Bandai USA Postpones Three Titles

by dtshyk
Mar 22, 2008 5:29 AM | 23 Comments

According to the press release from Bandai Visual USA, they postpone the release of three new titles: Shigofumi, true tears, and sola. They promised to provide the release date as soon as possible. All the other titles are not affected.

Tatsunori Konno the president of Bandai Visual USA said he is now reconsidering the sales strategy to adapt to the anime market in the transition state. He said the the triumph of BD-DVD over HD-DVD encouraged them to release anime in the new DVD format.

Source

======edited
Mar 25, the first volume of Shigofumi DVD was released in Japan as scheduled. 5250 yen (about $52) for Episode 1 & 2.

20 of 23 Comments Recent Comments

xbandaidx said:

The anime fansub community already offers anime at HD level, where the anime industry is selling it at DVD quality. It's honestly a joke that the fansub scene offers HD quality anime, while the market is only DVD right now, they are getting their butts handed to them. The anime fans are clearly going to choose the highest quality they can get their hands on, if they continue to only stick with DVD they are cannibalizing themselves.

The beginning of the digital broadcasting in Japan was a fatal blow for DVD sales. For me, buying DVD is a kind of investment for the next title, so I'm ok with the lower quality of DVD anime compared to the aired one. But it's quite discouraging for general fans who had been collecting DVDs to watch high quality vids.

xbandaidx said:
many somehow got the idea they are dropping DVD entirely, but its really only just single volume releases they are thinking about dropping.

hmm I'm not sure exactly what they are thinking, but the situation of the anime market in US is already miserable and releasing DVD in two different format requires more money and resources. It won't be surprising for me even if they take a radical measure.

Mar 24, 2008 5:41 AM by dtshyk

dtshyk said:

xbandaidx said:

I can imagine these distributors are seeing that since they can fit so many episodes on the dual-layer Blu-ray discs (up to 16 episodes in HD), and the fact that consumers want the entire series in one boxset, really it's almost lined up for them.

Yes, that's what they are thinking about, I suppose. But still the BD DVD drive is not common, and nobody knows it WILL be common in the future. HDD/SSD may completely replace the disc drive demand. It will be a difficult choice for Bandai and other anime distributers.

I don't know about that, my Blu-Ray player is my PS3 and there are tons of gamers that are into anime as well. I remember people said the same thing about DVDs back then when it was just starting out. The PS3 already has a worldwide number of over 10 million units, and thats for the PS3 alone. That doesn't include any stand-alone players.

Blu-ray already has a larger market than the VHS, which has been slowly dying these days. I imagine for years to come they'll support both formats DVD and Blu-ray, they are really two different formats one for SDTV and one for HDTV. I don't see any reason NOT to support it.

The anime fansub community already offers anime at HD level, where the anime industry is selling it at DVD quality. It's honestly a joke that the fansub scene offers HD quality anime, while the market is only DVD right now, they are getting their butts handed to them. The anime fans are clearly going to choose the highest quality they can get their hands on, if they continue to only stick with DVD they are cannibalizing themselves.

In any case, offering more is always a good thing. I've notice on the internet a lot of people are misinterpreting this information from Bandai visual and the presidents blog, many somehow got the idea they are dropping DVD entirely, but its really only just single volume releases they are thinking about dropping.

Mar 23, 2008 9:54 AM by xbandaidx

ToT Either way I can't really buy the dvds or box set. For now at least. It doesn't affect me…heh…

Mar 23, 2008 12:27 AM by YoshikoHatake

Mar 23, 2008 12:24 AM by dtshyk

dtshyk said:
According to the president's blog, there is another reason why they started to reconsider the strategy: The retailers and fans in US hate the release of DVDs separately. People tend to wait for the DVD-BOX, so they are now thinking to terminate such way of selling DVDs.
Kadokawa, Gonzo, Bandai...the anime companies have started to reconstruct themselves.

It appears that way, because I know when I go to the store often times when I see that 30-40 dollar price tag for one volume, it hits hard especially with the US dollar value being in the gutter. Start releasing in boxsets, and ofter Blu-ray it'd be terrific.

I can imagine these distributors are seeing that since they can fit so many episodes on the dual-layer Blu-ray discs (up to 16 episodes in HD), and the fact that consumers want the entire series in one boxset, really it's almost lined up for them. They get to cut down on packaging costs and duplication costs as well, at least for the Blu-Ray version that applies because for most series, at max they'd only need 2 BR and that can fit in one case.

I'm hoping to hear some good stuff within these next couple months.

Mar 22, 2008 8:40 PM by xbandaidx

I just hope the BD releases will be true HD, not upscales. That, I will definitely put down money for.

Mar 22, 2008 7:42 PM by Asako

Aw, we won't get True Tears then. :|

Mar 22, 2008 7:40 PM by Darkreaper70

nexist418 said:
Really stretching to justify yourself there.

Distributors that don't know what they are doing makes it kinda hard for me to support them. Don't worry, I buy my share of DVDs, especially ones that are priced right.

Mar 22, 2008 7:07 PM by Kokujin-kun

JTO said:
They are releasing standard dvds right? The whole Blu-ray disc statement is making me think they are making this exclusive (I doubt it though).

I doubt it as well, especially since a lot of people don't own blu-ray players, and the transition from standard to blu-ray is bound to be a slow one.

Mar 22, 2008 4:16 PM by the_seventh_l

They are releasing standard dvds right? The whole Blu-ray disc statement is making me think they are making this exclusive (I doubt it though).

Mar 22, 2008 4:13 PM by Kuronoa

dtshyk said:
People tend to wait for the DVD-BOX, so they are now thinking to terminate such way of selling DVDs.
Kadokawa, Gonzo, Bandai...the anime companies have started to reconstruct themselves.

Boxed Sets FTW.

Mar 22, 2008 3:12 PM by avrc

kasumisama said:

Excellent. Because I really DO want to buy Shigofumi.

Me too :3 Can't wait for it to come out.

Mar 22, 2008 1:48 PM by the_seventh_l

There just better be standard DVDs.

And I think the news title should read "Bandai Visual USA" instead of just "Bandai." I actually did think of Bandai Entertainment for a second there...

Mar 22, 2008 1:42 PM by Asrialys

well thats great they started to use there brains maybe...... untill then we can only hope they do

Mar 22, 2008 1:29 PM by Corpse69

Excellent. Because I really DO want to buy Shigofumi.

Mar 22, 2008 12:42 PM by kasumisama

well maybe there just starting to get smart and adapt to American buying practices. Viz Media released Saikano on 2 DVD's with 6 episodes on each for like $75 and also releases Ceres for 2 DVD's with 12 episodes for $50 a disc. This makes more sense to me than everyone else charging $30+ for a disc with a paltry 4 episodes on it.

Mar 22, 2008 12:32 PM by Proxy_One

Kokujin-kun said:
Oho, yet another reason for me not to recognize their licenses.

Really stretching to justify yourself there.

Mar 22, 2008 9:54 AM by nexist418

Oho, yet another reason for me not to recognize their licenses.

Mar 22, 2008 7:02 AM by Kokujin-kun

According to the president's blog, there is another reason why they started to reconsider the strategy: The retailers and fans in US hate the release of DVDs separately. People tend to wait for the DVD-BOX, so they are now thinking to terminate such way of selling DVDs.
Kadokawa, Gonzo, Bandai...the anime companies have started to reconstruct themselves.

Mar 22, 2008 6:50 AM by dtshyk

dtshyk said:

Tatsunori Konno the president of Bandai Visual USA said he is now reconsidering the sales strategy

Since they were going to charge $40 for two-episode subbed-only discs (1 episode on the first volume of TT), this is probably a good idea.

Mar 22, 2008 6:23 AM by Iri

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