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<\/a><\/p>\nSpoiler Alert: this company is involved.<\/em><\/p>\n Well, a lot of it has to do with the state of technology in general, and the Internet in particular.\u00a0 We\u2019ve reached the point in the US where being able to stream HD videos is like having running water.\u00a0 We don\u2019t just have it; we expect it and pitch a fit when it goes away.\u00a0 Our Internet connections can reliably give us higher-quality video than a DVD, provided we can be home between 7:00 AM and 5:30 PM for the cable guy to set it all up.<\/p>\n Couple this with streaming anime services that can send video to our TVs through just about any game console or Blu-Ray player, and suddenly the entire market changes.\u00a0 For a few bucks a month, I can access a staggering number of catalog titles and simulcasts, all without having to get up off the couch and switch between discs.<\/p>\n For the average consumer of anime, it\u2019s hard to justify paying $25 for a physical copy of one series when that same money could go to several months of a paid streaming subscription.\u00a0 The undeniable momentum of those numbers has paid off for services like Crunchyroll<\/a>, which has gone from a tiny website with a few quirky old titles to a titan of the international simulcast business.\u00a0 Big hitters from the days of physical media have caught on, with Funimation<\/a> and Sentai Filmworks<\/a> both offering streaming subscriptions.\u00a0 For better or for worse, the landscape has changed dramatically.<\/p>\n I filtered Funimation’s streaming catalog to only show titles starting with “s.” This is the FIRST HALF of the results.<\/em><\/p>\n While it\u2019s gotten more difficult to sell physical media on a \u201cmore for your money\u201d strategy, there is another option that\u2019s been proving successful.\u00a0 Smaller companies that lack the resources to compete in the streaming market can always count on one thing: anime fans are collectors at heart.\u00a0 We want to do more than just watch our favorite shows.\u00a0 We want stuff.\u00a0 We want figures, posters, soundtracks, artbooks, and suggestively shaped mouspads, and we\u2019re enthusiastic or gullible enough to pay for them.<\/p>\n Thus, we have the \u201cCollector\u2019s Edition.\u201d\u00a0 Epitomized by the super-expensive box sets<\/a> from Aniplex of America, this strategy places an anime series into some nice packaging, along with a cornucopia of impressive (and frequently exclusive) merchandise.\u00a0 It\u2019s been working for Aniplex, along with other small-scale studios like NIS America and Right Stuf\u2019s Nozomi Entertainment label. \u00a0These two occupy a middle ground<\/a> between the low-cost products from the big hitters and the conspicuous consumption of the Aniplex products.\u00a0 This approach has proven effective enough that Funimation is offering a collector\u2019s edition release of Psycho-Pass<\/em>, showing a deliberate break from their usual value-oriented physical releases.<\/p>\n If you listen closely, you can hear your wallet sobbing at night.<\/em><\/p>\n This split between value and extravagance isn\u2019t entirely new, of course.\u00a0 Back before the days of complete collections, volume one of a series was usually offered in standard and \u201cBig Box To Hold All The DVDs\u201d editions.\u00a0 What\u2019s new is the increasing divide between the two approaches.\u00a0 Instead of paying a ten-dollar premium for the nice version, we\u2019re paying fifty, one hundred, or more.\u00a0 Instead of choosing between two packages for our physical media, we\u2019re choosing between buying discs and paying for streaming access.\u00a0 Oh, brave new world that has such anime in it!<\/p>\n At the end of the day, though, I think a lot of this is good for the industry.\u00a0 The subscription model has been the salvation of quirky niche titles that would never have been licensed in the old days.\u00a0 It\u2019s now much easier for big hits like One Piece<\/i> or Attack on Titan<\/i> to make up for the limited audience of less popular shows, since the subscription fees pay for everything.\u00a0 Paying for access also encourages people to try out shows they wouldn\u2019t have watched otherwise in an effort to get more for their money.<\/p>\n Move out, Survey Corps! We’ve got subscriptions to sell!<\/em><\/p>\n Under the right circumstances, the expensive collector\u2019s edition can fit in quite nicely with the streaming market.\u00a0 Fans will always have favorite shows, and will want some tangible connection to those titles.\u00a0 We can watch lots of anime on the cheap with subscription services, and occasionally pay extra to own a quality release of the stuff we really enjoy.\u00a0 Of course, this ideal is entirely dependent upon all expensive releases being simultaneously available through a streaming service, but it\u2019s worked out well with titles like Madoka Magica<\/i> and Fate Zero<\/i>.<\/p>\n So yes, the times are changing, and yes, I think the market for \u201cregular\u201d physical releases will get smaller.\u00a0 I seriously doubt, however, that it will go away entirely.\u00a0 There will always be folks who prefer to own everything they watch, and a physical copy makes a better gift than a streaming recommendation.\u00a0 But you\u2019d have to be a fool to think that the business of adapting and localizing anime doesn\u2019t require the ability to, well, adapt.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I bought exactly four anime series on DVD or Blu-Ray in 2013.\u00a0 If you went back to 2008 and presented my past self with that number, he\u2019d probably assume that I\u2019d either gone broke or simply stopped watching so much anime.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t gone broke (though I\u2019m working on it), and I watch more anime [Read more…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":660,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655\/revisions\/660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n