Space Battleship Yamato 2199

[bullethead]

137th Gebirg wrote:

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I think $100+ per disc of 2 episodes is also putting a lot of people off. That price is quite patently absurd. What do they think this is, the 90's, when people had a lot more disposable income to afford it? The story has always been strong and based on many reviews I've read about it, is not only faithful to the source material but in some ways noticeably better. My bet is on the cost. It's the only reason I haven't gotten the discs as soon as they came out and I wager 500 quatloos that many others feel the same way.

Well, that's a problem everyone in the west has already figured out. The problem is that (among other things) the people running the studios are depending on an ever shrinking amount of hardcore consumers in Japan to stay afloat, so they pump up the prices to absurd levels to get more money out of those people. Then they run into the problem that western audiences aren't so willing to pay outrageous prices for so little material, so they delay the Blu-Rays, withhold Blu-Ray rights, or charge Japanese prices and take fewer sales to prevent Japanese people from reverse importing Blu-Rays.

This podcast featuring a master's student studying the anime industry is pretty informative. For those who don't want to listen, the gist is that the Star Trek Terran Empire is more logical and efficient than the current Japanese way of handling their entertainment industry.

[137th Gebirg]

bullethead wrote:

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This podcast featuring a master's student studying the anime industry is pretty informative. For those who don't want to listen, the gist is that the Star Trek Terran Empire is more logical and efficient than the current Japanese way of handling their entertainment industry.

That's quite an indictment on their industry.

[Ithekro]

Relatively speaking, Yamato 2199 is doing well on sales.

Most anime can't get to 15,000 sales average, and Yamato has twice that.

Using older numbers, the series (as oppose to movies) from before 2011 that would beat Yamato 2199 in average dvd/bd sales are:

78380 ** Bakemonogatari
68729 13 Kidou Senshi Gundam SEED DESTINY
58589 13 Kidou Senshi Gundam SEED
46147 *9 Macross Frontier
45367 *9 Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch
43064 ** K-ON!
42690 *9 Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch R2
41038 *8 Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu
38514 *7 Kidou Senshi Gundam 00
36511 13 Fullmetal Alchemist
34601 *7 Kidou Senshi Gundam 00 2nd Season
32410 *2 Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199 (currently)

[137th Gebirg]

^^^ Encouraging numbers. Although I find the English/Japanese mish-mash combinations in some of these titles quite amusing. Very "all your base"...

[Noname Given]

bullethead wrote:

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I think the real weakness of the show and why it isn't doing too well in sales right now is because it's a bit too straight in its retelling of Yamato. Sure, it's got the robot tank dudes and the two classes of Gamilans and a few other things, but it's pretty much doing the same stuff the old show did without too much deviation. Once it starts separating itself from the original, we might see BD sales go up.

I do think some of the more 70s aspects like the music and the Yamato female uniforms should've been dialed back, but it's too late for that.

^^^

Sorry, but for me, that's one of it's main strengths - and were it diverging a great deal, I would not be ordering the discs at about $100.00 a pop straight from Japan (of course were they not sub-titled in english I wouuld have passed too).

I think they've done a great job updating the story while maintainuing the original flavor and intrent. I've always loved the original Yamato music, and had they changed that, it would have been a large minus as well.

YMMV.

[Ithekro]

Some of the more disco-like beats seem dated, but that is about it. Tight skin female uniforms is sort of a sci-fi staple in Japan. They are lucky they aren't showing off a lot of skin. Though it might be nice for them to be in the regular uniforms, I suppose it was (A: tradition) and (B: unflatering for their figures).

The UNCF (Army) uniforms had a skirt while the UNCN (Navy) uniforms wer basically just like them men's uniform. Though what I guess in the Marines uniform has a skirt (Niimi wore a blue uniform with a skirt in Episode 2, but I think she is suppose to be in the same service as Sanada who was in green).

[bullethead]

Ithekro wrote:

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Some of the more disco-like beats seem dated, but that is about it. Tight skin female uniforms is sort of a sci-fi staple in Japan. They are lucky they aren't showing off a lot of skin. Though it might be nice for them to be in the regular uniforms, I suppose it was (A: tradition) and (B: unflatering for their figures).

I think the major problem I have with the female uniforms is that there's a part that could be removed and show off the girls' cleavage. I'd been fine if they gave the girls the regular uniform shirts over the tight pants in the current uniform and make the shirts hug their curves a bit more.

[firehawk12]

137th Gebirg wrote:

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^^^ Encouraging numbers. Although I find the English/Japanese mish-mash combinations in some of these titles quite amusing. Very "all your base"...

Yeah, 30k is pretty good in the grand scheme of things. This show may be special because of how it is being distributed, but typical shows need 5k per volume to break evenish.

137th Gebirg wrote:

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I think $100+ per disc of 2 episodes is also putting a lot of people off. That price is quite patently absurd. What do they think this is, the 90's, when people had a lot more disposable income to afford it? The story has always been strong and based on many reviews I've read about it, is not only faithful to the source material but in some ways noticeably better. My bet is on the cost. It's the only reason I haven't gotten the discs as soon as they came out and I wager 500 quatloos that many others feel the same way.

Media is ridiculously expensive in Japan. That's just the way it goes. Anime more so because they know fans will pay for it if they want it and that lowering the price won't really increase sales.

[Ithekro]

bullethead wrote:

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I think the major problem I have with the female uniforms is that there's a part that could be removed and show off the girls' cleavage. I'd been fine if they gave the girls the regular uniform shirts over the tight pants in the current uniform and make the shirts hug their curves a bit more.

They could, but in the original series they never did that with Yuki. (they did other things, but never cleavage via her uniform)

Plus with the male unforms it would probably be as easy (or easier) to undo the top and show off. If I remember correctly, the original version had Kodai with his shirt open or off several times during the course of the series. Having the shirt open back then was interesting...since it usually was drawn as a pull over.

[sunburn800]

Japan has seen its last red cent from me, their prices on just about anything is flat out insulting.then you get to add shippping on top of it.

[bullethead]

sunburn800 wrote:

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Japan has seen its last red cent from me, their prices on just about anything is flat out insulting.then you get to add shippping on top of it.

I've never bothered to buy anything from Japan. As much as I'd love to support the actual people animating these shows, the Japanese DVD/BD publishers are determined to fleece their customers by providing the worst cost to entertainment ratio ever and screwing over everyone in foreign markets because they won't put up with that bullshit.

And that's not even getting into what they pull with video games.

[Duncan MacLeod]

The sad thing is that they really don't seem to realize how dramatically their market would increase if their prices were more in line with the rest of the world. Very short-sighted at best.

[Hound of UIster]

Ithekro wrote:

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Relatively speaking, Yamato 2199 is doing well on sales.

Most anime can't get to 15,000 sales average, and Yamato has twice that.

Using older numbers, the series (as oppose to movies) from before 2011 that would beat Yamato 2199 in average dvd/bd sales are:

78380 ** Bakemonogatari
68729 13 Kidou Senshi Gundam SEED DESTINY
58589 13 Kidou Senshi Gundam SEED
46147 *9 Macross Frontier
45367 *9 Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch
43064 ** K-ON!
42690 *9 Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch R2
41038 *8 Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu
38514 *7 Kidou Senshi Gundam 00
36511 13 Fullmetal Alchemist
34601 *7 Kidou Senshi Gundam 00 2nd Season
32410 *2 Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199 (currently)

Looks like it's mostly nostalgia driven.

[Drago-Kazov]

Could somebody tell me why Macross Frontier was never dubbed in english?

[lennier1]

Drago-Kazov wrote:

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Could somebody tell me why Macross Frontier was never dubbed in english?

Two words: Harmony Gold!