Poor Mans Google Glass

The Rise and Fall of Music Delivery Formats 1980-2010

This chart covers all the ways I have personally bought music, from 8-Tracks to Digital Downloads.

Those of us who rely on mostly Anime DVD, BD and Manga sales for our living but can't raise the huge amount of capital required to fund our own streaming or digital download offering know the future is growing shorter. Houston has a problem, but for the content owners it will be a matter of transition. If you are in Winchester, Tampa, Grimes, New York, or San Diego, you have to be getting a sense that, while still a few years off, the end is nigh.

My dad loved what he did, and he did the exact same job for 42 years before he retired. But we don't live in that world anymore. I really love this, but the graph doesn't lie - change is inevitable. Whatever time I've had to work in this industry has been a gift. Eventually having to transition to something else is going to be hard*. But that's life, what can I tell you.

*I think the winter tends to make me a little melancholy. Can you tell? I haven't been on my motorcycle for 3 months...

MedicAlert Bracelet

Lets face it, most of us Anime fans should probably be wearing one of these...

Section 23's June 2013 Releases - Now Available for Pre-Order!

In another surprise early announcement, Section 23 has sent over their entire June 2013 release schedule! We now have it up on the store site for pre-order.

Here's a list of what coming in June:

Dusk Maiden of Amnesia Complete Collection DVD (Eps #1-13) - Jun 4
Dusk Maiden of Amnesia Complete Collection BLURAY (Eps #1-13) - Jun 4
Tegami Bachi - Letter Bee Reverse (Season 2) Collection 2 DVD - Jun 4
Mysterious Girlfriend X Complete Collection DVD (Eps #1-13) - Jun 11
Mysterious Girlfriend X Complete Collection BLURAY (Eps #1-13) - Jun 11
Kill Me Baby Complete Collection DVD (Eps #1-13) - Jun 18
Saiyuki Season 1&2 Complete Collection DVD (Eps #1-52) - Jun 18
Momo, Girl God of Death -The Ballad of a Shinigami- DVD - Jun 25
Tari Tari Complete Collection DVD (Eps #1-13) - Jun 25

Funimation Delays Release of Last Exile ~ Fam The Silver Wing ~

Funi sent us a quick note this morning to let us know that they have pushed back the release of Last Exile ~ Fam The Silver Wing ~ from Apr 30th all the way back to Sep 10th:

Last Exile -Fam, The Silver Wing- Part 1 DVD/BD (Limited Edition) - Apr 30 to Sep 10
Last Exile -Fam, The Silver Wing- Part 1 DVD/BD (Standard Edition) - Apr 30 to Sep 10
Last Exile -Fam, The Silver Wing- Part 2 DVD/BD - Apr 30 to Sep 10

They did not give a reason for the delay. If you currently have a pre-order in for Fam The Silver Wing and want to make a change, just let us know.

The Nature of Ambition

I'm not sure about recognition, but I know all about the backlash part.

Funimation's May 2013 Releases - Now Available for Pre-Order!

Funimation has sent over their May 2013 release schedule, and we now have it up on the store site for pre-order. Here's what's coming:

New Material:

Toriko Collection Part #4 DVD (Eps #40-52) - May 7
One Piece Season 4 Part 5 DVD Boxed Set (Uncut) - May 14
Tenchi Muyo: War on Geminar OVA, Part 1 DVD/BD (Limited) - May 21
Tenchi Muyo: War on Geminar OVA, Part 2 DVD/BD - May 21

Re-Releases / Re-Prices:

Sekirei (Season 1 & 2) Complete DVD/BD Combo Set - May 7
Darker Than Black Season 2 + OVAs Complete DVD/BD Combo Set (Eps # 27-38 + OVA's) - May 14
My Bride is a Mermaid DVD Boxed Set (Eps #1-26) (S.A.V.E.) - May 14

Maybe Tommorow

Seems like a good day to stay in and watch some Anime.

Another Thought-Provoking Post...

This is why the comments moderation function has a primary and secondary power source and a bank of backup generators in case they fail...

NIS Announces The Princess and the Pilot Movie BD Premium Edition for May!

NIS has sent over the paperwork for their The Princess and the Pilot Movie premium release, and we now have it up on the store site for pre-order:

The Princess and the Pilot Movie BLURAY (Premium Edition)

Each collection includes a hardcover art book, “The Princess and the Pilot Flight Log” (full color, 32 pages) which provides a deeper viewing experience with detailed character info, rough sketches, artist interviews and setting illustrations.

Release date is set for May 14th.

Synopsis: The war between the Levamme Empire and the Amatsukami Imperium has been raging for years. In the midst of this struggle, the prince of the Levamme Empire declares his love for Juana del Moral and vows to end the war in one year, as part of his marriage proposal. When the Amatsukami catch wind of this, they assault the del Moral residence, targeting Juana's life. As a last-ditch effort to bring the prince his bride, the San Maltilia Airforce employs a mercenary of mixed blood—a bestado—to fly Juana to the prince in secret. The pilot, Charles, accepts the mission... but traversing an ocean alone, and into enemy territory, proves a much more dangerous ordeal than anyone could have anticipated.

iPotty

Someone please kill me.

Life of Pi

You should see it.

Section 23's May 2013 Releases - Now Available for Pre-Order!

In a surprise early announcement, Section 23 has sent us their entire May 2013 release schedule! We now have it up on the store site for pre-order.

Here's a list of what coming in May:

Kids on the Slope Complete Collection DVD (Eps #1-12) - May 7
Kids on the Slope Complete Collection BLURAY (Eps #1-12) - May 7
Natsuyuki Rendezvous Complete Collection DVD - May 7
Colorful: The Motion Picture DVD - May 14
Colorful: The Motion Picture BLURAY - May 14
Kämpfer ~ für die Liebe OVA Collection DVD - May 14
K-On the Movie DVD - May 21
K-On the Movie BLURAY - May 21
Love Love Complete Collection DVD - May 21
Okamikakushi ~ Masque of the Wolf Complete Collection DVD (Eps #1-12) - May 28
Phi-Brain ~ The Puzzle of God Season 1 Collection 2 DVD - May 28
Phi-Brain ~ The Puzzle of God Season 1 Collection 2 BLURAY - May 28

Funimation's April 2013 Releases - Now Available for Pre-Order!

Funimation has sent over their April 2013 release schedule, and we now have it up on the store site for pre-order. Here's what's coming:

New Material:

Certain Scientific Railgun (Toaru Kagaku no Railgun) Season 1 Part 1 DVD (Limited) - Apr 16
Certain Scientific Railgun (Toaru Kagaku no Railgun) Season 1 Part 1 DVD (Standard) - Apr 16
Certain Scientific Railgun (Toaru Kagaku no Railgun) Season 1 Part 2 DVD - Apr 16
Last Exile -Fam, The Silver Wing- Part 1 DVD/BD Combo Set (Limited Edition) - Apr 30
Last Exile -Fam, The Silver Wing- Part 1 DVD/BD Combo Set (Standard Edition) - Apr 30
Last Exile -Fam, The Silver Wing- Part 2 DVD/BD Combo Set - Apr 30

Re-Releases / Re-Prices:

Summer Wars Movie DVD/BD Combo Set - Apr 16
Rosario+Vampire (Season 1) Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Eps #1-13) - Apr 23
Rosario+Vampire CAPU (Season 2) Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Eps #14-26) - Apr 23
Eden of the East Complete Collection DVD (Eps #1-11) (Classic) - Apr 30
Eden of the East Complete Collection BLURAY (Eps #1-11) (Classic) - Apr 30
Fairy Tail Season #1 Collection DVD/BD Combo Set (Eps #1-24) - Apr 30
Slayers TV Season 4 & 5 (Revolution & Evolution-R) DVD (Classic) - Apr 30
Slayers TV Season 4 & 5 (Revolution & Evolution-R) BLURAY (Classic) - Apr 30

And finally Funi has lowered the MSRP on one of their current releases:

Chrono Crusade Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set - $49.98 to $39.98 MSRP

Section 23's April 2013 Releases - Now Available for Pre-Order!

Section 23 has sent over their April 2013 release schedule and it's fantastic! We now have it up on the store site for pre-order.

Here's a list of all the new Anime goodness coming:

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 Complete Collection DVD- Apr 2
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 Complete CollectionBLURAY - Apr 2
Inu X Boku SS Complete Collection DVD (Eps #1-12) - Apr 9
Inu X Boku SS Complete Collection BLURAY (Eps #1-12) - Apr 9
Tegami Bachi Letter Bee Reverse (Season 2) Collection 1 DVD - Apr 9
Hiiro no Kakera: The Tamayori Princess Saga Season 1 Collection DVD (Eps #1-13) - Apr 16
Hiiro no Kakera: The Tamayori Princess Saga Season 1 Collection BLURAY (Eps #1-13) - Apr 16
Place to Place (Acchi Kocchi) Complete Collection DVD (Eps #1-13) - Apr 16
Hakuoki: A Memory of Snow Flowers OVA Collection DVD - Apr 23
Psychic Detective Yakumo Complete Collection DVD (Eps #1-13) - Apr 23
Patlabor OVA Collection DVD - Apr 23
Patlabor OVA Collection BLURAY - Apr 23
Qwaser of Stigmata II Complete Collection DVD (Eps #25-37) - Apr 30

Lather, Rinse, Repeat...

From time to time I like to post a customer comment, good or bad, to give everyone a glimpse of what it's like from our side of the screen. Now obviously I don't analyze every customer comment in depth like this, but sometimes one stands out for whatever reason. So on Dec 30th, Meg messaged us the following:

"Hello ANime Corner. You were at the AMKE2012 Convention last year and I wanted to tell you about the poor service on how I was treated when I bought a Shaymin at the vendor booth. I lost my shaymin by accident and the seller did not have a replacement NOR DID he give me a receipt for my payment so to give it to him AND had poor lack of storage supply on doubles. I wanted to tell you that if your attending AMKE 2013 this year please be sure your employees provide receipts for customers and have plenty of items in stock should one lose an item or replace due to being broken or rip..."

First off, I want to make sure everyone knows that no one from RACS has ever set foot within 100 miles of one of the AMKE shows, so clearly she just had us mistaken us for someone else (you know Anime this, Anime that - we all probably look alike to some customers), and later she messaged us again to apologize and let us know that she had sent the message to us by mistake, which I appreciated, so no harm done there. Also, to Megs credit, she PM'd this to us rather than stupidly posting in public on FB, Twitter, or a Forum like some people doubtlessly would have.

Frankly, I was glad to actually not be the target of some fans retailer angst this time around, but I got to thinking about her complaint and a couple of things occurred to me:

1) Anime Milwaukee is a February show, so she is sending this complaint to the vendor a full ten months after her experience at the show? What took so long? I can only assume that with the 2013 show coming up, she was sitting around on a Sunday thinking about it and decided that she needed to let the vendors from last years show know how they can do things better for her this time around - well, at least as she sees it.

OK, fair enough, but it does get me to wondering what the statute of limitations on customer angst is. For myself, no matter how bad of an experience I have with someone, I can almost guarantee that six months after the fact I have long forgotten about it.

2) If I read it correctly, she's upset because she lost the item she bought (Shaymin is a Pokemon character, so I assume she bought a plushy or some other piece of character merchandise) and when she returned to the vendors booth to get another one he either did not have one to replace it or would not replace it for free (or offer her a refund?) because she didn't have a receipt. Frankly, neither of which would have been the vendors responsibility, but the incident made Meg so upset that she's taking her precious time to post about it 10 months after it happened. I assume the guy working the booth was a  little gruff with her, failing in his duty to be the expected Anime Retailer version of Mr. Roboto at all times.

I've fielded my fair share of customer angst over the years for things that I myself thought were fairly insignificant or more often 'mis-directed', and while this incident had nothing to do with RACS directly, it still ended up costing me a couple of minutes out of my life long after the fact that I'll never be able to get back, and it makes me wonder if it's just like this in all retail, or if Anime fans can be a particularly prickly group of consumers?

What say you? :-)

NIS Announces Hanasaku Iroha ~ Blossoms for Tomorrow ~ Premium for April!

NIS has sent over the paperwork for their Hanasaku Iroha ~ Blossoms for Tomorrow ~ Collection 1 premium release, and we now have it up on the store site for pre-order:

Hanasaku Iroha: Blossoms for Tomorrow Collection #1 DVD/BD Combo Set (Premium Edition)

Each collection includes a hardcover art book (full color, 36 pages) which provides a deeper viewing experience with detailed character info, rough sketches, artist interviews and setting illustrations.

The folks at NIS have also indicated that they expect to release the second half of the series this coming July.

Synopsis: When Ohana's mother flees with her boyfriend to avoid paying his debts, Ohana is sent off to live with her grandmother, who owns the hot spring inn, Kissuiso. Upon arriving, Ohana is put to work at the inn. Thrust into a life where the customers always come first, she struggles to find her place at the inn and fit in with her fellow coworkers.

In addition to this April release, they have also announced four standard editions for the end of January:

Arakawa Under the Bridge Season 1 Complete Collection DVD (Eps #1-13) (Standard Edition)
Arakawa Under the Bridge Season 1 Complete Collection BLURAY (Eps #1-13) (Standard Edition)
Bunny Drop Complete Collection DVD/BD Combo Set (Standard Edition)
Ghastly Prince Enma Burning Up Complete Collection BLURAY (Standard Edition)

         

Funimation Recalls / Postpones Release for Baka and Test Season 2 LE

Today our copies of the Baka and Test Season 2 Complete Collection DVD/BLURAY Combo Set (Limited Edition) arrived from Funimation. Just as we were getting ready to print out the pre-order tickets to send them out to the floor to be filled (and in what is probably the first case of impeccable timing since I started in this business 14 years ago) a message from Funimation flashed up on my computer warning us that a defect had been discovered in the set and that Funi was recalling all the sets that had already shipped out.

Apparently the sets shipped with the wrong art printed on the DVD disks. We will be returning our copies to FUni as requested, and they have pushed back the street date by two weeks to January 29th to facilitate the repressing and shipment of corrected sets.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Funimation Adds Heaven's Lost Property: Angeloid of Clockwork Movie

Funimation sent over a note yesterday (and I can't believe anyone is actually working down there this week) that they have decided to add the Angeloid of Clockwork movie to the February schedule.

Heaven's Lost Property (Sora no Otoshimono) Movie: Angeloid of Clockwork DVD/BD Set

Now they have 4 releases scheduled for February - woohoo! MSRP will be $34.98 and we'll be offering it for $10 less. And don't be surprised if it gets delayed folks - these surprise late December announcements for Feb releases from Funi usually do. But until we hear different, it's setup for Feb 26th.

We still have a few HLP magnetic clings laying around here somewhere, and if you've been a regular RACS customer we'd be happy to toss one in with your pre-order - but only if you ask nicely. -_^