Nakama Britannica

Over the past two years the Anime industry has gone from strength to strength. Almost every area of the DVD market has undergone some sort of change or development in the last 24 months. I’m trying to think of anything that hasn’t been tinkered with but I’m firing blanks [sic].

So today I’m going to take a look at something every fan knows and loves, Box sets. And as the title of this article says, looking at whether or not the quality of the fable box set is on the up or on the down.

One thing I have to say right off the bat is that I have no idea how the UK distributors work with box sets. I am only going to be making educated guesses about the things they choose and the reasons behind them. Quality is also a subjective value. One person might say the box set for series X is a shoddy piece of money grabbing crap, others might say it’s the second coming of Christ. This varies from show to show as the certain otaku groups wage war over the internet. I’m sure you all have your own opinions.

Box sets of days gone by.

It’s funny because on the surface of what seems to be a fairly simple and straightforward thing this question has taken me quite a bit longer than I expected. After all this preamble is nigh 250 words long. To make things easier in this article I’m going to look at three things. The quality of box sets over the years, the content and the price.

 

Now as I said before the quality of any box set varies from show to show. But the general consensus is that compared to the US and Japanese market we [The U.K] have been getting the short end of the proverbial stick. Over the last few years however we have seen more and more of these box sets creeping into the market, many at the end of a products life cycle in a ditch to boost sales and get some extra cash from the hardcore fans. Easiest and quickest example I can think off is the Akira and Macross Plus box sets. The single DVD’s have been around for years but now you have the option of a nice cardboard box and two more DVD’s.

Handbag, Box and DVD. The new Revilation Films Autumn collection.

Even then if you look at other series some don’t get a second sniff. Everyone’s in this for profit and if the companies can see an old series getting some extra cash before the next big thing comes along then they’ll be damned if they don’t do it. Prime examples are the new Tenchi collections the late Geneon brought out. The show is nearly 15 years old but there is still that market out there that warrants a new box set. And no, I’m not even going to touch DBZ. There is a new box set every god damned month from that show.

It’s not only the amount of box sets the other markets get that overwhelms us, the actual content of them boggles the mind and many offer good value for money. I know that Haruhi isn’t released in the UK just yet but I bought the US box set the day it came out and when it arrived at my door I was greeted with a nice sturdy box, two DVDs, a CD, a Haruhi armband, a hair band and a pencil board. All of that for some £20 odd quid. Then you look at some of the things we get offered for our precious pennies, it doesn’t look good.

Will the UK release get all these goodies?

What would you say is a fair price for a box set of your beloved series? £5 more than usual? £10? £20? As I said earlier it’s all subjective, one mans treasure is another mans junk and finding that sweet spot that tempts both hardcore fans and that shopper in HMV is one hell of a task. Box sets can offer some amazing value for money, depending on where you go, and if you were going to buy the series anyway spending a few more quid and getting a nice box to put on display is a bonus. Courtesy of the Box sets little brother, the m-lock, you can get both for a fantastic price.

So looking back it’s been a fairly negative article, we’ve been getting shafted for quite a while either by price, not enough in the box set itself or hell, no box sets at all. But like anything over the past two years things have been changing, slowly but surely. Over the past two months we’ve had some quality box sets being released. Beck comes to mind along with a few others, there’s one in particular I’m going to go over.

Afro Samurai

Now regardless if you like the show or not the UK directors cut was released on October the 15th. And in a nice email from Anime-on-line.com I was given a taster of what could be had. In this box set there are 6 DVD extras ranging from unedited dialogue, character profiles right up to the official launch at Comicon US 2006. You also get a 20 page booklet “pitch bible” used by GDH to get TV companies interested, 5 art cards and some flip DVD covers. We also can’t forget the box itself.

Lots of goodies to be had here.

Now taking a look at volumes released in the UK the average price is what? £13.99? £14.99? this Afro Samurai costs just £17.24 and you get all of those extras. That’s a bargain if I’ve ever seen one.

Granted that is one drop in the Anime Ocean but, dare I say it, the industry is finally waking up and giving us some quality items we can be happy about buying. Whether they are just carbon copies of the stuff the Americans get doesn’t really matter. What matters is finally the UK market is getting the recognition it deserves in terms of box sets.

There is only one other question I have yet to figure out the answer to. Why the bloody hell did it take so long?