Prices in Japan

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Fizzer
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Prices in Japan

Post by Fizzer » Fri May 30, 2014 2:06 pm

Are the super-high prices of Dragon Ball items in Japan representative of all consumer items in Japan, or just anime, or just Dragon Ball?

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Re: Prices in Japan

Post by VegettoEX » Fri May 30, 2014 2:08 pm

That's the Japanese way. That's how it is with everything.

CDs are expensive, DVDs/Blu-rays are expensive with low episode-per-disc counts, etc.

People pay the prices and they don't complain about it because it's Japan and don't rock the boat.
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Re: Prices in Japan

Post by Ajay » Fri May 30, 2014 2:15 pm

Yeah, it's pretty insane how expensive it is over there.

Aniplex USA try to bring that peculiar business model over here and it blows people's minds every time they reveal the prices.

Oh, you want four episodes of Kill la Kill with some posters? That'll be $60!

Crazy stuff.
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Re: Prices in Japan

Post by VegettoEX » Fri May 30, 2014 2:17 pm

AjayLikesGaming wrote:Aniplex USA try to bring that peculiar business model over here and it blows people's minds every time they reveal the prices.

Oh, you want four episodes of Kill la Kill with some posters? That'll be $60!

Crazy stuff.
Yeah, but they're doing exactly what the Japanese companies do: keep their heads down, release it, sell it at exactly the price they want to sell it at to exactly the amount of the exact types of people they want to, and apparently make enough money to keep the lights on and keep releasing things.

Dolla dolla bills y'all.
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Re: Prices in Japan

Post by Ajay » Fri May 30, 2014 2:27 pm

Yup! Never underestimate the obsessive nature of anime fans.

Heck, I'm only slightly ashamed to say I did actually order that set.
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Re: Prices in Japan

Post by TheDevilsCorpse » Fri May 30, 2014 2:29 pm

While I find it odd that the people of Japan would want to keep paying these prices (go ahead, rock the boat), it's at least mildly understandable. What completely blows my mind though, is the people I see while searching through the Japanese blogs that end up buying like 3-6 of the exact same item. The items are already expensive, so how do they afford buying that many copies (presumably for multiple releases)? :o
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Re: Prices in Japan

Post by VegettoEX » Fri May 30, 2014 2:32 pm

TheDevilsCorpse wrote:While I find it odd that the people of Japan would want to keep paying these prices (go ahead, rock the boat), it's at least mildly understandable. What completely blows my mind though, is the people I see while searching through the Japanese blogs that end up buying like 3-6 of the exact same item. The items are already expensive, so how do they afford buying that many copies (presumably for multiple releases)? :o
Still live with parents, no mortgage, no commitments, no prospects?

Or just a good job / money management skills?

Lucky investments?
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Re: Prices in Japan

Post by JulieYBM » Fri May 30, 2014 3:01 pm

High prices is the only way a lot of these works are going to sell. Does anyone really think something that airs in the middle of the night in a timeslot bought by the production committee to serve as a glorified infomercial for merchandise is going to sell to a mass-audience? This three-part article on Anime News Network does a pretty good job of explaining why prices are high. Lowering the price means having to bet on many, many more units being sold to make up for the loss of money.

High prices aren't much of a deterrent, either. A mainstream work like Dragon Ball receives the majority of its profit from toys, games, or other non-home video ventures (hence why the one new television series since 1997 is a cheaply produced piece of trash, even more so than other daytime cartoons aimed at kids). There is where Mike's "don't rock the boat" comes into play, although perhaps under a different context than he intended. One might think "hey, if it's selling like trash just lower the price-tag!" but in reality that could just begin a negative cumulative effect for the loyal purchasing force. The way things are right now works best: works with small fan bases can support cartoons that otherwise would not be produced because they bankroll the series through spending a massive amount of money on home videos. Instead of buying many units of a cheaply made release you can buy one release of a higher-quality release. This is why the Dragon Ball Kai singles are being phased out in Japan (although in the case of Kai its more so due to the production committee knowing whoever wants this travesty at this point is going to be willing to spend a lot on it).
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Re: Prices in Japan

Post by Hellspawn28 » Fri May 30, 2014 3:43 pm

Japan has different sale taxes then we do. Their country is also a lot smaller, so the market is different, and so is supply and demand. In Japan, a parent would be okay to buying a $90 Super Sentai mecha toy for their kid to play with while in America a parent would likely never pay that much for their kid to play with. They would go with the $30 Power Rangers Megazord toy that you would find at Target or Toys R US.
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Re: Prices In Japan

Post by MagicBox » Fri May 30, 2014 3:49 pm

Some companies will occasionally throw us a curve ball and release something for insanely cheap (almost cheaper than I would expect it in America). Keep an eye out for stuff like the Special Selection DVD (1000 yen) and some of the 1200 yen music collection CDs. Some DVD re-releases go as low as 2000 yen. Amazon Japan frequently has stuff discounted as well. Just keep an eye out and you'd be surprised what you can find at a manageable price.
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Re: Prices in Japan

Post by ABED » Fri May 30, 2014 4:11 pm

Let me see if I'm getting this straight. American companies typically try to make money by selling high volume, whereas Japanese companies make their money with higher margins?
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Re: Prices in Japan

Post by Hellspawn28 » Fri May 30, 2014 5:04 pm

Pricey stuff don't sell here in America unlike Japan. The DBZ boxes didn't likely sell well because they were so much money and most people don't have the money to drop $50 - $80 on a DVD set.
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Re: Prices in Japan

Post by Baggie_Saiyan » Fri May 30, 2014 5:05 pm

AjayLikesGaming wrote:Yeah, it's pretty insane how expensive it is over there.

Aniplex USA try to bring that peculiar business model over here and it blows people's minds every time they reveal the prices.

Oh, you want four episodes of Kill la Kill with some posters? That'll be $60!

Crazy stuff.
Wait wait wait. 4 episodes? :o I was looking through the prices and I was like that isn't too bad for 12-13 episodes, don't know why so many folks are up on arms.
Damn. Hopefully Anime Limited in the UK or Madman release these a bit cheaper.

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Re: Prices in Japan

Post by Wibbs » Fri May 30, 2014 5:22 pm

I've found that's the case for new things, but stuff like famicom and super famicom games cost peanuts - where I get them anyway. Which is strange because here it's the other way around.
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Re: Prices in Japan

Post by KentalSSJ6 » Fri May 30, 2014 5:58 pm

AjayLikesGaming wrote:Yup! Never underestimate the obsessive nature of anime fans.

Heck, I'm only slightly ashamed to say I did actually order that set.
Sword Art Online is 90 bucks for 7 episodes.

Oh and Gurren Lagann on bluray is 550 dollars
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Re: Prices in Japan

Post by Hellspawn28 » Fri May 30, 2014 6:00 pm

From what other people told me, the US has a bigger home video market then Japan does. I hear video rentals are more popular in the US then they are in Japan.
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Re: Prices in Japan

Post by Wibbs » Fri May 30, 2014 6:04 pm

KentalSSJ6 wrote: Oh and Gurren Lagann on bluray is 550 dollars
Which release? If it's the "ultimate" one that's about £100 in the UK which would make it roughly $180.
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Re: Prices in Japan

Post by KentalSSJ6 » Fri May 30, 2014 7:10 pm

Wibbs wrote:
KentalSSJ6 wrote: Oh and Gurren Lagann on bluray is 550 dollars
Which release? If it's the "ultimate" one that's about £100 in the UK which would make it roughly $180.
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Re: Prices in Japan

Post by Wibbs » Fri May 30, 2014 7:14 pm

KentalSSJ6 wrote:
Wibbs wrote:
KentalSSJ6 wrote: Oh and Gurren Lagann on bluray is 550 dollars
Which release? If it's the "ultimate" one that's about £100 in the UK which would make it roughly $180.
http://www.aniplexusa.com/gurrenlagannbd/
Jeez, that's insane. I suppose that's kind of like the Gurren Lagann equivalent of the Dragon Boxes though, but $500! I'll just stick with the considerably cheaper DVD sets I think.
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Re: Prices in Japan

Post by JulieYBM » Fri May 30, 2014 8:17 pm

Wibbs wrote:Jeez, that's insane. I suppose that's kind of like the Gurren Lagann equivalent of the Dragon Boxes though, but $500! I'll just stick with the considerably cheaper DVD sets I think.
Gainax had to return to the original drawings and re-scan them for HD, so everything after that also had to be redone. The Blu-ray box still wound up selling over fourteen thousand units.
ABED wrote:Let me see if I'm getting this straight. American companies typically try to make money by selling high volume, whereas Japanese companies make their money with higher margins?
Less units, higher prices. Sale numbers are made public for each week, so we actually know how many units of each new release is (unless it's below the threshold). Someanithing translates each week's sales numbers. Otaku are willing to support their favorite series, so even a series that aired in the middle of the night can wind up selling really well. Shingeki no Kyojin: Attack of Titan (CDJapan links so as to confirm their prices and episode counts) Volume #1 sold 37,339 Blu-rays (about $2,240,340) and 19,454 DVDs (about $972,700) in its first week despite airing at Sunday 1:58 AM JST. You can check SomeAniThing's archives for the following weeks, but suffice to say Shingeki no Kyojin: Attack of Titan recouped its budget through home videos alone and more so.
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