Is Bandai Just Stupid (Gundam Seed Destiny)

[bobber205]

When the released Gundam SEED, it was two dvds every other month.

I liked that.

Now with Destiny, it's ONE a month every other month?
What????

It'll take a two whole years for the whole series to come out!

I hate to buy bootlegs but good gosh! I don't really want to have to wait two whole years before I can own the whole series.


Any ideas on what they might do instead?

[throughhim413]

They might realize what an awful show Gundam SEED Destiny was and give us some of the old-school and awesome UC Gundam instead. Though that's probably wishful thinking. If you haven't seen Gundam SEED Destiny, let me be the first to tell you that it's horrible, far worse than SEED. You shouldn't be in a rush to own it, the extra time between releases will allow the pain to subside before rubbing more salt in the wound.

[Leader Desslock]

Why would you buy bootlegs? Just download the thing and replace the fansubs with the legit DVD's as they're released. I'm not one to support fansubs, but I can't see the sense it paying for it twice if you've already made up your mind to get the series.

Of course, if it was me, I'd just watch something else for the next couple of years until the box set is released. But that's just me.

[Takachsh]

Personally GS and GSD is godly in terms of Gundam, but thats just me. [Zeta would have to follow after them] And if I have to wait 2 years for 12 discs then so be it, I've got no problem with waiting. Bandai just might just change the release format even, so you never know.

So just deal with it and don't buy bootlegs at any cost. ^_^

[Lord Timaeus]

Trust me, you're not missing much from what I've heard...

[Sora N]

I’m upset with Bandai on the Gundam SEED Destiny release schedule, number of DVDs, no insert in the DVDs, and the box w/the CD Sampler….. :'( to tell you the truth, I expected more from Bandai........ :uhh:

[Psychopuppet]

I think Bandai is still suffering from Future Media (was it) closing and thats the reason for the 2 month schedule I have a feeling once they get duplication back to normal they may go a head and switch to the once a month schedule.

But' they still have no excuse for the past couple horrible or cheap box's but thats just IMO.

EDIT: I've been noticing some problems since they merged with Namco DVD wise at least.

[floatin_pancake]

Bandai's product quality has seriously deteriorated this past year (at least that's when I first noticed it). If they didn't have so many shows I like, I probably would just quit buying from them. And the issue with the DVD releases being one every other month...it's really not that big of a deal. Like others have stated, try finding a fansub if you want to watch that badly. We should feel lucky that Bandai stuck to the two DVD a month release for so long. I've not known many other licensors to do that. Try finding another show to fill in the gaps when you can't watch it (if you don't go the fansub route), or just watch some of the older Gundam shows. There's so many, it'll keep you entertained for a looong time. ;)

[master terrence]

good thing I didn't started it yet, waiting long for the set or something along those lines... might take a long time, but atleast I won't be waiting like I was for Hajime no Ippo, it was so hard, I just switched to the manga.

[_jwb388_]

They might do something like FMA. Later on they will switch it to every month probally.

[Rahxephon91]

People dont listen to the haters! Destiny is great! Its well worth the wait.

[bobber205]

I don't listen to the haters. ;)

I love what I've seen so far. :D

[getter77]

So long as they treat it better subtitle quality wise than all us Zeta Limited Set folk were stuck with...

[Sharp-kun]

I don't listen to the haters. ;)

I love what I've seen so far. :D
It starts off good, then goes horribly downhill about halfway through.

[Soluzar]

I don't listen to the haters. ;)

Trust me when I say that nobody was a hater at the start of the series. Nobody was a hater even half-way through. I clearly remember how positive most of the comments on GSD were up until about three quarters of the way through...

If anyone is a hater now, it's just because they feel let down.

[throughhim413]

Trust me when I say that nobody was a hater at the start of the series. Nobody was a hater even half-way through. I clearly remember how positive most of the comments on GSD were up until about three quarters of the way through...

If anyone is a hater now, it's just because they feel let down.Soluzar speaks the absolute truth. People were really enjoying this show, myself included, until well into the show. The second half of the show just fell into a horrible trap. I wanted to like it. I wanted Shinn to get character development. I wanted Kira and Athrun to quit stealing the spotlight. I wanted a lot of things, so did others, but we didn't get any of it. It was just a big unfortunate letdown. I don't plan on buying GSD. I might feel bad about it, but the last thing I want to do is send a signal to someone that I want more shows like GSD.

[bobber205]

That's interesting. I've heard it many times before.

Oh well. Surely they won't screw it up in Eternity.

Here's hoping!

[Crawlspace]

One dvd every other month is a standard release pattern. The two every other month, in a saturated and overcrowded market, might not have been working well for them (with limited shelf space at retailers and penny pinching consumers), so they went with a normal release pattern for Destiny rather than what they did with the first series. And as someone pointed out, one of their dvd replicators went out of buisness, leaving them in a scramble to find a new replicator for things they had in the pipeline.

Is it a 6 week schedule or an 8 week schedule? Just curious, since they seem to be doing 6 weeks with Hime. It'll be interesting to see how Funi does with the 4 week schedule, though, and if other companies will follow suit should it go well.

[MonkeyBoy0314]

If Bandai were smart, then they would've released the first two seasons of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers on DVD

[bobber205]

Go Power Rangers! I loved that show.

Since Volume came out on March 13th or so... and the 2nd volume doesn't come out until end of may. It's definitely on an eight week schedule.

Darn. ;)

[MightyDustLoop]

Enjoy it while you can. All those parts a bit slow, but feel like it's at least building up to something? Don't know what it is? Neither did they. I really wonder what the original plan for this series was like.

[Westlo]

It starts off good, then goes horribly downhill about halfway through.

By halfway you mean ep 6 right? Because 7-26 was not exactly leaps and bounds above 27-50 in terms of quality.

[Westlo]

Trust me when I say that nobody was a hater at the start of the series. Nobody was a hater even half-way through. I clearly remember how positive most of the comments on GSD were up until about three quarters of the way through...

If anyone is a hater now, it's just because they feel let down.

I must've been posting in another thread because their were a heap of negative comments on GSD from the get go. Though the "I love Shinn and/or hate Kira" fanclub did turn on the show in the late 30's early 40's.

The first 5-6 eps were pretty damn good* and from thereon it was mainly average eps with a few decent ones** spread throughout with a few inexcusable recap eps.

* Shinn didn't really do anything but take up screen time putting together impulse, getting saved by rei and ******** his pants in awe of athrun/yzak. Gilbert had great potential at this stage and they just wasted him sadly

** Freedom making itself known again, Impulse Vs Freedom for a few..

[Sharp-kun]

By halfway you mean ep 6 right? Because 7-26 was not exactly leaps and bounds above 27-50 in terms of quality.
Might be my memory, but I don't remember reallly thinking "this is ****" until about halfway.

[HitokiriShadow]

Even the beginning of the series had problems (namely Shinn, the supposed main character, having minimal screen time) but at the beginning, it was easier to ignore and you could just say "It will get better later." Somewhere between 25 and 40 (it seems to vary from person to person depending on what you were hinging your hopes on) the series hits a point of no return where you just hope the end won't completely suck.

[MightyDustLoop]

That would be it right there. Not just Shinn not having come into form yet, but everything really felt like it was building up to something. That, ultimately, the slow bits after the first ten episodes were plotting the course for the ride. Like getting on a roller coaster and going up, expecting it'll pay off when the drop comes. Then....nothing....

[Bernard_Monsha]

When the released Gundam SEED, it was two dvds every other month.

I liked that.

Now with Destiny, it's ONE a month every other month?
What????

It'll take a two whole years for the whole series to come out!

I hate to buy bootlegs but good gosh! I don't really want to have to wait two whole years before I can own the whole series.


Any ideas on what they might do instead?


Because Bandai hates UC fans. Look ZZ in 2018.

[Smith]

Because Bandai hates UC fans. Look ZZ in 2018.
How old would ZZ be then in 2018? Not to mention the other unreleasede UC Gundams..

[The Million Dollar Prons]

I think the franchise will be in the 30-40 year agerange in 2018.

[Smith]

I think the franchise will be in the 30-40 year agerange in 2018.
Calling Bandai stupid has to be an understatement. I love Bandai for releasing Zeta Gundam, but prolonging ZZ and other UC Gundam shows just tips the scale toward my distaste for them.

[MAGIC CHEF]

I cant even find GSD vol 2, also the 0083 boxset come to think of it I think I waited to long to buy it :crybaby: .

Also the last 4 vols of mobile suit gundam is no where to be found instock. Anybody know where I can get those besides ebay?

[MightyDustLoop]

Calling Bandai stupid has to be an understatement. I love Bandai for releasing Zeta Gundam, but prolonging ZZ and other UC Gundam shows just tips the scale toward my distaste for them.

Well, from a marketing standpoint, if you don't see the series "high" on the potential sales, you lower its priority. Most likely this is what bandai's been continuously doing. With each new license, ZZ and others are knocked down behind another show. Hopefully they get to a point where they have quite a few employees but not much licensing action going on. Then I'd imagine we'd see it.

It...well....at least makes sense to me if they're making the decision based on sales numbers. Copies sold are a factor in profitability, so if they're making decisions based on some profitability numbers, I can't really quip at them. They're pissing all over some hardcore Gundam fans, but making what they calculate to be a larger number of people happy (or at least dollars). Too bad they can't just pony up and get it out there simultaneously, but if they're already maximizing their current resources, I suppose they have to form a line of priority.

[Crawlspace]

^That's it exactly. Gundam doesn't make the money today that it did in Gundam Wing's heyday. The older series especially tend to get overlooked by the newer fans, even those who like Wing or Seed, because of the animation style. So the yet to be released Gundam series get pushed to the back burner. They'll be released someday, most likely, but these are becoming fan releases rather than guarenteed money makers. And it is a buisness, after all. They have to release what makes money before they put out titles with small audiences that will barely break even.

[Smith]

Wouldn't the UC shows make money if Bandai would advertise them a little more? It is also possible Bandai wants to sell off the Zeta discs that are out now, and then release ZZ in a couple of years. It just seems to me the more Bandai prolongs the UC shows, the less money they will make, because by the time (2018?) they are released, they will be realllllly old and really seem outdated.

[Crawlspace]

I admittedly don't have any idea how old the UC shows are. But if they're the ones with the older animation, then the audience isn't going anywhere. It'll be the same ones buying now as it will be 5 years from now. There's also the possibility that they're having issues with the Japanese over aspects of the release, as they have in the past. As for advertising, they can only do so much. Commercials on network tv or cable for an anime release that isn't airing isn't really cost effective for the units it will move, and print ads are pretty much preaching to the choir. Cartoon Network isn't interested in Gundam as much as they once were because of declining ratings on the franchise. And while to the fans of the series each one is unique, to the masses the word "Gundam" is like the words "Pokemon" and "Yugioh" - just more of the same and not really distinguishable entities.

[Zero Reborn]

If Bandai were smart, then they would've released the first two seasons of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers on DVDForget that , i want Zyuranger.

[Lord Rosiel]

Don't listen to these people, Gundam SEED Destiny is A LOT better than SEED, and one of the better Gundam shows out there (especially compared to the UC series sans Zeta).

[Suiko Eiji]

Forget that , i want Zyuranger.

No, you dont.

I had the last couple of episodes through a tape trade; recently gave them to a friend for his birthday (as he's a huge Super Sentai fan). I was amazed at first with how the story was changed (I was 17 or 18 at the time when I first saw it); watching again recently (being 23 now), it had lost even that appeal.

I admittedly don't have any idea how old the UC shows are.

I'm in league with Char on this; a show like ZZ needs a faster release because of its age. As digi animation progresses in the current Japanese market, older animation like ZZ (1986-87) will be harder to sell in 2007, 08, 09... than in 2006, outside of either established Gundam fans or fans of older animation (myself included in both of those). What is kind of grinding my gears about Bandai's release is a series that is younger than ZZ, UC, and I think overall can compete with the glossy, shiny SEED series is Mobile Suit V Gundam (1993-94) and I've absolutely no idea where Bandai stands when it comes to bringing this over; and I don't think Bandai knows either. UC aside, there are still the options of X and Turn A.

All my fanboy rantings aside, one thing I don't think Bandai has received credit for, when one looks at the long run of things, of how fast Bandai has been in getting the entire franchise over to R1; in six years, they've licensed and released, I would say, 80% of a franchise nearing its 30 year mark, and one of the largest anime franchises in Japan. There's only a handful of stuff missing; so, could we perhaps look at that maybe the Gundam market in the US is suffering from over-saturation on a smaller scale.

[Bunta_Fujiwara]

Plus I want the original Gundam Series, I have the 3 films Boxset, but I want to see the whole series not dubbed. There's still so much Gundam to be released. And Bandai should not be afraid to release Seed Destiny 2 a month likle they did with Seed, or even one a month because the Suggested retail price is 10 bucks cheaper than a normal anime DVD and that's if full price is paid.

I also really wanna see all the other Gundam series (Turn A, ZZ, X, V). I own every series released so far except SD, and I also don't own G- Savior. I also don't wanna watch fansubs, I wanna support Bandai, but I don't want to wait at least 2 years for them to finish Destiny, so they can start the next release!

[MightyDustLoop]

Don't listen to these people, Gundam SEED Destiny is A LOT better than SEED, and one of the better Gundam shows out there (especially compared to the UC series sans Zeta).

Everyone's entitled to their opinion, but you need to justify that one. DESTINY took the flaws SEED has, which I was until then able to overlook and enjoy, and threw them in my face until it spoiled the entire franchise.

Incomprehensible survival, an even more apparent lack of story planning, and direction so poor it's impossible to name the intended protagonist. It stands as one of, if not, the poorest use of resouces for an anime I've yet seen. With the beautiful music, character designs, and mech designs of the series, it almost takes an evil genius to make a series as unlikable as DESTINY. Perhaps Fukuda DOES know exactly what the hell he's doing, and it involves exacting revenge on SEED fans.

[Lord Rosiel]

No, Destiny took the flaws SEED had and fixed them (well, most of them, since they did not fix the abundant clip show problem). Destiny's story was paced a lot better than SEED's because SEED was boring with like 5 episodes of talk, and then 1 episode of action followed by like 7 episodes of plot and an episode of action. Destiny actually spaced it out with 1-2 episodes of action, 1-2 episodes of plot, 1-2 episodes of action, 1-2 episodes of plot, etc. Plus the Extendeds were far more interesting than anything in SEED except the Klyne Faction.

As for the old series, Zeta is good, but there is no way in hell I'm bying the DVDs when they can't even keep a coherent price for them. $27 for volumes 1 and 3, $22 for 2 and 4, and $15 for 5. WTF?

I just got all of Turn A fansubbed, but I've been trying to hold off on it in hopes that Bandai will release it. However, it does not look like that will be the case, and as such, I might as well just go and watch them now.

[NGT]

Well I haven't seen Destiny, but SEED's pacing wasn't bad. It was pretty much as you described Destiny's with 1-2 episodes of charater development and then 1-2 episodes of action.

[MightyDustLoop]

No, Destiny took the flaws SEED had and fixed them (well, most of them, since they did not fix the abundant clip show problem). Destiny's story was paced a lot better than SEED's because SEED was boring with like 5 episodes of talk, and then 1 episode of action followed by like 7 episodes of plot and an episode of action. Destiny actually spaced it out with 1-2 episodes of action, 1-2 episodes of plot, 1-2 episodes of action, 1-2 episodes of plot, etc. Plus the Extendeds were far more interesting than anything in SEED except the Klyne Faction.


I'll just say I personally disagree, especially about the extendeds, and will leave it at that. The pacing and balance honestly felt no better than SEEDs to me, but maybe I was just worn out by then for all I know. I do know I wasn't the only one turned off by the sequel though.

[Lillith]

Y'know, back when SEED was relatively new, I heard a lot of negative stuff about it, but I personally enjoyed the show a great deal. Now it's the same situation with Destiny. A lot of people say it's crap, but I'm going to watch it anyway. I'll probably like it. You can't always go on the opinions of other fans when trying to decide whether or not you'll watch a particular show. Sometimes you just gotta watch it yourself. If you're unsure about a particular title, then rent it or DL a fansub to preview it, and if you like it, go pick up the DVD.

As for the pacing of the DVD release, that doesn't bother me much. It gives me more time to work on other series, plus it makes sense given how long it is. It's supposed to be 12 volumes according to animeondvd.com, so at two months between volumes, it'll take 22 months for the whole series to be released, which means it'll be done around January of '08. That's not much different from Fullmetal Alchemist, which started being released early February of last year and won't be finished until late this coming September — a span of about 20 months. These are long series, so I'm not expecting them to be released within a year's time like the typical 7 volume, 26 ep series.

[Levon]

Many people liked Destiny until a certain point, I'v seen people LOVE it but then actually hate it later on. The first half I thought was good, the second half is a mess IMO.

[MightyDustLoop]

Y'know, back when SEED was relatively new, I heard a lot of negative stuff about it, but I personally enjoyed the show a great deal. Now it's the same situation with Destiny.

I liked SEED the whole way through. Destiny actually made me like the original SEED even less. A lot of SEED fans were let down by this. Take heed. Keep watching if you enjoy, but I honestly feel I would've liked the franchise infinitely more if I had stopped at SEED and never known its sequel to exist.

[HitokiriShadow]

A lot of people say it's crap, but I'm going to watch it anyway. I'll probably like it.

Maybe, but I wouldn't count on it. A lot of the people who criticize GSD the most were big fans of SEED.

These are long series, so I'm not expecting them to be released within a year's time like the typical 7 volume, 26 ep series.

True, but it will take significantly longer compared to SEED. And two years is a long time, even for a 50 episode series. That's like watching one episode every two weeks. And 5 episodes per DVD has been typical of Gundam series (the long ones anyway) and now they are dragging it out a bit longer.

[Rahxephon91]

Destiny is really good up until episode 39. After that Kira and crew take center stage and the enitre thing goes to hell. Potentail plot-points or either droped or cleaned up in a crappy way. The thing I was really ticked off about is that the plot about Druandal being behind everything didnt go anywhere. Do we ever get a good explanation as to how he had the specs about the Colosuss Gundam before it attacked?

The show seemed to be hinting that Durandal used the attack on earth as a way to jumpstart his destiny plans, was using Shinn and crew as his version of the Archangel, and was actually a member of Logos. Now maybe I did'nt pay attention but these plots never go anywhere. Another big let down is the crappy way the "Hey how is Mu alive?" is handled.

Now a big problem is how Destiny's charcters are handled. In attempt to make Lunamarie worth someting she is forced into a relationship with Shinn. She then poorly serves as the Four/Fa charcter. Shinn mearly becomes Durandals dog. Its unclear in the show if he is a villian or hero. Neo becomes Mu and thats just crap if you ask me.

Theres about 5 wasted episodes in the show. The ending is rushed and it mainly just focuses on the Archangel. Also the Cagali and Athrun's relationdhip just goes nowhere.

[HitokiriShadow]

What's really sad about Lunamaria is that she already WAS a worthwhile character with so much potential and they just killed it.

[BrendantheJedi]

Yeah, we'll probably see the end Destiny in english as the apoclyse if that is how they are releasing DVD's.

But has anyone noticed how the Box Set has only 6 DVD slots? Does that mean they'll realease more episodes on a DVD (unlikely seeing how Volume has 5 eps). Or does that mean that Bandai is going Cut the 1202030938032840392843094750958 Clip show episodes?

And Lilith. Destiny isn't crap persay. It started off pretty good, but then Fukuda wasted the budget and started filling the series with flashbacks and clip shows. And while I thought the whole bringing back the old cast and piting them against new cast was interesting, it cut down on the plot development for plenty of characters. And why the hell didn't Kira and Lacus kiss at any point. That just was just as annoying as hell.

[HitokiriShadow]

The series is going to be on 12 DVDs instead of the traditional 10. The first two DVDs will have 5 eps each and the rest will have 4 episodes each (I would assume).

[BrendantheJedi]

The series is going to be on 12 DVDs instead of the traditional 10. The first two DVDs will have 5 eps each and the rest will have 4 episodes each (I would assume).

So with a DVD every two months...

It will take exactly two years. Great Bandai <_<.

[teknoman]

Bandai's product quality has seriously deteriorated this past year (at least that's when I first noticed it). If they didn't have so many shows I like, I probably would just quit buying from them. And the issue with the DVD releases being one every other month...it's really not that big of a deal. Like others have stated, try finding a fansub if you want to watch that badly. We should feel lucky that Bandai stuck to the two DVD a month release for so long. I've not known many other licensors to do that. Try finding another show to fill in the gaps when you can't watch it (if you don't go the fansub route), or just watch some of the older Gundam shows. There's so many, it'll keep you entertained for a looong time. ;)

I think that I know why Bandai is deteriorating, you see, I was reading an article and it seems that Namco merge with Bandai. check these articles out

http://www.popcultureshock.com/news.php?id=2741

http://www.gamespy.com/playstation-2/soul-calibur-iii/678772p1.html

I hope this helps? Now it's called Namco Bandai. All I can say this is a total shocker I think that's probably the reason why Bandai is falling like a rock?

So the main reason why Bandai is Stupid is because Namco merge with Bandai.

[Suiko Eiji]

I hope this helps? Now it's called Namco Bandai. All I can say this is a total shocker I think that's probably the reason why Bandai is falling like a rock?

So the main reason why Bandai is Stupid is because Namco merge with Bandai.

I don't think this is the reason, honestly. What reason would a merger with another company have to do with delaying releases that were scheduled before the merger was concluded? Outside of what I would consider "releases that aren't relavent to my interests" and a much slower release format that again, really doesn't affect me as a consumer, I've yet to see a negative on the company as a whole resulting from the merger. In fact, getting back to the merger and its ill-effects on distrobution, the SVP of NamcoBandai is from the Bandai side of the game. It sounds to me that the schedule shift would have occurred regardless of the merger. While both BEI and Bandai Visual USA are subsidiaries, the primary merger is between the games side of the two companies.

I can't say I really have a more plausible reason other than they cannot afford to pump out a volume (in the quantities needed) every month or bi-monthly like they used to be. I doubt a merger is the source of it.

[Amuro]

Forget that , i want Zyuranger.
And I want Kamen Rider 555 :P, or TimeRanger from among their PR-adapted Sentai series.

Trust me when I say that nobody was a hater at the start of the series. Nobody was a hater even half-way through. I clearly remember how positive most of the comments on GSD were up until about three quarters of the way through...

Well, I'm going to have to defy conventions and say that my tolerance with the series really began to be tested as soon as the Minerva descended to Earth. In my opinion, it picked up remarkably in the late 30's-early 40's but then had a painfully lacking ending.. I'm not sure if it even had an ending per-say. It was more like, "Alright, forget everything that happened up till now, here's the evil baddy and we're going to beat him because.. err.. he's the evil baddy."
In retrospect, however, I think I value the series more than the first Seed because it presented more interesting ideas to think about, even if it didn't develop them within itself in a satisfactory fashion. Ideas are more important than execution to me, which causes my choice of series to be a tad unusual :P.