Buying anime

Since I became an anime fan over a decade ago, I’ve been buying all sorts of anime products ranging from DVDs to artbooks and keychains. However, as I discussed in a previous post about how the US anime industry, and the media world in general, has changed over the years, my ways of buying anime couldn’t help but change as well…

The first anime series I ever bought was the first VHS volume of the subtitled version of Cardcaptor Sakura, released by Pioneer (the now deceased Geneon’s former name) sometime in 2000 or 2001. I bought it from a little privately-owned anime store in my neighborhood called Anime Plus. Considering I live in a very suburban valley of southern California, I was really lucky to have a store like that in the area. They had a great selection of anime DVDs and manga, as well as a ton of character goods like CDs, wall scrolls, plushies, and bags. I even remember buying my first anime CDs there, which were some random Japanese Pokemon CDs on sale for $5 each! Anime Plus continued to be a favorite place of mine well into high school, and I even interviewed the store owner for a project I had to do in Economics class.

As I got more into anime in my high school years, I also started buying the majority of my anime on DVD from a Suncoast (anyone remember that store?) in my local mall. For those who don’t know, Suncoast was a fun little chain of media stores that sold a variety of TV series and movies on DVD, as well as related goodies. Like Anime Plus, they also had a great selection of anime DVDs and extra goods like posters and T-shirts. My DVDs of Evangelion, Inuyasha, Fruits Basket, and Tenchi came from Suncoast, as well as some of my anime T-shirts.

Though I bought most of my anime stuff from Anime Plus and Suncoast at the time, and occasionally Best Buy and Borders, I actually started ordering some things online as soon as I got my first computer with Internet. The first thing I ever ordered online was the soundtrack of the fourth Pokemon movie from CD Japan in 2001. Another online store I discovered early on was AnimeNation, a Florida-based anime store that specializes in anime DVDs, but also sells a variety of other products such as T-shirts, bags, and plushies. Back then I usually preferred to buy my anime DVDs in person, and would only order from AnimeNation if stores didn’t have what I was looking for (which happened sometimes).

It was around the later 2000s that my anime buying habits started to change. Practically every Suncoast store was closed down in 2006, including the one I frequented, Best Buy cut down on a lot of its anime releases in 2009, and the anime selection at Borders was constantly shrinking before the whole chain closed down about a year ago. And Anime Plus, the store where I first started my anime buying over a decade ago, sadly closed down last year. But at the same time, with the advent of streaming videos and torrents, I was getting into more anime than ever before in the late 2000s, and discovering new online stores offering a better variety of products at better prices. Nowadays, just about all my anime purchases are done online or once a year when I go to Anime Expo. My favorite anime buying sites are now…

US-based stores

RightStuf: RightStuf has an amazing variety of anime DVDs/BDs, manga, and other products, often at great prices and they’ll usually ship items to you as soon as they get them rather than wait for the release date.

AnimeNation: Over a decade after I first started ordering from them, I’m pleasantly surprised that AnimeNation has managed to stay in business for so long. Despite competition from RightStuf, I hope they can keep on keeping on!

Japan-based stores

AmiAmi: AmiAmi has one of the best selections of imported anime character goods, ranging from figures, to mousepads, towels, plushies, phone straps, and more.

Hobby Search: Like AmiAmi, this is a great site for anime character goods, with an emphasis on figures.

CD Japan: Like AnimeNation, over ten years after I first ordered from them, CD Japan is still going strong. Since I lost interest in buying CDs, in recent years I mostly use them to get my annual imported anime calendars.

YesAsia: YesAsia has a good variety of imported Asian products, including anime, electronics, games, and collectibles. So far I’ve only used them to buy Japanese versions of Pokemon games.

And besides, the above mentioned sites, general stores like Amazon are great places to buy anime. I’d only recommend eBay if you’re looking for something really specific that’s hard to find elsewhere.

Compared to the beginning of my fandom, I don’t buy much anime in person anymore. Besides my quick once-a-year buying spree at Anime Expo, the most I’ll do is browse around what remains of the anime section at Best Buy and occasionally buy something. But for the past few years, my anime buying has increasingly become an online-only thing. The bad economy, media stores becoming obsolete, our society becoming more and more technology-based, wanting to save money and have a better variety of products to choose from – these reasons and more are why my anime buying habits have changed over the years. I do miss the old days when I would go in person to stores that had a great selection of anime. But as long as I can keep getting my anime stuff, whether in person or online, I’ll be happy =)

Feel free to share your history with buying anime and/or mention good places to buy from, in the comments below.

*Announcement*: After five months of unemployment, I finally started a new job a couple of weeks ago =D I’m going to be an office receptionist/assistant for a mobile veterinary clinic. I’m still in the training phase but it’s going well. I’m not going to be working everyday, but unfortunately I’ll still have to cut down my blogging time a bit. For the past few months I’ve had a new post roughly every three days, so that’s going to change to one new post a week. As for what day each week, that will constantly change depending on my schedule. So I’ll be back with a new post next week either Wed. or Sun., not sure which yet. And as always, you can follow me on Twitter to see when a new post goes up or if there’s any delays. See you soon~

No Comments… read them or add your own.

  1. Inushinde says:

    Buying online seems to be the only viable course of action nowadays as far as anime goes, at least where I live. The Suncoast that we had in town, which is where I found the Aria DVDs for a ridiculously good price, is going to close down next month, something that I’m a bit bummed about.

    My buying habits, while inconsistent, are at the very least existent. Since I don’t have a steady income, only relying on some leftover money, I can hardly afford to buy most things that catch my eye. If I end up loving a series, I will shell out to buy it without hesitation. That’s why I’ll be buying Madoka once the boxset comes out, and why I’ll be scooping up each volume of Penguindrum if it gets licensed by some miracle.

    • Yumeka says:

      Wow, I’m surprised a Suncoast has managed to stay open until this year. But yeah, what a bummer that it’s closing down too =/

      I’ll be buying Aniplex’s Madoka sets when they’re released too~ The BDs are a bit pricey but it’s a series I feel is worth it, plus they’re including a lot of extra goodies.

  2. SailorCardKnight says:

    Man I remember Suncoast, the place was expensive as hell but had really awsome character goods. I still have my shiny holographic Sailor Moon poster I got from there still proudly displayed on my wall. I would have loved to have gone there more often, but sadly they where only in the bigger cities. I think the one I went to in Las Vegas is still round, but then again, in that very same mall, Mervyn’s was still open last I went.

    As for me my buying habits haven’t really changed much over the years.

    One of my favorite places for anime has always been Hastings, and I’ve been going there long before I had even heard of Japanese anime. They are a nation-wide chain that sells new and used goods for cheap or reasonable prices. Not only is it my favorite place, its unfortunately the only place around here to buy anime/manga without having to drive to a whole another county and always has been. Well, with the amount of stuff i’ve bought from them and money i’ve saved over the years, I don’t mind the lack of options one bit. Half of my anime DVDs came from them and 1/3 of my manga collection too.

    With only Hastings as my local option, I’ve always turned to the internet for everything else. In fact, some of my first box DVD sets I bought online, back in 2004 I think. Which happen to be the now long out of print Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura box sets ADV and Geneon put out. Then after 2006 till today, I try to make at least one convention trip a year and buy lots of goodies then (I mostly end up buying manga).

    The only major difference in my buying habits is that i’ve been buying more online than I did years ago, as i’m finding DVDs and manga (that I can’t find used) i’ve been wanting for cheaper there.

    • Yumeka says:

      I still have some old Inuyasha and Evangelion shirts from Suncoast, as well as a big Love Hina, Trigun, and Tenchi poster I also got from them up in my closet. Suncoast was pretty expensive, but then again, all anime DVDs were back then. It was so much fun to browse their shelves of anime.

      I’ve never heard of Hastings – they sound nice. Wish there was one around here =/ Besides Best Buy, the only store I can go to that sells anime stuff and isn’t too far away is Anime Jungle and Kinokuniya in Little Tokyo (in downtown LA). But I don’t go there very often so I mostly buy online nowadays.

      Since you mentioned making convention trips once a year, do you still plan to come to AX this year?

      • JT says:

        Out here in the middle of Tennessee hill country, we have several in-person choices: Hastings (of which you’re now familiar), a decent – but declining – Best Buy, a Fye’s Media with a pretty good used section, and a well-stocked Movie Stop. Of course, there are always the online suppliers, too. It’d be nice to have a Kinokuniya here – and they’d have a market here, with all the Japanese employees that work at Denso, Komatsu and other manufacturers in the area!

        • Yumeka says:

          Yeah, I’m surprised at how many Kinokuniya stores are in CA. I hope they open more across the US.

          I’ve actually never heard of Fye’s Media either. But we did have a store called Sam Goody, which was a sort of off-shoot of Suncoast (there was a Sam Goody located right next to the Suncoast at my local mall actually, but they closed down at roughly the same time).

  3. My buying history used to be with local stores (I.E: Moviestop, Suncoast, etc), but now I do all my shopping online through Amazon or another retailer. Amazon though is the cheapest method, since you can also get used items, which come at a pretty fair price – especially when you are not looking to get extras, etc. The condition varies, but you usually know what you are getting from the rating which each stores does and also who you buy it from. Gohasting, Vidmart, Psanel, are all smaller retailers that I found through Amazon that offer their Anime and manga for a reasonable price, so for now, buying Anime is not much of a problem. The thing now is that Amazon is going to start charging sells-tax (when for outside residents they usually didn’t), so that is going to be the only downside as far ordering, but they haven’t implemented that yet.

    Btw: Congrats on netting the job ^^

    • Yumeka says:

      I try to buy my anime from other places before Amazon, since I like to support anime-exclusive sites like RightStuf and AnimeNation. But if Amazon has much better prices, I will turn to them. I mostly use them to buy other non-anime things =P

      Thanks for the job congrats~

  4. chikorita157 says:

    Ahhh, I remember Suncoast as my sister used to buy a lot of Anime from there before it got closed down. Back then, I didn’t have a broad interest in watching it until I gave up on the Pokemon Anime. Aside from that, we owned many VHS tapes of Pokemon and I think there is only three episodes per tape… Nowadays, you have DVDs that have 7 episodes with the option for English subs or dub (if there was any).

    Like with many college students, I depend only on the money I have left over and I save a lot since I don’t have a job yet. This is why I’m pretty selective of what I want to buy at any given time and I usually buy my Anime DVDs in June (usually from Rightstuf). Despite this, I kind of went overboard recently with the Idolmaster stuff with the CDs and the games… but still, it can’t beat the amount of money spent on Pokemon with all the games and merchandise I brought since the 90s. Even so, Anime is quite an expensive hobby… but then again, I lost all interest in American entertainment because it’s mostly reality shows these days and the music gone into the crapper, especially during the second half.

    Aside from that, congrats on getting a new job… Although the employment situation is improving a bit, it’s still pretty rough.

    • Yumeka says:

      As much as I loved the Pokemon anime back in the day, I don’t think I ever bought actual episodes on official VHS or DVD – only the movies. Since it was always on TV, I just time-recorded all the episodes onto blank VHS tapes =P Now there’s just so many episodes, I can’t imagine collecting them all on DVD.

      It’s not a bad thing to splurge once in a while, especially for a series you really like, as seems to be the case with you and Idolmaster. Besides Disney and a few other movies/series I like, I mostly spend my money on anime, too.

      Thanks for the congrats on my job, I do hope the job market improves~

  5. Author says:

    Robert of AnimeCornerStore.com is crying in a closet just about now, because nobody loves him.

    • Yumeka says:

      You know, I’ve heard of him and have visited his site in the past, but he just never seemed to have anything I was looking for. I certainly commend him for staying in business so long, though.

  6. BeldenOtaku says:

    Thanks for putting all the links in one place (now I’m just going to bookmark this page instead of keeping a tab on all of them ;3)
    I’d definitely be ordering more if I had a job (therefore money)….*sigh* if only anime blogging could pay.

    • Yumeka says:

      I’m assuming you’re still in school, so don’t worry, when you get older and get a job, you’ll be able to start building a collection. I was very fortunate in that even when I was in school, my mom was always buying me anime stuff.

      I too wish anime blogging could be a paid profession.

  7. omo says:

    Amazon Japan and HMV Japan are the two best places to import CD and DVD/BD. CDJapan is a good backup and alternative, and sometimes they are cheaper.

    But I guess that’s only worth it if you import a lot. These days most of my money go between RightStuf, Amazon Japan, and AmiAmi. Occasionally there’s something from Mandarake…

    • Yumeka says:

      I don’t import anime CDs or DVDs/BDs, but I do know that those sites are good sources. Lately, AmiAmi has been the main site I import from since I love character goods~

  8. Myna says:

    I bought a couple of Pokemon VHSs at a local consignment shop. I also bought most of my Fruits Basket volumes at my local bookstore, but pretty much all of my other manga was purchased at a Borders which no longer exists. (FFFFUUUU-)

    The first time I actually bought DVDs was at the magical Kinokuniya in NYC and I acquired the complete Baccano! set, Evangelion 1.0, and Whisper of the Heart. I also got a whole bunch of anime DVDs for Christmas: Cowboy Bebop, the first season of Utena, Yuyu Hakusho and Gankutsuou.

    I don’t get to buy as much anime as I’d like to. Mainly because of money. Thank goodness for birthdays and Christmas. :P

    Glad to hear that you got a new job and that everything seems to be going along swimmingly! I’m sad that there won’t be as many updates as before, but real life does take priority~

    • Yumeka says:

      I know, I have so many nostalgic memories at my local Borders that closed down. It was the first place I went to a Pokemon league back in 1999, and also a place where I’ve hung out with friends countless times.

      Oh, there’s a Kinokuniya in NYC? We have a nice one in LA, though it’s downtown and I don’t go there very often. There was also one not too far from where I went to college, and one in San Fransisco too. But none can beat the 9-story Kinokuniya I went to in Japan!

      Thanks for the job congrats~

  9. Artemis says:

    I often have to buy my anime online like many fans over the world probably do, because although there are a couple of shops in New Zealand that sell anime, they’re usually hideously expensive compared to the online prices even after I make the currency conversions and factor in shipping costs. Over the last few years though, I’ve been trying to save up my money so that I can buy a whole lot of anime in one go at conventions. The anime is typically a little cheaper there, and a convention will have the best variety of anime in one place that I’ll ever find outside of Japan.

    • Yumeka says:

      I’d imagine that if you live in countries outside Japan or the US, online would be your main outlet for buying anime. But now with so many media stores closing down, more US fans are turning to the Internet for their buying.

      Conventions are a great place to buy anime, too. I mostly buy character goods that catch my eye at conventions, but I will occasionally buy anime DVD sets if I feel like it or if there’s a good deal.

  10. Salion says:

    grats on the new job!

  11. KRILL says:

    My interest in anime while not TOO new, is not old enough to where I’d purchase products, since technology wise, it isn’t necessary so much anymore, and other than FYE there’s nothing really around where I live. Congratulations on your job, I’ll be getting training at Apple myself. Good luck to us.

    • Yumeka says:

      If you got into anime in the later 2000s, then yeah, buying anime in order to watch it is not nearly as necessary as it used to be. While you don’t have to buy every series you watch, I think it’s good to buy series you especially love to support them.

      Oh, a job at Apple, nice! Good luck to you, too!

  12. First of all, contratulations on the new job!

    I remember going into Suncoast back in high school, and looking at all the anime I wished I could afford. Mostly, I bought graphic novels at the time – $10 each for something I could look at before buying seemed a lot more reasonable than $25+ for something I had no way of previewing.

    I much prefer physical stores, because I like browsing. There’s no place around here with a good selection, though, so other than the occasional lucky find at Half Price Books, I buy most of my anime through Rightstuf.

    • Yumeka says:

      Thanks for the job congratulations~

      Yeah, I bought a lot more manga back in my high school years because they were cheaper than anime. But luckily my mom was very generous and would buy me anime DVDs and box sets often as well. I sort of lost interest in manga several years ago and have just been focusing the extra money I get on anime DVDs/BDs and character goods.

      I too find browsing fun. I like buying in person so I don’t have to wait for things to arrive in the mail and can get it right then and there.

  13. Nopy says:

    Congrats on your new job!

    I only ever remember there being one anime store where I live. It was located in an old part of town that was being revitalized as a second Chinatown and I believe the store was called “New Tokyo”. They had everything including playing cards, posters, plushies, VHS tapes, etc. Being only 7 years old at the time, I only ever had spare change that I found on the sidewalk to spend there and bought whatever Sailor Moon items I could find there. Sadly, the second Chinatown idea was an utter failure and all of the stores there, including the anime store, closed down when I was around 10 years old. There were no anime stores in the original Chinatown.

    After that, my only source of anime merchandise came from family trips to Asia. I would later learn that everything I bought was actually fake, which made me really upset. Eventually, I got my first job in 2006 and learned of the wonders of credit cards and paypal. Since then, ALL of my anime shopping has been done online. Except for some manga at bookstores and conventions, there’s no other way for me to get the things I want.

    • Yumeka says:

      There was a nice little anime goody store called Manga House that opened up in my local mall right around when I was getting into Pokemon in middle school. But it closed down in less than a few years, much to my sadness =( We have a Chinatown here in LA too, but I don’t think I’ve ever been there – just Little Tokyo which has some good anime stores like Anime Jungle and Kinokuniya.

      I actually wrote a past post about my experience with bootleg anime products. But yes, I also learned about them the hard way from buying bootleg Inuyasha DVDs at Anime Plus and bootleg figures at my early anime conventions. With the lax copyright laws in China, I’ve learned to avoid any suspicious anime products that may be bootleg, such as DVDs with Chinese subtitles or anime products from Hong Kong sellers.

  14. Kal says:

    Congratulations on your job :)

    Ah, must be nice to have so easy access to anime. My anime-related goods have not grown any. But I did manage to go to a Japanese culture festival, and I have a really nice Japanese silk handkerchief, and a Japanese bookmark in the shape of a lady in a Kimono :) While I can order online, shipping and import taxes are just too expensive. Well, someday globalization will get more stuff to me I guess.

    • Yumeka says:

      Thanks for the congrats~

      That’s too bad that you don’t have much access to anime products. But perhaps one day you’ll have the opportunity to come to the US or Japan and do all your anime buying at once! XD

  15. Akasen says:

    Congrats on your new job! May it not drain away your life and turn you into a zombie! (jk)

    On the topic at hand, I myself have a collection of manga that I proudly own. I do enjoy anime, don’t get me wrong, but I can never bring myself to buy a DVD or Blu-Ray of anime. I have always found myself buying volumes of manga priced at 15 dollars at most. I just happen to enjoy reading manga more than watching anime. Now this doesn’t mean I wouldn’t buy anime though. It’s just that I happen to find manga appealing in two ways. The first is that some anime detract from the manga and thus the story the anime has pales to the story in the manga. The second reason is that manga in my case is more private than anime. Now this isn’t to say that anime can’t be viewed privately, it is just that my situation would make me pop my anime into a Bluray player and view it for all to see.

    I am the type of person that enjoys quality. I nearly refuse to get music at anything less than 256 kbps and even then I will sometimes buy CD’s or get it in FLAC from Bandcamp. Likewise then is that for anime I will get nothing less than Blurays and there lies a problem. While one can easily view DVD’s on a PC, Blurays are a different story. The simple gist is this, Bluray has some DRM on it that can only be bypassed by acquiring expensive software from one of two companies. Every other method still would make me pay for software to just view Bluray on my computer and that in itself is cumbersome. As such, this issue deters me from even trying to shill out money for a Bluray release of say K-On! or Hellsing.

    Now a fair argument one could make is for me to simply buy the DVD’s. While logical and valid, it’s hard to tell someone like myself to simply get the lesser and to not worry. I strive for the best and the best is what I will attempt to get close to.

    Now one more thing before I go is the topic of merchandise. Stuff like pens, shirts, pillows, figurines, plushies, and the rest of that stuff. I don’t really see a need for them. Maybe it’s because my room is a relatively small and cluttered space with a slowly shrinking storage capacity for reading material. Actually that is exactly it. I don’t buy stuff like figurines simply because to me they hold little value to me. I’m also not one to really show off my love of anime too much so I don’t own shirts relative to the anime or manga series I like. So no, I’m not one for keychains and stickers, I’d rather spend it on Anime and manga.

    For the most part though I don’t really buy Manga all too often. I just recently bought the last two volumes I needed to complete Chibi Vampire (Karin) and the last time I seemed to have bought anything manga related seems to have been around maybe two years ago or so. I have a picture of my collection from 2008 and my collection doesn’t seem to have budged since then.

    • Yumeka says:

      I happen to be more into anime than manga, but there’s nothing wrong with being more of a manga fan either =) I assume you live with roommates or a lot of family members, which is why you can’t view anime privately. If that’s the case, then I can certainly understand manga being easier to enjoy for you. I don’t like watching anime for all to see either, which is why I only view anime in the privacy of my room and don’t take my laptop out to public places to watch anime.

      Since I have an HD TV and a Blu-ray player, I watch my BDs with those and don’t need to use my computer. But going by what you said, I’m assuming that you don’t have an HD TV and rely on your computer to watch DVDs and BDs? My HD TV is also my computer monitor, so it’s almost like I’m watching BDs on my computer anyway =P

      Things like figures and T-shirts aren’t for everyone, but I like showing off my love of anime both in my room and when I go out sometimes.

      • Akasen says:

        I do indeed live with my family and as such I don’t feel too comfortable with them knowing the anime I watch. We have at least one HD-TV and a PS3 so I could use that for Blu-Rays but the whole “people can see what I’m watching” irks me. I was told by another friend that I could get adapters for HDMI to DVI and that would allow me to watch (and play games) via my monitor. This is good and all but the knowledge that my computer for the time being is unable to play Blu-Rays

        So yeah, I’m just very stubborn when it comes down to it. I’d just rather view the videos on my computer rather than on TV and that’s just how I do things.

  16. Tara says:

    I don’t buy much anime stuff but I’ll definitely be checking those stores out now and possibly asking my uncle if I can buy some stuff and send it to his place before he comes home next (he lives in the UK so sending stuff there is cheaper).
    Mostly just wanted to say congrats on the job ^^

  17. graruru says:

    Man, that feel when you can’t buy your shows cuz you have no job. I KNOW IT. That aside, being a late comer to the realm of buying anime and having such strange taste as I have, Suncoast never really had anything I liked. Admittedly, one did have a DVD of Odin, which was amazing.

  18. Wingless says:

    Congratulations on the new job!!

  19. Overlord-G says:

    I’ll keep this short: They don’t sell anime merchandise in the Caribbean anymore so gaining access to anime offline is difficult for me. As for online, I hardly use credit cards but I have a feeling I might have to someday whether I like it or not.

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