Summary
Why is good anime often under represented or under understood (if that is a word)? Greed. FLCL is a great anime. But it's only 6 episodes at around 3 hrs. Yet somehow the DVD makers felt is necessary to split a 3-hour series over 3 DVDs and charge nearly $30.00 bucks a piece for them. I don't buy my anime in the U.S. I buy it overseas. Sure I may have to read subtitles, and I might occasionally even unintentionally be purchasing a pirated property (which I try to avoid by usually buying from a select number of dealers and by paying attention to the name of the DVDs' producers) but when I can buy an entire 26-episode series (like Cowboy Bebop or Witch Hunter Robin) on 3 DVDs for less than the price of one of those DVDs in the U.S. that only has three or four episodes of the same series (with all the "extras" - some sketchbook drawings & trailers for other DVDs aren't exactly extras in my book!), I'll pick reading any day (especially since dubbed English DVDs are becoming more prevalent overseas). DVD producers will say that they have to charge that much because it's a niche market, etc. All I can think is that it will never stop being a niche market until people can see an entire series without having to pay $100.00-$300.00 to watch it.