Ask John: How Can I Be An Anime Fan on a Budget?

Question:
What is the cheapest way to be an avid anime fan? I mean, I was recently interested in buying all 18 volumes of Sailor Moon, but I could only find the first volume used from Amazon.com for $60. I would also like to watch different shows, besides the ones on AdultSwim. But, I have no job (not really old enough) and almost no money. What other ways are there?

Answer:
Unfortunately, in practical terms, anime is an expensive hobby. After all, it is a luxury, and beyond that it’s imported in relatively small quantity, which adds to its cost. In fact, American fans actually have it easy in some respects because the cost of brand new anime DVDs in Japan is as much as four times the cost of similar American anime DVDs. So even in Japan, anime is an expensive hobby. Some of the high cost is justified because when fans purchase official anime goods and video, they are contributing to the paychecks that animators in Japan earn and use to pay their living expenses. (Fans that argue that purchasing official domestic DVDs doesn’t help Japanese animators at all are incorrect.) Actually paying for anime also provides the funds Japanese studios need to continue producing anime.

But it’s not impossible to be an anime fan on a budget. Being an anime fan without spending a lot of money only requires a bit of effort, and some conscientious responsibility. The two most inexpensive methods of seeing anime without spending a lot of money are joining an anime club and becoming friends with other anime fans. One of the main purposes of anime clubs is to expose fans to more anime, and provide new fans with an opportunity to watch anime. Most anime clubs welcome visitors and prospective members, and most anime clubs are free to join and participate in. Many schools have unofficial or even officially sponsored anime clubs, and there are countless private anime clubs nationwide that meet in libraries, bookstores, the homes of members or other locations. You can even start your own anime club with nothing more than a few videos, an available location, and some photocopied fliers distributed at school or a local comic store or bookstore. (Although if you’re still young, I’d recommend that you have a parent chaperone nearby for advice and security.)

Anime fans are the sort that want to share their love of anime. If you find friends that enjoy anime, the odds are good that they’ll share their collection with you or let you borrow videos. In fact, that’s one of the main ways the anime fan community in America got its start. Primarily beginning in the 1980s, anime fans that had never met each other, and didn’t even live in the same cities or states began making copies of anime videos for other fans, just to share a mutual appreciation of the art and expand awareness of anime. Besides meeting local anime fans that you can visit and share anime with, the internet provides an abundance of resources for finding other anime fans that will help you access import anime that’s not officially licensed for American distribution yet, generally at little or no cost to you. Your responsibility in such arrangements is to provide the same favor to other anime fans, and do your part to financially support the anime industry by purchasing official copies later on, when you’re able to.

While not quite a cheap, but still affordable, you can purchase pre-owned anime DVDs, and make use of local and online rental stores. Many anime fans sell their pre-owned anime merchandise through their personal, fan sites. Sites like Ebay are also overflowing with pre-owned anime DVDs for sale. Online rental outlets like RentAnime.com carry a wide selection of anime titles and offer fans the ability to rent and watch multiple DVDs for less than the cost of buying one retail priced anime DVD.

Finally, I’d like to conclude with a word of warning. Fans searching for affordable anime goods often find themselves faced with anime CDs and DVDs at prices that seem too good to be true. Unfortunately, when it comes to anime, you get what you pay for, and deals that seem too good to believe frequently have a catch. Unlicensed, counterfeit anime CDs and DVDs manufactured by Chinese video pirates are prolific on the internet, especially on retail sites including Ebay and Amazon’s affiliate retailers. Besides the fact that the quality of these bootleg anime DVDs is often very poor, purchasing them merely sends money that rightfully should go to Japanese artists, to Chinese video pirates. Purchasing unlicensed anime is selfish and irresponsible because it gratifies the immediate desire to watch an anime series at low cost, but doesn’t contribute to the continuance of Japanese animation. In fact, buying a bootleg instead of a legitimate copy is one less officially recognized sale, and if anime doesn’t sell well, it stops getting made.

The anime fan community is lucky because there’s such a strong bond of friendship of camaraderie between anime fans. Especially for someone with access to the internet, there are a multitude of sources for discount priced anime video and merchandise. And the anime fan community is usually very eager and willing to help indoctrinate new fans. So conscientiously using the options available to you should allow you to watch plenty of anime without spending a lot of anime. Just remember at all times that, especially for someone not living in Japan, anime is a privilege, not a right. Anime fans, and Japanese animators want you to watch anime, but no one besides unscrupulous video pirates want you to watch anime without paying appropriate restitution for that luxury.

The following addendum was contributed by Cailean following the original publication of this article:

Regarding your recent column encouraging people to pay for anime:

“Some of the high cost is justified because when fans purchase official anime goods and video, they are contributing to the paychecks that animators in Japan earn and use to pay their living expenses… Fans that argue that purchasing official domestic DVDs doesn’t help Japanese animators at all are incorrect.”

Actually, this is wildly inaccurate. Japanese animators are paid an average of 200 yen for every cel drawn, period. There are no royalties and no rights retained; the majority of profits go directly into the pockets of the sponsors and producers sponsoring any given anime, and none to the animators themselves. Furthermore, finishing work is usually shipped overseas to China and Korea, which further robs Japanese animators of their livelihoods. The average animator earns about 50,000 yen per month while trying to live in Tokyo. This is why most animators work for only a few years before quitting, and receive the majority of their funding from their parents. For a full article on the subject, please go here.

Please understand, I heartily support the purchase of official DVDs. I was merely saying that the purchase of official DVDs does not actually help the animators themselves much, more’s the pity. Regardless of this, the anime industry, however broken, must continue to be supported. It is up to the studios and sponsors to address their own problems, and they won’t be able to do so if revenues suddenly stop coming in.

Japanese animators continue to animate because it is their dream, and have done so since anime first started. The Japanese know there is a problem, and that they risk losing one of their most important (modern) cultural contributions if they don’t do something about it soon. The Japanese are a fairly egalitarian bunch. They are more likely to fix the problem because it is the right thing to do; it just takes time.

In the meantime, anime fans should by no means justify piracy because of this. It is better to remind the fans that anime studios and sponsors are more likely to address the poor situation of the animators if demand for officially licensed DVDs were to continue to rise.