Why is it that I have to be rich to watch anime?

belkram23 · Post by **belkram23** » Fri Nov 08, 2002 2:53 pm

exactly, even if i dont particularly like the anime, its still a learning experience. many give you a good insight into japanese culture, and with subtitles almost every episode is a lesson in japanese

. also i think part of it is since its in japanese, and since i dont understand japanese, i cant tell whether they're bad actors or not

MCWagner · Post by **MCWagner** » Fri Nov 08, 2002 2:55 pm

Dude when u have no cash well u do whatever u can to get them, or to watch them i iknow that waht i am going is not liigal but i have no choise ither download it or not watch it at all.

That's your choice right there. Believe it or not, you are not required to watch anime. If I can't afford to go see a movie, I don't go see the movie. I don't use my poorness as an excuse to sneak into the theater or swipe the tape from the shelves of Suncoast.

Look, it's a hobby. You're not required to keep up with every series that comes out. Save up your money and make occasional purchases. Get yourself some friends and borrow back and forth. I buy a DVD about every month or three weeks, and still watch anime every week with a bunch of friends at a local anime club.

Of course the companies are trying to make money. They could hardly be doing this legally for no profit. They'd go under in no time flat. We're lucky that the DVDs are priced so reasonably on this side of the Pacific.

The HentaiMaster · Post by **The HentaiMaster** » Fri Nov 08, 2002 2:56 pm

man u just read my mind now i think the same way

The HentaiMaster · Post by **The HentaiMaster** » Fri Nov 08, 2002 2:59 pm

MCWagner wrote:
Dude when u have no cash well u do whatever u can to get them, or to watch them i iknow that waht i am going is not liigal but i have no choise ither download it or not watch it at all.
That's your choice right there. Believe it or not, you are not required to watch anime. If I can't afford to go see a movie, I don't go see the movie. I don't use my poorness as an excuse to sneak into the theater or swipe the tape from the shelves of Suncoast.

Look, it's a hobby. You're not required to keep up with every series that comes out. Save up your money and make occasional purchases. Get yourself some friends and borrow back and forth. I buy a DVD about every month or three weeks, and still watch anime every week with a bunch of friends at a local anime club.

Of course the companies are trying to make money. They could hardly be doing this legally for no profit. They'd go under in no time flat. We're lucky that the DVDs are priced so reasonably on this side of the Pacific.

u do have a point but it is no reason to abuse of ppl, cose u knwo that they buy it so cheap that they make too mush profit to go under.

MCWagner · Post by **MCWagner** » Fri Nov 08, 2002 3:21 pm

I wish there was an easy source to pull up numbers for stuff like this. Basically, you're arguing that the companies overprice their product, and are making exorbitant amounts of money off of gullible fans.

I would argue that their expenditures in machinery, advertizing, digital work, and especially licenses are higher than you might think. I would also argue that not nearly as many DVDs are sold of a typical anime series than you might think. We are pretty much a niche market, a small number of devoted fans who buy a lot of product, but not much expansion outside that area. (Think of TV series sets. The response to the first season DVDs will have to be really good, 'cause it's going to have to pay for the rapidly shrinking profits when they sell the later seasons. That's what drove Maison Ikkoku under eventually...even the loyal fans weren't sticking around for disk #43, and they were hemmoraging cash.)

There are exceptions...Mononoke Hime sold well because of all the positive press and the theater release, but runaway hits like this only make up for all of the other films that don't sell as well. A company goes from year to year producing...say...20 films/TV disks/OAVs, etc. hoping that one of them will turn out to be a big hit and make up for all the others that are flops. They take small losses on 10-12 of the disks, make small profits on 5-6, and hope for that runaway hit with 1-2.

Wish I could demonstrate this with some numbers, but I wouldn't know where to start looking for yearly sales, licensing fees, etc.

Flint the Dwarf · Post by **Flint the Dwarf** » Fri Nov 08, 2002 3:37 pm

belkram23 wrote:firstly insurance has nothing to do with it, i was talkin on topic and speaking only about anime, although it can also be applied to other types of media. secondly, i dont know where you'd draw the conclusion that i'd think it would be stupid to buy something i've already seen. firstly the most important thing, is that the quality and resolution of the anime you download is really cruddy, unless you go for the dvd rips that are like 200 mb for each. secondly i like buying them because the boxed sets look really nice, especially the vhs ones. thirdly dvds almost always come with extra features.

you have no idea how i think, dont try and guess or draw conclusions.

Belkram, I was using insurance as a metaphor. But clearly you can't understand something that simple, if you even know what a metaphor is. Rather than explain myself and further confuse you with simple speech and logic, I'll let you wallow in ignorance and simple-mindedness because you clearly aren't going to listen to anything that anyone has to say if it disagrees with you. And how you think has nothing to do with this, because you must not be very used to it and so it's irrelevant.

f~a~e~r~i~e · Post by **f~a~e~r~i~e** » Fri Nov 08, 2002 3:38 pm

go to microplay...they have anime rentals for 3 dollars for either a week or if it's new, 3 days.

Garylisk · Post by **Garylisk** » Fri Nov 08, 2002 3:48 pm

OK...

Listen you two bit cheap bastard, and listen well. You know those people translating and subtitling a show out of their own pocket? Yeah.. THAT'S ME, YA PUNK! Do you know how big a pain in the ass it is to translate, time, typeset, encode, review, correct, recode, and finally post these damn fansubs? I wish someone were paying me for all the bullshit I have to go through just so you can watch a show for free! Someday I WILL be paid for it when I become a professional translator! All those jobs have people in a fansub group, just like all those jobs have people in a professional company.. excepyt in a professional company, there's even MORE people. Actors, executives, machinists, marketing, PR, and much more. Do you think all of those people can make a living do this stuff for you FOR FREE? Do you think that they can possibly have any sort of life other than doing this for you? I don't think so. THey need money. They need money to live. They need money to publish. THey need money to get more liscences.

What you think is FREE broadcasting in Japan is actually paid for by advertisments. You know, COMMERCIALS? THat's where companies ask you to buy their products/services. Yay, you remembered. Good for you, here's a cookie.

belkram23 · Post by **belkram23** » Fri Nov 08, 2002 3:51 pm

flint_the_dwarf wrote:
Belkram, I was using insurance as a metaphor. But clearly you can't understand something that simple, if you even know what a metaphor is. Rather than explain myself and further confuse you with simple speech and logic, I'll let you wallow in ignorance and simple-mindedness because you clearly aren't going to listen to anything that anyone has to say if it disagrees with you. And how you think has nothing to do with this, because you must not be very used to it and so it's irrelevant.

once again drawing unfounded conclusions about me when you know nothing. what i was saying is that it wasnt a very good metaphor. actually i'm not really sure how it was a metaphor. Well, insurance doesn't really help you after you're dead.

but since you like metaphors, i shall use one to help you see my point. sadly its one used quite often, but i think it applys quite well here.
you wouldnt buy a car without testing it right? sure it may look cool from the outside, nice paint job, nice tires, has 4 wheels. but it would be foolish to buy that car without testing it to make sure it runs first.

granted i could just d/l one or two episodes and then base my decision on that, but typically for most animes, you cant tell what its about with just two episodes. half of em change tracks completely in the middle of the series. all i'm doing is testing out my car before i buy it. and of course if i find that it doesnt work, or i dont like it... well then i dont buy it.

belkram23 · Post by **belkram23** » Fri Nov 08, 2002 3:56 pm

ha ha. and actually although it doesnt help you personally, life insurance doesnt start helping til after you're dead ^_^