Shopping habits

[wiggins]

Hi guys, I was just wondering, how people buy anime. Confused? Good! Actually what I mean is do you see an interesting anime in the store and buy it without research, hear a friends reccomendation without research, watch trailers and then decide to buy it, see a review on CAA and go buy it, or watch fansubs/ fandubs before going to buy it. Would you buy anime based on a minimal amount of research which doesn't come out with 100% positive report, and some good friend reccomendations? Yes, I am worried about using my money well, and being a good steward of the monmey God has allowed me to use.

[Debitt]

God has definitely blessed me with a thriftiness with money. ^.^; Yes, it may seem hard to believe, but I have a list of series or DVDs that I'll stick to buying so I don't go off and blow too much money or end up getting something that I just turn on to point and laugh at. *coughWEISSKRUEZGLUHENcough*

[shooraijin]

Then there's those of us who tend to be horrible impulse shoppers, but I wouldn't know *anything* about that. (Hello, Fry's? I'm coming over to the store, but I can't help myself, so would you lock the doors when I'm coming up to the entrance? What? You mean, you want me to spend money there? Oh, well, gee, when you put it like that ...)

Usually, though, I only tend to pick up shows that I've heard a lot about, or that I've read about in the Anime Encyclopedia. If it's totally new to me, I try to find a used cheap copy of one of the volumes first to see if I'll like it (then I go out and buy boxed sets).

[inkhana]

I replaced the word "buy" with "rent" since I don't actually own any anime. (No, I'm serious...O.o) But it pretty much applies the same way.

[Shinja]

i typicly dont buy much of anything, but i feel even wierder being the only one in the bookstore buying manga so i typicly dont. i feel like such a freak

[Mithrandir]

Hmm... Acutally, I think there should be another category there:

* Saw/Borrowed/Rented an episode or two and got hooked.

[CobaltAngel]

LOL... I'm a sucker for pretty stuff. I do like to read reviews and such first, however, because I've made the mistake a few times in the past of not finding out completely about an anime before I bought it...

[CDLviking]

LOL... I'm a sucker for pretty stuff. I do like to read reviews and such first, however, because I've made the mistake a few times in the past of not finding out completely about an anime before I bought it...

That's why I like to rent or borrow things before I buy them. I've never regretted any of my anime purchases, but I did regret a few PS2 purchases. I learned my lesson after that.

[Ashley]

I posses two highly interesting qualities when it comes to buying anime: one, a ultrathrifty sense of money (i.e. I can be in a bookstore and think, "This is nice, but I bet I could just rent it from the library!") and two, a really deep drive to research things. So I usually don't even think about buying a series before I have read about 3 reviews about it and have a pretty good idea about what's in it. But with younger sibs around the house, I tend to need to.

[cbwing0]

Here is my most important criterion for buying anime: value. If there's only like 3 episodes on a $20+ dvd, I generally don't buy it. I like things that are at least two hours, preferrably much more. As for actual series, unless I'm feeling spontaneous, I don't buy something unless I know a little about it. Good reviews help.

Of course, the fact that I look for value doesn't mean that I'm thrifty. Generally I see something, tell myself I'll buy it in a few months, then go ahead and buy it the next day anyway.

I don't pay a lot of attention to cover art. I would rather look at the back to see actual stills from the show.

[Azier the Swordsman]

I have a VERY wierd method for buying anime...

You see, when I'm ready to buy, it's very hard for me to choose, (I could literally spend hours thinking about what I want to buy) so I devised a method that helps... I log on to http://www.amazon.com, go to the anime section, click the General button which pulls up a list of all avaliable anime, set the order of titles by bestselling, and whichever DVD is listed on the top, I read a couple of reviews about the series and decide if I like it, if not, I go down the list till I find a series I want. When I finally decide, I log onto http://www.dvdpricesearch.com and hunt down the lowest possible price for the DVD's, I calculate the total price for the WHOLE series, (or if it's a long series, I go by individual seasons), and I save up the exact amount and deposit it into my savings account. (This ensures that I don't squander every last penny of the money God has given me on anime, since we're supposed to spend wisely), then I save up the amount again, and buy the series. Wierd, ne? But it works.

[wiggins]

OK, I've got a question. Do you think buying Jubei chan the box set is a good investment of money. It has 13 eps on 2 dvds, and costs 33 pounds. The DVD by DVD spans 4 DVDs and 3 of them will cost more than the entire box set. I have not watched any trailers as I either can't find them or the link doesn't work. The CAA revies says its good, amd so do others but some reviews say it is bad. So its a mixed bag. If I bought this do you think I would not be being a good steward of the money God has given me?

[shooraijin]

I think stewardship and content conviction are two different things, though.

Would you be convicted over the content? I don't know, I've never seen the series. But I think it's a different question than whether doing so is good stewardship -- I do think God wants us to enjoy life, and some of that involves the use of what He gives us to pick up stuff to enjoy. The point at where this becomes an overriding control, or to the detriment of your finances or time spent, is where I think one would start straying into poor stewardship, along with, of course, whatever God is telling you about your habits at the time.

[Lufkin777]

[Lufkin777]

I have quite alot of anime, but what I do most of the time is I will download an EP and see if I like it, provided that I enjoyed the EP I will then go and buy the whole DVD collection (over time). I did this with Last Exile, I d/led a Raw EP of Ep 2. IT WAS AWESOME! So I went and bought the first dvd and box set. (well actually got it for B-day) it was awesome. I sometimes will just out of impulse buy some anime. One time when I went out to buy the anime Hellsing dvd box set, I came back with Niea under 7 haha. Dont know why I did that. Maybe b/c it looked cool haha. I havent seen it all yet. (and this was over 4 mounths ago lol) I sometimes will just go out with the intent of buying ANY anime, and hope I find one that I like. I did this not to long ago with the movie Panga go Panda. And well... I LOVE IT!!!!!!! haha yeah its an awesome movie. Anyway I have done that many times. Ttyl.