Ask John: Is America’s Anime Industry Cheating Fans?

Question:
I’ve been seeing this happen with more and more anime releases, but I was kind of mad when I saw the Evangelion Platinum DVD Complete Collection being released. Why did it make me mad? Because it’s a lot cheaper then buying each DVD in the set. I’ve bought about half of the individual DVDs. But this new full set will end up being almost half of the price. That is just wrong. To me, it’s almost like tricking (stealing from) the consumer. Anime isn’t cheap. And when they do things like this, it just makes me not even want to buy anime, and just wait and see if it ends up being released again cheaper. So now I have the choice of finishing the set I started, or possibly even saving some money by just buying the full set, meaning that I’ve wasted the money on the DVDs I already bought. What are your thoughts on this?

Answer:
Regretfully, I have to agree with your sentiments. Ultimately individual anime fan consumers have to determine their own priorities and their commitment to the anime industry. There are two reasons why anime companies re-release anime at discounted prices. The most common reason is that the series has sold well and the distributor has recovered the money spent on licensing, translating and distributing the show. Once a show has paid for itself, cheaper re-releases encourage additional sales and generate almost pure profit. The second motivation for cheap re-releases, which occurs less frequently, is an attempt to salvage any sales out of a retail failure. Media Blasters has publicly admitted that the value priced re-releases of titles including Genma Wars and Babel II were an attempt to massage any sales possible out of poor selling titles. The Catch-22 is that distributors can’t re-release discount priced DVDs if consumers don’t support the initial full priced releases. Companies that find themselves needing to slash prices on titles just to get sales are more likely to just stop licensing those types of shows. So while it’s the support of devoted anime fans that allow distribution companies to remain in business and release discount priced DVDs, these discounted re-releases seem like a punishment for loyal consumers and a gift for consumers who didn’t eagerly support the original release.

To cite a personal anecdote, I carefully select which DVD releases I buy during their initial release and which DVDs I wait for re-releases of. I’ve purchased all of the Ghost in the Shell TV series and Fullmetal Alchemist DVDs released so far, even though I know that both series are likely to eventually be re-released at a lower price. What’s more, all of my Ghost in the Shell TV series and Fullmetal Alchemist DVDs are still unopened. I’ve purchased all of these DVDs at initial run prices just to support the shows. However, just this month I’ve purchased the DNA2 boxed set. I was willing to wait for that particular series to drop in price because I had a compelling suspicion that it would, and because my desire to support the show wasn’t intense. I’ve purchased 7 out of the 9 DVD titles released by Synch-Point (and plan to make that ratio 8 out of 9 very soon) because I like the shows they’ve released, and because I want to support smaller anime distributors. Likewise, I’ve purchased every anime series DVD released by Hirameki and Super Techno Arts. I know that many of the anime DVDs I buy are likely to be re-released at a lower price in the future, but I often buy the discs at initial release price anyway, because I want to support the shows I appreciate. My complete individual DVD sets of Mahoromatic, Chobits, Noir, Twelve Kingdoms, and numerous other series are all still unopened. All of these shows have been re-released at half the price I paid for my original discs. I could be angry about the money I spent on these DVDs that I could have saved had I waited. But I’m satisfied with the price I paid for these discs because I bought them to show my support for these shows.

I’m aware that not every anime fan can afford to buy anime DVDs entirely as a moral principle. So my advice is to think of anime as more than just a physical product. Naturally, individual consumers must determine their own, personal value for each and every anime series. But, as an anime fan, if you think of they amount you pay for anime as contributing to art and artists, and not merely the amount you pay for a plastic video disc, it’s easier to rationally justify the cost of anime. Although I could pay less later, in many cases I don’t mind paying more for anime now because I’m not just buying a product; I’m financially supporting the art which I love. Buying anime is never a waste of money because any money spent on anime contributes to the support and growth of the anime art form, and contributes to the livelihood of the Japanese artists who create anime.