Anime Blu-rays and DvDs are more popular than ever

At the time of writing this, the animated movie Dragon Ball Super: Super Heroes sitting on top of a blockbuster Dungeons & Dragons: Thief’s Honor, Shazam!wrath of the godsand a big hit Top Gun: Maverick most popular Blu-ray on sale at Amazon. It all points to a larger phenomenon. In 2023, anime home video releases – DVDs, Blu-rays, and box sets – are booming as so many studios and companies have moved to streaming services.

It’s not hard to see why so many companies have moved to a streaming model.Over the past decade, streaming service subscriptions have saw massive growthMeanwhile, home video sales are steadily declining, while DVD and Blu-ray purchases are on the rise. About 20% reduction From 2020 to 2021. mandalorian, remains diskless in the United States. However, anime home videos seem to be bucking this trend, as fans and avid collectors still seem eager to take home hard copies of their favorites.

Calculating anime home video sales is complicated.Its market in Japan has been declining nearly every year for the past decade — coinciding with the global move toward digital platforms — but certain releases such as the first demon slayer Movies can arouse greater interest. The movie was the highest-grossing film in Japanese history, Sold over 1 million copies on Blu-ray and DVD Within the first three days of release. In order to see such success, Only 3 blockbuster movies in America In 2022, it sold over 1 million copies for the entire year.

But the craving for anime is only growing in the United States, and in August 2022, Sony acquired Right Stuf Anime, a distributor founded in 1987, to sell anime, live-action releases, toys, manga, and everything in between. Expanded to sales of kinds. collectibles. (Sony also owns his Crunchyroll, an anime-streaming service.) In an era when his videos were far from ubiquitous, here’s an ad in the back of a magazine and at a convention there, a ton of There were vendors with collections. Scattered Opportunities Across Message Boards — Right Stuf’s mission was to provide anime consumers with “everything he has in one place” and a reliable system for delivering it. It was a fruitful operation. At this point Right Stuf said: Largest online seller of anime in North America.

Right Stuf co-founder Shawne Kleckner has seen the popularity of animated home videos grow over the years. ” As more anime adaptations were made overseas, so did the interest in home videos. “It wasn’t hard to find a passion for the product,” he says Kleckner. “It was about making sure that passion was met.” And while other companies were shrinking home video capacity, Right Stuf was doing the opposite. “A lot of companies don’t invest in their infrastructure,” he says Kleckner. “We made sure we invest in infrastructure every year.”

Fans have “latent demand for those products,” Klöckner said. They are “a group that deals with home video products.[s] As a collectible, not a consumable. ” Streaming services enable consumption, but not collection. Also, fans of anime’s physical media want the highest possible quality in visuals and audio, want a range of special features and a sturdy package, and put it on the shelf just like a Blu-ray player. looks great too.

But how do you get there? American anime home videos have often been lamented for their tendency toward sparse, bare-bones releases meant to capitalize on the show’s popularity and not do much else.Discotec and companies such as Anime Limited are trying to change this. The latter, based in Glasgow, Scotland, has recently released three separate editions. Neon Genesis EVANGELIONalong with the series cowboy bebop, considered one of the main pillars of the medium. Still, due to licensing rights issues, it was never released on Blu-ray outside of Japan.

Choose from Standard, Collector’s and Ultimate Editions. Each edition features progressively more elaborate packaging and a wide range of special features. Evangelion Back to style.Even the expensive ultimate edition sold out in 12 hoursDemand was strong in the US as well — when distributor GKids released the ultimate exclusive set. Evangelion In North America, pre-orders have sold out on the first day.

Discotec, on the other hand, hasn’t committed to releasing anything as high-profile. Evangelion But its catalog and success prove that anime isn’t a niche experience.Discotek’s string of anime and live-action titles has been “rescued” from expiring licensing deals, and others have been ‘rescued’ by big companies taking a chance. It’s something that seems too hard to grasp and has been loved by home video enthusiasts. Discotek occupies 5 of the top 10 spots on Right Stuf’s current top 10 list of best-selling animated Blu-rays.

“Sometimes you can do more and make it look better, sound better, stuff extras,” says Marc Levy, quality control manager and producer who has worked with Discotek. increase. “But at least people know we do our best and will probably get something they didn’t think was coming or knew existed.”

Photo: Toussaint Egan/Polygon

In particular, we come across the recently released first season Digimon: Digital Monster, is the basis of thousands of years of Saturday morning experience and, according to Levy, is often “thrown at the disc, that was it.” With digital remastering and visual upscaling, Discotek’s version of the show is the best ever seen in the US. “For me, it was important to put thought and effort into places that people would notice, or even places that people might not notice,” he says.

For many people involved in this work, this care is not only a job requirement, but the pinnacle of life as an anime fan. Justin Sevakis is the owner of his MediaOCD. MediaOCD is a company that has evolved from a hobby to a full-time career, providing post-production services to both Discotek and Anime Limited. As a young man dissatisfied with American anime releases, he spliced ​​together his own anime from different countries, combined the features he wanted most, and finally Frankenstein to create the ultimate disc.

“I think what makes sense for people these days is to buy what they love,” says Sevakis. They are very passionate and know it won’t last forever. Streaming services tend to play frenzied games on their shows, which can result in license purchases in ways fans might not expect. bleachingwas a hugely popular series that sat on Crunchyroll’s platform for years until Disney bought the rights to it and began airing its long-awaited follow-up on Hulu. Fans had to choose between buying an entirely new subscription, missing the show, or downloading it illegally.

With Home Video, anime fans don’t have to worry about their favorite titles falling out of reach thanks to ramshackle licensing deals. “The time we release should be the last time you need to buy anime,” he says Sevakis. “If the disc itself can handle the best quality the show can ever present, then it should.” Anime home video, and especially boutique publishers like Discotek and Anime Limited, are turning physical media into ancient It is this kind of dedication that allows us to thrive in a world we consider convention.

“If we can get rid of that garbage and make it something that people will be happy to see and share with their friends, there is nothing better than that.