Shinyun226

^￥1000 is the initial joining fee, the ￥2500 is the annual renewal fee

^Are US releases really that much worse?

I mean I haven't purchased an American movie on DVD in years but... American and Japanese blu-rays are pretty much the same as far as I can tell (case thickness and whatnot varying slightly between publishers); the only main difference being Japanese releases tend to have a little more variety in terms of color whereas almost all American blu-rays are in the same standard blue case.

 

No, ALL Hello!Pro singles (well not just H!P, Up-Front in general) are released in this...

"No"? Well, I didn't hone in on singles. C-ute's Cmaj9 album (2015) has a THICK booklet, multiple versions & sizes, and Angerme's Selection Album (also relatively recent) has a long box format & color gloss page bound book inside, etc.
As for DVD's Angerme's 2015 DVD magazine still has a solid plastic housing vs how the USA houses Hollywood films in a DVD case that has like a pinwheel cutout to cut back on plastic which makes the cases very flimsy.
Again, we must be collecting different material.

 

Oh don't get me wrong, I was only talking singles in my post before; the packaging for albums do definitely have higher production value.

You must be following the wrong acts lol.

No, ALL Hello!Pro singles (well not just H!P, Up-Front in general) are released in this format, it's been like that for years.  I think they stopped releasing singles with back cards around 2011.

And in relation to other Japanese media, DVD magazines aren't THAT unreasonably priced; I mean on a minute to ￥ ratio, compared to Japanese dvd and BD releases of movies and ESPECIALLY compared to anime, DVD magazines are fairly reasonable.  Movies on DVD are between ￥3800-￥5000 depending on the publisher, so 60-90 minutes of content isn't all the bad for under ￥3000. 

I'd agree that image blu-rays on the other hand are overpriced, but they're premium/limited goods so it's to be expected.