Why does anime cost so much?

[littlephoenix]

first hi to everone!


i love animes too, and i also think there cost too much. One DVD 25-30 €.
but i think, when i will have a little bit more money, i will buy some


PS: if my englisch is not so good or something is wrong, please don't be angry, i'm from germany

[oldwrench]

Check ADV website for their sales, some great bargains when they have a sale.
Check rightstuf.com for sales. Look in their online store for weekly specials, close out and bargain items. They have great sales.
Watch the heads up forum, people list good bargains they find.
Check ebay, watch out for bootlegs though, you can often find used anime there for good prices.

[DocturKnowles]

I refuse to buy Anime from eBay. I've gotten burned far too often. And sellers lie - flat out. The guy I bought Cowboy Bebop through said the disks were region 1. He also neglected to mention that they were distributed by "fx".

And I forgot - I have purchased Anime from Best Buy before. I got the Excel Saga there for less than $50, which is probably why I didn't bitch about it in my first post. Lord that's a great show.

And to Takahashi Fan, you'd better read the How to Spot a Bootleg thread more carefully - "fx" is definately a pirate company.

[amvwizard]

yeah dude i understand what your saying

[DocturKnowles]

Sorry for double posting -

I understand the whole licensing, dubbing, packaging, etc. thing. But wouldn't it be more lucrative for the distributor to charge less for it, thereby selling more of them?

And quite honestly, I don't usually care for the dubbed voices on Anime (Cowboy Bebop being one I do care for - except for the really goofy voices they give to the extra characters like the garbage truck driver in the Cowboy Bebop movie). I would much rather purchase Anime with the original voices and decent subtitles - that would eliminate the price of dubbing. And I wouldn't mind having the original packaging as long as there was an insert with the English translations - that would eliminate most of the re-packaging.

[Kalium]

I understand the whole licensing, dubbing, packaging, etc. thing. But wouldn't it be more lucrative for the distributor to charge less for it, thereby selling more of them?

That works, to a point. However, it's not so simple. For one thing, a low price can make someone think "it's cheap, it must suck". For another, dropping prices doesn't always help sales enough. More things can go wrong, but you'd have to ask someone who's formally studied economics for that.

[Aethia]

Maybe it's because it's either:

1. Imported.
2. Comes loaded with extra features (japanese translations, etc.)
3. Anime is extremely popular nowadays. My favorite shirt with Sasuke's face on it was almost 30 bucks at Hot Topic.
4. Animation costs alot more time, work, and money to produce.
5. Perhaps when you translate the price from Yen to American dollars, the price could be davastating.

That's just my opinion(s).

[Aethia]

I understand the whole licensing, dubbing, packaging, etc. thing. But wouldn't it be more lucrative for the distributor to charge less for it, thereby selling more of them?

That works, to a point. However, it's not so simple. For one thing, a low price can make someone think "it's cheap, it must suck". For another, dropping prices doesn't always help sales enough. More things can go wrong, but you'd have to ask someone who's formally studied economics for that.

Lowering prices would also lower profit, therefore not making enough money to keep production up. It's simple cost and demand. Like you said, people would think it's cheap, and not buy it. Sales would go down, the company would lose a ton of money, and customer satisfaction would be at an all-time zero.

Figureitively speaking.

[Kalium]

Lowering prices would also lower profit, therefore not making enough money to keep production up. It's simple cost and demand. Like you said, people would think it's cheap, and not buy it. Sales would go down, the company would lose a ton of money, and customer satisfaction would be at an all-time zero.

Lowering prices does not automatically equate to lower profit. Sometimes, lowering prices leads to a significantly higher sales volume. This is sometimes referred to as "making it up on volume". Sometimes it works. It depends on the specifics of the supply and demand curves.

Besides, I said that a low price can have that effect. Not will. The difference is rather important.

[Aethia]

Lowering prices would also lower profit, therefore not making enough money to keep production up. It's simple cost and demand. Like you said, people would think it's cheap, and not buy it. Sales would go down, the company would lose a ton of money, and customer satisfaction would be at an all-time zero.

Lowering prices does not automatically equate to lower profit. Sometimes, lowering prices leads to a significantly higher sales volume. This is sometimes referred to as "making it up on volume". Sometimes it works. It depends on the specifics of the supply and demand curves.

Besides, I said that a low price can have that effect. Not will. The difference is rather important.

I never said it would always be negative. I was explaining what you meant when you said that lowering prices could be a bad thing.

And not all animes are expensive. I bought Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 4 not too long ago for only 20 bucks.