Giving Up On DVDs, But Not, I Hope, The Industry

Update: Thanks to something brought to my attention in the comments, I see that I need to get new sources for some of the info in this post (I apologize for publishing this rushjob but I’m trying to make a post-a-day quota. Won’t happen again.) Do read the comments, though.

Needless to say, the anime industry in the US has changed a lot in the ten years I’ve been buying DVDs. For the holidays, I got Canaan—the complete series—on 720p blu-ray for about 30 bucks—the price I would’ve paid at Suncoast for a single volume of anime five or so years ago. Thirteen-episode shows used to come out on four releases totaling over $100—now they cost $30 and come in thinpacks. 26-episode shows used to be on six to eight DVDs totaling nearly $200, whereas now they’re usually in the $50-60 range.

Surprisingly Insightful – Anime Insider vol. 64, January 09

There were three initial factors that got me into anime – Ninja Scroll, Cowboy Bebop, and the very first volume of Anime Invasion, which has a list of everything deleted from the dubbed DBZ, a lost of all the Gundam shows, a Macross episode guide, and more. The magazine later changed it’s name to Anime Insider and over the years I grew to consider it a magazine for anime n00bs. However, when I picked up the latest volume, I was actually impressed by the content.