Why I Collect Anime

[tsukikage]

RightStuf has a bit of a Geneon sale today, with lots of discs for $5, $10, or $15. All the NieA individual discs were $5, and the quantities on some of the discs were under 15, so I decided to get a back-up set in case anything ever happens to those discs (I would seriously cry for at least half an hour if I something did), especially since I was already looking to replace my damaged disc 3. And because something felt wrong about having back-ups for discs 1, 2, and 4 but not 3, I got another copy of 3 on top of it. I also got the second Twelve Kingdoms novel which I've been wanting since I finished the first, and the Cowboy Bebop Remix DVD Collection which was marked down from $50 to $30. Being the collector that I am, I feel weird buying the collection instead of individual discs, but that would have cost me $160 and it's hard for me to rationalize spending that much money on a series when I'm not buying them as they come out. *wears my proud badge of having bought HikaGo and Kodocha individually and more-or-less as they came out* Plus, it seems that the collection has all the extras of the individuals, so I'm not missing out there.
So yeah, despite my continuing to be unsure about the exact numbers of each NieA disc I should have bought (3 only; one each of 1-4; or one each of 1, 2 and 4 and two of 3), I think it wasn't a bad purchase.

I was talking with lugia222, though, about this difficulty I have with buying anime. It's like, I don't need to collect these discs simply for the sake of collecting them, and I don't collect figures or anything like that. I mean, I guess the bit about wanting to collect series in nicer packaging is a bit frivolous, but... Anyways, one problem I do have is wanting to buy series I like but don't love, or that I've liked what I've seen so far of but haven't completed. This is especially bad for series that are out-of-print or that I don't have fansubs of. I mean, I just picture myself five or ten, or even forty years down the road, when, say, Tenchi in Tokyo is completely out of print, and I'll really be in the mood to re-watch that series, but because I didn't want to spend $40 on it back when I was 23 and kept putting it off until I had more money I won't be able to watch it ever again, and I'll kick myself repeatedly for it. Exactly like I'm doing for Sailor Moon now. (That's sort of worse with series I've only seen part of, because I worry that I'll rent the series or finish the fansubs after it's gone, and fall head-over-heels in love with the series but have no way to get my own copy.)
And that, loving series or wanting to Support the Industry (TM) aside, is the biggest reason I collect anime.

*checks the status of Gundam Wing at RightStuf, and finds that they only have the first of the two Anime Legends collections left, then panics just a little* Guess I know the next series I need to get.

Well, it's raining quite heavily now, so I guess I've nixed the chance to pick up my denshi jisho today.

[EDIT: And with all heavy rainfalls, the brunt of it ended quickly. So I'm gonna take off with the next bus.]

[EDIT 2: It turns out my dad can't back up DVDs, so it's a good thing I got those back up discs after all.]

Comments

[carve037.livejournal.com]

That doesn't seem like an odd thing to me. I buy series I haven't seen, because I haven't seen them. If I'd already seen them, unless they really blew me away, why buy them?

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

Why buy them to only watch them once?
I only buy series with the intention of watching them many times over the years.