English speakers generally do not understand Japanese

Kerim Yasar kerimyasar
Wed Dec 7 12:41:50 EST 2005


I agree wholeheartedly with Aaron that Japanese film
companies have shown little imagination when it comes
to exploiting the DVD format, and indeed go so far as
to shortchange their customers.  Japanese DVDs are
generally second-rate on every level: film elements
used, transfers, color correction, aspect ratios,
audio engineering, as well as the dearth of extra
content that Aaron already mentioned.  Not including
subtitles--English OR Japanese--simply rounds out this
larger picture of not giving a damn and trying to
wring the biggest profit out of the least expenditure.
 Region encoding, language barriers, and a general
respect for the law force the vast majority of
Japanese consumers to buy the Japanese product, which
allows DVD firms to do all this with impunity.

> As for English subtitles, I wonder if one factor
> isn't the fact that 
> more Japanese films are being released on DVD in
> English speaking 
> countries. Can the decision not to include
> subtitles, in some cases, 
> have to do with the hope, or genuine plan, to sell
> it abroad? Perhaps 
> not releasing an English subtitles DVD in
> Japan--especially in the age 
> of the Internet--makes it easier to sell the DVD
> right abroad? I wonder.

This seems unlikely since, in theory at least, region
encoding is supposed to prevent one territory's DVD
output from cutting into another territory's market. 
Of course we know that in reality there are ways
around this (Internet piracy being one of them), but
piracy is a reality that DVD companies have been
dealing with for years--indeed, it's probably one of
the major factors spurring DVD firms to add as much
value as possible in the way of special features,
audio commentary, high-quality transfers, etc.  I
can't see the presence of English subtitles affecting
a foreign firm's decision to buy the foreign video
rights, unless it's a film that they only expect to
sell a tiny number of--in which case, why bother in
the first place?  

Kerim Yasar




		
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