Edit: I should clarify that the Bandai I refer to in this post is Bandai Visual USA Inc., whose American division basically produces subtitled-only R1 DVDs. There’s also Bandai Entertainment Inc., owned by the same group, but they usually do a full English dub as well, and occasionally license shows from studios other than Bandai Visual Co., Ltd. Talk about confusing.
Bandai were one of the few US anime licensees that I actually respected. Their DVDs have always been pretty good quality, so I wasn’t too dissapointed when I heard that Shigofumi had been licenced by Bandai. Then I read into it a little more. The first R1 disc comes out in May, subtitled only. I was thinking to myself, finally a US licensee has gotten the point.
Then I saw the price. 45 Australian dollars per disc with two episodes per disc, with the seventh disc at 33 Australian dollars for one episode. At this point something else went through my head. Something more along the lines of:
FUCK BANDAI.
I don’t know who they expect will pay three fucking hundred Australian dollars for a twelve episode series. I love the series, sure, but I couldn’t justify that bullshit. And that’s only me. I know the reception for the show elsewhere has only been lukewarm.
And these fucking companies wonder why people continue to download the fansubs. Take a goddamn hint already, most of us aren’t made of money.