DVD Collecting Philosophy

[mitsuki lover]

So when you collect anime on DVDs do you have any particuliar philosophy that you follow or not?For example are you more of a completist and follow a single series through to the end or do you tend to buy whatever is avaible at the time regardless?
I would have to say I tend to fall more in the later than the former category myself.This is because having x amount of space I don't have the room for complete sets of all the series I want.
Another question is:Do you only buy series you have seen and like or do you
perfer to be adventuresome from time to time and buy spontaneously?
And finally do you have any titles that you would say you would never ever
buy?(Mainstream anime that is)

[Scarecrow]

I'm definitely in the first category. I can never buy just "part" of a series. This goes for books and most movies as well. It feels incomplete. So yes I have all three Matrix movies even though I've only watched the first movie more than once =D. Plus I think its a rip off to buy a single volume for 26$ when you can get the whole season for about 30-50 dollars.

And because its hard for me to actually see any anime without buying it, I'll usually just buy em but only if the set is available in a thin pack or Anime Legends set. Recently bought four sets... never saw any of them aside from Cowboy Bebop (which I just discovered has a crack on disc three so I'm trying to get that returned for a replacement or whatever) and that was really just the movie. I usually get a good idea if I'll like it or not before hand though. Reading the synopsis, reviews, and maybe watch an episode on youtube.

Don't buy animes too often though (that money is supposed to go for school =P) and these should hold me off for a few months anyway.

[ADXC]

Yes, I usually stick with an anime to the end. I try to complete the series that I have, but if I see something that I think I may want then I'll buy it.

I usually buy series that I know I will like, as like I see off of AS or something. But there are rare occasions when I may just feel like something "Different, and go with that. Its really all about how much money one can freely(Not using it for bills, food, clothing, etc.) throw around, which I hardly have any to do so.

Well, yeah there is one that I would never buy, but oddly enough its in my house(Stupid poltergeists! Going off taking your money and spending it without your consent.). Of course I won't mention the title.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

I only buy anime when they're a boxed set or a movie, relatively cheap, and of high quality.

So far, my collection is three titles: Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, (Which I got many years ago) Kino's Journey, and Paranoia Agent.

Hopefully I can soon add Paprika to that list.

[Shao Feng-Li]

If I start a series, I wanna finish it. And I want the box sets.

[ClosetOtaku]

Philosophy? Nah, it's more like math or logic:

If (originality + buzz + artwork) > wallet regret factor, then BUY Vol 1.

If Vol 1 >= expectations, then BUY Vol 2. With Box.

If Vol 2 >= expectations, then BUY SERIES.

That about explains it...

[Rev. Doc]

So when you collect anime on DVDs do you have any particuliar philosophy that you follow or not?For example are you more of a completist and follow a single series through to the end or do you tend to buy whatever is avaible at the time regardless?

I prefer to complete any series I am collecting.

Do you only buy series you have seen and like or do you perfer to be adventuresome from time to time and buy spontaneously?

While I read over reviews and opinions about specific titles, I purchase spontaneously, generally having never seen the title personally.

do you have any titles that you would say you would never everbuy?(Mainstream anime that is)

I'm not a big fan of mecha or very dark titles. Nor do I care for a series with constant fanservice.

[Radical Dreamer]

I buy DVDs that I know I'll watch again. $30 is way too much to spend on a DVD that might be pretty good. XD Of course, I'm always on the lookout for sales and better deals, too, but regardless, the first factor I look at is how often I want to watch whatever I'm buying.

As far as single volumes vs. an entire series, it depends on the series. Usually, if I like a series enough to want to watch it again, I will naturally want to own the entire set. I mostly like to stick to thinpacks and boxed sets, though if buying the series disc by disc is the only option available, I'll do that, too. There are also a few series where I only ever intended to buy a few of the DVDs that had some of my favorite episodes on them, rather than the entire series as a whole.

For the reasons above, I don't really like to buy DVDs spontaneously, unless I'm on a very good recommendation. Titles I would never buy would include harem-esque shows, shows with no plot with lots of fanservice, shows with enough plot for 13 episodes that stretch it out over 200+ episodes, etc. Basically, anything that I don't see myself enjoying at all, I won't buy.

[crazypackersfan]

For me, it's all about whether I can afford it or not. Unless I really like a certain episode, I usually want to pay about $2 per episode. So when I was able to get InuYasha box sets for around $50 each, I bought them, and the same went for other cheaper box sets. But as much as I love Bleach, I won't buy the DVDs which cost around $6 per episode. (If I had a faster Internet connection, I think I could buy them online...)

[KhakiBlueSocks]

[font="Trebuchet MS"][SIZE="4"][color="RoyalBlue"]Here's my Philosophy for Buying Anime DVD's:

1. Used is your best friend - Laugh if you must, but a lot of my collection consists of pre-owned DVD's that I found on sale at GameStop, FYE, SunCoast, etc...I hardly ever buy DVD's brand spanking new unless it's a series I really wanna see, or the price is right. Besides, the disks and cases are in GREAT are in like-new condition, and I normally clean the cases anyway when I get home to get the stickers and stuff off the covers.

2. Episodes of Three, Leave it Be - If you think for one hot second that I'm going to shell out $30 for a three episode disk, then you're out of your ever-lovin' mind! 4 is the ABSOLUTE minimum for new disks. I have been known to buy 1 or 2 used DVD's with 3 eps on them, but NEVER new. That just won't fly.

3. Stay Connected - I normally carry my cell phone and PDA with me when I go shopping. The reason? Both can access the internet. Nuff said. This really comes in handy when I'm out and I wanna find out about a series really quickly. I just surf to Wikipedia, type in the name of the series, read up on it, and make a split-second decision. Example--I was about to buy the Saiyuki movie, which I knew NOTHING about. I whipped out Blackie (my PDA) type in "Saiyuki" and, after two minutes of scrolling through the V/A cast list (seriously, it's like they got EVERY SINGLE ADV voice actor in this freaking thing) and the plot, I decided to buy it...that and the fact it had a commentary track...oh, speaking of...

4. Extra! Extra! - As you guys know, I'm a stickler for extras on DVD's. Outtakes, V/A interviews, Linear Notes, you name it! Commentary Tracks are my all time favorites. In fact, I bought Volume 3 of "Ganbare Goemon" ("Legend of the Mystical Ninja") just because it had all my favorite V/A's doing a commentary track together! I doubt I'll finish the series (or even find the other disks) but I also doubt I'll ever trade it off.

5. Is It Worth Collecting? - Self explanatory. I'm all for character development and plot development, but I don't wanna have to buy 10-20 disks just to finish a series! I'm space limited as it is! The only exception to this rule is "Thin-Packs". This is where #3 comes into play.

6. Box The Box - I said it before, I'll say it again. WHAT'S THE POINT OF THE FREAKING BOX?!?! I was in FYE the other day and I saw the "Eureka Seven BOX SET"...I pick up the box and what do I see??? One DVD and a t-shirt. Okay, what the heck??? What am I going to do with a cardboard box?! What can the box do that my shelf can't do other than gather dust? What if the shirt is too small? What then?! Thanks, but no thanks. In my anime lifetime, I've only bought 4 "Box Sets"--"Nadia: Secret of Blue Water" "Wild Arms TV", "Aquarian Age", and, just recently "Genshiken". All of these, while new (for the most part), were a great price, and they actually had the COMPLETE series.

And that's my Philosophy for buying DVD's. Weird? I know it is. But hey, when you're on a budget, you have to make sure you're making a wise investment. Not everyone can buy box sets at the thought of it.[/color][/SIZE][/font]

[AsianBlossom]

I look for the complete box sets of series that I like, and the only exceptions to this rule are Sonic X (before quality really mattered to me...and I only personally have a few of these DVDs from the first season, like 3 or so...my brother has maybe about 5) and Comic Party (which I bought the box set on a daring whim after reading the review on it...thanks Rogie-san!).

In terms of movies, I look for ones I've seen (perhaps borrowed from the library) and liked, and so far, I haven't missed on liking any (well, I've only borrowed four, so...).

This means that the three box sets I have are Azumanga Daioh (birthday gift), Angelic Layer, and Comic Party. Oh yeah...and can't forget the Disney-translated Ghibli titles, even though they're not box-sets...

So my theory is that if I like it, it's got a box set, and there's nothing seriously wrong with the series, I'll buy it. This theory has kept me from buying Kaleido Star, though, as the only downside was the whole "tarot-card" thing...cute story otherwise. Oh yeah, and budgeting (as well as weighing the value of it) has also prevented me from buying the Diamond Daydreams box set and the Makoto Shinkai Collection (the latter of which I would most likely buy more...even though I only liked "The Place Promised in Our Early Days" I'd buy the box set because of the "She and Her Cat" short and the "Voices of a Distant Star" soundtrack...that piano piece in the opening menu was beautiful...).

[Gypsy]

I used to pretty much buy whatever the heck looked good to me, but then I ended up with some pretty blah titles that just weren't worth the money in the long run. Now I wait for a series to come out in the thinpacks or I hit the used dvd stores. I'm not sure what kind of anime it'll take for me to want to pay the money for each individual release.

This is probably blasphemous in some way, but I also got rid of most of my dvd cases and put 90% of my anime into a dvd binder.

[GeneD]

Interesting question, it's got me thinking...
I guess it's down to price and availability for me. I'll buy a movie more readily, mainly since they're cheaper. The anime interest is a little limited where I live so not a lot gets imported and anime, never mind a complete series, are very hard to find and usually expensive.

I'm a total uncompromising “completistâ€

[mitsuki lover]

I used to pretty much buy whatever the heck looked good to me, but then I ended up with some pretty blah titles that just weren't worth the money in the long run. Now I wait for a series to come out in the thinpacks or I hit the used dvd stores. I'm not sure what kind of anime it'll take for me to want to pay the money for each individual release.

This is probably blasphemous in some way, but I also got rid of most of my dvd cases and put 90% of my anime into a dvd binder.

Are DVD binders worth the cost of getting them? I'm wondering as I have only so much space so a binder might be useful for me.

[rocklobster]

I stay with anime that I've actually watched at least most of the way through when it comes to renting them.

[R. Zion]

Generally what I begin collected I like to finish, just because I'm a completist and, should I ever want to show the series to someone, it would be helpful to have it all available.

As for picking out what series I buy, unless it comes HIGHLY recommended by someone, I generally prefer to preview the series a bit either online or on television. I think the one exception to this in my collection is Castle of Cagliostro, but it's Lupin and Miyazaki, so I figured "How can I go wrong?"

[ADXC]

@ KBS- Um to answer question about the box. I believe that you use those to hold the new dvds of that same series so that it doesn't get lost. Well, I find these space savers so I can keep one anime from being mixed up with another in a compact way.

They may also put special stuff in the boxes to fill up space, but as your collection of that series goes on so does the space in your box get smaller and smaller.

[KhakiBlueSocks]

Um to answer question about the box. I believe that you use those to hold the new dvds of that same series so that it doesn't get lost. Well, I find these space savers so I can keep one anime from being mixed up with another in a compact way.

The Eureka Seven DVD series is over 10 disks...the box I saw, could only hold about 7, tops. Besides, DVD's that are part of a collection look alike 92% of the time. The Eureka Seven series are a prime example. All the disks along their spines are white with grey lettering and the Volume number on the bottom.

[creed4]

I buy what I can. I have a few series that I want, and try to get them in order, for the cheapest price. I don't buy bootleggs, except once when I thought I was buying the licensed release, learned to be careful on amazon so I get them used or new, singles or box sets depends on which is cheaper. I can alway buy four and six dvd cases to save space on my shelf

[ADXC]

Well, they are probably just making the box set for only half of the series. They may send out another boxset with a new dvd later on. Ive seen ES have more than one types of box sets mind you. Not many anime make a box set of about 10+ dvds length unless it were a thin pack. So they may send out many smaller ones a part of one big set.

I maybe taking what these boxes are for, for granted. But every anime that I bought the box set for held the perfect amount of dvds, this is not including the size of the extras (Because I take those out). Ah! My Goddess had six dvds, and it had perfectly enough space in the box for all six. Case Closed season one had four dvds, there was four dvd space in it. Fate/Stay Night had six dvds, six dvd space. And so one so forth. There may be occasions when this does not happen, but I really haven't seen any other than the thin pack collections. What Im saying is, is that Im not going to throw the very well decorated box in the trash. Instead I would like the finish the series and put them in there where they can be properly displayed. This may not mean much to others, but when possible I try to do so.

Now I realize that the Death Note box sets each have a collectible person or whatever. But this is a special case because they want you to get it so you can get the action figure. So imagine that would be alot of boxes. Im not sure what to say about this.