>But in America, the Japanese versions with English
>subtitles greatly outsell the overdubs and provide
>viewers with an introduction to Japanese culture
>and language.

Back in the VHS days where you only got one
language track, dubs outsold subs 20:1.  This
seems to be the most reliable figure out there,
though I've seen the numbers range from 15 to 50,
in favor of dubs.

They cost more to produce but since they sell so
much better, it made sense for companies to drop
the price.

DVD has been a godsend since most releases are
dual language. The disks are incredibly cheap to
print and putting both languages streamlines the
production process(you're printing 1 DVD edition
instead of 2 VHS editions. Blank DVDs are also way
cheaper than tapes.)

COngrats on building such a nice collection in the
budget that you have!