One constant frustration with being an anime aficionado is falling in love (or in like) with a new series and seeking out the box set to add to your collection, only to find that it is out of print. Those words, "out of print," can often make my heart fall.
And so begins the search - sometimes heady, sometimes frenzied, sometimes lackadaisical . . . depending upon how ardent my admiration is for the show in question, or sometimes whether I am scheduled to go to a convention and want the DVDs to be signed by a voice actor.
Where to start? Usually Amazon - even though it is out of print, there are often sellers in Amazon Marketplace that have used (or sometimes even new) copies of my quarry. The prices can vary in the extreme. Sometimes you can locate a fantastic deal, sometimes it looks like you may need to mortgage your house to purchase the disks in question.
After Amazon, typically it is time to wander over to eBay.com or to half.com (an eBay-related site where the prices are fixed and there is no bidding). Here you need to be careful, constantly on guard against bootleg copies. This means vetting the seller (looking at ratings, asking plenty of questions if the deal seems too good to be true ... often an indicator that what they are selling is not a licensed Region 1 disk, but a pirated copy).
Other than these stalwart standbys, I can hunt around in other places. Rentanime.com, a Netflix-esque rental site with only anime DVDs, offers the many of its rental disks for sale (some of which are out of print in the US). I'll check Barnes & Noble, which sometimes has copies of out of print series. And I can swing by Fast Food Anime's website, and Rightstuf.com (anime specialty stores).
If I'm lucky enough to find a complete box set - new, or perhaps in like new or very good condition if used - at a palatable price, I snap it up. Often, though, such deals aren't available. I'll price compare, bid at eBay with an eye toward how rare the prize is, and hope not get outbid at the last instant. Sometimes the box sets are simply too expensive to justify. $300 for a particular version of Evangelion. $250 for R.O.D. the TV. And, perhaps most extravagantly, $180+ for a used FLCL and nearly $320 for a new version, keeping in mind FLCL has only 6 30-minute episodes. Now I love anime, but $30 an episode (or $1 a minute) for a used series, or more than $50 an episode for a new version verges on the ludicrous!
If a complete box set is not to be mine, I look for starter sets (which typically include the first volume of the series along with a collector's box large enough to fit all of the other volumes of the show). Then the search begins for the best deal on every volume, a search which sometimes can be a prolonged affair - at times both fun and infuriating.
As a result of my dedication, mild obsession, and persistence, I've been able to acquire multiple titles I love - sometimes for good prices, sometimes for small fortunes. I tracked down a pricey and nearly new box set of Hellsing (not the Ultimate series which adheres more closely to the manga, but the earlier version of the show). I searched for and found a well-preserved box set of Gasaraki. I stumbled upon a brand new copy of Hare + Guu for sale at Barnes & Noble (for less than the amount I would have paid in my losing bidding war on eBay). My most prized acquisition was a nearly pristine box set of R.O.D the TV (Read or Die, with avowed bibliophiles acting as the main protagonists). It cost me more than I'd care to admit (well in excess of $100), but it is and has been out of print for a while, is a charming series, and my long love affair with reading made it all but impossible for me not to own a wonderful series where the protagonists and heroines love nothing more than getting lost in a good book.
There is a certain pleasure in the hunt - pursuing a new prize, questing after elusive prey, sniffing out and claiming it as my own. And there is always something new to covet and capture - right now I am looking for copies of Excel Saga (a series that is hysterical and verges on the manic, spoofing various aspects of the anime culture), Haibane-Renmei (a mysterious series with a supernatural theme), and Princess Nine (a fantastic baseball series following a girl's team).
Happy hunting!
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