Humberto Saabedra:
In December of 2011, I wrote an editorial on Aniplex’s angle on official imports after the first Fate/Zero Blu-Ray boxset was solicited at $399 after a 20% discount from Japanese MSRP.
At the time the editorial focused on how the initial reaction to the boxset and Aniplex in general leaned towards a general misunderstanding of how the company positioned its releases, as there was much complaining and overall petulant entitlement over the fact that the show was being sold for such a high price compared to domestic releases.
Now, with Friday night’s announcements of both the Nisemonogatari domestic limited edition Blu-Ray release being released almost simultaneously with the official import of the Japanese OreImo Blu-Ray boxset, we can see Aniplex’s strategy show itself in how it decides pricing for each release.
While the article does make some good points, the use of "entitlement" seems to really be thrown around a lot in this article. I believe that the reason most fans complain about the Aniplex pricing structure is the fact that, unless you're a die-hard fan of the series and must have everything related to it, any show that they license for release in North America instantly becomes a non-starter for a large majority of people.
FUNi picks up a series, we know it'll be dubbed, Sentai gets one, it's usually 50/50 sub/dub, NISA obtains a license, we know it'll be subbed but sold at a not so outrageous price with a nice art book and big slipcase. Whenever Aniplex gets a series, it'll always be subbed yes, but then also always be sold at a $200 price point. Instantly putting it out of most fans' hands.
While being the "Collector's" seller is a nice strategy and obviously it's like buying the porche of the anime world, there always are people who will be angry over the fact that they are now stuck with a release with barely any noteworthy bonuses that they had to pay almost triple for what they would have paid anywhere else. At least the Nisemonogatari release isn't too outrageous... Oreimo is retarded. At that price it is literally $20 an episode...
Seeing the prices of some of these releases, I honestly have to wonder about the sanity of whoever it is who sets these. When it's easy to compare your products to competitors, the idea that you can have such a high price without offering a solid value proposition is just foolish. Even if you do somehow manage to make an identical profit after sale, the fact is that you're not positioning yourself to grow any larger in future. It's actively positioning the fans against you to the point of generating and encouraging piracy.