On Aniplex’s 7th year of being in the US anime industry, they have proven they won.

Aniplex USA came into the anime distribution world with a goal in mind and it can be seen in the following excerpt of Zac Bertschy’s interview of Aniplex’s Henry Goto in 2012.

How would you personally characterize the R1 market for physical anime releases? What realities would you say people need to understand when it comes to this particular market? “Although R1 anime product prices have dropped significantly after 2005, the R1 anime market didn’t grow. anime BD/DVD sections in stores are not as big as they used to be, the number of anime publishers has been decreasing too. “

This was true. The market was dire with fewer people purchasing anime, Bandai left, Media Blasters was crippled, AD Vision disappeared. It seemed that only Funimation and Viz came through okay.

Then this follow-up was integral:

How would you characterize Aniplex of America’s release strategy? How do you go about selecting titles? Are there some titles you feel AOA is particularly suited for releasing, contrasted with others? “ “Our main focus is to produce collectible items which stay in people’s hearts and on their shelf space for a long time. We want to produce quality products which deliver the passion and love of creators, casts, animation staffs and producers as much as possible and allowed. This type of abstract explanation may not work, however, we feel happy when we read feedback cards which show customer’s understanding and support for our approach. We don’t want to sell just paper and plastic but the memory of each title. Believe it or not, our limited editions have good value for consumers under my calculation.”

It starts with one of the most asinine launches for anime. Read or Die, $200 SRP. Garden of Sinners movie collection, $400 at the store. Even Durarara’s DVD, which asked for $50 SRP, was putting in 9 episodes in a 3-part set. I was not the first, nor certainly not the last, to be utterly shocked and flabbergasted. What they asked for was too much, especially after the economic collapse and sluggish recovery. It was already recognized that anything that didn’t contain 12 episodes in it, couldn’t push $50 at the store. Many people thought they would fail, go down, and running back to Japan ala Bandai Visual.

But they did it, and again, and again. Read or Die, sold out. Garden of Sinners, out within a quarter after its release data. Fate/Zero, Imported, ½ Season 1, Blu-Ray, $370, Gone.

It could be argued that they pulled tricks that only the late Billy Mayes could do. Instead, they made a bet: the middle class never existed and if it did, it collapsed so go either high or low. It paid off, and to do so they created an implicit structure.

To go high, create premium physical releases that will get people to buy. At bare minimum, if the market is large enough, sell it to them bare bones. Most importantly, never devaluate their products.

To go low, push the broadest way so that most people can at least watch the series with very little penalty. So, to implement this strategy, they created premium products for physical mediums and easily accessible streaming content at various streaming networks.

A good example of their strategy can be looked upon by Silver Spoon, Kill la Kill, and Samurai Flamenco.

Silver Spoon is a moderate title. It did well enough to get recognition, but not enough to make it a performer. They pushed it as a DVD only set with subtitles and standard industry extras. The fans of the series get a physical, albeit not in the best format, and Aniplex can give it out on their time with their markup for the medium. If you can’t purchase it, you can stream it.

For Kill la Kill, they took the series to First Class. Popularized, they pushed it for a dub, then they got it on Toonami where it has done two runs. They released it in their typical Aniplex 4 disk set and even pushed figures of Ryuko. Conventions had people that voice acted and even aided in the production of the series come out and support it. Fans were elated and went to purchase it. Again, if you can’t purchase it, you can stream it.

Then, there’s Samurai Flamenco. For those who don’t know, Samurai Flamenco is the story of Masayoshi Hazama trying to become a superhero and Hidenori Gotō tagging along as a police officer seeing Hazama’s rise to become a hero. At least for the first few episodes, but as the genre switches, again and again, it comes off a deconstruction of the Super Sentai series and the superhero genre. Very few people got it and it showed. Numbers were not good at all. So much so that this flop, along with other commitments, sunk Manglobe. Aniplex had the streaming rights and still has not released a physical for it. They know it wouldn’t do well, no company will take the risk to make it popular, and those whole like it is niche. So, they shelved it. If you do want to buy the physical, you’ll need to import, or else you can stream it.

Their tactics worked and worked wonders. It has not only upped the game of releases for many other companies, it has made people become more invested in the products they purchased. More importantly, it has purposely created a sense of value that very few companies can aspire for.

At Otakon 2015, Aniplex promoted Aldnoah Zero. Regardless of whatever I felt for the total series, I liked the first set of the series. I went up to the booth and purchased the DVD version with a ticket for an autograph session. I sat in line on a Sunday and got my DVD signed by the staff of Aldnoah Zero with a picture of cosplayers of the characters. At Otakon 2016, they were promoting Charlotte, and I loved the series. Again, I purchased the physical (this time Blu-Ray), sat in line, got pictures, and got it signed by the staff.

While I might have fewer memories of the series, the memories of getting Charlotte signed, of getting Aldnoah Zero signed will stand by me through memories and Facebook. Moreover, it’s a great collector’s item that many people will not be able to get in the future. To me, there is perceived memories and value for the physical product.

In short Goto’s words came true with me, as well as a lot of Aniplex customers. The memories and feelings of the anime series will stay with them because they invested a significant portion of their money and time into the series. They get stuff and (perceived) quality that matches their Japanese counterparts, delaying or even stopping their importing of anime series. Most of all, they did it on their own terms, building on guaranteed sellers and customers and building up.

In fact, don’t ask me, look at the interview in 2016 again with Zach Bertschy:

Where do you see the package media business here right now? How is it still important?

“Last year was the best year for the package sales…I think the US market is really healthy because, in the Japanese market, the life of the title is a little bit short. In the US, once a title becomes popular, the life is long. Sword Art Online, Madoka Magica, Cowboy Bebop… I really like it, because it’s a more evergreen market. So we focus on making the next star player, and those titles contribute back to us. Right now there are so many titles, people cannot remember, right?…So our goal is to make legendary titles, as many as possible. Legendary titles stay longer.

Aniplex owns two of these series, and both easily match what he said.

Madoka Magica doesn’t need an introduction because A) The series is well known and legendary B) It has multiple movies after the TV sereis which people have went to purchase both. C) They’re going out with a new release at a $100+ markup because D) All of their limited edition series are sold out and E) You’ll spend just as much collecting the Singles.

Currently, Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale, launched with a sub to theaters and will get a dub run in theaters before they release the physical. It got great reviews. Going to the sub release, it was a packed house for the sub. It probably will happen again with the dub. Of course, they’ve pushed legendary titles and in return earned success.

No one has replicated their success in terms of perceived quality to quantity and premium upselling. Ask NIS America or Pony Canyon USA, who tried and failed to do the same thing. Ask Funimation and Sentai Filmworks, who, after seeing the success of Aniplex, followed suit. Even ask Viz who has done it with their Sailor Moon sets and earlier works.

Aniplex broke the way anime companies saw the market, and arguably the US anime market permanently. The loss of middle-class purchasing is a haunting echo of current political trends, and Aniplex can be traced back to the person who did it post anime burst. There will be no easy fix for that middle-class economy, either in the US, or in anime to come back. Streaming replaces a lot of purchasing and sociopolitical environments prevent people from truly pushing money towards products that would create said middle class. However, in return for ignoring that sector their way, they have a stable business, people keep coming in droves to purchase their products, they have staff that are committed to doing well, they know their winners and losers. Most of all, they have haters, and keep proving them wrong with middle fingers up to the sky saying, “Bye Hater”.

This scenario could all come down at any moment, but for now, Aniplex USA is right about their target market, and there’s really nothing people can do about it.

Liked it? Take a second to support the site on Patreon!