You ahve to realize that there are some major differences between the Anime Market and the regular DVD market.
First, it's a niche market. It's amazing that you can find a Anime Display at Best Buy or FYW that is larger than the many of hte genre's. As had already been stated, anime is more popularthan it once was. I attribute this specifically to the usage of DVD. Suddenly you could have a dubbed and a subtitled version of the same show on one disc.
Still, it's base is increadibly small. So why are there so many Anime DVD's if there are so few buers? Well, there are a lot of reaosns... One reasons the shelves are so large isn't necessarily because of high demand. It can also be slow turnover. Second;y, Many Anime companies just translate and package it for the american audience. They license the show from Japan. So they can tackle a large number of shows for translation depending on fan demand...
Then there's the fact that Anime does not have the distribution model of movies. Taking Disney... yes there are Anime toys, shows on TV etc. But the level of that compared to say, "The Lion King" is miniscule. That goes from Major release to pay per view to rental to video to television. Making major moolah at each stage of release. Throw in soundtracks, merchnadising, etc... and it's a pretty penny. You may point out that is also true for Anime. But it's not at nearly the same scale or in such a diurect model. For example... the american company might license and release an Anime DVD, but they might also have no part of merchandising or any oth the other revenue streams. They may go somewhere else. In the Lion King Model everything goes back to Disney because they're the owners of the material. Thus they can afford more competative prices.
Frankly, very few people understand the difference in prices between the US and Japan. You think you got it bad here? It's not uncommon, actually more the norm, for a DVD of an anime in Japan to cost the equivalent of $50-$60 US and only contain one or two episodes. In the US you get the same material with sometimes 4-5 episodes and if you shop around you can find it for probably around $20. Compared to Japanese in their native country, Anime is half the price with double the material in the US. That's due to the different expectations in the American consumer. No one will buy a $60 DVD with 60 minutes of material over here.
But to take an alternative comparidson, look at manga. Hell, in Japan it's not uncommon for 500 page Manga books to come out costing around $3. But thewy sell hundreds of thousands of copies. In the US, that same Manga will be half the size and doublt or triple the cost. That's becauyse they sell less than a hundred thousands. It's the economies of scale.
Going back to DVD's and why doesn't the economy of scale work in japan, most anime's are aired on TV or in Theatres. So many people casually see it there and then don't bother to buy the DVD. Or they Tape it. Also, the Japanese are use to paying such high prices. Like you guys are used to seeing $50 price tags on video games at release. Raising it to $60 and poeople don't buy... Lowering the price doesn't automatically translate into more sales. The same with DVD's in Japan.
Now considering that they sell anime for $60 a pop in Japan, you could see how a company would be hesitant in selling that same show in the US. It has a limited audience and they frankly won't make as much money per sale. So the Japanese license holders force high licensing fees and those are passed along in the cost of Anime in the US.
Finally, I want to see cheap Anime too. But the economics of the industry are different from normal DVD's. Crying about it doesn't change the economics. It's like people who compare CD's to DVD's. Just because they're on small plastic discs does not mean the economics of each industry is the same. If that were true we could say that for all items on disc... "I can get a DVD for $10 so why can't I get all my video games for $10 or Anime for $10 or CD's for $5 or Software for $10 or..." It's just not a reasonable or intelligent comparison. It's like comparing apples and bananas. They're both fruit, but not the same.
If you do look around you can find cheap anime. I got the Gasaraki boxed set for $35 at Rightstuf. Found Generator Gawl 1, Raxpheon 2, Walmart for $5 and they had a ton of Robotech I passed over. Got Macross Plus DVD's 1&2 for $40; 33% off the list price. And this weekend at Right stuf they have some very VERY tempting Items. I'm definately getting the Boogie Pop Limited Edition Boxed set with two soundtracts and some goodies for $40. That's $10 per DVD plus 2 CD's a box and extras. The Blue Seed perfect collection is $35, but I may pass on that. I dunno. They still have Sailor Moon Seasons 1 and 2 for $50. Also they have a bunch of DVD's 1's with box for $15 that normally list for $40. Going to get His and Her circumstances and maybe one more. I'm also eyeing the Gundam Movies for $30.
Yeah, you can't get everything. But if you pick your spots you can get some good stuff.