Ask John: Why is the Neo Tokyo DVD so Difficult to Get?

Question:
Why is the Neo Tokyo DVD out of print? Why is it so damn expensive to find a copy?

Answer:
The most likely explanation for the relative scarcity of the domestic Neo Tokyo DVD is its minimal consumer interest. The American Neo Tokyo DVD was first released in 2004, meaning that AD Vision probably acquired the distribution rights to the title in 2003 or earlier. It’s possible that the distribution term of ADV’s license has expired, but a more probable situation is that ADV has exhausted its inventory of copies, and there’s not enough consumer demand for the title to justify the expense of pressing another batch of discs. Several of America’s anime distrbution companies, including AD Vision, maintain a policy of not manufacturing new printings of DVDs until or unless consumer demand warrants a reprint.

Neo Tokyo, originally released in Japan as “Mani Mani Meikyu Monogatari,” generated some interest among American viewers in the late 1990s when one of the film’s three segments, Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s “Running Man,” was broadcast on MTV as part of the Liquid Television program. However, by 2004 when the film finally hit American DVD, the “Running Man” segment had largely been forgotten in America, and interest in the film was relegated primarily to a handful of hardcore American anime fans who either remembered the film, or were interested in the film based on its pedigree. Unfortunately, the initial domestic release of the film had a full-frame transfer instead of a proper aspect ratio widescreen presentation. Although later printings of the American DVD did contain an anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio, the incorrect original aspect ratio DVD release may have discouraged some of the hardcore fans and collectors that were interested in purchasing the film.

Copies of the official American Neo Tokyo DVD seem to vary drastically in after-market price. Copies available through Amazon, for example, begin at more than double the disc’s original retail price, but “collectable” items sold by independent dealers through Amazon frequently tend to have excessively inflated asking prices. As a general rule, very few, if any official American anime DVDs genuinely have legitimate significant after-market collector value. Copies of the domestic Neo Tokyo DVD may be difficult to find because there’s a good chance that relatively few copies were ever produced. Copies of the DVD may command a high price – although whether copies ever actually sell at high prices is uncertain – because the only market for copies is hardcore collectors and fans that desperately want the disc.

Considering that AD Vision has not removed Neo Tokyo from its website, I think that it’s safe to assume that ADV still possesses the domestic distribution rights to the film but is not attempting to keep the film in circulation right now. If the potential consumer market for the Neo Tokyo DVD numbers only a few dozen, or possibly a few hundred American collectors, the expense of keeping the Neo Tokyo DVD in print and available may cost more than the title generates in sales revenue. It’s not cost effective to print a thousand copies of a DVD if there are only 500 consumers willing to purchase it. Printing smaller quantities of DVDs isn’t a viable option either, as smaller print runs increase the production cost per disc.