Like I mentioned before Japan still uses the old "rental store" pricing method. Since they don't have a lot of room in their houses for huge anime collections like we do, they go to the video store to rent stuff.
The video stores are the ones paying the absurdly high prices for these DVDs/Blu-Rays. However some really die hard Otaku do buy the same stuff for the same prices. Thus they are the ones "dictating" what is being made.
It was like that back in the days of VHS/Betamax where video stores had a monopoly on the big releases for a while, so if you wanted something like E.T. (for example) you had to pay the high cost (around $200).
So you can thank whomever decided to get rid of that system here in the US. That way you don't have to pay the really high prices. Though there are some people who do import stuff from Japan (as indicated by that Fate/Zero thing).
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Toho's Godzilla Will Live Forever!
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