There was some talk this week about Anime series production costs that I thought you would find interesting.

According to Masamune Sakaki (a CG creator in the industry) an average 13ep anime season costs around 250 million yen (approx $2 million) to produce. He also said that most anime series can't recoup this expense, and the industry's success or failure rests on the windfall of a few big hits each year. Takayuki Nagatani, producer of Shirobako (which is an anime about anime production), claimed that his show cost 500 million yen (or around $4 million) for 24 episodes. In order to make it work financially, he had to "advertise it, plan events, and make merchandise." (Sounds very business like) Shinji Takamatsu, a veteran animator, cited a figure of 150 to 200 million yen ($1.2 to $1.6 million) and said "expecting to make that up through disc sales alone is a hopeless business model, but that's how almost all late night anime are."
Upcoming Releases

We have new release announcements this week from Media Blasters, AniPlex, New Video, Viz, and Nozomi!

The following upcoming releases are now available for pre-order from RACS:

 
Couple of notes on these. Aniplex solicited the Durarara X2 editions on BD first, then on DVD a few days later. If you pre-orders the BD version and want to switch, just let us know. Marnie will be released on both DVD and as a DVD/BD combo set. As of now we are only planning to carry the combo set as I could not imagine why anyone would not want this movie on BluRay for the tiny price difference.
This Weekend Only: Save 50% Off Our Lineage II: Chocoochi Mini Figures Set (Set of 3)!

We seem to have a few extra of the excellent Lineage II: Chocoochi Mini Figures Set (Set of 3) laying around this week, and that means we've got another great figurine deal to offer all of our newsletter readers! This weekend only you can take 50% off our regular price! Just use the coupon code CHOCOOCHI when you checkout to get the additional discount! Offer expires on Monday, so if you want em, grab em now!

And Finally - An Open Letter to My Fellow Anime Fans

I was recently talking to a long time friend and RACS fan about the state of our industry (and it's recently better than it has been for some years I must say - stable at least) and he commented something that I have heard quite often over the years; that it must be great to get up everyday and do something you love (as opposed to his current 'shit job' as he calls it.)

Well, lets be clear - "Do what you love" doesn't always mean what people think it means. If asked to describe my life overseeing this company I would just say that "sometimes I do what I want to do, and the rest of the time, I do what I have to." Honestly I think that's pretty much what most of us do. In our society there seems to be this tiny pantheon of blissful workers who are held up as a cultural ideal, and there is a whole machine of lifestyle peddling that goes along with it. Only glamorous work ever gets glorified. This is reinforced every time I try to get us some industry passes to an Anime convention and have to convince the organizers that dealers who are not doing a panel or setting up in the dealer room that weekend are still part of the industry.

Indy retailers like RACS are just as much of a part of the Anime industry as anyone else, but few people blog about us like they do voice actors or video production guys or the artists that create the work or the companies that publish it. No one gets excited about our part of it. Organizers rarely ask me to be a guest speaker at an event. We are sort the ass end of the industry, that part that everyone above likes to pretend isn't an absolutely necessity. We're the part that puts it all in one place and gets the stuff to you, the fans, and acts as intermediary to take care of the issues that arise whenever someone further up the chain fucks up. Day to day it's mostly a thankless job.

Being exposed to cultures all over the world for so long, I think it's a very American idea that the work that you do has something to do with your character as a person, and I think there is something to that. But it's not the actual work you do, the important thing is how you apply yourself to it, whatever it is. Even back when I was a teenager mopping floors for $4.35/hr after school to save up enough money to get a car, I always wanted to do the best job I could. Now a few decades later we get up every day and run this business ( for almost 18 years now) by sourcing the very best Anime items we are able to obtain, presenting it to you, and processing, packaging, and shipping your Anime orders for it. Day after day after day after day. And we have dealt over and over and over and over again with all the same issues and challenges that process entails - from mind-numbingly understaffed or incompetent or poorly run vendors to greedy competitors to soul crushing mega-corporate interests to bankrupting government regulations to financial challenges to family issues and everything else under the sun. Still, we always get up fresh every day and want to do our best.

So I want to thank everyone who writes in and tells us they appreciate what we do (I read every one of those notes allowed to the entire crew here), and everyone else who supports us but doesn't have the time or the patience or the words to let us know. I think it's important to remember that whenever I say anything about how 'we love what we do' I do not really mean that we 'love' dealing with difficult vendors, packaging orders, unloading trucks, or posting updates to the websites until 2am. What I'm saying is that we do what we do because we love Anime, and because we love you guys and gals. There is a kinship among Anime fans that makes me feel like we are one big family, and while we sometimes have all the problems a family might have, I still wouldn't want it any other way.

Thanks to all of you for anyways being there for us. We'll always do our best to be there for you too. :-)