Why ADV should keep extras in their sets

Also see my Extras page for any extras that have been made available for download.

ADV has recently adopted a policy of removing all extras from new thinpak box sets. This includes important extras such as (examples are not necessarily ADV titles):

Mini-episodes/specials: Chibits, Welcome to Lodoss Island, Pretty Sammy Theater, and the other little extra comedy bits in shows like Blue Seed or Fushigi Yuugi OAV are content and should be retained. ADV is likely to remove the Azumanga Daioh mini-movie from the upcoming set (dlw has confirmed this as much as he ever confims something).
Clean OP/ED, translator notes: There have been discussions about OP overlays and credit replacement for a long time. One of the things that ended this debate on AoD was the standard inclusion of clean OP/EDs as extras. ADV is also one of the companies that replaces difficult-to-translate things like puns with alternate versions and relies on translation/liner/cultural notes to explain what was replaced (the "Bean Knowledge" joke in Azumanga Daioh for example...I didn't care for the replacement but the defense from ADV was that the liner notes explain it). These issues come back again if they are going to leave off clean OP/ED and translation notes, because actual content of the show is being eliminated with no replacement. The OP is partially gone, and the dialog is altered with no hint of the change.
Missing eyecatches and other animation: Obviously any other bits of animation that were part of the show but not included in the proper place (additional OP/EDs not used, eyecatches, end-of-episode omake) fall into the above categories as well.
Cast extras, entertainment: Some cast extras are like mini shows of their own (usually R2 in this case). Club Escaflowne, the VA RC race from eX-Driver, and the cast visit to the real airport from Stratos 4 are good examples. I'd put these along with the animated mini-specials as content.
Cast/expert interviews: Admittedly an extra, but many do add valuable information that is important to understand some shows. I think things like that, and all the above, are necessarily for the full enjoyment of the main feature and should therefore be included with all releases if possible.

There are also other extras that are more properly "extra" and would be reasonable to leave off of a cheaper release:

Physical extras: Booklets, posters, pencil boards, etc (the content of liner notes falls under translation notes above)
Picture galleries
Character bios
Plot summaries
Commercials
"Making of" documentaries
Interviews that are not related to show content
Diagrams, maps, character relationship graphs
Storyboards
Live-action music videos
Extras created by the R1 company: These are also extra by definition. That would include jiggle counters, dub out-takes, and probably some Easter eggs.

Why are they doing it?

Two main reasons have been given by dlw (the ADV representative):

To "add value" to the singles
First of all, this doesn't add anything to the singles...it removes value from the box sets. Second, this can't work; see "Won't this help the sale of singles?" below.
To introduce a cheap box set that will attract casual buyers
This is a perfectly reasonable thing to do, but it has nothing to do with removing the extras. These cheap box sets would not be less attractive if they included extras, and the incremental cost to add extras is insignificant. Even if those costs were the reason, there are alternatives that allow hardcore fans to get the extras at no cost to ADV; see "How else could they give us the extras?" below.

Won't this help the sale of singles?

No. Let's consider the types of people that purchase anime:

Casual/mainstream buyers: In terms of sales, these are the backbone of the anime industry. They buy less than hardcore fans individually, but there are far more casual buyers than otaku. They primarily buy dubs, and many are impulse buyers. Historically, we know that these buyers are not anime-savvy...they don't frequent anime fan sites and they don't know in advance what extras or even episodes a show should include (even hardcore fans are often unaware). The poor sales of Fruits Basket (higher episode count and price) convinced the industry that these buyers do not pay attention to episode counts or price per episode, leading to such notable and frustrating experiments as Kiddy Grade (and many other shows released 8 discs @ $25 MSRP) and Gantz (originally 13 two-episode discs for $18 MSRP). It is a safe assumption that casual buyers will not be driven to buy singles for a lack of on-disc extras, many of which are targetted at sub watchers. It seems unlikely that this group will even notice the change.
Hardcore fans (otaku): Surprisingly (to me at least), a large number of posters on AoD are content with dropping extras in order to save a few bucks. They are happier with the new sets, meaning this move will have the opposite affect and encourage people to give ADV less money.
Hardcore fans that care about the extras: Certainly there are fans that are concerned about the extras over the price difference (such as myself). Those that really care will hopefully join me in purchasing NO discs (single or box set) for shows that are being treated this way. Again, this will hurt ADV rather than help.

The largest group of buyers (mainstream), the largest group of hardcore fans, and at least some of the remaining hardcore fans will be DISCOURAGED from buying singles or be unaffected. Only those hardcore fans that care about extras but don't care about being deliberately denied extras in box sets will be driven to buy more singles. Is this a large enough demographic to offset the rest (not to mention justify screwing loyal fans)?

The "Zero-Sum" argument

As above, the only people who care about extras are serious fans. Even if they were willing to switch to singles, would that help ADV? In a word: no. The problem is that serious fans are limited by budgets...we don't have an unlimited supply of money to spend on anime. Because of recent market saturation, most fans are already forced to skip anime they would like due to lack of funds. So what happens when a serious fan switches from buying a box set to buying the singles? They skip something else they wanted of course. Whenever that skipped title was from ADV, all the profit of this new system is lost...a sale by ADV is switched to a different sale by ADV. You might be thinking that ADV is hoping to pull market share from other companies, but if that worked it's likely other companies would join ADV in doing this (thus restoring the balance on average). The dollars of serious fans are already maximized, which is why casual fans (who spend money on other leisure activities) are the best target for new sales.

ADV gains nothing, but fans lose...they get less extras and/or less anime for the same money.

How else could they give us the extras?

The obvious way is to leave them on the discs...this is the only way to leave vid-notes or commentary tracks. The cost of this is quite negligible. Other options:

Regular box sets: This is the old way. The difficulty is that these box sets will compete with the cheaper sets and require more shelf space. These sets could be released earlier or later...both offer interesting options.
Extras discs: These could be part of the original singles (extras consolidated onto one disc), although that's unlikely to sell well. A better choice is a disc sold directly by ADV or through anime sites like Rightstuf. They could charge $10-$30, bundle multiple shows onto a single or multiple discs, include the first episode of the show (as a sampler), include the first episode of a different show, or fill the extra space with trailers. It shouldn't be hard to at least break even on these, and it would make people like myself buy again. It would have negligible affect on the market as most people do not buy online from these sites.
Download: Some extras like translation/cultural notes could be downloaded from ADV's website...Animeigo has been putting their liner notes on their web site for years. This option isn't terrible for other sorts of extras either. I will even offer to type up and/or host any extras ADV is willing to give permission for. This would again have negligible affect on the market due to minimal exposure.
Any other options ADV would like to consider

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