Why is Aniplex so pricey?

Well lets start this off with some basic information about the company.Aniplex was originally a producing company for Japanese music (And they still are actually.) However,in the early 2000's they started getting into the Anime licensing business.And there gamble payed off,as they are now one of the top 5 anime licensing companys in the world.However..They are known for one specific trait.

There prices.

Aniplex holds the license for Animes such as Blue Exorcist,Sword art Online,and Fate/Zero.Now lets have a look at the prices for these shows.

Blue Exorcist the complete first season: $98.98..15 episodes...for 98 bucks?! Oh,and god help you if you want the special addition.$139.98..Moving on.

Sword art online: $89.98..Okay,that is obviously better than what we got before,but still.Do 14 episodes of an anime really cost as much as a special edition of a retail video game?

Fate/Zero: $379.98 *Looks at Fate/Zero box set*..You have no idea how guitly i feel for owning this..
Anyhow i say we move on to see what Aniplex's rivals are packing.

Funimation price examples.
Black Lagoon Seasons 1 & 2: $31.49
Claymore:The Complete series: $32.09
Soul Eater the complete series: $33.61

Time for some Sentai Filmworks
High School of the dead: $40.58
Golden Time: $49.99
K-ON The Movie: $34.99

Anyhow that's enough of the prices.Time for some conclusion and thoughts.Now i myself own The Blue exorcist Box set.Fate/Zero.And Sword art online.And i also own everything else that i have mentioned,but after alot of thinking,i believe i figured out why Aniplex is so pricey.And to be honest,its quite obvious.

They give you more.

You see,Aniplex is known for packing there stuff with a TON of goodies.The Blue exorcist box set comes with 5 disc,and alot more.Also there logic sort of works like this.

"If even one person buys that set,we would get 2 times more than we would get if we gave them nothing but the disc."

Its basically a gamble,but it always works out.This is mostly due to the companys decision making process.And make no mistake,Anime licensing comapanies are SMART!

They know exactly what shows to grab,and they know just how much people want it.It's the same reason why Funimation owns most Shonen Anime in the world,because the Shonen genre is the most popular Anime genre in the world.
Aniplex does own Bleach (Which is the least popular of the big three) However,the anime has ended.So they have to look for there next big money maker.

Try to think of it like this:Imagine you're playing an Rpg.There is one class that can attack and move very quickly,but deals low damage.Now imagine another that attacks and moves very slowly,but deals high amounts of damage.

The flaw of the two classes are obvious.If you pick the fast fighter you are weaker,but can dodge attacks more easily.
If you pick the the big guy,your attacks will deal alot of damage,but you are very susceptible to damage.

Now finally in my opinion is this right,or is this wrong?

In my opinion,it's all opinion.

Funimation is the fast fighter.While Aniplex is the heavy hitter.Each one has there flaws,but they both find a way to make it work. But i must say,i'll stick with funimation.I could barely buy any food for 5 days,after i bought that Fate/Zero box set..Ugh,terrible times.It's just a matter of what works for them.In the end someone is buying that box set,and keeping the company alive.That's all i really want.

Thats it for me,if you have a thought please discuss it.See yah next time.


Oh yeah,after discussing such a boring topic,i thought we could use a bit of moe.Ah,i love K on so much

Image upload: 640x492 totaling 72 KB's.

I wonder the same thing....somethings are pricey to buy. While some can come in a good deals and such. But, as you said both are good to buy if you know well what you are buying and stuff. So it wouldn't be right just to stick to buying an anime from one of them. To be honest...this is something that I have not been taking much note of. So I would like to thank you in a way. And lol to that meme.

No offense, but I don't really understand why you would want to buy the box set instead of just watching it for free online. Or, if you really wanted to, you could maybe download the episodes and burn them onto blank discs? I'm not saying you shouldn't buy them if you really want to, but I'm just curious as to why you would.

Skypaw298 : Well logically..You're correct.I could in theory just pay for a service like Hulu,or Netflix,and get all my stuff from there.But..Hmm.I don't know.I have always liked collecting something in a physical form.If i know myself well, (And i am assuming i do..) i would say its because of 2 things.

1.I love collecting: I like owning stuff.Perhaps its because of greed.Perhaps its because i like having something i can hold onto.But my best guess is that it comes from my little OCD.I love organizing things.And i love having a collection of things to organize.

2.I don't care all to much about money: This one can be argued with.As you do have to care about money to some extent.But still..I don't care about it all to much.I see money as a tool to obtain.Nothing more,nothing less.I don't care how much i spend,as long as i know i can get it back within a decent period of time.This causes me to spend money on ALOT of stuff.Food? PFFT! The human body only needs 2 meals a day to survive.All i need is water,a few frozen meals,and i'm good.

Well.That's my best guess.

Skypaw298 : There are two major reasons people will buy things from the company, even though it's pricey:

1) Downloading it, and watching it online with certain websites with no viewing rights, is illegal. That is piracy, and that is what many companies are trying to stop.

2) Without sales, a company will not make it. For example, Tokyopop was a very popular manga distributing company. Manga is very easy to pirate, and the sales were minuscule, at best, for many of their manga. In the end, they couldn't support themselves and had to close down. That means no more manga from this company ever again. Thus, if you don't want the company to close down and you hope for continuation of a series you enjoy, it would benefit the company greatly if you purchase the product.

So, in my opinion, it would be best to just bite the bullet and, perhaps, save up a bit and pay for the series you enjoy.