Fansubs are free, but are technically illegal (since they usually don't both obtaining the license to do so) and usually stop as soon as an American company obtains those rights.
Until recently, anime wasn't that much different then any other series. With videotapes, only a few episodes could be done on each tape, and those tapes weren't cheap. Few series at all were put onto videotape because of the huge expense.
But then came along DVD.
DVD made things cheaper as well as put more content into each disk. Not too many years ago, American series started to appear on DVD. One of the first successes was the original CSI, which was put into a multi-disk, season long DVD set. While it still isn't the cheapest thing (they retail around $60 per season), they were popular because one could pernamently own the series with only a small investment. Other series also made it to DVD, including The Simpsons (retails around $30-40) and Futurama. One reason Family Guy returned to the airwaves is because of the huge success in DVD sales.
So while every series that is American made is put into season-long DVD sets, anime still goes under the videotape model of seperate $20 DVD's that only contain a few episodes. This makes owning a series expensive, since one would have to collect all those $20 DVD's.
Gundam Wing, for example, costs a total of $200 for the 10 DVD, 49 episode series. The fist season of 24, on the other hand, costs around $45 on Amazon.com. Even the list price of $60 is less the 1/3 that of the anime series.
Movies don't have as much of this cost problem, since they are a one-shot item. But only Disney has done these well.
The reason: extras. Anime DVD's, series or movie, don't include much in terms of extras. There is never a comentary put on (although I would understand that difficulty), and there are few, if any, behind-the-scenes extras that are put in. Whereas American DVD's almost always include an extra disk full of special features, few anime DVD's do this (the original Ghost in the Shell movie does have such a set, but for $15 more).
There are plenty of anime series I would love to own. Evengelion, Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Gundam: 8th Mobile Suit Team, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, and Full Metal Alchemist would be on top of my list. But they all would cost at least $100 if I followed the seperate DVD model.
In doing some research for this, I have found some refuse. The Gundam series above costs only $45 at Amazon, but it is still more expensive then Futurama, which is priced at $30 (not only containing the same number of episodes, but far more special features then the 0 that Gundam has).
Whereas videogames have to change to get beyond it's current, nearly exclusivly 18-30 year old male, audience, anime has a chance to go into the mainstream. Anime DVD's are appearing at general retail outlets like Target and Fred Meyer. But in it's current form, they simply can't. Only the hardcore anime fans are willing to buy such DVD's, and they can just get illegal copies in a number of places now.
If companies want greater success in anime, they have to actually move toward a better model. As-is, people are more likely to buy only one DVD for their favorite episode. If they want more people to buy the entire series, and thus spend more on anime, they have to make it affordable.
Anime is appearing on American television. Not only that, it is becoming increasingly more popular. If anime series like the ones shown on Cartoon Network can succeed in the DVD market, it has to move on to a different model, one that doesn't consider itself a niche.
When Cartoon Network first aired Gundam Wing alongside seasons 3+ of Dragonball Z, this was a time I actually became interested in anime. Mostly, if it wasn't on TV, I got my fix from what my friends got.
For Cartoon Network, it didn't take that long for anime to become an integral part of the station's lineup. TechTV also got a short lineup of anime, which is still being aired on G4. We are also seeing it's influence on other series and movies, the major one being The Matrix. Even Disney has anime in it's corner with translating Miyazaki's films.
The Internet also has expanded anime for it's fans, since series or movies no longer need go through a studio to get fan-subs (titles that are subtitled by fans). Studios still go though getting licenses to dub anime into english, as well as channels such as Cartoon Network airing them.
Unfortunatly, anime still has a problem here in the US. Anime is simply too expensive.
Fansubs are free, but are technically illegal (since they usually don't both obtaining the license to do so) and usually stop as soon as an American company obtains those rights.
Until recently, anime wasn't that much different then any other series. With videotapes, only a few episodes could be done on each tape, and those tapes weren't cheap. Few series at all were put onto videotape because of the huge expense.
But then came along DVD.
DVD made things cheaper as well as put more content into each disk. Not too many years ago, American series started to appear on DVD. One of the first successes was the original CSI, which was put into a multi-disk, season long DVD set. While it still isn't the cheapest thing (they retail around $60 per season), they were popular because one could pernamently own the series with only a small investment. Other series also made it to DVD, including The Simpsons (retails around $30-40) and Futurama. One reason Family Guy returned to the airwaves is because of the huge success in DVD sales.
So while every series that is American made is put into season-long DVD sets, anime still goes under the videotape model of seperate $20 DVD's that only contain a few episodes. This makes owning a series expensive, since one would have to collect all those $20 DVD's.
Gundam Wing, for example, costs a total of $200 for the 10 DVD, 49 episode series. The fist season of 24, on the other hand, costs around $45 on Amazon.com. Even the list price of $60 is less the 1/3 that of the anime series.
Movies don't have as much of this cost problem, since they are a one-shot item. But only Disney has done these well.
The reason: extras. Anime DVD's, series or movie, don't include much in terms of extras. There is never a comentary put on (although I would understand that difficulty), and there are few, if any, behind-the-scenes extras that are put in. Whereas American DVD's almost always include an extra disk full of special features, few anime DVD's do this (the original Ghost in the Shell movie does have such a set, but for $15 more).
There are plenty of anime series I would love to own. Evengelion, Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Gundam: 8th Mobile Suit Team, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, and Full Metal Alchemist would be on top of my list. But they all would cost at least $100 if I followed the seperate DVD model.
In doing some research for this, I have found some refuse. The Gundam series above costs only $45 at Amazon, but it is still more expensive then Futurama, which is priced at $30 (not only containing the same number of episodes, but far more special features then the 0 that Gundam has).
Whereas videogames have to change to get beyond it's current, nearly exclusivly 18-30 year old male, audience, anime has a chance to go into the mainstream. Anime DVD's are appearing at general retail outlets like Target and Fred Meyer. But in it's current form, they simply can't. Only the hardcore anime fans are willing to buy such DVD's, and they can just get illegal copies in a number of places now.
If companies want greater success in anime, they have to actually move toward a better model. As-is, people are more likely to buy only one DVD for their favorite episode. If they want more people to buy the entire series, and thus spend more on anime, they have to make it affordable.
Anime is appearing on American television. Not only that, it is becoming increasingly more popular. If anime series like the ones shown on Cartoon Network can succeed in the DVD market, it has to move on to a different model, one that doesn't consider itself a niche.
posted by SeanM at 4:17 PM
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