A boy passes by a storefront window, when something catches his eye. He desperately wants it, but knows his parents won’t just buy it for him, and his birthday is many months away. But the boy has a plan, a plan he has thought up entirely on his own. He will save money little by little however he can. He will make small sacrifices. He does not need candy EVERY week. Little by little he accumulates bits of change until finally his effort is rewarded and he can confidently walk into that store, put the money on the counter, and walk out at least a little happier.
…Except that the store is all sold out and the chances of them getting more are now slim to none.
Purchasing Anime DVDs these days feels like a race against time. There might be a series you really want to own, but you are unable purchase it as soon as it hits store shelves, be they real or virtual. And yet, if you don’t purchase it now, it might be on your hands that this DVD did not sell well. Worse yet, if the 1st DVD doesn’t sell well, or the 2nd or the 3rd, there’s a chance the rest of a series may never see the light of day.
I don’t fault the anime companies in particular for removing titles or lowering circulation rates. They are businesses, after all. At the same time, I feel like it almost penalizes those fans of anime who do not have immediately disposable income. It puts the pressure on fans to support ther series they love, but they must do so in a limited time window.
It’s a problem.
OGIUE MANIAX 
amazon, rightstuf
Who buys anime DVD’s in stores?
Also, dropped TV series are getting picked back up.
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I said virtual or real.
This also applies to online stores.
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yeap. that’s how it is. that’s why you budget months and months ahead. not to mention having to skip lunch and stuff like that ^_^’
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You forgot to mention the “Super Deluxe Limited Edition” package deals with a large t-shirt, stickers, buttons, and all kinds of crazy crap.
Although “deals” may be the wrong word here.
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I hope Full Moon wo Sagashite DVDs aren’t stalled much longer.
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I don’t mind getting used DVDs. I only go for the hardcore stuff (special boxes, limited edtions) for those series I REALLY want to keep.
I do fear for figurines. Once they’re gone they’re gone and most shops move on to the newest/popular items instead of re-stocking. I have tons of figurines on my wish list, I can’t seem to get enough to buy them ;_;
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@yaku:I feel your pain. T_T
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I know what you mean, I want to buy them right when they come out but sometimes it just isn’t an option. I also often have a problem with keeping up. I’ll maybe be able to get the first couple as they come and out but then I have to slow it down. Then I won’t be able to find singles, only boxed sets! I hate that!
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I’ve complained about this very phenomenon many times myself. As someone who prefers to wait for the box set, brick, thinpak, or other series collection before making a purchase rather than buying shows one disc at a time, I’ve heard people say that my buying practices aren’t helping THE INDUSTRY enough; that it’s not right of me to wait until the collections come out or the massive clearance sales at Best Buy (which are never announced and seemingly done on a per-store basis) or Right Stuf happen. Because they need the money NOW or whatever.
They may very well need the money now, but the real problem is that anime continues to be sold in single disc releases regardless of whether the show runs 13 episodes or 200. Thankfully as of this year we’re finally starting to see a move towards the 13 episode set being the standard, which considering that most series these days run 13 episodes in all will hopefully help as far as the “if you don’t buy it immediately, then you won’t see the remaining volumes ever” stuff is concerned.
Unless of course, the company more or less folds or goes dormant. Some of the Geneon titles might be coming back, but good luck trying to get Patlabor, VOTOMS, Utena, or most of the other CPM stuff at this point.
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yes
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This is a major issue. I forgot about buying the other three DVDs of Fumoffu and the last DVD of that Nadesico re-release from a few years. By the time I remembered, they were long off the market.
This problem never exists in the traditional DVD market with constant re-releases and reprints of movies, from the niche to popular.
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@mini: yeah if you lack the moneys or don’t have time to get a two jobs it’s hard ;_; I recommend doing a list and try to get niche stuff first, stuff people overseas Japan surely won’t get. I have found figurines like DMC3 series in Anime Expo when I thought I’d never see that series items.
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I had the EXACT same problem as Link with the Nadesico re-release.
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