The Anime DVDs, or why i don’t care

As I was going through my “to buy” list for my upcoming trip to J-land, figuring out whether or not I want to buy one thing a ditch the other, or buy both and fuck the budget etc. etc. I caught myself noticing that a good deal of the planned items are anime DVDs. Moreover, some of them are DVDs of anime that has been licensed in region 1. So why would anyone in their right mind do something like that, especially since Japanese DVDs are significantly more expensive then their North American counterparts AND they don’t have subtitles? (usually)

Well, first of all its not a question of price. I do not raccoon when it comes to DVDs, so I actually do think $50 for couple of episodes is an acceptable price. (so the 2.5K box-set of LoGH is much tempting, even though the series is kind of low on the rewatch value) But there are about a dozen of catches 22 here, and most of them have a lot to do with quality of the product. Because excuse mya, but why the hell should I pay my blood money for a disk with shitty quality picture, ugly ass subtitles, a crappy translation and the cheap-ass plastic case*? If I can download it for free in HD, with so dearly beloved by me flashy subtitles font and bubbly karaoke effects and a translation that sometimes far surpasses the one we get on DVDs.

Though about the translation is my personal view. The subtitles on DVD releases are often done so to be made available to all slices of population and that exactly what I HATE! If someone does not know what the term means it’s time for them to hit the books, it does not mean that that those doing the translation should translate “moe” or “senpai” or “one-san” etc. and god forbid translating such common expressions as “Raison d’etre”, “Deus ex Machina”… Not only do I consider such terms to be common knowledge, but also most of them do not have an adequate English synonym, as such either the meaning or the form is lost. And I’m not willing to sacrifice either. And those of you who don’t know the mentioned terms: here’s a rope, a soap and a chair – go become an hero.

There is my favorite one, and the most painful experience while watching the official translation was the one in the release of Yukikaze: there is this thing called Sortie:

“Sortie - term for deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it of aircraft, ship or, in older times, of columns of troops from a fort. The unit usually has a purpose of accomplishing a specific mission, whether alone or with other aircraft or vessels.”

FUCKING USE IT! Thank you! ( that was my daily 5 seconds of hate. ^_^)

But the one thing for which I’m willing to take all of my bitchings above and shove it, and then sell a kidney or two to pay for the DVD - is the packaging. Because I’m a stationary freak and because my visual censes are a bit more sensitive than they should be. I want the nice hard plastic, paper lined case with see-through cd holders and pretty anime print. I want the attached mini-artbooks, keychanes and yada-yada that supposed to go with it. And it is solemnly because of it that I’m willing to fork out extra bucks for the Japanese edition of the Re-Cutey Honey OVAs or the limited edition Mononoke DVDs, for which I will be hunting all stores across Tokyo and Kyoto. ^_^ And that is why the ladies down at my post office know me by the sound of my voice, let alone by my face and address ^_^’

The only times when I do buy north American releases is when it’s easier to find it on DVD then it is to download it. It applies to most of anime that has some age to it and especially if it falls under “my favorite” category. Finding a rip of Psycho Diver or Demon City Shinjuku on internet is pretty much as easy as biting your own elbow. So the trip to the nearest DVD store or to amazon.com is justified.

The said above attitude is also the reason why I really don’t care what will become of anime industry in North America. Winny, Share, and Perfect Dark are not going anywhere any time soon.

And speaking of packaging: the Region 1 Blu-ray Yukikaze box: where did you guys stash the 300 pages manual and the 1/300 coldcast Yuki that supposed to come with it? And yes, 2.5xprice was well worth it for the Japanese edition.