Anime prices in Japan, or how I learned to stop worrying and love the internet

Feb 1, 2018 4:22 AM

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May 2016

So I did what a lot of us wanted to do and profited of a favorable situation to engage full weeaboo mode by going to the Source itself.

I came to Japan for 2 months, hoping to become more capable in the language so I'd have to stop relying on subtitles and fan translations for my anime and manga, and also for tourism, of course.

And I visited Akihabara, where I thought I would finally pay my financial respects to one or two animes that I loved even if it meant eating some cup ramen for a month or so.

And oh wow.

OH WOOOOW.

If I paid that Konosuba both seasons (I hope, maybe it was just season 1) box, I'd have to not eat cup ramen at all. I'd have to eat nothing. And sell my clothes, computer and lodging.

61200 Yen = 450€ = 560 USD = NOPE.

So I ask, is there any way to support your animes financially that are viable?

Is buying it in your home country (sometimes with hardcoded subs I'm afraid) the only financially plausible way?

Is subscribing to things like Crunchyroll or Netflix or Amazon Prime or such actually the only way?

Because I can't pay that, seriously. Just a foreign exchange student here making good on his holidays. If you compare the minute of entertainment to price ratio, the only thing that comes close is a prostitute.

I wanted to buy that Konosuba box to help encourage the Electronic Arts of anime, I mean Kadokawa, to try for a season 3. But that's out of the question. How do I put a reasonable amount of money to convince them to give me more Darkness & Kazuma, sitting in a tree, being perverts?

Fanservice is great. Just like salt in your food. And just like salt in your food, if you have none it lacks taste, if you have too much, it's disgusting.

Feb 3, 2018 2:57 AM

youseiki

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Mar 2016

1520

don't worry about them, wait till they change their business strategy, I hope Netflx's influence change their style, instead of selling expensive blue-rays or dvd, they focus on online streaming.

Just support the Author by buying his light novel in translated version, that's what most Japanese do, instead of supporting the anime, they support the original creator.

Feb 3, 2018 6:02 PM

KingHarkinian

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May 2016

I will, but tbqh it's the anime I really want to encourage...

Fanservice is great. Just like salt in your food. And just like salt in your food, if you have none it lacks taste, if you have too much, it's disgusting.

Feb 5, 2018 5:08 AM

youseiki

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Mar 2016

1520

Well it's not like you're the only one who want's to support, there's a lot of people who wants especially the people in Japan.

You can support them through alternative means like buying from their merchandise or paying through streaming services like what she said

DreamingBeats said:

Amazon Japan costs $30 per year, and a few other sites offer free anime streaming, with some caveats.
you can also have a direct subscription to TV Tokyo (something like $10 a month or so iirc) and have access to their entire anime catalog. there's also the option of renting the anime for a dollar or so.
blurays are indeed expensive, but not requirement for watching the shows in Japan.

Feb 7, 2018 8:20 AM

KingHarkinian

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May 2016

I see. Thanks!

Fanservice is great. Just like salt in your food. And just like salt in your food, if you have none it lacks taste, if you have too much, it's disgusting.

Feb 8, 2018 11:32 AM

AlabastreAizo

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Mar 2009

1136

Even bookoff has crazy prices. Amazon Japan is your best bet for reasonable prices, but I never bought anything. I just watched shows as they aired on Japanese television.

At least manga can often be procured for ridiculously low prices~
I bought all of Berserk a few years ago for 3700 yen.

Feb 18, 2018 4:45 AM

KingHarkinian

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May 2016

Do they pass all anime or just shonens?

Which TV channels pass it? TV Tokyo seems to only broadcast stuff for kids.

Fanservice is great. Just like salt in your food. And just like salt in your food, if you have none it lacks taste, if you have too much, it's disgusting.

Apr 14, 2018 5:20 PM

Botan-Chan45

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Dec 2017

1527

Blue ray is always expensive no matter what you do. Though just check for any cable company or website. It's also not a surprise that you found the price to be huge. Money changes wherever you go. I would wait for some price drops like how people do with any movie or show.

Yeah right there is no way a doujin about vomit exists.
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Aug 20, 2018 5:49 PM

cipheron

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Aug 2011

1513

youseiki said:
don't worry about them, wait till they change their business strategy, I hope Netflx's influence change their style, instead of selling expensive blue-rays or dvd, they focus on online streaming.

The only issue is that changes in the means of distribution change the product itself. Late night anime box sets are expensive, because that's how they fund quirky niche shows with a small target audience. For example, Kill La Kill is considered a pretty major anime by western fans, but it aired at 2AM in the morning in Japan - it's extremely niche to them, and can't raise much money from advertising, so it needs to raise money from merchandise. Being on in the middle of the night also helps that - most people won't have caught all of the show on TV, so they need to buy a copy to see it.

A high-selling anime is only selling a few thousand copies: compare that to mainstream movies which sell 10s of million of copies. Anime makers could reduce the price of the DVDs but that wouldn't increase the market base enough to compensate for the loss of revenue. Niche animes depend on a niche of fans willing to fork out for the expensive disk sets.

Sure, they can reach a much wider audience with streaming, but they get much less revenue per viewer. That changes the type of show you can create - you slash the budget and/or water down the "niche" elements to make it a mass-appeal show. A highly polished and quirky/niche show can only exist when you can extract sufficient money from the small number of people who will be interested to watch it.

cipheronAug 20, 2018 6:01 PM

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Anime prices in Japan, or how I learned to stop worrying and love the internet

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