UlasanAnime.com – Anime fans often express their dissatisfaction, a common trait stemming from an obsessive inclination towards peculiar details. This particular sentiment, however, transcends the usual fandom grumbling and can be identified as the “popularist whine.”
The sentiment expressed in a post from Subatomic Brainfreeze aptly summarizes my thoughts regarding the complaints surrounding Aniplex of America’s “Garden of Sinners” local-sales package. For those unfamiliar, “The Garden of Sinners” is a series of seven films and an additional OVA episode. It is now being released on Blu-ray for the first time in a deluxe box set that includes the entire collection, bonus features, and an artbook comparable in size to an LD. While the Japanese version retails for approximately 60,000 yen, savvy shoppers and importers can acquire it for around $430 USD, with potential fluctuations due to exchange rates by the first Tuesday of February 2010, when the box set is scheduled to ship. Importers and astute buyers are able to access this because the Japanese box set includes English subtitles and is not region-encoded, a common characteristic of most Japanese Blu-rays. Aniplex of America has announced they will be importing an English-language version of this 60,000 yen box set, exclusively for sale at RightStuf and the Bandai Entertainment USA store. This imported version even includes a slight discount and an additional booklet with a unique cover, featuring translations for the large LD-sized artbook. The discounted price for this release is $400.
The core issue lies in Aniplex of America’s handling of this announcement. They should have either approached the market through a more niche channel, directly engaging the import fan community (perhaps they lacked the appropriate contacts), or taken steps to mitigate the sticker shock of the $400 price tag, which the average consumer would likely find prohibitive. The generic press release, despite its careful wording to differentiate their offering from a standard domestic market license, does little to help. Reactions on Twitter were almost meme-like. Simply put, the majority of media consumers, whether American or Japanese, do not typically spend this much on entertainment. This is a collector’s item. Yet, people often become offended when items are priced beyond their personal spending capacity. The reasons behind this reaction seem irrelevant, as it is not an uncommon occurrence in Japan, nor is this a standard license announcement. It is an exclusive release, and the content is still available through piracy. Regardless of these factors, any product with such a price point is bound to attract detractors once it enters public awareness.
To rephrase, when something is made both highly desirable and exceedingly expensive, it tends to bring out the worst in some individuals. This is essentially the vice of luxury. Therefore, when an elite product, and I believe the Rakkyo box set qualifies as such, is given an equally elitist price, it inevitably provokes populist anger. This is partly due to the “sour grapes” mentality and partly due to plain envy. It is a foolish and, worse, counterproductive reaction that is detrimental to everyone when people express their dissatisfaction as a knee-jerk response rather than based on reasoned judgment.
In a sense, American consumerism often treats media as a right rather than a privilege. Perhaps this perspective is beneficial. However, I am not one for vague metaphors about rights and privileges. My focus is on actual rights and actual privileges – and anime, as far as I can tell, is neither. Therefore, I will simply state that you must make a choice:
- 1. Come up with the money. $400 is not an exorbitant amount; I know a particular complainer who owns an iPad. If you can afford such a luxury and still complain about this purchase in this economy, then you are simply being cheap.
- 2. Give up on it. The notion that no one will buy it is true in the sense that people like myself are “nobody.” Or rather, a comparatively small number of individuals will be able or willing to spend four hundred dollars solely on some Blu-ray discs. Even Avatar 3D was not as expensive. And, much like Avatar 3D, you can eventually purchase it for a lower price. While a U.S. license for Rakkyo is not guaranteed, if it follows the pattern of other top-selling Blu-ray titles, you will likely find it at Mandarake for 40% of its original cost within a year or two. Alternatively, you might find it at Book-off another two years later for even less. If you are fortunate, someone might still license it for a U.S. release at domestic price points.
- 3. Find yourself a magical sister. It might work.
As long as you remain silent about it for choices #1 and #2, you will be in a good position.
Homework: The continuous devaluation of anime begins at home. Even before the rise of “moe,” anime was an expensive hobby on a trajectory toward worthlessness. Honestly, I believe it is positive that it is no longer an inherently expensive hobby. However, it was never intended to be a business that could sustain itself on a single mode, a single business strategy, or a single market stratification. Just because a generation that grew up with Pokémon is now old enough to have full-time jobs and disposable income does not mean they will automatically purchase whatever comes next. The genre, the medium, the art form, the business – whatever you call it – is simply too diverse. To capitalize on every anime that has sales potential, one must appeal to “everyone.” This is why Funimation caters to both high-end and low-end markets, offering a range from “Shuffle” to “DBZ,” and from “Strike Witches” to “One Piece.”
However, the increased price accessibility of anime does not necessarily yield significant long-term benefits. Anime production remains insular, and Western and international capital play a minimal role in its direction as a marketable property. For instance, even though DBZ sells well in the West, Japan’s primary focus remains its number one market, and that domestic market continues to hold the reins. Consequently, localization companies are placed in a difficult position. The only apparent way forward is either to refrain from licensing certain titles altogether and select only those that align with the licensee’s operational model, or to take minor risks on otaku properties that do not adhere to the same tried-and-true JUMP formula, perfected to a tee. This is because you would need to have already licensed titles like DBZ to fund such endeavors. As a result, you end up playing it safe and avoiding any significant risks.
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Ultimately, as the saying goes, understanding the market allows for risk diversification, the strategic allocation of resources across various ventures to ensure long-term growth, and, if the plans are successful, short-term profits as well. I believe that within certain segments of the U.S. anime fan base, purchasing decisions are driven by a set of branded values. These values are largely the product of diligent work by U.S. distributors and licensees (or fansub distributors and bittorrent sites). When we begin to experiment with alternative distribution and monetization models, we will inevitably encounter more individuals expressing their complaints. It is likely the responsibility of the market leader to transform such negativity into a positive outcome.
