I don't know about you, but when I pick up a new DVD/Blu-ray anime, I am really looking forward to popping it in and checking it out. When I finally get the chance to do that, I may not have as much time as I'd like to dedicate to watching. That means that every minute is precious! That's why I mostly cannot stand when localization houses load up their latest releases with tons of trailers!
Back in the day when VHS was the main format for in-home movie viewing, trailers on tapes were even more of a problem. You had to fast-forward through various trailers, and it would eat up a lot of time! With today's DVD and Blu-ray content, at least you can hit the skip button to jump past these features. Well...most of the time, anyway! Sometimes you can't skip at all, which means you're stuck watching the trailers.
When I think about trailers on anime DVDs that have actually interested me, I can count the number of times on a single finger. I understand that companies have to support the content that they're publishing, and sticking trailers on their releases makes perfect sense. The problem is, when we're forced to watch this content, it sometimes makes us resent the content we're being shown! You're just looking to watch the feature you bought, but instead you have to watch a trailer for something you're not interested in at all.
I don't think that trailers on anime DVDs are a bad thing. I just think that we should always be able to skip, and perhaps companies shouldn't load up their DVDs with so many trailers. Getting a feature that has 6 trailers before it seems like a little much. That's more than you'd see when you take in a movie at your local movie theater! I shelled out the cash to purchase an anime DVD from (insert company here), at least respect that I spent the cash and don't waste too much of my time!
How do you guys feel about anime trailers on your recent DVD/Blu-ray purchases? Do you find them informative and engaging, or do they just get in the way?
Like yourself, I understand why companies put the unskippable trailers at the beginning, but I agree that they're a pain if strapped for time. Aside from visiting DVDs for pleasure, I also visit them for reference material when writing reviews, etc. Having those extra minutes blocking me from the content I was originally seeking, or derailing my thought processes in general, can be very testing. Of course, this is all a product of our "want-it-now" culture, with its stunning lack of patience and accent on immediacy.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I value greatly those companies who distribute DVDs encoded with skippable previews over those with none at all placed before the menu screen, and here's why: exposure. Even though most anime DVDs come with previews as an extra feature, they're easily skippable with one button if only located in that section. Having a trailer or two to catch my attention, which consequently made me visit the extra features for more previews, has turned me on to many very enjoyable series. All the same, the option to skip them via one press of the Menu button is very welcome when I just need to get to specific content.
Hadn't really thought much about this. Thanks for asking the question!
Ah so anime DVD/BD's have them too lol.
ReplyDeleteBack in the day when I used to have VHS tapes and such I kind a liked the trailers. But I can see how they can be annoying if you are strapped for time.