While doing some end of the year financials last night, I stumbled across an interesting number. In 2007, I spent a total of $1,086.73 USD on anime DVDs. At first, the number seemed awfully high, but upon closer examination, I found it only accounted for about 3% of my total spending for the year. That’s exactly what I had budgeted.
For what it’s worth, 93% of that was spent on shows I first watched fansubbed. Damn fansubbers are costing me money.
The first DVD volume of Simoun showed up in my mailbox earlier this week. I only just got around to watching it last night, and I have to say: as striking a show as Simoun was the first time around, it looks ever more spectacular on DVD. Oh, how I love Kobayashi Shichiro’s backgrounds.
In the year or so since Simoun first aired, I’ve encountered more and more people who, like me, feel it was one of the better, if not best, shows of 2006. The show might not have gotten much attention at first, but its fans have done a good job selling it. And I really have to thank John Sirabella and MediaBlasters for licensing and releasing it in North America. He has a good eye for quality anime. The number of MediaBlasters releases in my DVD collection is proof of that.
Anyway, I won’t beat around the bush here. If you enjoyed the show back when it aired and haven’t yet bought the first DVD, get thee to a store or online retailer and pick it up pronto.
This is somewhat off-topic, but I’m curious if anyone reading has experience with this television, especially with regard to how it handles anime. I know it’s not 1080p, but at 32″, the extra resolution is kind of useless. Plus, I’ll be watching SD content for many years to come.
Any thoughts? I don’t know if I’m in the market or not, but I’m giving it serious consideration.
In a post last week, I described my anime DVD purchasing habits as follows: “I don’t buy much anime on DVD these days, mostly owing to the fact that much of what’s being licensed and released lately is of little interest to me.” Well, somewhere around mile one thousand, two hundred and twenty three driving through rural Nebraska yesterday, I got to wondering about the accuracy of that statement. So, this afternoon, I sat down and ran the numbers.
Generally, if I watch a show fansubbed from start to finish, it’s because I enjoy it. In other words, if I dislike a show, I’m unlikely to finish it. So, if I watched a show in its entirety, it’s at least “of interest” to me. Since the R1 licensing landscape began to change with the DVD market downturn of 2004, I chose to limit my data set to those shows which have aired since January of that year. That’s just under three years worth of new anime. So, let’s get to it…
Number of shows watched fansubbed, in their entirety, since January 2004: 59
Of those, the number of shows licensed (and announced as such) for R1 release: 19
Now, let’s look at the details for those shows which have been licensed. So far, 10 shows have either been released on DVD in their entirety or are in the process of being released. Of those shows, I have purchased or am in the process of purchasing 5 (Comic Party Revolution, Diamond Dust Drops (R2), Genshiken, Ichigo Mashimaro, and Koi Kaze). Now, of the remaining 9 shows that have yet to be released on DVD, I tentatively plan to purchase 4 (Mushishi, School Rumble, Shuffle, Suzuka). So, of all shows licensed, I have either purchased, am in the process of purchasing, or plan to purchase a total of 9 on DVD. Half, basically. The remaining 10 shows aren’t bad, by any means - I just don’t feel they have enough rewatch value to justify owning on DVD.
Now, the number of shows that remain unlicensed: 40
Twice the number of shows that have been licensed, basically, or nearly 70% of all shows watched. Of these shows, I have purchased a grand total of 1 on R2 DVD (Uta Kata). That leaves 39 shows unaccounted for. Of these, how many would I be interested in purchasing on DVD should they be licensed for R1 release? 20. That’s a lot of shows. Unfortunately, looking at the list, I won’t be holding my breath.
So, what’s the conclusion? Of the all the shows I’ve watched fansubbed in their entirety the past three years, roughly 30% have been licensed for R1 release. I own or am interested in owning half of those. Of the remaining 70% of shows that have gone unlicensed, I’m interested in owning half. Of all shows watched, licensed, and unlicensed, I own or am interested in owning, you guessed it, half.
Taking all of that into consideration, was my original statement accurate? For the most part, yes. It’s worth noting that, of all of the shows that have been licensed thus far, the vast majority aired in 2004. And it’s also worth noting that, of all of the shows that remain unlicensed, there are quite a few I’d consider personal favorites. Hear that, R1 distributors? I’m an untapped market!
Oh, and while I was at it, I calculated the value of my anime DVD collection: roughly $11,000.
Hey, it’s got to be cheaper than buying figures.
I’m really grateful that Geneon went out on a limb and licensed Ichigo Mashimaro (Strawberry Marshmallow) for the North American market. I’ve gotten lazy about DVD purchases as of late - I’m buying less and less, and only bother when a sale comes along - so, even though Ichigo Mashimaro has topped my “to buy” list for some time now, I’ve only just now gotten around to purchasing the first volume (along with the second volume, which hit stores this week).
For all basic purposes, this is my first “full” rewatch of the show. Still, I’ve rewatched certain individual episodes more times than I can count since they first aired in Japan. You would think it would get old, but even now, I’m fighting the urge to rewatch those same episodes again and again and… well, you get the picture. Typically, when it comes to comedy shows such as this, there comes a point when the jokes just don’t work any longer. For some odd reason, such is not the case with Ichigo Mashimaro. I suspect it’s a matter of the show being so incredibly dense. When there’s a million gags per episode, it takes just as many viewings before things get stale.
Then again, you could probably say the same for gag-heavy shows like Excel Saga. If I remember correctly, I never managed to finish Excel Saga.
So, there’s probably more to it. Comparisons of Ichigo Mashimaro with Azumanga Daioh are common, for example, but, as much I like Azumanga Daioh, I’ve never rewatched in its entirety - despite several tries. Why? The jokes just fall flat. I’ll admit to caring more for Ichigo Mashimaro than AzuDai, of course, but even so, as similar as the two shows are, you would think they’d have nearly the same amount of rewatch value. What’s so special about Ichigo Mashimaro?