Severe Estimation of US Anime Market in 2010

Yes, this is a common counterargument, and yes, I would have acknowledged it *if* I were arguing- but I'm not arguing, I'm explaining. I didn't say "X therefore Y" (argument), I simply said "this is X"(explanation).

That aside, there is always the counterargument to your counterargument- you say you'd not buy anime, but that's the opinion you constructed in a world where you have the ability to torrent. The opinion you form in a world without the internet would almost unquestionably be different. You can be accused of misreporting the facts to make sure the world stays in a state that favours you above the retailers. Now, the obvious counter to this is "don't call me a liar"- but then you can be accused of just saying you're not a liar to make your argument stronger, not because it is factually true. Loop ad infinitum.

This infinite unresolvable loop is why I didn't bother stating it before.

Of course, the view I personally take is FAR different from anything raised in this thread thus far, but its probably too technical for here.

Slax- counter to last arguement you have people like me who won't buy a set until they've been able to watch it buy torrenting it. I'm not shelling out cash for something I have no clue if I am going to like or not. Kinda the same reason why I don't go to the theater.

Just for completeness's sake, I'll fill in the gaps in this analysis:

Firstly is the question of supply- anime costs money, eg: to dub and to purchase the rights to, etc. While I won't go into the detail of the market structre, (ie: the fact that monopoly suppliers are involved here) it is suffice to say that the companies buying the rights (and selling the DVDs) are limited by a lower bound on the price they can offer- if it goes below what they bought it for, they go broke.

Second is the question of elasticity. Companies profit maximise. Profit is: (Price-costs) X Quantity. If you lower the price by 10% and your sales go up by 5%, you've lost money.

To illustrate: Now, I'm not asserting this is what actually happens, but it shows why people crying for companies to lower prices isn't as one-sided as they'd like to believe.


Again, this is indicative of the one-sided arguments often forwarded by proponents of getting stuff for free (and don't we all love that!). But (even if true) this point is actually quite irrelevant. It doesn't matter what percentage of torrenters would buy goods- it is the question of people who would buy goods that torrent. - if 50% of the people who used to buy goods decided that buying goods was dumb and they could get it for free via torrenting, that's a deathblow to the industry, even if they only make up 0.001% of people who torrent.

In all seriousness, though, I don't have the money to buy anime like I did then. These days, 99% of my income goes towards bills and food.

American say Anime's too expensive lol

I actually wish the US market dies and the Japanese companies will take over the distribution world-wide (by adding subtitles to their DVDs and region unblocked-online streaming)

that was my excuse until I found out it allows mail orders too

Unless you don't have a credit card.

this is a "no shit sherlock" topic

also yeah there's absolutely no reason to still be buying anime at stores considering Righstuf's deals.

60$ for 13 eps....
hope they learn

I'm not surprised to see the major decline. As many have said, anime is just ridiculously overpriced. I remember buying all three seasons of Rurouni Kenshin for a bit over $300. The Evangelion series was another $200, I think. Now, if I want an anime, I buy it used. First place I check is the local "Otaku Hobbies" and then one of the second-hand video stores around here. I will not buy a series new anymore. I may make an exception for the Blu-rays as I've found quite a few movies online at a reasonable price and I have yet to see one used.

Hearing people complain about the high price of anime these days should be appreciate of the prices now, than they used to be.

Paying $30 for half a set, I feel is a huge price difference and a deal when not to long ago, you would be paying that $30 for a SINGLE dvd. Considering that most companies would release anywhere from 6 - 7 volumes per series ( I'm looking at a typical 26 epidose series ) you're looking at $180 - $210 for a single series. Why would I want to go back to that? I am much happier with the way prices are set now. Is anime still expensive? Yes, but so are other forms of media which I think have already been made clear by others.

If we're talking about a broad generalization or whatever, what you automatically believe comapnies say, "shame on you anime fans for not buying our stuff! Shame, shame, shame!" Seriously that whole, "you've brought it on yourselves, not us" notion is wearing itself a little thin. It not as if any of these people don't already know that either some people can't buy the stuff, or that not all anime fans are die-hard DVD collectors or that some don't even realize scanlations and fansubs are technically illegal or that there are such DVD boxsets of your favorite Japanese animated shows out there. It's becoming a little moronic at this point to honestly believe the people who are part of these companies don't listen to anime fans or are too stupid to notice or whatever.


- Nabari no Ou released last year by Funimation for $50 in 2 parts. Now it's released as a complete set, all 26 episodes for $60.
- D. Gray-Man parts 1,2,3, & 4 released individually for $50 in 2009. Now they're combined into 2 season sets for $50, $60 if you get them on blu-ray!
- Lucky Star released in single discs from 2008-9 for what, $20-25? Now in 2010, they've been released as a complete collection for about $36 at Best Buy.
- Darker than Black, same thing. Single discs throughout 2009 for $20-25. Since this past may, complete set has been released for $50-60.
- Hetalia parts 1 & 2 being released for $27!
- All 4 box sets of Yu Yu Hakusho were repriced AGAIN to a fricken $20 each!

Like I said before, I get how for some people anime are a pricey luxury product. But don't pretend that the value is cheaper is at a snails pace. Even though some of these complete sets are now $5-10 more than when in 12-13 episode parts, ultimately, they're still $60 as complete set then when you had to get the individual sets that would total to roughly $100.

And while we're at it, before thinking of arguing back to me about the price problem or just pointing it out over and over again at these forums, try being a bit more proactive about it and ask these companies or anyone who is in the know about the anime market, and could answer your question as to why prices can't ultimately be about $30-40 or whatever ideal price point you had in mind. Seriously, if you're knowledgable enough to know about these things that are a problem for you, then you could figure out where to find answers to your question.

Now I'm noticing everyone's "meh" response to this news, and I'm really believing anime fans as a whole are more cheap than ever. Note, that doesn't mean I'm blaming everyone for having that mentality, so I don't want everyone to come to me arguing, "well it's this company's fault." This isn't about that. If anything, this is about point out all the inconviences within the anime market. Anime DVDs are harder to locate, more anime fans are of a younger age demographic believing the internet is an oven and the Japanese are gods making fresh anime free fromof charge , advertsiing can't happen so easily on television or anywhere outside of the anime-based outlets like streaming website or anime magazines. And it doesn't help that Japan, the people who make this stuff, are in a way devaluing tmany of the shows they make with the moe/loli/otaku gimmicks thrown in without much of a narrative to the stories, thus the "I don't get it" reaction out of casual consumers. And there's about too many of these things no less.

I mean, we have the simulcasting and official streaming websites thing, so more people are becoming aware that these shows are actually owned by companies and are part of an legal market. There's a plus there. Though I'm not totally sure what companies can actually do that would work beyond that.

Part of the reason, in my opinion anyway, it's becoming harder and harder to find places to actually buy it in a lot of areas.

Where I live for instance, 2 or 3 years ago Best Buy had a full section of nothing but anime box sets and movies. Along with a couple "islands" that displayed them. Wal-Mart and Target at least had the most popular stuff coming out. Bleach, Naruto, etc.

Now I go to those stores and it's almost non-existant. Wal-mart and Target it is non-existant. Best-buy which had a rather sizable selection at one point has now dwindled down to just a small section of it. Last time I was in there they only had 10 different shows and those were just the most popular ones. Again being Bleach, Naruto, and a few Code Geass singles.

Alot of people don't like buying things on the internet still. I'm one of them. I like being able to walk into a store, go through the selection and pick something out. Granted I live in a "smaller" area, but 9 times out of 10 I find better selection in used stores than I do trying to buy something new.

Oh and anyone who says new releases of box sets are not expensive, well you are crazy. $50 is the average for a single volume of Shikabane Hime in the US right now. That's not the full series. You want the full series? You have to shell out $100 for 26 episodes. That's insane. That's just an example. It's like $20-$30 for single DVDs of Code Geass unless you catch them somewhere on sale. That's much for like 4 or 5 episodes. Bunch that up with the fact that there is a recession and you shouldn't at all suprised sales are way down and the use of torrents or Crunchyroll is increasing.