As I've been ordering from CDJapan since 2012 & think it better to support them rather than the multi-nationals (especially Amazon) I'll continue to do so & order my three Ltd. Edits. from them. However as well as shipping costs there'll be international handling fees, customs duty (VAT) & non-sterling transaction fees to pay which will inevitably push the total cost to over 200 dollars. Supporting SCANDAL is becoming an expensive hobby! 
Just how expensive can be gleaned by a visit to their shop in Shibuya which my wife & I did last month (in Japan for the Rugby) (Am I going "off topic"?) where they sell their "Feedback" branded clothing at astronomical prices. How such prices can be justified on such mediocre designs I just don't know. "SCANDAL" branded goods were reasonable & I ended up with a couple of T-shirts including a nice tie-dye I'd seen pictures of TOMOMI wearing on SCANDAL Heaven. I don't want to be critical but they did start out appealing to kids as a "garage rock" band not as purveyors of high end fashion.

I will of course buy their album but only one, I feel all these different editions with Japanese groups is a bit of a con, AKB48 can have 7 different editions but I only ever buy the one I like best.

Oh and I always buy from CDJapan as well as they are fast and reliable

tonymiller wrote:I will of course buy their album but only one, I feel all these different editions with Japanese groups is a bit of a con, AKB48 can have 7 different editions but I only ever buy the one I like best.

It is definitely a con, but I can't resist this time because every edition has something I want. And I want to support the band, now more even than before. The way I look at it is, if they had released everything that's in all 3 editions in one super-deluxe special edition package in a nice box, would I have paid $130 (plus shipping) for that? Most people would probably say no, but for me, yes, I would have. I have done that with other albums from other bands that I actually like less. And I've been waiting for some opportunity to exchange money for Scandal goods - it feels like it has been a long time.

I used to always buy from CD Japan but I don't look at it like some do... CD Japan is an online-only retailer that's helping put physical record stores like Tower and HMV out of business. It's more like Amazon in terms of business model, just smaller. I was actually glad that Amazon wasn't the cheapest option because then I'd have to decide if it was worth saving a few bucks to order from them, which I don't like doing both because they're also putting record stores out of business and they don't seem to care at all if your stuff gets to you in decent condition. Their packaging is always really bad, and if my stuff gets to me undamaged, I feel lucky. So I do try to avoid them. CD Japan does package their stuff well, but they were quite a bit more expensive and I'd rather order from a physical store anyway (chain or not). I've ordered from HMV a few times and from what I remember, they package things similarly to CD Japan.

@spacecadet

I am retired now and not wealthy like you

And yes you are right about CDJapan but they even send me a Birthday card each year, you dont get that from the other Companies

tonymiller wrote:And yes you are right about CDJapan but they even send me a Birthday card each year, you dont get that from the other Companies

Wow, I haven't, ever... wondering what I'm doing wrong. Or maybe it's the age thing...


Yep, CDJapan work out the best place to buy for most stuff (I buy figures and other J albums), so I'll be buying at least one version from them, and add it onto one of my other preorders for the month. AmazonJP sometimes do exclusives or have a slightly cheaper price, but it balances in CDJ's favour for shipping, etc.

@mio_akiyama

I have spent a LOT of money with them over the years like 58 AKB48 singles for a start and all their albums

This is getting even more complicated. It seems CDJapan are now offering TEN different versions of "Kiss from the Darkness"! As well as the T-shirt edition there's 4 Regular editions (from 3000 to 4180 yen), 2 Type A editions (at 4000 & 4400 yen) & 3 Type B editions (from 3800 to 4180 yen). Did someone mention a con? Granted some of these with added "extras" are courtesy of Tower Records, HMV & Amazon so we can't lay all the blame on SCANDAL or CDJapan but things aren't being made easy for the buying public.

@The Sherwood Shinobi

Yes I dont like this idea, I have been buying Japanese music for many years and I will continue to do so but British groups dont do this.

I just carefully read each offer and buy just one of them.

The Sherwood Shinobi wrote:This is getting even more complicated. It seems CDJapan are now offering TEN different versions of "Kiss from the Darkness"!

Did someone mention a con? Granted some of these with added "extras" are courtesy of Tower Records, HMV & Amazon so we can't lay all the blame on SCANDAL or CDJapan but things aren't being made easy for the buying public.

It's not a con. Those have been added because customers specifically asked CDJ to buy the item for them via CDJ's Proxy Shopping Service, which they of course do so for a small fee (it's a specific service they're offering, after all), because it's very difficult to buy stuff from Tower, etc. since they don't ship overseas and/or don't accept foreign credit cards as payment.

Good news, I really want the Tower Record bonus clearfile!

OK so maybe saying "con" might be taking it a bit far. But I have bought every single, album, DVD etc issued by SCANDAL since they started & have never before seen so many different versions offered for the same product, so it's hardly surprising to wonder what's going on.

As I usually go out of my way to buy physical product from physical stores I took on board spacecadets comment that by using CDJapan I was helping to put the likes of Tower Records out of business. I am informed that Tower Records has some 80 stores throughout Japan & are not likely to go out of business in a hurry, but it's a matter of principle - back home I always support my High Street stores. Although my wife & I always spend at least half a day in Tower Records in Shibuya & always spend the equivalent of several hundred pounds sterling whilst in there this annual token support is less than a drop in the ocean. Realising from CDJapan's web site that several of the options available were via their proxy shopping service I logged on to Tower & registered with their proxy shopping service called Buyee . Anyone know if they're any good? And how do things compare ethically & financially between using either these two?

Yes there is no need to worry about good old Tower Records, I just wish we had Japanese idols performing in our HMV Record stores.

But when I came across CDJapan I was amazed how big their range of stuff is and they will ship it to you, they are my Hero's

The Sherwood Shinobi wrote:I logged on to Tower & registered with their proxy shopping service called Buyee . Anyone know if they're any good?

Buyee is run by forwarding service Tenso. They are not managed/run by Tower Records in any way.

That said, since Tenso is reliable company, Buyee is as well. I've used them several times (not for Tower purchases, however) and they offer some of the lowest fees. Never had a problem with them.

Just placed my pre-order with yesasia, as usual. Never had any trouble with them. And as usual, ordered more than one edition. Not only does this make me happy to be supporting our band and their team, but it provides gifts for friends. Yeh it's expensive and I don't have much money, but it's OK because otherwise I spend very little on recorded music. When pre-ordering SCANDAL I'll usually get an item from one other J band (Girlfriend this time) but that's about it.

Well many thanks to tge for the answer to my question, you are a veritable gold-mine if information, however for the sake of simplicity I've placed my whole order with CDJapan after all & it came to an eye-watering 157 GB pounds (over 200 US dollars). After I've paid handling fees, customs duties & everything else the postal service skims off us it will be well over the 200 GB pounds! Let's hope it's all worth it.

I also pre-ordered the album through CD Japan, since I'm already used to them. I ended up ordering the DVD+T-shirt edition.

I actually did a spreadsheet to keep track on how many CDs are needed for all the bonus, its actually 7 CDs.

https://twitter.com/wildthing_san/status/1194936793453363200?s=20

Rina's clear file bonus is yet to be announced at which shop yet.

Yes I am ordering them all.

Wildthing - that's 32000 yen (over 300 US dollars) so far - what do you do with all this stuff? Put it on display somewhere? Shove it in a box under the stairs? I thought of the futility of it all when I bought two copies of their last CD (totalling 80+ US) & ended up with two copies of (what I thought) was pretty standard SCANDAL fare, a T-shirt I'll never wear (& neither will my wife), a vanity project booklet of somewhat dubious fan service & two plastic folders of TOMOMI that I'll never use. Anyway - here we go again.

@The Sherwood Shinobi

I agree, I am a huge SCANDAL fan but I wont fall for this Japanese marketing trick, AKB48 had 7 different versions of their last single, I just carefully read what each one comes with and pick the one I want the most, and I shall do the same with SCANDAL, but if people want and can afford all the editions good luck to them.

Some people never even play the CD's as they want them to remain untouched, not me though.

The Sherwood Shinobi wrote:Wildthing - that's 32000 yen (over 300 US dollars) so far - what do you do with all this stuff? Put it on display somewhere? Shove it in a box under the stairs? I thought of the futility of it all when I bought two copies of their last CD (totalling 80+ US) & ended up with two copies of (what I thought) was pretty standard SCANDAL fare, a T-shirt I'll never wear (& neither will my wife), a vanity project booklet of somewhat dubious fan service & two plastic folders of TOMOMI that I'll never use. Anyway - here we go again.

I've been boxing up all the spares, some time I would resale/give away the spares to other fans. I think of buying CDs as a way to support and to see them at events etc. 

I'm sure there will be other lotteries during the tour and maybe even a in store promotion event.

I mean I usually end up getting their hi-res releases, so the CDs I rarely use.

BTW The pre-order at HMV / Lawson with the tumbler has SOLD OUT.

Can I just say AMIDAKUJI IS SO FREAKING GOOD IT SOUNDS LIKE OLD SCANDAL BUT HAS LIKE REGGAE ELEMENTS, I can't wait to hear it again when they come to Singapore next year :-)

thoseguiltyeyes wrote:

SCANDAL's new song "A.M.D.K.J." (Amidakuji) (which they just performed for the very first time ever at the Singapore show), which will also be on their upcoming album, will be the ending song for the anime "GeGeGe no Kitaro" starting from January 5th!

Bad choice before a world tour. I'd rather an anime that's more popular outside of Japan, I'm afraid this won't bring people to see them live

thoseguiltyeyes wrote:

The title refers to a form of lottery called "amidakuji" (AKA "Ghost Leg" or "ladder lottery"). It may sound familiar since the other week SCANDAL did this to determine which CD store would carry which member's clear file bonus for the new album.

So the "lottery" video was just a way to secretly reveal a new song? :-O lol

It's been a while since they did an anime theme song, I believe the last one was Yoake no ryuuseigun, or i maybe wrong. Not sure if this anime is really well known, but it's been running for years so I'm guessing it has a good audience.

Rina Clear file I found listed at 新星堂(Shinseido) WonderGoo at Yahoo Japan shop or Rakuten shop.
It still hasn't been announced by Scandal on their websites/sns as yet, so there may be other shops that will sell it too.