Gatchamania.net - Print: 50% off sale

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--- 50% off sale (http://www.gatchamania.net/threadid.php?threadid=1900)

Posted by Guy on 25-05-2008 at 23:00:

50% off sale

JB Hi-Fi is having a 50% off sale on all its anime titles except studio ghibli titles and april and may new releases - naturally I bought as much as I could afford, and then some. I should be able to pay it all back before I get any interest on my credit card... but that's not really what I'm worried about.

Madman (madman is the biggest producer of anime in AU, virtually the only one stocked in stores) didn't make the decision to have their stuff reduced in price, it's not a madman sale. It's a JB exclusive sale. And why would they reduce the price like that if they aren't trying to get rid of it? I tried asking employees if it were something for stock-take and the end of the financial year, or if they're overstocked, but the replies were all either 'I dunno' or 'well, we weren't really selling much of it so I guess we're trying to downsize the anime section'.

What do they mean by downsize? It's a TWO WEEK sale, and within the first 4 days enough anime was bought to move all the excess stock onto the shelves in the stores with big anime sections. Now it's been a full week and there's gaps on the shelves with nothing in them. Another week and there wont be anything left at all except those new releases and studio ghibli stuff... and some of the stores with smaller anime sections are already empty.

As one of the very few stores around here that stock legit anime discs, the one with the best prices and biggest range, that means what? For one thing we're going to be forced to buy from the internet or from excessively expensive comic book stores, where it used to cost a steep $27 for an anime disc at JB it's going to be a horribly steep $35+ virtually anywhere else... but really it means that anime was too expensive to begin with.

Nearly everyone I know who likes anime is a student or young person working a minimum wage job... or even just a kid with no money of their own. These people simply can't afford it. When an anime disc costs almost $30, and you can buy a regular movie for $10-$15 ($30 for a new release, then they generally go down in price over time), when both will probably offer equal enjoyment the only thing that will sway a buyer towards the anime is excessive fanboyism. Whoever it was working in the madman market research devision is a total moron to not realise that.

Plus, there's the box-set thing, (referencing a standard 6 disc collection) who's going to buy anime discs alone when they can wait around 2 YEARS from the release of the fist disc and instead of paying $180 for discs that never go down in price ever, no matter how long they've been sitting on the shelf, they can save $80-$110 by getting the box set at $70 - $100. But who will feel okay spending $100 on a single item all at once? sure it may be the complete collection or whatever, but it kind of hurts to spend a lot at once. Especially seeing as, y'know, you could get 6 regular movies for $60 to $90 if you get them at the right times. That puts off buyers too. Especially the kinds of buyers who find it tough to save, and are too impatient to wait the stupidly long 2 year wait. Once again, anime fans usually fit neatly into that category.

I honestly haven't bought much/any anime for around 3 years (until this sale). Last thing I bought was Guyver vol. 2, and that was only because I'm a huge Guyver fan. I even named one of my pets 'Gaiba' after what it sounds like sho is saying in the japanese track on the original series. I just kind of gave up buying it, fell out of the loop with new releases, and ignored it all because it hurts to want something and just not be able to afford it, better to not know what you want exists than to know about it and not be able to get your hands on it.

I think that there's probably quite a few people who feel the same way too. It's probably why anime is failing. Due to a combination of poor market research and piracy (if you haven't seen the figures for the naruto fansub downloads you may want to check them out) anime is dying in australia. What will become of it? There sure aren't any less fans than there used to be, the number of fans actually appears to be increasing if you check the number of attendees to things like manifest - so demand exists, but nobody is sufficiently meeting it. If madman crumbles because JB is drasticly reducing (if not completely ridding themselves of) anime then who will take up the task of releasing it? Other businesses will be put off by madman's failure, like with the comic books industry - it crashed, and hard, some years ago, and even though it's making a good comeback with movies and merchandise, toy stores and newsagents refuse to stock comics because they're put off by the idea that the market will crash agin.

I think that if madman doesn't pull through and change it's sales tactics there's not going to be any anime for AU for a good long while.

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