New Ghost in the Shell anime

[silent killer]

The reason for the sky high price on the blu-rays is because they are an imported item straight from Japan. It seems no one at Sunrise has had the brilliant idea of releasing an awesome, and profitable blu-ray set set in the West.

[OL]

Absolutely. I'd be all over it if they ever put the full series out on bluray. The abridged Laughing Man and Individual Eleven blurays are insufficient. I want the Angel's Feathers episode in HD goddammit!

[AnimeGamer183]

Still japan is fucking crazy to sell them at such high prices

[OL]

Yeah, but they pretty much do that with all bluray sets over there.
The economy also plays a part, so things that seem super-expensive to us are actually pretty much normal price over there. A regular old CD release, for example, is generally in the $20-something to $30-something range.

[silent killer]

It wasn't too long ago that those were the prices we were paying for CD's. It wasn't until online stores and the general consumer pushback on those ridiculous prices for subpar music did the prices drop to what they are now. Of course anime, no matter how popular among the public is still a niche market, and it's prices are resistant to recession unlike many other media goods. So it may always be expensive regardless of what's going on.

But I wonder if those blu-rays are really worth it. With out any first hand knowledge we don't know if what's on those discs to be a proper high def reencode.

[AnimeGamer183]

One customer review on amazon for the first part box set of SAC season 1, I think it expains it fairly well.

GITS SAC has only been released on Blu-Ray in Japan, a fact that continues to amaze and disappoint me. Far lesser anime series get a Blu-Ray release week in week out and yet this classic is still waiting in the USA and Europe. That's why, therefore, that to own all the episodes of SAC 1 and 2 it'll cost you upwards of $1000+ This is technically known as daylight robbery but completely normal for Japanese Blu-Ray retailing. Very few people will care to invest at this price but if they charged $300 in total for both series via a US release then they'd FLY off the shelves! I absolutely don't understand this situation. A brilliant series but a ridiculous release therefore only 4 stars.

[Sonikku]

Yeah, but they pretty much do that with all bluray sets over there.
The economy also plays a part, so things that seem super-expensive to us are actually pretty much normal price over there. A regular old CD release, for example, is generally in the $20-something to $30-something range.

That's exactly it. Almost everything is more expensive out of the US. Televisions, computers, video game consoles (A console that costs three hundred dollars here might cost three hound pounds elsewhere, even if one pound = 2 dollars), electronics, etc. For all the crying over rising food costs in the country, we have among the lowest grocery bills in the world as well.

One customer review on amazon for the first part box set of SAC season 1, I think it expains it fairly well.

GITS SAC has only been released on Blu-Ray in Japan, a fact that continues to amaze and disappoint me. Far lesser anime series get a Blu-Ray release week in week out and yet this classic is still waiting in the USA and Europe. That's why, therefore, that to own all the episodes of SAC 1 and 2 it'll cost you upwards of $1000+ This is technically known as daylight robbery but completely normal for Japanese Blu-Ray retailing. Very few people will care to invest at this price but if they charged $300 in total for both series via a US release then they'd FLY off the shelves! I absolutely don't understand this situation. A brilliant series but a ridiculous release therefore only 4 stars.

Bah. That's a shame. I think a lot of governments and businesses overlook the value of volume. Charging some obscene amount and selling a few copies can actually make you less than charging a fair price and selling thousands.

[AnimeGamer183]

the DVD collections of SAC and SAC 2nd GIG are 26.99 each on amazon, but... dat HD