Tom Cheng (tkcheng@ENGINEERING.UIOWA.EDU)
Sat, 23 Jan 1999 01:14:37 -0600
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL25] Message-ID: <199901230714.BAA25521@l-ecn002.icaen.uiowa.edu> Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1999 01:14:37 -0600 From: Tom Cheng <tkcheng@ENGINEERING.UIOWA.EDU> Subject: Re: Surprise!!!!!!!!
> So it gives ADV the right to overcharge the "true fans"? If the
> price of the anime goes up, then dub prices have to take the hit. One
> day, no one will be able to afford subs. Then what will ADV(and the like)
> do? They'll be forced to phase out subs and then bring the extra price
> tag onto the dubs. At this point, neither the "true fans" nor the
> "dubbies" will be happy.
Sounds like Mixx! Greedy and self-destructive (hopefully).
> If this is truly their philosophy, then domestic anime has to be
> the biggest joke of all time. So what if we're getting more titles
> domesticated? As far as I'm concerned, they're just "raping" the genre.
While sodomizing the customers as well. I think the Americanization, changing music, making
trendy one-liners and catchy American 'don't go there' dialogue is probably a bigger joke
than the distribution.
> Tom's always saying that he doesn't like commercial acquisitions
> because it's "keeping him from getting fansubs". I used to think that was
> the wrong attitude(and I still do). But I also don't like the way anime
> is handled here in the US, putting me in the middle ground.
Oh, I know that reasoning would never hold up in court, against a vos Savant, or the Usenet
Firebats. It's a completely 100% selfish bias. I recognize that my selfishness should not be
used to decide a business policy. However neither should extreme greed (lousy University
bookstore).
It's kind of hard to have middle ground on this one because there are multiple vectors,
unlike dub vs. sub. There's the LD-only people, the sub hating dubbies, the people who try
to justify the prices with "economics," the fansub hypocrites, etc.
> If any of your inside sources are willing to discuss domestic
> anime politics with me, I'm all ears, because I have yet to hear any
> plausible excuse of why subs are so overpriced.
So far your choices are:
1. A twisted version of supply and demand.
2. To pay for future acquisitions.
3. Royalties which most likely do not exist.
4. Gross, wide-encompassing industry bias.
5. Extreme greed.
I'm with #5 right now. It's Occam's Razor: sometimes the simplest solution is the right one.
I went to the ADV page, and was pretty excited to see Sakura Taisen advertised, but paying
$60 for 4 episodes, really, that's immoral and always wrong. Is it coming out on DVD?
-- Tom Cheng University of Iowa College of Engineering tkcheng@icaen.uiowa.edu http://www.icaen.uiowa.edu/~tkcheng