there are three things i dislike about R1 licensing:
1. Price. it's not that i don't want to pay for my anime; on the contrary, as an artist i understand the importance of supporting other artists' works. but there's just something kind of ridiculous about buying DVD's from a really long series (Inuyasha, anyone?) and having like 3 or 4 twenty minute episodes on one DVD that sells for around $20. i don't get an allowance, i don't have a job, my parents don't buy me whatever i ask for. call me cheap, but i despise paying roughly $5 for a single episode, especially if it's filler.
2. Release Dates. this isn't a really big reason against the licensors, it's just aggravating and goes hand in hand with reason number one. when licensors get the rights to a show, they first release all the single DVD's, in slowwwww motionnnn. those are the single DVD's that i hate getting. i really do prefer box sets as they are complete at the time of purchase and seem to be cheaper. there's just something really hard about waiting as one after another single DVD is released. i want to see the show SO BADLY, but i don't want to waste money by buying singles.
case in point: Viz and Full Moon wo Sagashite. the show has an incredible amount of filler episodes at the beginning. i would much rather have a box set, than buy up the $20 singles as they are released. i'm not sure if this system is unavoidable, or just a tactic to get more money, but i've witnessed first hand how companies can lose profits like this. (my cousin purchased a bootleg FMwS box set, even though i warned her that putting money into bootlegs wasn't right. but i can understand her excuse - why spend gobs of money on singles when i could have the whole series right now?) i want to make it clear that i don't support bootlegs if there is a legit way to get the series, but when people are faced with one opportunity over the other, what are they more likely to do?
3. Subtitle Translation. Now, i don't have the biggest experience with R1 DVD's, but from what i've noticed, they like to assume you're stupid. it's very annoying to me to be watching a show, hear someone call for someone else by their last name, and see their first name onscreen. honorifics are totally ignored, too, it seems. this is one area where i feel fansubs are superior. i feel like, okay, most people watching subtitled anime aren't ignorant of the Japanese language... i'd rather see honorifics and stuff in that general area acknowledged. the guys at Del Rey are really good about this in their manga, and i think it's something everyone can agree upon, yanno?
....i really do appreciate that there's such a booming anime industry here in the United States, but i think my main issue with it is that it seems way too expensive. maybe it's unavoidable? i don't really know, but it certainly does deter me from spending money on a series.