Ask John: How Many Anime DVDs Does John Buy?

Question:
I was just wondering how many titles you buy a month. I think I only by about 8 on average.

Answer:
At the peak of my anime disc collecting in 2006 & 2007 I devoted $500 to $1,000 per month to acquiring domestic anime DVDs. From roughly 2011 through 2013 I actually aspired to collect a disc copy of every Japanese language anime title ever released on American home video, and for a time my collection came to within a stone’s throw of actually being comprehensive. However, regrettably my collecting these days has been severely reduced by necessity rather than inclination. These days I might actually average only one or two domestic anime disc purchases per month due to my limited disposable income.

These days my primary income derives from serving as an adjunct Composition I & II instructor at St. Petersburg College. Despite having roughly six years of professional college teaching experience, a Master’s degree, and steady part-time employment at a Florida state-owned university, my monthly take-home pay is only barely above the amount that Florida pays in unemployment benefits. My annual income is only $3,000 above the US government’s poverty line. So I do devote as much of my income as I (sometimes irresponsibly) can toward my anime compulsion. But I just don’t have much to spend.

I’ve purchased every limited edition release from NISA so far, and I presently have NISA’s limited edition Nyaruko-san, Fusé, and “Wagnaria” season 2 sets on pre-order. I’ve pledged contributions to every offering that AnimeSols has solicited, so I’ve already received my first Creamy Mami and Black Jack DVD volumes and look forward to receive the remaining sets in each title, in addition to Dear Brother. I’m a Kickstarter backer for AnimEigo’s premium edition Bubblegum Crisis Blu-ray collection, All the Anime’s international Blu-ray release of Mai Mai Miracle, Trigger’s Little Witch Academia 2, and Kenji Studio’s Santa Company. And in recent weeks I’ve purchased Nozomi’s second, concluding DVD volume of the Space Adventure Cobra TV series, Viz Media’s first Ranma 1/2 Collector’s Edition Blu-ray, and a pre-owned copy of Viz’s first DVD volume of Accel World. Sadly, that’s all the anime I’ve acquired lately, apart from a Shinku (from Rozen Maiden) Nendoroid figure that I purchased at the recent first annual ACEcon anime convention here in my neighborhood.

I console myself with the sentiment that I’ve contributed my fair share toward supporting the anime industry numerous times over considering the literally thousands of domestic anime DVDs and Blu-rays that I’ve purchased during the past twenty years. But as a die-hard collector that enjoys owning physical, authentic, officially licensed home video discs, I am severely pained to not yet have releases including Aniplex’s Gyo, Zetsuen no Tempest, and Sword Art Online, Viz Media’s Berserk movies 2 & 3, Discotek’s Dallos, Lupin III: Bye Bye Lady Liberty, and Mazinger Z, Sentai’s Casshan, AKB0048, and Humanity Has Declined, and FUNimation’s Michiko & Hatchin and Jormungand in my collection yet. Again, I console myself with the satisfaction of knowing that I have purchased Aniplex’s Kara no Kyoukai DVD collection and Bakemonogatari Blu-ray collections, Discotek’s Cutey Honey TV series, and Sentai’s Gatchaman Blu-ray collection. These days I seem to have much less opportunity to be an otaku in the public spotlight, and I don’t have the financial means to collect anime as aggressively as I’d like to. But my enthusiasm for the art form hasn’t diminished in the least during the past twenty years.