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Of course, everyone's taste differs ... but it really boils down to as what kind of anime are you looking for? Japanese Anime, unlike historic American anime (read: Disney) doesn't just feature the cutesy animal stories ... there's a lot more variety in the Japanese anime world.

The two main "categories" of Anime are "girl-type" and "boy-type" Of the examples given, Cowboy Bebop and Trigun fall into the "boy-type" while "Battle Athletes" falls into the "girl-type", for example. Obviously, the boy-type focuses more on action, violence, etc. The girl-type is more story and relationship driven. When I list my favs at the end of this post, I'll put a (b) or a (g) (or a (bg) ... figure it out :o) )to indicate the type.

Most people, however, enjoy both sides of the fence, just be aware that there is a fence there ... the Japanese equivalent of "My Little Pony" vs. "GI Joe".

Also when looking at Japanese Anime, you need to determine whether or not you're interested in movies, or series ... with the series, if you get hooked, you could end up paying through the nose to get the entire series. Some of the Anime vendors, such as Viz (who makes the aforementioned "Ranma" and "Pokemon" animes) sell tapes/dvds with only 2 episodes per disk/tape. And sells 'em for about $30 per. There is 8 seasons of Ranma, I believe ... imagine paying $30 per 2 episodes for the entire 8 years. It gets pricy.

You mentioned that you prefer DVDs over VHS ... a very wise decision. The quality is much better, and the fact that they usually come subbed AND dubbed, with options to turn either one on/off as desired, makes the market less splintered than the VHS tapes and you always get what you want.

Some companies are doing limited runs of the anime that they can get licensed for ... I'd suggest checking out websites such as Animeigo ... they will be doing the Macross (aka Robotech) series very soon ... not the butchered American version that most of us are familiar with, but the original Japanese version ... and as such, there can't be an English track included, because they would have to re-record the English track to cover all the sections that was cut out of the original when the American version was made. They're also going to be doing the "Oh, My Goddess" anime, as well ... check 'em out, good stuff.

The definitive source of information about Anime available on DVD is Anime On DVD They've got reviews of just about everything released in Region 1 DVD (including the Hentai stuff), and they're working on the Region 2 and 3 ...

Purchasing your anime is a whole 'nother topic, however, you really can't go wrong with DVD Express. They've got a very large selection of anime, and ships fast ... be aware that they, more than other companies, pay attention to street dates, so don't expect to get your pre-ordered anime days/weeks sooner than everyone else! Though they sell all types of DVDs, anime typically makes its way into their "Top 15" list each week ... this week I think it's Neon Genesis Evangelion and Gundam Wing in the Top 15, at spots 3 and 4 ... very not bad.
Now, on to the actual Anime (all on DVD) ...

5 Star Anime:
Ghost in the Shell (b)
Macross Plus, Vol. 1 & 2 (b)
Trigun Vol. 1 (b)
Armitage III (b)
Cowboy Bebop (b)
Fushigi Yugi (g)
Revolutionary Girl Utena, Vol. 1 & 2 (g)
Neon Genesis Evangelion 0:1 (b)
Lain, Vol. 1-4 (bg)
Iria, Vol. 1 (bg)

4 Star Anime
Ranma 1/2 OAV (bg)
Tenchi Muyo! (bg)
Record of the Lodoss War (b)
Trigun Vol 2 (b)
Battle Athletes Victory Vol. 1-8 (g)
Blue Submarine, Vol. 1 (b)
El Hazard: The Alternative World, Vol. 1-4 (bg)
Dominion Tank Police (b)
Bubblegum Crisis (b)
Ninja Scroll (b)
Sol Bianca (bg)

3 Star Anime
The Venus Wars (b)
Eatman 98 (b)
Battle Athletes OAV, Vol 1-3 (g)
Ninja Ressurection (b)
Ranma 1/2: Big Trouble in Nekonron, China (b)
Ranma 1/2: Naiho, My Concubine (b)
Tenchi in Tokyo, Vol. 1-8 (bg)

2 Star Anime
A Wind Named Amnesia (bg)
Ninja Cadets (b)
Cybernetics Guardian (b)

1 Star Anime
Fist of the North Star (b)
Project A-KO (g)
Green Legend Ran (b)
Kite (too much cutting) (bg)
MD Geist (no plot) (b)
Darkside Blues (b)
Demon City Shinjuku (b)

Actually, the links are cgi-trapped so that we can tell how many potential Amazon customers are being redirected to competing vendors.

Experience has shown that complaining to Jeff Bezos about Amazon's abuse of the US patent system earns you a cheery "We are proud of our innovative business practices, and we believe that we're entitled to patent protection" spiel in reply.

Our thinking is, if we can demonstrate to Bezos that we sent 10,000 people to Barnes & Noble or DVD Express, he might be convinced to re-examine his company's "innovative" business strategy.

That's the idea, anyway.

Orgazmo doesn't appear to be on DVD yet (according to DVD Express) anyway but "Cannibal: The Musical" has been for quite some time, FYI.
---
"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.

I submitted this, but it got rejected, so here it is in thread post form:

As bad or hypocritical as it is for me to bring this up in this forum, FOX has announced the X-Files (Season 1 so far) will be released on DVD in a full box set - 7 Discs with the entirety season 1 including the pilot. You can preorder your copy at DVDExpress for $90. Personally, I think it's quite a deal, but I dunno if I'm going to buy it with all this MPAA stuff going on...

If I was an anime addict and the movie wasn't released in the USA, I would by it off the internet from a sight in Japan.

Actually, this example is somewhat backwards. The studios wouldn't mind at all for you to import their $60 dvd's. I don't think Gainax's dvd release of Neon Genesis Evangelion is even region locked; you can order it directly from them for around $52/disc. I just hope you can understand japanese and don't expect any extras. In fact, they usually come in standard jewel cases.

The studios are much more worried about japanese consumers importing american dvd's. No worries about them understanding english either. Traditionally, american dvd releases of anime contain the video stream, english language and the original japanese language audio streams, as well as english subtitles and often even spanish subtitles. There are usually other extras as well, all in a handy keepsake case for a MSRP of $29.95 which usually drops to below $20 when ordering online from, for example, DVD Express. Not to mention the awesome deals on box sets. Look up Tenchi Muyo! and Fushigi Yugi at DVD Express for examples.

This is the reason Bandai (AnimeVillage.com) has a policy to wait at least six months after a japanese anime DVD release to produce the american one. I suppose if a title is never going to be released here in america you may want to import it from japan, but that problem is disappearing as anime becomes more popular over here.

Anyone interested in anime on dvd can check out Anime on DVD.

If I was an anime addict and the movie wasn't released in the USA, I would by it off the internet from a sight in Japan.

Actually, this example is somewhat backwards. The studios wouldn't mind at all for you to import their $60 dvd's. I don't think Gainax's dvd release of Neon Genesis Evangelion is even region locked; you can order it directly from them for around $52/disc. I just hope you can understand japanese and don't expect any extras. In fact, they usually come in standard jewel cases.

The studios are much more worried about japanese consumers importing american dvd's. No worries about them understanding english either. Traditionally, american dvd releases of anime contain the video stream, english language and the original japanese language audio streams, as well as english subtitles and often even spanish subtitles. There are usually other extras as well, all in a handy keepsake case for a MSRP of $29.95 which usually drops to below $20 when ordering online from, for example, DVD Express. Not to mention the awesome deals on box sets. Look up Tenchi Muyo! and Fushigi Yugi at DVD Express for examples.

This is the reason Bandai (AnimeVillage.com) has a policy to wait at least six months after a japanese anime DVD release to produce the american one. I suppose if a title is never going to be released here in america you may want to import it from japan, but that problem is disappearing as anime becomes more popular over here.

Anyone interested in anime on dvd can check out Anime on DVD.

If I was an anime addict and the movie wasn't released in the USA, I would by it off the internet from a sight in Japan.

Actually, this example is somewhat backwards. The studios wouldn't mind at all for you to import their $60 dvd's. I don't think Gainax's dvd release of Neon Genesis Evangelion is even region locked; you can order it directly from them for around $52/disc. I just hope you can understand japanese and don't expect any extras. In fact, they usually come in standard jewel cases.

The studios are much more worried about japanese consumers importing american dvd's. No worries about them understanding english either. Traditionally, american dvd releases of anime contain the video stream, english language and the original japanese language audio streams, as well as english subtitles and often even spanish subtitles. There are usually other extras as well, all in a handy keepsake case for a MSRP of $29.95 which usually drops to below $20 when ordering online from, for example, DVD Express. Not to mention the awesome deals on box sets. Look up Tenchi Muyo! and Fushigi Yugi at DVD Express for examples.

This is the reason Bandai (AnimeVillage.com) has a policy to wait at least six months after a japanese anime DVD release to produce the american one. I suppose if a title is never going to be released here in america you may want to import it from japan, but that problem is disappearing as anime becomes more popular over here.

Anyone interested in anime on dvd can check out Anime on DVD.

Check out all the complaints they receive on a regular basis on forums like alt.video.dvd. DVD Express seems to deliver the most reliable service of any vendor out there. I've probably spent $1K there and they've never screwed up a single order.

All geeks like anime, at least the Sci-Fi stuff. If you are a geek and don't like Sci-Fi there is something wrong with you.

Some great movies/videos are:

Battle Angel Alita
Ghost in a Shell
Bubblegum Crisis (Orig & 2040) (I recommend 2040)
Cowboy Bebop
Evangelion
Spriggen (not released in english yet)
Serial Experiments Lain (turns on all geeks, who can not like a chick who upgrades a computer until there is no room left in her room? bahwahahaha. This is a mind trip series.. all about existing on an alternate universe... the Wired (the Internet), cool eh?)

Some Mangas(comic books 17-18+) are: (please don't buy these for your young geek friends/family members)

Appleseed (very cool!)
Ghost in a Shell (cool also)
Alita (9 volumes!)

Anything by Shiro Masamune is highly recomended, not sure if girl geeks will like it, some are graphic.
Places to buy:
www.dvdexpress.com
www.reel.com
www.advfilms.com
www.animevillage.com

for more info on a series and anime go to Anipike

-Ben

All the hand-wringing over this is really amusing. What it points to is the fact that the vendors of DVD movies don't understand their business: they think they're selling movies, when what they're really selling is convenience.

What I mean by this is that, when you "buy" a DVD movie (or VHS, or whatever), you don't own the actual movie. All you're really buying is a license to view this one copy of the movie in perpetuity. If you wanted to, you could wait for a friend to buy it and watch their copy, or wait for it to show up in dollar revival houses, but you want to see it now in all its digital glory, so you shell out the US$20 to buy the license.

Now, the point is, viewed from this perspective the cracking of the encryption system is fairly irrelevant. Sure, I could try to download some 9GB file from a pirate FTP site over a 56k modem (have fun), or I could buy some cruddy VCD-quality pirate disk. But that's not convenient! For US$20 I can get the whole movie, in crystal-clear MPG2 and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, right now! What kind of a moron would futz with the pirate stuff when the real deal is so cheap?

Audio CDs aren't encrypted, and the advent of the cheap CD-R and MP3 hasn't (and won't) destroy the market for CD recordings. What they absolutely do, however, is prevent the industry from gouging consumers with ridiculous prices. Piracy only becomes economically sensible when the real product is priced so high that people think the product's value doesn't correlate to its price.

Andy Patrizio suggests that the thing for the industry to do would be to change the encryption firmware used for DVD, thus negating the hack. Andy Patrizio, who is normally a very good tech reporter, is on crack. He seriously proposes telling the 2 million plus people in the US alone who have bought players in the last 2 years that their substantial investment is instantly obsolete? Just as the DVD market is taking off? This is idiocy. No hardware solution is feasible when you have a large installed base of non-upgradable or difficult to upgrade players.

So the thing for the industry to do would be to keep pumping out great DVDs and keep the prices in the US$20-29 dollar range, which seems to be the "sweet spot" for consumer acceptance. But of course they won't do this; they'll cry "pirates!" and raise the price on product to squeeze margins before the market collapses, which will lead otherwise honest people to pirate DVDs because they can't justify spending $50 on a movie (ask the laserdisc producers about this), which will collapse the market.

Or maybe I'm being too cynical. I hope so. It'll be interesting to see what happens, that's for sure.

-- Jason A. Lefkowitz

Note: the Flying Circus DVDs are now shipping. I received the first thirteen episodes last week. You can get them at pythonline (now showing the 'It Worked! The Apache Web Server is Now Installed on this Web Site!' message. Patience and good for them!) or DVD Express.
I was hoping for the ability to disable the laugh track (exept when part of the sketch). Small disappointment though.

I believe it's already happened -- check DVD Express.

There's plenty of non-Hollywood stuff on DVD. I've got Pi and a bunch of anime titles, and there's more where that came from.

Check out DVDExpress sometime.

Try dvdexpress. Very Good (IMO). Simply Senzuri

I'm not affiliated with them in any way, but thought I'd pass along a direct link to a dependable (my own personal experience, anyways) DVD shop on the web (unlike 800.com which has not shipped me discs order 6 weeks ago).

PI Link at DVD Express.

Roy

I'm not affiliated with them in any way, but thought I'd pass along a direct link to a dependable (my own personal experience, anyways) DVD shop on the web (unlike 800.com which has not shipped me discs order 6 weeks ago).

PI Link at DVD Express.

Roy