$800 LE of Legend of the Galatic Heroes announced

chicagocubsfan · Mar 30, 2018

https://shop.sentaifilmworks.com/co...legend-of-the-galactic-heroes-premium-box-set

I mean I have heard the series is good and the boxset looks pretty neat. $800 is pretty nuts though. I think that is the highest priced Collector's Edition I've heard of.

Deleted member 14002 · Mar 30, 2018

How expensive was that gurren lagann set?

halcyjon · Mar 30, 2018

Jiminy Criminy, what makes these anime boxsets so pricey?

Relic · Mar 30, 2018

I'm still pissed that the remasters (1) changed some scenes and ~~(2) is entirely cropped to 16:9.~~ Great use of $800.

edit: I can't find any source about this beyond the research I did for the mid-2000s DVD releases. It looks like I am very wrong about my previous claim.

Deleted member 643 · Mar 30, 2018

They'll make more money this way.

At this point it seems that limited releases at a high price point to less buyers are probably more successful than cheaper releases at a low price point attempting to get a wider base of buyers since the market for anime physical media is mostly collectors

Chindogg · Mar 30, 2018

Meanwhile the two regular volumes of Urusei Yatsura are $500 a piece....

Dandy Crocodile · Mar 30, 2018

Has this even been officially released physically in the west before?

tuffy · Mar 30, 2018

Dandy Crocodile said:
Has this even been officially released physically in the west before?

No, it has not.

Sentai's probably expecting the non-collectors will watch the series on their streaming site. But even if they have "no plans" for another Blu Ray release now, I wouldn't be surprised if they do a slightly cheaper, not-so-premium set in the future.

kyle mechlachlan · Mar 30, 2018

It's really funny how I only heard of this series from a video game podcast a few months back and then finally got around to watching the show and reading the books in the last week. And now there's a remake and a relaunch of the show everywhere.

Kraid · Mar 30, 2018

Chindogg said:
Meanwhile the two regular volumes of Urusei Yatsura are $500 a piece....

You mean the Japanese Blu-ray sets right? I didn't miss an announcement of this coming to the West right? (I want this and Maison Ikkoku so bad...)

When AnimEigo released the DVDs here they weren't cheap. I wanna say it was like 50 discs? I wanted them pretty badly, but couldn't afford them at the time.

As far as this LoGH set goes... I'd love to buy it but I'm not spending $800 on cartoons.

FnordChan · Mar 30, 2018

Dandy Crocodile said:
Has this even been officially released physically in the west before?

This is definitely the first release in the US and, I believe, the first release in the West period.

I'm extremely curious to hear about their release plans for LoGH beyond this limited edition set. On the one hand, $800 isn't wildly unreasonable for...hold on let's see here...162 episodes and three movies, for a combined total of 4430 minutes. On the other hand, I think I paid $50 for the Gatchaman Blu-ray set, which clocked in at 105 episodes and 2770 minutes. So, it's not what you'd call a bargain, either.

As much as I'd like LoGH as a physical disc release, I reckon I'll be holdingout for a non-premium box set at a much more reasonable cost.

Chindogg · Mar 30, 2018

Kraid said:
You mean the Japanese Blu-ray sets right? I didn't miss an announcement of this coming to the West right? (I want this and Maison Ikkoku so bad...)

When AnimEigo released the DVDs here they weren't cheap. I wanna say it was like 50 discs? I wanted them pretty badly, but couldn't afford them at the time.

As far as this LoGH set goes... I'd love to buy it but I'm not spending $800 on cartoons.

Yeah JP releases only.

Also, fuck AnimEgo. Motherfuckers made me pay $50 for a 2 episode VHS back in the late 90s for UY.

ArmsofSleep · Mar 30, 2018

Fistfulofmetal said:
It's really funny how I only heard of this series from a video game podcast a few months back and then finally got around to watching the show and reading the books in the last week. And now there's a remake and a relaunch of the show everywhere.

It has been a legendary show for a while, but I think there's been a bit revival of interest in like pre-1985 anime lately. Stuff like Devilman and the like have gotten a lot of people to explore that era more, because so much of it is really crazy and weird and awesome.

Kraid · Mar 30, 2018

Chindogg said:
Yeah JP releases only.

Also, fuck AnimEgo. Motherfuckers made me pay $50 for a 2 episode VHS back in the late 90s for UY.

I mean, they didn't charge that much more than ADV or Manga, and they put a ton of care into their releases. They also did cool shit like allow you to trade in LDs for DVDs (which my friend did with his KOR LD boxset).

Jaded Photographer · Mar 30, 2018

And I whine about the price of the Kill La Kill sets...

Ragnorok64 · Mar 30, 2018

Did the rights for this show just free up or something? Never even heard about it before and now it's twice in the last 5 days I've heard about it, separately from each other.

HyperFerret · Mar 30, 2018

Watching it on Hidive is much cheaper, oof.

$800 is simply too much.

FnordChan · Mar 30, 2018

Chindogg said:
Also, fuck AnimEgo. Motherfuckers made me pay $50 for a 2 episode VHS back in the late 90s for UY.

You were getting ripped off, then, since they originally were charging $40 for two episodes and had dropped the price to $25 for two episodes by 1995. Unless you were buying LDs in which case, hey, you were buying LDs. Shit was definitely expensive back then but AnimEigo's prices were right in line with everyone else's. Besides, these days they're doing God's own work with their Kickstarter Blu-ray releases, so we should all be singing Bob Woodhead's praises.

SRO7 · Mar 30, 2018

Chindogg said:
Meanwhile the two regular volumes of Urusei Yatsura are $500 a piece....

Yeah this is not really bad of a deal compared to your average Japanese BD prices.

The single Fate Zero BD box (13 episodes) retailed for like $500 from what I remember.

Edit

According to the weekly Blu-ray disc ranking released by Oricon on Wednesday, 43,000 copies (rounded to the nearest thousand) of the first Fate/Zerobox set of were sold in its first week of release, making it the highest-selling television anime Blu-ray box set to date. The set also topped the week's overall Blu-ray release sales rankings. The previous record was held by the The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya box set, which sold 31,000 copies (rounded) in its first week.

The Fate/Zero box set was released on March 7 at a suggested retail price of 39,900 yen (about US$480). It includes the first thirteen episodes of the anime, as well as bonuses such as soundtrack, an original drama CD written by Gen Urobuchi, and a production material booklet. A North American release of the same box set with an additional English translation of the production material booklet was also released on the 7th. The North American box set, which retails for US$498.98, is currently available for order on Right Stuf for US$369.98.

LiK · Mar 30, 2018

Good gravy. Price is insane.

lunarworks · Mar 30, 2018

We back in the '90s now.

Paltheos · Mar 30, 2018

Fistfulofmetal said:
It's really funny how I only heard of this series from a video game podcast a few months back and then finally got around to watching the show and reading the books in the last week. And now there's a remake and a relaunch of the show everywhere.

A remake's largely unnecessary. There's nothing wrong visually about the show, and that's not its focus to begin with. All the important elements of the show are spot-on. There are one or two plot points that I don't like how the original handles but they'd require major reworks, and ultimately I just don't see anyone today doing a better job than what we got back in the '80s and '90s.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes is a massive beast of a show that can't be crunched without losing so much of value. In its 110+ episode run, I disliked 2 episodes. So much of its titanic cast is expanded and talked and built upon. I mean, sure, you could cut out most of the imperial generals stuff, for instance, but why would you? They add so much character and they work.

B.K. · Mar 30, 2018

FnordChan said:
As much as I'd like LoGH as a physical disc release, I reckon I'll be holdingout for a non-premium box set at a much more reasonable cost.

Sentai has already said there won't be a regular version of the set. This limited edition set is all they're releasing. It's this or nothing.

Scavenger · Mar 30, 2018

B.K. said:
Sentai has already said there won't be a regular version of the set. This limited edition set is all they're releasing. It's this or nothing.

There will probably be a standard edition at some point. I think Sentai using a sleazy bait and switch tactic that some labels use to get a quick ROI. Boutique label Synapse is notorious for doing that.

Release expensive steelbook first
Say that there are no plans for a standard edition in an attempt to panic people into buying the expensive steelbook
Announce standard edition a few months later
Rinse and repeat

Synapse has done this with Demons 1&2, Tenebre, Phenomena and most recently with Suspiria.

Aiii · Mar 30, 2018

This is a lot more than 3,99 a month it costs to stream on HIDIVE. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

MetatronM · Mar 30, 2018

JadedWriter said:
And I whine about the price of the Kill La Kill sets...

The "standard" Kill la Kill sets run about $8-10 per episode. This is about half that per episode.

Still too pricey, of course.

zulux21 · Mar 30, 2018

JadedWriter said:
And I whine about the price of the Kill La Kill sets...

I mean if you price out kill la kill to the episode count this series has.
what kill la kill was like $10 an ep for standard and $25 an ep for limited so even ignoring the movies a kill la kill standard would be twice the price at $1620 and a limited edition like this would be a touch over $4000 :P?

anyways. it's neat it's getting a big release but with no dub I don't know if I would pay $80 for this let alone $800. I will just try to get motivated to watch this sometime after I sub to hidive for the dubcasts.

Deleted member 4452 · Mar 30, 2018

Relic said:
I'm still pissed that the remasters (1) changed some scenes and (2) is entirely cropped to 16:9. Great use of $800.

.... What? That's horrible.

Deleted member 419 · Mar 30, 2018

Relic said:
I'm still pissed that the remasters (1) changed some scenes and (2) is entirely cropped to 16:9. Great use of $800.

Wait a minute. Is this set cropped to 16:9?

Canceling my pre-order if so. 4:3 cropped to 16:9 is one of the very few things in home video releases that I cannot abide.

I was happily going to be a whale for this series, what a ridiculous way for Sentai to lose a sale.

JadedWriter said:
And I whine about the price of the Kill La Kill sets...

Pick up a region-free blu-ray player and import from the UK. All of Kill la Kill is like 50-60 pounds. Monogatari is also like 80% cheaper.

Lithium Flower · Mar 30, 2018

Almost makes Aniplex of America prices seem fair in comparison.

FnordChan · Mar 30, 2018

B.K. said:
Sentai has already said there won't be a regular version of the set. This limited edition set is all they're releasing. It's this or nothing.

Sadly, I'll be opting for nothing, then. That said, I tend to agree with Scavanger that Sentai will say, "There are no plans for another release at this time" and then later go, "Oh, hey, response was so great that we decided to offer a standard release." Synapse has definitely done this repeatedly, and while I'm not unhappy with the steelbook releases of theirs that I own, we're still talking $40 releases versus $800.

I'm particularly uninterested in paying $800 for a box set that may have cropped 4:3 material to 16:9. Woof.

Gentlemen · Mar 30, 2018

Relic said:
I'm still pissed that the remasters (1) changed some scenes and (2) is entirely cropped to 16:9. Great use of $800.

For real? This is an instant-dealbreaker and nobody should buy this crap.

tuffy · Mar 30, 2018

Lithium Flower said:
Almost makes Aniplex of America prices seem fair in comparison.

Fun fact: if you applied Aniplex of America pricing to this set in terms of cost-per-minute (e.g. $120 for 256 minutes of Anohana), it would cost over $2,000.

androvsky · Mar 30, 2018

tuffy said:
Fun fact: if you applied Aniplex of America pricing to this set in terms of cost-per-minute (e.g. $120 for 256 minutes of Anohana), it would cost over $2,000.

As I recall, the producers of LoGH tried to drum up pre-orders for a western release of a set over a decade ago, and they were talking about charging around that much.

MetatronM · Mar 30, 2018

Relic said:
I'm still pissed that the remasters (1) changed some scenes and (2) is entirely cropped to 16:9. Great use of $800.

Where are you getting the 16:9 thing from? As near as I can tell, the Japanese blu-ray sets are listed as 1.33:1, and the image of the book in this Sentai blu-ray set seems to show screenshots that look like they're 1.33:1. I'm pretty sure it's in its proper aspect ratio on HiDive, too.

Deleted member 419 · Mar 30, 2018

MetatronM said:
Where are you getting the 16:9 thing from? As near as I can tell, the Japanese blu-ray sets are listed as 1.33:1, and the image of the book in this Sentai blu-ray set seems to show screenshots that look like they're 1.33:1. I'm pretty sure it's in its proper aspect ratio on HiDive, too.

Yea I would like clarification on this point as well because this will be the deciding factor in whether or not I keep this preorder.

Deleted member 4452 · Mar 30, 2018

B.K. said:
Sentai has already said there won't be a regular version of the set. This limited edition set is all they're releasing. It's this or nothing.

Actually, this makes the 16:9 thing easier to swallow. Problem solved! My wallet is not unhappy. I guess I can just pick up the novels being translated if I ever want to get into LOGH.

jett · Mar 30, 2018

This is one crazy set.

Legend-of-the-Galactic-Heroes_816726028514_05_00_1012x1080_8ad04268-3d7d-41a4-90c3-ac8e42c29b58_grande.jpg

Legend-of-the-Galactic-Heroes_816726028514_07_00_1012x1080_f5107637-4831-4368-93bc-6d22db007330_grande.jpg

I imagine that despite the price this set will sell-out and probably be worth even more in the future as a collector's item. I unfortunately will not be one of those people. :P

Kieli · Mar 30, 2018

If there's any series that can justify such a ridiculous cost, it's this one. GOAT.

The Orz · Mar 30, 2018

Chindogg said:
Yeah JP releases only.

Also, fuck AnimEgo. Motherfuckers made me pay $50 for a 2 episode VHS back in the late 90s for UY.

Where were you buying them at?! I had multiple UY tapes and they didn't cost anywhere near that amount. I don't quite remember how much the DVD boxes were, though. I know I got a pretty good deal (at the time) buying a couple directly from them at Comic Con years ago.

All that being said, Japanese prices for anime media are madness. Always have been and I still don't get why. Why haven't the otaku revolted?

tokkun · Mar 30, 2018

Smart pricing. Most LoGH fans are nerds in their 30s and 40s, who usually have a lot of disposable income. Same type of people who are spending thousands of dollars on Star Citizen.

Gundam · Mar 30, 2018

Its shit like this that makes me glad RightStuf has become a western distributor for so many things in place of directly/internally localized products.

It looks like I'll never get around to watching The Legend Of The Galactic Heroes now.

jett · Mar 30, 2018

Gundam said:
Its shit like this that makes me glad RightStuf has become a western distributor for so many things in place of directly/internally localized products.

It looks like I'll never get around to watching The Legend Of The Galactic Heroes now.

You can stream it on hidive.

https://www.hidive.com/tv/legend-of-the-galactic-heroes

Gundam · Mar 30, 2018

jett said:
You can stream it on hidive.

https://www.hidive.com/tv/legend-of-the-galactic-heroes

Thanks, I appreciate this.

I doubt this will help too much though, as ive developed a habit where I more or less never watch tv shows that arent on Netflix unless I purchase physicals, as I like collecting and having something sitting on the shelf makes compelling motivation for me to not waste my money and watch it.

Trojita · Mar 30, 2018

mdubs said:
They'll make more money this way.

At this point it seems that limited releases at a high price point to less buyers are probably more successful than cheaper releases at a low price point attempting to get a wider base of buyers since the market for anime physical media is mostly collectors

But there were never cheaper releases lol.

The price of anime home media have been fucked for a long time. It's a self fulfilling prophecy when your buyers are only die hard collectors, because the production company puts out dvd's with only 2 episodes on them for an exorbitant price.

Nakadai · Mar 30, 2018

I want this so so bad!
Dammit, 800 dollars?! I'll have to give up a kidney. My favorite anime, what a great piece of art... But so much money!
I want as many people as possible to experience this magnificent series, and seeing it treated like this is a real bummer.

Strawberry Jam · Mar 30, 2018

Nakadai said:
I want this so so bad!
Dammit, 800 dollars?! I'll have to give up a kidney. My favorite anime, what a great piece of art... But so much money!
I want as many people as possible to experience this magnificent series, and seeing it treated like this is a real bummer.

I'm guessing it was probably a requirement from the Japanese license to release it this way. Sentai's releases are normally reasonably priced.

Deleted member 1722 · Mar 30, 2018

That's... VERY expensive. o.o
Incredible show, though. Been watching on HIDIVE.

Aselith · Mar 30, 2018

Its 110 episodes though. That's a lot of content too

Gunny T Highway · Mar 30, 2018

Holy fuck! I know some Sentai Filmworks products are on the expensive side but damn that is steep.

$800 LE of Legend of the Galatic Heroes announced

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