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Anime Stores, Rentals and Theaters?
ajaygautam asks: "For the past few months (on and off), I have been trying to locate Anime stores, rentals and theaters in and around Central New Jersey, but have not been able to find much. Only Blockbuster, which carries a very limited selection. I was wondering if there is a list of such things on the Internet somewhere. I propose that we create this 'Ask Slashdot' a comprehensive list of Anime stores, rental locations and theaters that do show Anime movies."
Dragon Ball is the only anime i could ever stand...
100% Insightful
Down the street from Vanderbilt Uni on Belcourt Avenue.. Besides doing art-film movies and Rocky Horror on Fridays, they also show Anime (Metropolis being their latest..)
I'd be happy to hear of some here, as well.
Cosmic Castle on High Point Rd has a good selection of titles for sale, and a knowledgeable staff. They also stock tabletop RPG's, t-shirts and other paraphenalia. And pocky!
Angelika sometimes plays anime.(www.angelikafilms.com) and the Magnolia does (but only midnight showings for here, and I dont' know if they have any web address)
I normally just go on irc and download anime, because it's got better subtitles and the stuff is more recent than 'jap' anime in the US.
Also, if you're into series www.animeart.com kicks ass.
Lots of sex stores have anime movies, as well as movies of real people having sex.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
I found both to be good sources for animie. The prices are good, if you don't get into a bidding war with someone...
shouldn't this be an "Ask AnimeFu?" =)
I've found that a lot of tabletop gaming and comic book stores sell/rent anime as well.. Seems the genres go hand-in-hand. Good thing, too.. I always know where to look for my anime when I move to a new city.
Moderation totals that amuse me for one of my posts: Flamebait=1, Insightful=2, Funny=2, Overrated=1, Underrated=1
Many anime shops are very localized, the only big one I can name is AnimeNation, and they're at www.animenation.com
;P)
Most others are tiny and usually exclusive to a city. The majority of anime/manga is distributed retail, through Suncoast/MediaPlay/Best Buy (same Conglom-o), and small comics shops/book stores (by means of Diamond Comics.
Or imports. R2s cost a shitload though, and include no subtitles or english dub (for the illiterate
As for theaters that actually SHOW anime, look to any LARGE city. Los Angeles, Dallas, New York, many large West and East coast cities will get Anime prints (primarily because prints cost a LOT and the US companies that do this are SMALL).
Rental:
netflix.com does dvd rental in general, including a lot of anime. Many blockbuster stores/other rental chains are starting to carry a lot of anime, or just ask your local anime geek. I myself have over 130 discs and do more loaning than any of the local stores (and I have been tempted to charge).
As an aside:
DOWNLOADING LICENSED ANIME ONLY HURTS THOSE WHO ARE ON YOUR SIDE.
Companies like A.D. Vision (biggest North American animation distributor second only to Disney) and Bandai Entertainmet are full of sane geeks like us who despise legislation like CARP, the DMCA, and the various Hollings crapscrolls, and avoid using any content control methods whenever possible. SUPPORT THEM.
Have you checked Netflix's anime section? What about other DVD mailers?
Casa Video attempts to acquire any movie if you fill out a card at their location. As a result they have a fine selection of just about everything, but they make a point of maintaining a good anime section. Don't feel like coming all the way to the desert of Tucson, Az. No problem...there's mail order rental.
The best way I know of is a little backwards. The first step is to find the closest anime convention in your area. The Anime Web Turnpike is a good spot for this. There con page is here
Once you find a local con, find out who is sponsoring it. There is usually one or two anime stores in the area that are paying for ad space.
Also see if there is a MediaPlay or a Suncoast store near you. They tend have a pretty decet selection of anime.
Good luck.
..of ships and shoes and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings.
For those not fluent or brave enough to order/talk to someone in Japan you can always go to...
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp
There are other stores but they require you to know some Japanese to read their catalog and order. I've never been let down by CDJapan and constantly recommend it to the "I don't know what 'gaijin' means" people who want to order stuff directly from Japan.
In Edison, on Route 1 South, where it meets with Plainfield avenue, at the traffic light before the Loews theatre and the intersection with Route 18, there is an Outback steak-house. It sits on a triangle of land between Route 1, Plainfield ave, and the "exit ramp" between the two (Wick plaza is right behind it). In the building right next door to Outback (sharing the same land strip) is a cluster of shops. One of them is an all-anime video shop. I don't remember its name, but you definitely want to check it out. If it's still there. It's been a number of years since I paid it any notice.
Who cares about Anime, and why is on slashdot? If I wanted to hear about japanesse kiddie shows, I'd head over to animefu!
This kind of stuff really doesn't belong on slashdot, especially when the founders of slashdot have a whole seperate site devoted to it. Take it over there. Slashdot is a site for educated discussion about computers, linux, and cyber-issues... NOT cartoons.
Come on, editors. Give us something interesting to talk about.
Dragging people kicking and screaming into reality since 1996.
Tokyo Kid at the Garage in Harvard Square is probably all you'll ever need for rentals. There are also a lot of good clubs in the area, particularly the MIT Anime Club.
Buying is often cheaper online however, if you shop around.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
www.anipike.com has a pretty comprehensive list of stores, both online and physical, as well as plenty of other resources.
Also, check out local comic shops. Comic stores usually carry some amount of anime/manga stuff
Check out NetFlix.
One simple rule for its versus it's
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Harbor/3904/philly. html
central jersey is kind of vague. are you closer to NYC or philly?
When did Ask /. become Google II? Information that can be found by a minutes search in Google should not waste everybodys time -- Ask /. should be for the questions that are more subtle.
t ml
Anyway, here's one listing I found via Google:
http://www.the-master-list.com/links2.sh
Hey there,
I buy from here and here.
It varies from title to title which is cheaper, but I especially like the way animeniacs takes the dvds out of their cases and puts them in paper sleeves so they don't fall out and get scratched during shipping.
Realize that these dvds are good quality, but are counterfeits (professionally done, but still not genuine). Nothing wrong with the video quality, but if you're into giving the artists/authors/publishers their royalties, go to here -- good selection, but genuine anime is expensive!
There's a Japanese plaza on River Road. I can't remember the name, but I think the address is 510 River Rd. You can't miss it, there's a mall, Japanese supermarket, and a Japanese restaurant.
If you are in New York City, Kim's Underground Video at 8 St. Marks Place in the East Village has a anime collection available to rent.
For anyone looking for anime (and even for those who isn't) you might want to try your local Yellow Pages. I'm afraid most anime places are a bit technophobic and slow to get on the web (too much competition from P2p I'm sure ;)
:). YMMV :)
Anyway, if you're looking for an anime place near you and you can't find it online, you should probably try the yellow pages. Your town's Chamber of Commerce might be of help too.
Also, I can't confirm this, but some progressive libraries have anime DVD's for rent on the West Coast or so I've heard (probaly out where weed is legal;
(-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
2318 Shattuck Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94707
(510) 649-0296
They have a lot of anime, plus you can buy special "anime only" packages of rentals.
Give a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day, but set him on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
especially when you only want to watch it once.
Many computer/video gaming stores have gotten into the anime video business. In the New Jersey area, I know that Software Etc. in particular has taken a liking to selling these products. Some of their stores have dedicated entire racks of shelves if not isles to anime.
Big combo stores such as Best Buy and Circuit City also tend to have reasonably-sized anime collections. At least one Northern NJ Best Buy has a rack or two of anime DVDs. A Circuit City store local to me had everything (DVD, soundtrack CD, orchastral CD) related to Princess Mononoke, as well as some obscure stuff. Their prices are a bit better than the video game stores.
Unfortunately, gaming stores tend to price their anime a bit high in cost, but if you want to find something quickly, I would recommend at least touring your local computer/video game stores. The selection may not be the best, but you may find what you want.
Please note that my views are of somewhat that tends to deal in mainstream anime; if you are looking for something obscure, you may have to go online.
Animagix on Guadalupe... get your stuff quick though, they're going out of buisness.
there's another option if you really can't find a store that caries anime movies is buying the anime movies online. There are hundreds of great anime sites out there that sells movies. Good Luck!
http://www.palmzone.net
It's a western thing that people believe animated means kiddy.
Why not just rent your anime ovre the internet? DVDOvernight and Netflix both have a wide selection of anime titles, and with netflix, you can even get a free trial. You rent up to three movies at a time, they mail them to you, and you keep them as long as you want, and when you're finished, you mail them back in a pre-paid envelope they provide. Now you can watch something other than Buffy the Vampire Slayer reruns while sitting alone by yourself in your parents' basement.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
The best place I've found in Canada is the C&L Internet Club - they've got a great selection and I've found them to be very reliable and quick with delivery. Their warehouse is in Vancouver, which is open to the public. They also have a sale on until July 1st...
There's one on the S.E. corner of 106th Ave NE and NE 8th St. It's called Anime Jungle or Anime Kingdom or something like that I think...
"Kiddie shows"? Hello? Have you ever actually watched any anime other than the pathetically watered down versions that make it to Saturday morning cartoons? Even Cartoon Network's anime selection would do to demonstrate the "maturity" of anime (though they do focus on more of an all-ages audience rather than any strongly adult (not H!) themes).
The medium does not dictate the content, despite what our corporate masters would have us think.
Kinokuniya Bookstore is a Japanese Bookstore that has the largest selection of manga/anime goods, there is one in New Jersey and one in New York city. Another good bet is to go to a Media Play or a Suncoast that is near a college or University. Here at RIT we have a huge anime club, possibly the largest on the east coast, as far as we know. The Media Play next to our school has just as much anime as it does Action Movies, on DVD. It also special orders graphic novels and magazines like Animerica and Animerica Extra. They also get other stuff like posters, novelties, action figures, that are anime related. I've been to other media plays, and they don't have the selection that ours does. Another good bet is to buy online *gasp*. I mean for DVDs just check www.animeondvd.com to see what's coming out, then go to www.mediaplay.com to buy it.
Don't think I'm a Media Play salesman or something, it's just the store I go to.
Oh yeah, another good way to get lots of anime is to go to anime conventions. Anime Expo is this weekend, and Otakon is at the end of July. Expo is in CA, but Otakon is in Baltimore, MD. Cons are great places to buy all kinds of anime stuff you can't get anywhere else. They're also a great place to meet freaky freaky people and laugh at or with them. And they're also where my roomate hunts catgirls ^_^ You also might want to ask the forums at www.dubthis.net. There are a lot of anime fans there.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
The Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA runs one or two different films every night, and a good number of Anime often enters the mix. They have a non-easy-to-remember URL for their website, so I registered brattletheatre.com and you can get to the schedule from there. Well worth the effort.
also any self respecting video store carries anime and p0rn like blockbuster
moderators: everything I say is supposed to be funny. don't be upset if it's over your head.
Got a HUGE selection of anime.
If you're ever in Ames, IA. check that place out, they rent anime and have a huge selection.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
In the worst case, if you don't want to buy and don't have any local rental store you could always rent from dvdovernight
If you live in NJ, or the NJ area, and don't know who Kevin Smith is..... perhaps you should look into it. He has a little shop, called Jay and Silent Bob's comics. I'm sure you could find almost any Anime, or Comic you are looking for in that shop. To be honest, i'm jealous that you could have that so close, and not know about it.
0110100100100000011000010110110100100000011000100
Highly recommended for all kinds of anime, strange and hard-to-find video, vintage toys music and clothes:
http://www.neetstuff.com/
For all of your anime needs just check out rightstuf.com. They have pretty much every anime known to man that has been released on VHS and DVD, but best of all its usually in stock and at very cheap prices. Plus they offer bundles, like for Cowboy Bebop, where you save over 50% from the Perfect Sessions price if you buy a regular bundle of the full set.
Not to mention they also have T-shirts, posters, and all of those other misc. items any true diehard cant live without. Which reminds me I gotta go there now and purchase the Cowboy Bebop, dont ever get the foreign sub 4-DVD set, the subbing is horrible.
There's always the user friendly J-List! I mean, their slogan is even "you've got a friend in Japan..." Oh yeah, and they sell the famous Hello Kitty Vibrator, and a t-shirt that says looking for a japanese girlfriend -- in Japanese... Man, I love this site.
Moderation totals that amuse me for one of my posts: Flamebait=1, Insightful=2, Funny=2, Overrated=1, Underrated=1
oy oy
Well, I know of 4 anime-related things in Brevard County (Space coast) Florida.
1) Anime Pavilion and Comics - Located in Melbourne, at the shopping center on the intersection of NASA Blvd. and Babcock St. (The shopping center where Makoto's is). They offer anime viewings every Tuesdays at 8:00pm to whenever everybody leaves.
2) Islander Comics and Cards - Located in Merritt Island on Route 3 (Courtenay Parkway) just north of Merritt Island High School. Offers anime viewing every Friday night beginning at 8:00pm.
3) Oukyuu Anime Club - Meets at random locations every Saturday evening and shows basically any kind of anime (even hentai!). To sign up, go to http://www10.brinkster.com/oukyuuanime. It's mainly headquartered in Melbourne, but we sometimes meet in Palm Bay.
4) Florida Institute of Technology Anime Club - During the semester, we meet every Thursday night at 8:00pm in Room 137 of the Olin Engineering Complex. First half-hour or so is about club-related events, then after that we watch anime. You do not have to be a Florida Tech student to show up.
There are probably a few more frequent anime events, but I'm not too sure. Also, it wouldn't hurt to attend conventions. For example, Jacon, Megacon, FITCON, Anime Express, Anime Festival Orlando, etc. They usually have extended anime showings and last until the con closes for the night. Oh and, if you're a big time cosplayer, you should consider attending the Cosplay Summer Camp (Read more).
"Black holes are where God divided by zero." - Steve Wright
For rentals there are few places better than Le Video [9th & Irving] and Japantown Video [Japantown Center]. As far as purchasing goes there's a lot of good places in chinatown to get HK bootlegs of your favorite series on VCD or DVD. My personal pick is Sun Entertainment [Sacramento btw. Grant & Kearney] and Silver Star [Grant & Jackson].
I thought Blockbuster had a policy against porn... ?
Check out www.technogirls.org . Barbara is an Anime Goddess and can hook you up with whatever you want. Trust me!
----- In Your Cubicle No One Can Hear You Scream...
this is genius!!!!
Five Star DVD has deals on all US licensed/released Hentai anime, at about $15 or so per disc.
Sub and dub (with known pr0n stars providing voices!)
How long have you been waiting to say that?
... they have to have some excuse to put that picture of Sasami up....
There is a comic book store in East Grand Rapids, Michigan, which has an immense selection of Japanese Animation titles on VHS and DVD for sale and rent. The name of the store is Magnum-Opus.
It also houses a large collection of Japanese pop-culture items.
Also, there is a large Japanese pop-culture store in Ann Arbor which has all you need for Animé viewing. I can't remember the name of this store at the moment.
Yet another last thing, Grand Valley State University annually hosts a totally free Animé convention called JAFAX (http://www.jafax.org) with lots of retailers and free movie viewings.
^_^
I Live in Atlanta and we have MediaPlay. It's a mish mash of Music, books, computer software, and a pretty good collection of DVD's. They have a pretty good sized section of Anime you can buy and they also sell complete sets of anime series.
They also fall under the name of Sam Goody stores which if I remember right they are located up the North East Coast, namely New York/ New Jersey area.
Suncoast offers a huge selection of anime titles for sale. There is one here in Vancouver, Wa. If you goto their website at http://www.suncoast.com they list all their store locations.
I've heard that in the UK it's possible to walk into any consumer electronics store and ask for the DVD player you buy to be modded to play all regions, and they'll do it for a nominal charge. However, unfortunately, I don't live in the UK, but in the USA - and I'd like to watch international DVDs (as a British ex-pat, my interest lies more in classic UK television than in Anime, but I figure Anime fans face the same problem).
/. readers know whether there's any way to get existing cheap crappy players like mine modded to be region-free, or whether I'll need to buy a new one - and if the latter, where I can get region-free DVD players at a good price?
I have a regular old cheap commodity DVD player from GE. Any
I was surprised to find a lot of anime at the Fry's Electronics in San Diego. I'm not a big anime fan, but from what I do know, they had all the classics. Also, they had a lot of "adult" anime (read: tentacle rape)
They had 2 whole shelf units full. Thats about (rough estimate from memory) 200 - 300 DVDs.
Try this
They seem to have some anime stuff, but I'm not sure what you like...
This company rents you unlimited DVDs for a monthly fee. You can have 3 DVDs out at a time, and when you return them (at company's expense) you can get your next selection (shipped at their expense as well). No late fees or anything since you pay by month not quantity.
I don't know anything about this company but I've heard people talk about it at work, and they're apparently pretty good except getting new releases might be difficult (not a problem if all you want is anime, I suppose.)
--------
It's OK to be social, just don't tell anyone about it.
Though I don't know of any stores in N.J., try some of these anime conventions in neighboring states. There's:
Otakon in Maryland.
Big Apple Anime Fest and Anime Expo New York in New York City (coming this July)
Shoujocon in Newark, New Jersey. (Though very shoujo oriented)
Check out their dealer halls, but beware, their products are overpriced.
We've got a wonderful small-chain store local to the Puget Sound (Seattle, WA) region that specializes in nothing but DVDs and CDs. It's called 'Silver Platters.' They've got their web site still in the 'Under Construction' state, but you're going to be able to do online ordering Real Soon Now.
No, I don't work for them. My wife and I just happen to be very regular customers. We were in just yesterday (Saturday, June 29), and the Anime section had just been restocked. They were carrying, among other things, a newly-released boxed set of 'Sailor Moon.' I've also seen several 'Urusei Yatsura' DVDs there, and I know they can order (or at least try to order) just about anything a customer might want.
If you're local to the Puget Sound region, they have stores in at least Bellevue and Southcenter (Tukwila). Check the phone book.
Good hunting.
Bruce Lane, KC7GR,
Blue Feather Technologies
....cause their anime selection is one of the primary reasons I was thinking about going with them.
I work for a store here in Portland, OR that rents anime locally and sells it on our online store. Vids are at http://www.justbevideos.com/ ,and we also sell Japanese toys at http://www.justbetoys.com/ .
"Ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space..."
naro video, on colley avenue, has a decent selection of anime on both VHS and DVD.
but you should go just to see the small mobile made out of blockbuster membership cards.
I've never quite understood it.
I see it mentioned on here a lot. I've seen a few things but have never gotten into it.
Am I missing something?
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin
The Chobits Soundtrack costs 2520 Japanese Yen. Just because I'm lazy I always figure that the conversion from Dollars->Yen is something around 1->100. That means that this CD is about $30(after shipping)! Chobits 2 is priced at 6300 yen, well we won't go there. People would freak in the US if asked if they want to buy a $30 CD let alone a $50+ DVD...
So why is it so expensive? There are a number of reasons. Remember when Presidents complain about Japanese not exactly playing by Free Trade rules? There are laws in place to fix minimum pricing on many goods. Copying is pretty rampant over there but unlike the US Japanese companies realize this and live with it. They treat DVDs and CDs sold as more "regal" items so they charge more. Scales in the economy seem to support itself at these more expensive prices just as well because they know die hard fans will buy DVDs and CDs with the extra goodies and price items accordingly. In fact chasing pirates is detrimental because it costs money.
So yes there is price fixing. Yes rampant copying does exist. No they really aren't related.
Buying from Japan isn't for the faint of heart or light of wallet. You don't have to get stuff directly from Japan but you miss out on a lot of good expensive stuff!
Village Vidiot
They're right off College Ave somewhere...near the papa john's.
--
grep "xercist"
Here in Bozeman, MT (and I assume in many other cities) Hastings has a surprisingly good selection of anime--much better than any Blockbuster I've been in, in both DVD and VHS. It's where I found out about Trigun and where I finally got to start watching Cowboy Bebop.
Word to your mom, snatch.
I've never understood why geeks have to bash each other. even jocks pat each other on the ass to say "hey, nice game" or "dude, thanks for the nachos." but geeks are all like "you didn't go about doing something the way I do, so therefore you SUCK!" C'mon guys, its not like the rest of the world wants to talk to you. Open up, its OK, not everyone is a big bad bully.
Losers.
Here in Champaign-Urbana IL, home of the University of Illinois is a video store called "That's Rentertainment".
It may be a cheesy name, but the selection is fantastic - they specialize in foreign, artsy, indie, sci-fi, horror, TV, and animation(both Japanese and other).
They have a good 30-40 ft by 6 foot wall of anime. The only bad thing is that they are organized strictly alphabetically, so adult anime is mixed in with the normal stuff. A great video place, all around!
Sincerely,
Kevin Christie
Neuroscience Program
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
crispiewm@hotmail.com
Animax on Summer Avenue.
...coming to DVD by the end of the year. This is going to be the Anime release of the year. There will be both a dubbed and a subbed version on the DVD. The folks at ADVision are releasing this.
I wish they'd release Nuku Nuku the TV series but the reissue of the OAV on DVD is pretty damn cool. If you haven't seen it, you owe it to yourself to do so. Funny, cool and one kick-ass female (well, robot that looks like a girl with the brain of a cat) character. This was created by the same guy who did 3X3 Eyes.
Nuku Nuku PUNCH!
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
I'd recommend Tasogare Anime, which you can find at 4503 34th St. The owner carries a nice selection of DVDs as well as imported magazines, action figures, art books, soundtracks, wallscrolls, calendars, and so forth, plus she'll special order anything you ask for -- in my experience, she can usually get domestically released stuff in about a week, stuff from Japan will take longer depending on how easy it is to acquire.
Also, as a personal plug -- I'm the president of the Texas Tech anime club, which meets every Wednesday and Saturday as long as college is in session. It's absolutely free and open to everybody, even if you're not a student!
Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)
Ummm....they're okay, for the occasional lucky used purchase, but check out Scarecrow Video it's THE place for movies in Seattle. It's one of the best movie rental places in the world--in fact it's a destination store for many directors, screenwriters, various and sundry Hollywood refugees...
Their collection is a great place to start learning about any kind of film--they also sell region free dvd players, new and used dvd's, etc. Truly an amazing place and one of the cultural treasures of Seattle.
If you don't want to rent, you can buy there, or you can go to Kicks or any number of grey market places in Chinatown (only anglos call Chinatown the International District by the way). There's also the place in the Great Wall mall down in Tukwila, but I'd stay away from them for the fact that many of their dvd's don't work quite right, but to be fair, they've always been really great about returns and customer service.
And for seeing anime in theaters, well, you're very lucky to be in Seattle--even some of the biggies downtown show anime, particular the theater in Pacific Place, but the one that shows the most is the Varsity on University Way.
Have fun.
Protege Posterioram Tuam
There was one up on University Way (aka "The Ave"), and another down in Burien. Both seemed pretty well-stocked, but it's been over a year since I've been to either of them.
Lemon curry?
What the heck? Right after this story, another item was posted linking to this page:
7 44 9
http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=30
Now, it's gone from the front page, and an error message appears upon refreshing the story!
We have more to fear from the bungling of the incompetent than from the machinations of the wicked.
In South Florida, check out Tate's Comics in Coral Springs. Most likely the largest selection in the entire state to buy/rent, with a nice, knowledgable staff.
you can always run to your local college/university and check out their anime club. if you join you can always browse their selection and help out int fansubs...
Ebay has lots of anime for sale. You can find alot of anime dvds there. Also, you could go the fansub route and get an entire series that has not been released in the US for about $15 on ebay. You can also download those same fansubs from IRC.
Feel the power of the net!
"Never, never suspect the dreams within the dreams of dreaming children." ~The Amazon Quartet
Suncoast (at least here) carries a ton of anime, both on VHS and DVD. They seem to carry the largest amount of anime for a brick and mortar store. Also, they are beginning to carry Manga... heh, there's one place that has learned that Anime/Manga collectors are big spenders and generally buy lots. ^_^
If buying them is worth your while and DVD region encoding (R4 and R2) is not a problem for you, then check out www.madman.com.au. Usually quality transfers even if some are p/s instead of 16x9 for widescreen stuff.
Try New World Manga in Livingston, NJ....they have all things anime from movies to soundtracks, comics, scrolls, and toys. You can even rent from them.
Charles Street Theatre showes alternate movies and Anime .. not a great location though.
.. try my friend Dave Bowers at Time Warp Comics in the Oranges .. he is a good guy.
and Otakucon is there next month i believe.
Both of the book stores in towson carry a good supply, As well as Legend's Comics, and believe it or not, suncoast video in the mall
In Jersey
--Ne auderis delere orbem rigidum meum, non erravi pernicose!
There is a place call Magnum Opus in eastern GR that sells anime, manga (some imports), merchandise, and lesser-known (independent?) comics. They also have an excellent selection of anime for rent.
The store is in the ground floor of an oldish, red house at 1422 Wealthy St SE.
Grand Valley State University (Allendale Campus, just 20-30 minutes from downtown GR) has an anime club that holds regular showings/meetings on Sundays througout the year. They also host a small convention, called JAFAX, every year.
Lastly, the UICA in GR has shown anime in the past (Metropolis). They don't currently have any more anime listed on their website, but you never know.
~~LF
Planet Anime in the Village near Rice University is the best source in Houston. They can be found on the web here and have a good deal of their inventory online for browsing or purchasing from out of town. Even if you are not into anime, this is a store to check out for some of the more techy things like game imports, console mods, and other cool stylized technology.
Or is Hentai considered Anime anymore?
Their anime selection is terrible.
There are only 4 Ranma videos. You can forget Urusei Yatsura. (Oh wait- they have Beautiful Dreamer; Who doesn't?) At least they have SOME of Tenchi. Ah My Goddess? Not a one. Mononoke Hime is their sole Miyazaki- nary a Totoro even.
Talk about poor selection...
For a somewhat limited selection, but all DVD and really cheap, try Discount Anime DVD
For a truly excellent selection (and a great hentai section, or so I have been told) in both VHS and DVD, try Right Stuf
For a store with decent selection, plus some good soundtracks and posters and all kinds of stuff (free anime themed email too, if thats your thing), you can go to Anime Nation
Those are the really good online stores that i am aware of. You might not be able to find direct from japan stuff, or some of the more esoteric titles, but you can still find a good selection.
----
One of us needs to stick ones' head in a bucket of ice water.
- Hobbes
I just found this place: DiscountAnimeDVD.com. Its pretty good and cheap.
Their online lists don't seem to include all 1000+ (my guess, the tape covers are flattened in a multitude of huge binders, dvds are overflowing their new section) anime titles they have hidden away.
Looking for a title they don't have? It's probably on order.
d00d,
.
.
;)
Not so much into the whole anime thing, myself. But right next to Other Music on 4th Street in the Village is a place called Anime Crash . I haven't been down there in a while, so I'm not sure if they're still there. But they were the last time I was in the neighborhood. Both stores are right across the street from Tower Records (blech!).
Both stores being right next to one another is very convenient. Because, if you're geeky enough to like Anime, you're likely very geeky about the music you listen to as well. And OM is staffed by obsessed music geeks who may consider "Nurse With Wound" a little too mainstream. Think of the music store from High Fidelity, on steroids!
Okay, so that was a little offtopic, but still usefull knowlege IMHO if you're heading down that way.
Anyway, Anime Crash is to obsessive Anime geeks what OM is to music nerds. Check them out.
Also, in NYC you'll find Jim Hanley's Universe useful, which is mostly a comic store but also has a nice supply of Anime. Same thing with Village Comics
Also, a really good resource (and I'm surprised I didn't think of this first, because I am not entirely convinced that Anime Crash is still open) is Toy Tokyo which is also in the Village but has a location up on 73rd St as well. They are definitely still in the biz, I was just there last Tuesday. They have lots of nice Asian and obscure American toys, as well as a comprehensive collection of Anime. And of course, don't forget your old stand-by in the City, Forbidden Planet
And that's just what I can think of off the top of my head. I think this list'll be pretty useful to you in Central Jersey, I'm from there myself. Now I'm living in Union City and commuting into New York. If you're determined to be mall-bound in suburban NJ, SunCoast Video actually has a very surprisingly good selection to choose from in terms of video releases.
New York, however, has EVERYTHING you could possibly wish for, for good or ill. You can get crack cocaine, you can get heroine, you can get prostitutes, Anime, Hentai...everything your little ole heart desires! Except, of course, egg and cheese on a bagel after 10:30 in the morning!
Quod scripsi, scripsi.
Here's a couple more places that have Anime as a listed genre:
Rent my DVD
DVD Avenue
DVD Barn
As for geographic location, which impacts how fast your Discs arrive, RentmyDVD has facilities both California and New Jersey. DVD Barn is based in Arizona, while Dvd Avenue is in Maryland.
Get on IRC, specifically irc.enterthegame.com.
:)
Look here to get you started.
Enjoy having no life anymore
I don't know about New Jersey, but here's what I know about Toronto:
Up until AnimeXtreme opened a store on 315 Spadina Ave. (a block north of Dundas), Suspect Video had the best selection of anime for rent. I haven't had a chance to visit the AnimeXtreme store (it just opened a week ago or so), so Suspect may still be king. There's two locations for Suspect, one on 619 Queen St. W. and one on 605 Markham St., just below Bloor (on the far west side of Honest Ed's).
The AnimeXtreme club also shows anime at Bloor Cinema every other Saturday. The cinema is located at 506 Bloor St. W. (just around the corner from Suspect, actually).
As far as purchasing anime, I've found no better place than The Beguiling. Very knowledgeable staff. This is just south of Suspect on Markham. Again, the new AnimeXtreme store may have better selection, I haven't scoped it out.
That's all I've got. Hope this helps.
"Now gluttony and exploitation serves eight!" - TV's Frank
When I just started getting into anime I had the same problem. I gave up looking for anime at retail stores, comic book shops would have some anime but at a huge markup and Worst Buy had some anime with ok pricing although theyve gotten better as it got more popular. I then started buying from Amazon, but found that they didnt have the best prices. There are plenty of online retailers but the one Ive been most happy with is the Anime Corner Store. They have the cheapest prices out there, and have great customer service. They also have more than just anime DVDs, they have manga, figurines, books, and any merchandise you can think of. They also have free shipping for orders over 200 dollars, and of course the best thing about ordering online is no tax.
Tasogare Anime in Lubbock. The last time I was in there they had 200 or so tapes for rent as well as CDs, Magazines, and toys.
Idle Times in Spur. This is my video store, very small town but a good selection of Anime. I am a fan so the Anime section is my pet project. Over 500 VHS tapes including complete series, Evangelion, Slayers, Blueseed, most of the first 5 years of Ranma 1/2, and a bunch of other stuff alot of it is dubbed so I would have at least a chance to rent them. Things like BGC OAV is subbed. Current DVD selection is about 100 DVDs, but growing.
It says "Japanese Import" on most of the stuff (my Cowboy Bebop DVDs were this). I really think it's high quality bootleg stuff, because AFAIK, most DVDs produced in Japan:
* don't have Chinese subtitles
* cost less than the US version of said series (I paid $60 I believe for them (Buy It Now off of eBay), while the US version (which is "Limited Edition" like my DVDs) go for $350 on amazon.com)
* come with the DVDs in paper sleeves outside the box (only with my Cowboy Bebop discs, not my Love Hina ones...)
Meh. Nice guy that runs it though, fast shipping if the product is in stock (ordered it Saturday night, confirmed a bit latter, shipped Monday morning, arrived cross country (CA > CT) in 3 days via Priority Mail).
Another I-Can't-Believe-What-A-Geeky-Place-Slashdot-Can-Be post.................
I've deticated one whole evening just to biking around the city and locating the anime stores. Here are my finds, and in my opinion very good selections.
Software.etc - Gateway Mall - popular series like Evangelion, Ranma 1/2, Trigun
-someothermusicstore- Gateway Mall - I forgot the name to the place, but easy to find if you go in the west entrance. Carry a whopping 12 shelves of anime - VHS/DVD. A shelf is about 4 foot long and packed front to back, not with titles face forward. Good variety and even some hentai if you are into that.
BestBuy - 48th and R Streets - Good selection. They started experimenting last year with one shelf (about same size as above), and now expanded to shelves. Mostly popular stuff (Gundam, DBZ), but others for variety added like Saint Tail, Blue Gender, Robotech.
Comics and Manga Central - right across from street from BestBuy, just to the south of Super Saver. Poor selection of anime, but its there. Manga/comics on the other hand...good stuff.
I haven't seen anything in south Lincoln yet, sorry.
someone mentioned AniPike in a previous message, but they didn't mention this specific list
Anime Web TurnPike's Online Shopping guide
other lists I know of:
Anime Web Turnpike's Shopping Guide
Anime Shopping Guide/Ratings not sure who maintains this, its also included in the above link
Manga and Anime Stores (this is an AOL link though, don't know if it will work
One thing to keep in mind, not all anime you come across on the web or in RL is legit. I've seen tons of bootlegs for sale, even after anime is becoming more available domestically. Watch out for independent stores/sites in particular. Some bootleg packaging is looking more legit than licensed stuff. I can think of a half dozen sites/stores that carry bootlegs, and I've seen several mentioned already, but I hesitate to name them for fear of being sued or something. Not only are you ripping off the creators and giving money to immoral types, but you generally get really crappy quality. The packaging is NOT representative of the product at all. You are likely to find horrible translations with unreadable grammar, poorly timed subtitles, subtitles that are a bad color or cut off at the ends and just low grade video and audio in general. Sometimes its a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of some guys VHS tape off of tv, even though its on DVD.
And finally, because I've spent around $10k on anime in the past 10 years, I'll list a few of the places the majority of money has gone to and I've never had any problems with (DVD bootlegs, bad service, etc...):
Anime Castle
Anime Plus
Nikaku
Amazon.com
and Media Play (pricey!) for those anime cravings so severe you just can't wait for the webstores to deliver
~WBGG~ "And I'm so sad like a good book I can't put this Day Back a sorta fairytale with you" ~Tori Amos
There's a great "nerd supplies" shop on Yonge St. between Dundas and Gerrard on the west side called Hairy Tarantula. It's on the second floor so keep your eyes peeled for the doorway.
Also try the Silver Snail on Queen west around Peter Street. The anime DVDs and tapes are on the second floor.
-
Systems Administrators: We read the manual so you don't have to.
I think anime's shit, but Salzer's Video is the mecca of it for Ventura County, CA, just NW of LA. If you need to see it, it's there.
Great foreign/mystery/TV/art video stuff in general.
The only tool you've got against psychosis is experience.
I've recently done a massive search for a source that has cheap anime over the internet. The best place that I found was www.animecastle.com. They are usually $7 below list price on most DVDs. This is better than anything i've seen on any other site.
I haven't been able to order anything from them yet, but i think some of my friends have. Most of my friends are really into anime, and those that aren't, I convert, hehe. If you're looking for release dates on certain things www.animeondvd.com is a good site for that. Then there is www.animenation.com that has a very large selection of anime. On most the anime sites you can also find FF stuff. I got a black mage (vivi) plushy. hehe. Hope this helps.
- Joe
ANIME SUCKS, it isn't even animation. fucking retards. watch a REAL cartoon
And they're also where my roomate hunts catgirls ^_^
:-P (though I suppose anyone who attends dressed as a catgirl is probably an attention-seeker)
And y'all wonder why more women don't go to anime conventions...
Freedom: "I won't!"
Steve Pearl if he didn't already respond to this post himself.
i live in west central NJ (mercer county area) and one of the problems around these parts is that all of the 'independent' chain stores that were any good (particularly palmer video, less so choices) were bought out by west coast video...which promptly closed all of the stores, leaving us with blockbuster and a few dinky, hanging-on-by-a-thread indie stores that stock about 50% popular movies, 50% porn (which they make the most profit on, i'm told). palmer in hamilton used to have a large anime section ranging from the standard stuff (macross, akira) to more obscure things (they had urusei yatsura, too) and the ubiquitous pr0n anime stuff.
real tragedy they went out of business, they were the only place you could rent anime and they even had a decent foreign/art section (they had "salo," fer chrissakes) and stocked stuff like "nekromantik" and "der todesking," which blockbuster wouldn't even think about carrying.
oh well, the homogenization proceeds apace.
Though I'd avoid it, is "Games & More" on State Street near E. State and Alpine. The staff is unprofessional and pretentious, but ya'll didn't ask for just the Good stores, did you?
No theatres, as far as I'm aware, until you get down to Champaign, IL, near University of Illinois.
Dan
GenerationX in Waterloo, Ontario carries a substantial anime selection. Its located in uptown Waterloo across the street from Waterloo Music, about a block from where Erb Street meets King Street. The anime section is downstairs.
.
mc comics. dank place, many comic books, ccg's, video games, full on importer of large amounts of anime, cool people. -knowles
-knowles
NetFlix in a Nutshell:
Limited selection *and* inventory; shady billing practices; delays in shipping; hostile customer service.
BTW, What's parent (a blatant SPAM) doing moderated up so high? SPAM! SPAM, SPAM and more SPAM.
Starbase One on Murry Ave (I belive) in Squirel Hill has a collection of Anime/Kung Fu VCDs and DVDs for rent.
(Score:0, Interesting)
That's where you go to find Anime in my neck of the woods. Also, some of the mall movie stores (sales, not rental) have decent Anime stock.
Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
http://www.animejyanai.com/
They have all sorts of stuff and a lot of fansubs that they will reproduce for a fee of a VHS tape. They also sell some games and such.
Another place is Sakura Media in Burnaby and Richmond. They carry a lot of CDs, DVDs, and posters.
Hrm, there are lots of different ways to score anime. My primary methods involve renting via Netflix, borrowing some movies, and grabbing from a fansub group.
As many of the previous posts said, renting via netflix is pretty good. I've been a member for almost a year and a half now, and they've improved significantly on speed in the east coast. Their selection is very good, but be forewarned. If you get into a series, be prepared to shell out the $$$ and buy the thing. They will usually only carry 1 or 2 DVDs out of a series. However, they are getting better about that. They have a user rating system in place where you can fire back comments if you've already seen the anime and you can rate it up to five stars. I've noticed that they've also opened up a small distribution center in my neck of the woods. I'm not so sure if you have one in New Jersey, but there is one in Dunwoody GA which is not too far from my locale, which gives their speeds up deliveries. However, the more obscure titles (read: anime) usually aren't held at those houses and take more time because they must be shipped from california. As for I have noticed that they seem to carry the more popular animes such as Cowboy Bebop and Perfect Blue at the smaller centers though. Overall, its a good deal. I can grab more anime than at the general blockbuster and kind of try the DVD before I buy it. Very nice
My other favorite method will defintaley have you see something different, but you have ot be honest. You need to have some sort of broadband, preferably DSL and a streamload account. For the unitiated, www.streamload.com has taken the anime world by storm because it allows anime lovers to have an unlimited sized hdd online to store their audio and video. You can have other users "stream-beam" files to your streamload account and log on there to download files as fast as your connection will allow. However, the service is not free; they charge for bandwidth usage. I get 3 gigs a month for $8. With that, you can just flex your google skills and find one of the multitudes of fansub groups that will send to your streambox. However, you have to stay on the lookout and delete anime in your collection that may become licensed. You can get multitudes of anime this way and see something that may never come here! it is a great system and has been a boon to my broadband experience. Try allanime.de to start out, there are some great people there.
13 year old white supremacists are shitty web designers.
I know for sure, there are plenty of places online where u can find porn-anime :)
Showgirls is not pr0n. Not even close. But it is the most hardcore thing Blockbuster has, and even then, they had to censor it.
Have you been stalked by Seth today?
You are a loser. WTF do 'jocks' and 'geeks' have to do with anything? I am a confident, attractive, fit, intelligent person and am merely stating what is fucking obvious to someone who can think 'on two feet'. I don't subscribe to the jock/geek world. If you do, you only perpetuate the notion of class-based social interaction. Use google rather than waste an ask /. on this tripe.
Both UC schools. I used to go to UC Davis, and they had an incredible anime/asian rental place called "Alternative Universe," and I figured I might be able to find something like that when I moved to Berkeley, but surprise surprise. Despite this being a large university town, there are no good anime rental places. There's one small store which shares an insignificant amount of space with a travel agency, but the selection isn't very good. Even blockbuster seems better at time. Then again, there are many surprising things about Berkeley. You wouldn't think they'd have a piss-poor recycling system, but they do. It's a bizarre town that never seems to be what people think of it.
-Maple Art in Bloomfield Hills.
-Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor. Very nice theater. If a movie is being screened in the main theater, do make sure to get there early as they have somebody playing an old-school pipe organ before performances.
Stores:
Wizzywig on E. Liberty in Ann Arbor (just down the street from the Michigan Theater in fact.) A disturbingly large selection of anime, j-pop and other related products; both domestically released and imported.
The current way is either mailorder or try one of the convention like the Anime-Expo this week in Longbeach. There are still a lot of conventions around the country.
Even Buy.com and Amazon stock some mainstream items.
I guess I'm just not seeing the relation...
I think of "nerds" as computer people... programmers like myself.
I think of Anime as Japanese cartoons. Am I the only computer person out there that thinks indifferently of them?
I guess the closet correlation I can come up with is computer games which are often using pieces of Asian culture in them.
I guess my original question is, why is it news for nerds? Why not some other hobby that really isn't related such as Fish aquariums or something.
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin
Prolly a bit late in the thread for this, but my psuedo-company is doing a showing of anime from about the 4th to the 7th of July at the outdoor music festival on the Oregon/Washington border called, the Phoenix Festival. We're going to be showing all sorts of random stuff over the course of those 4 days.. A pretty complete list of what the plan is is up here. We're also pondering doing some sort of free theater thing in the park during the summer in the seattleish area, assuming we could get permits and whatnot. On the note of stores, we have a semi-lame webstore up at http://store.superlime.com. It's basically still in proof of concept state.. I'm still reworking the gfx I did in paintbrush. :) :)
At any rate, I dunno if anyone that reads slashdot is even going to phoenixfest, but if you do and you didn't already know me, come say hi!
east coast dont got sheit, go west.
Or, alternatively,
get a friend who is west
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
Actually, ADV is a very good company. David (one of the high-ups there) is a very nice guy... ADV started as a fan-subbing group and went from there.
:)
:)
In fact, when Jessica Calvello (the voice of Excel in volumes 1-3) was asked at Sakura Con 2002 ( http://www.sakuracon.org ) which company was the most professional about their voice recording she said ADV.
ADV IS slow with their releases however. This is just due to the fact that they are doing a lot. They pick up the licenses so they can do them rather than someone else and then they sit because they got a touch carried away
As for why some shows are released oddly (eg: Blue Sub 6), strait from David's mouth... is that part of the deal to get the rights was that in whatever medium they were released they only be released 1 per piece.
Also of note, ADV has the rights to do the NA release of Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, but due to their contract, they do not hold the BROADCAST rights to it. This means that you can't ask them if you can show it somewhere, as they don't hold those rights.
When VJAS ( http://www.vjas.com [flash warning]), the Vancouver Japanese Animation Society) was putting together a large showing ADV was one of the first companies to get back to us about permissions.
Not to be tooo pro ADV... Bandai Entertainment is also a good group (Hi Jerry Chu!). Although sometimes their person for taking care of permissions takes a little prodding.
One thing of note is that Bandai Ent. is not really related to Bandai Inc. [the guys who make the anime, who did power rangers, etc...]. Bandai Ent. is about 15 people in North America dealing with distribution, advertising, and getting dubs done.
Ok, peace out!
RoundTop
Secretary, VJAS
Staff Member, Sakura Con 2002/2003
PS: boy am I glad I got this UPS... there is a thunderstorm outside and I don't much care
RoundTop
If you live here you probably already know this, but Movie Madness is around SE 40th and Belmont and they have loads of anime in the back.
I was, at one time, thinking of writing and animating an original Anime series and putting it on-line, for free distribution.
:-(.
Unfortunately, I estimated that it would be about 9 months between 15 minute episodes, based on me doing it all in my spare time, with no assistant artists
Still, it would have been good...
You know there's a site called Anime-Fu, right? Use that instead of Slashdot, and stop wasting our time.
Alternate Dimensions is a store that offers rentals of hundreds of dvds (people tell me there are tapes too, but whatever), principally of the animated variety, but including many cool live action movies (Farscape! Woo!) and imported action flicks. Throw in a LAN with a broadband connection and a mild comic and wargame collection, and you've got a real nice place. Rent three discs and get one free! Or, if you can wake up before noon, you can rent two and get two free! Beauty! 10049 SW 72nd St.
Out on Miami Beach you will find a Regal 18. They don't have Film Festivals or anything, but if the movies get a theatrical release (Blood, Vampire Hunter D, Spriggan, and Death and Rebirth soon) then they'll have it for a week or two. 1100 Lincoln Rd.
I visited the city and theres a nice little shop in China Town (oddly enough) called AnameMax that I'd hit up. It's a trip but they have a lot availiable and were looking to put up a website. I'll post back later if I can find the address for you. Really nice people though.
-Tony
What about in Okinawa. I have been living here for a while but every place I walk in that says DVD or VHS and is easy to spot has nothing but PORNO PORNO PORNO. Nicely categorized by fetish, yes, but as expensive as hell. Why pay $40 for a VHS when all the hard stuff is censored.
So you think you can tell, Heaven from Hell --Pink Floyd (Wish You Were Here)
I tend to go to the Suncoast, like a lot of other people have suggested. They tend to carry a pretty good (?) selection of kung fu movies as well :D
So far Suncoast has had everything I wanted that had already been released. The only time I'll buy something "illegal" is when it's the only way. For example, you can't find Nausicaa at all, except in a fansub format. Disney was supposed to be re-releasing all the Studio Ghibli here in the States, but I never saw anything beyond Kiki's Delivery Service (although I've heard that My Neighbor Totoro and Laputa were both released State-side). Sometimes fansub/bootleg is the only way to go. I was a huge fan of Warriors of the Wind when I was just a wee one, and it amazes me how they cut out integral parts of the story in that version!
Another reason I might suggest fansubs is that they put out *everything*. Rather than just the episodes that make up the central story. I saw a hilarious episode of Sorceror Hunters once, but I've never seen it on a VHS cassette or DVD for legal purchase here.
For your fansub needs I'd say either hop online and do a few searches, or head to either Phillie or NYC, you should be about equal distance from both. A lot of people who make and collect fansubs will make you free copies as long as you send them a cassette tape and $$$ for shipping, and as long as the tape hasn't been released in the US.
This is not the greatest sig in the world, no. This is just a tribute.
Well, I think it's clear that "Hentai" is a subgenre of "Anime," though some really snooty anime fans wouldn't admit it. I think it's especially true given the "acceptability" of Hentai anime in its home country, where jokes about it are sometimes found in less explicit anime, where less explicit anime is still often more explicit than U.S. custom would dictate, and where sexuality itself is viewed in a better light.
+ De ad
+ Lo ve
u lt _win_us.html
While I don't watch Hentai anime, I have to admit being a fan of the quality games in the Hentai subgenre as well. Most Hentai games are thin excuses for looking at dirty manga/anime, but several of them are worthy RPGs or interactive fiction in themselves, like *Divi Dead*, *Eve Burst Error* (sexually explicit scenes were cut for non-Japanese versions), *True Love*, *Season of the Sakura*, *3 Sisters' Story*, etc.
I just wish more of the Japanese greats in the Hentai game category would be translated into English, since unlike with anime you can't really keep up with what's going on, or even play the game passably, unless you can read the dialogue. Most of the Hentai games translated into English have been the low-quality ones, with a few exceptions like the ones I listed above. But unfortunately the market for such games in English is relatively small, meaning the greats in Japan would often be too expensive to license for American transklation and sales.
At any rate, any anime fans interested in the good Hentai video games out there could take a look at these links:
Reviews:
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?name=Divi
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=2218
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?name=True
Sales:
http://www.jastusa.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv
http://www.peachprincess.com/Merchant2/pp.mv
http://shop.himeya.com/products/adult_win_us/ad
Chasing Amy
(We all chase Amy...)
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws"-Tacitus
In Columbus, Ohio, try renting anime at SHOCC Comics on Bethel(wide selection on tape, but they only recently started acquiring DVDs) or North Campus Video on High Street(many DVDs, but smaller overall selection -- and when stuff gets stolen from them, they never, ever replace it).
-- Support Ometz le-Serev.
Four Star Video Heaven in Madison, WI, just off State Street, has a good selection of anime videos to rent, including a nice number of DVDs.
315 N Henry St. (608)255-1994
"A coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one."
Could be worse. A friend of mine learned a lot of his Japanese from anime. He happens to be a fan of Shoujo (girls) anime. At a party one person asked me why my friend talked like a 12 year old girl. :) I couldn't say much. His Japanese is better than mine, it's just that his vocabulary is a touch ... odd.
"An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." Col. Jeff Cooper
I was a member, but I recently cancelled my membership. The problem? They have a "wide" selection of anime titles, but when you get 3 or 4 discs into a 10-disc series, you discover that that's all they have. I emailed them a couple of times about it, and customer service indicates they have no plans to stock the rest. Specific examples I've bumped into:
Gasaraki: they have 1-4, but there are 8 total
Bubblegum Crisis 2040: they have 3 of 6
Neon Genesis Evangelion: they have 3 of 8 series discs, and neither of the 2 movie DVDs
Trigun: they have 6 of 8
Slayers: they have one movie, and 3 out of 52(!!!!) episodes.
Blue Submarine #6: they have all of the series, but are missing the movie.
Tenchi Universe: they have 6 of 8
I will apologize now if any of these movies are unavailable in region 1-- I didn't have time to check 'em all. But most of these certainly are.
It would be really nice if you could finish watching what you started, but sadly, that's not the case with Netflix.
Guess what schlub, /. is not exactly tre's chic either. Dick weed.
As to being poorly written, yep, some are. Some, OTH are absolutely amazing. There simply things you can't do (at least without millions and millions of dollars and years of production) in regular film that can be done in animation.
Dragon Ball Z is pretty cool (i am addicted and can't leave if I flip to a channel with it on, but I don't chase it down either). Poke' is NOT anime. Gundam is close. Real anime is sometimes found on adult swim, but usually on the Sci-Fi channel in fits and spurts.
God, I hate trolls and self important 'I am better than you' types who really are just schlubs.
in melbourne there is minotaur which stocks both anime and manga. there is a lot of marvel type of stuff there too but they have a good stock of anime, stey ahve inported stuff too. minotaur is on swanston street just past myers on the other sideof the road. hobby japan is walking distance from minotaur located in an arcade about a blok up in the direction of myer up swanston street but i'm not sure what roads is comes off. arcade and whicle is a small store has rentals and a nice stock of dvds for sale. they also have other anime related products like figureines. initial d stocks a lot of japanese related stuff including anime soundtracks and manga dvds although a lot of the dvds are bootlegs. i'm not sure about the address though. comics r us stocks manga too although not very much and it's mostly dragonball. i don't know the address though since i don't go here much. then there are conventions like manifest which has a lot of stalls set up that also can tell you where their permanent store is. manifest have screening too.
Hi there,
I am living in Central Jersey as well (near New Brunswick).
I'm not sure exactly where you are in Central NJ, but here is a list of what I have found:
Knight Dreams
82 Nassau St. 2nd Floor, Princeton, NJ 08542
(609) 497-4525
Knight Dreams has an extremely huge Anime rental selection; if you name it they probably have it.
The only store which has a good selection on both VHS and DVD.
They also sell comics/manga and host gaming nights. The owner there is very nice.
I highly recommend this place.
Video Stars
1745 State Route 27, Edison NJ
(732)287-9444
Has an anime section, but it seems mostly Hentai oriented (sexually explicit). Somehow, the owners think every anime is the same. Thus, "Ranma" (mostly a kids comedy) has an "18 or over" sticker on it, and sits next to "La Blue Girl" (hentai). However, the non-hentai material includes: Bastard!, Slayers, Video Girl AI, Gundam Movies.
Another annoying thing: for some reason, they often have just one tape of a series, and it will be a tape other than volume 1.
Raritan Video
75 Raritan Ave, Highland Park NJ
(732)846-2224
This has a decent selection, has no hentai, and is located in the middle of the store. They have some Dragon Ball, Akira, Record of Lodoss War, Macross Plus.
Hollywood Video
725 Promenade Blvd, Bridgewater NJ
(732)564-0245
Chain rental stores are a hit-or-miss, when it comes to Anime. This particular store has an Anime section that includes: Cowboy Bebop, Blue Seed, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Patlabor, Vampire Princess (OVA). They rent for five days, so it might be worth taking the trip.
Blockbuster Video
7000 Hadley Rd, South Plainfield NJ
(908)561-1222
Another big-bad-boy chain. This store seems to mostly carry action-packed and shonen (boys) anime.
Some titles include: Akira, Macross II movie, Ninja Scroll (on DVD), Slayers movie.
Buying Anime
If you are looking to buy Anime, the stores in the malls often carry a huge selection.
Check out Sam Goody, SunCoast video or Saturday Matinee.
However, I usually find cheaper prices online at Amazon and Buy.com.
NYC:
Metro Anime Shopping Guide
This Metro Anime group seems to be very active, and has compiled a very handy shopping guide.
NYC-anime.com shopping guide
This guide has a good map of Manhattan, pointing out locations of Anime and Manga stores.
Conventions
Shoujocon 2002
If you are into Shoujo (girl's comics/anime) at all, you might want to check out Shoujocon. It is happening July 19-21 at the Hilton in East Brunswick. This will be my first year, so I cannot comment about it personally, but from what I have heard, it sounds like a lot of fun.
Web Resources
Anime Turnpike
This is a pretty good starting point for all things anime on the web.
AnimeFu
Yeah, yeah - I know it's under the "Quick Links" section of Slashdot,but this is a good place to learn. I like to check the new reviews daily.
Recommended Anime/Manga
Here's a list of recommended Anime and Manga. Opinions vary, of course, but this seems like a good starting point for Anime beginners. It sure helped me understand what's out there.
Hope that helps!
--
jason
Does anyone know of any Anime Clubs in Central NJ, specifically, near New Brunswick/Rutgers?
It looks like Rutgers used to have a club, but I cannot seem to find any information on the web.
And I am not sure whether or not they still hold meetings.
If anyone has any information, could you please let me know?
Thanks,
jason
They're in the Campus West Shopping Center, just, amazingly, west of main campus, near the corner of Elizabeth and Shields. They're also soon to be moving just a little ways down Elizabeth, in the same building as Panhandler's Pizza. (Great... a pizza joint and anime renting joint right next to each other.)
Definitely a great place for anyone going to Colorado State University. They have a very large selection (as large as a big Blockbusters comedy section, for example) on both VHS and DVD. They also have a good selection of anime knick-knacks and some quite knowledgable personnel.
-Jellisky
There is an anime store in Atlanta (Duluth) on Pleasant Hill Rd east of 85 (based on the incorrect assumption that I-85 runs North/South). I think the cross street is Club Drive.
i recently saw Osamu Tezuka's "Metropolis" at the Inwood Theater in Dallas. they show lots of foreign films, with the occasional anime feature.
If you feel like taking a bit of a trip up to the city, there's a very nice shop in Manhattan called Image Anime. They also sell through their website at www.imageanime.com. They have some very neat stuff indeed. I bought the imported box set of Initial D First Stage while I was there, and I went across NJ from Pennsylvania just for it. In my book, the place is worth a bit of a trek. And hey, while you're in NYC you can make a day trip out of it even.
Go to Rutgers NB. There's almost certainly an anime shop around there; and if not ShogoCon(sp?) is supposed to be there next month, and should have shitloads for sale.
Best Buy has a pretty huge selection of Anime. The biggest selection i've seen at any 'brick and mortar' store..
A lot of Universities (like mine -- http://www.ursga.org/ ) have well established anime clubs which have been operating for years. We regularly show Laser Disc and DVD titles, and members from the community are welcome to join. I would suggest looking at places like this in your community! Simulation Gaming conferences are also a good hotbed of activity on this front.
indeed..
Southeast of Orlando and south of Kennedy Space Center is Famous Faces and Funnies, which has a great selection of manga, US comics, action figures, and some anime on DVD. They also carry some Japanese language manga, and know a lot about what they sell. The store is very spacious and brightly lit. They have to keep it that way because it's in a popular shopping center with a supermarket.
For a while they were showing some anime at a 2nd run theater every Friday night, like 3 movies for $5, and despite having a poor projector and a smoky theater, it was great being around all those people who really liked anime. But it was kinda against copyright since they were showing VHSs so they quit.
Well.. I gotta think your out of luck then.. The average joe doesn't even know what the hell Anime is nor what Trigun, Blue Seed, Lain, Sin, Eva.. etc etc.. and if they do think they know something of Japanese animation, they probably think its 3rd world..that being what it is you think major retailers are going to have an entire series of something? hah.. I wish. So we compromise and settle for what we have, which is above and beyond a good amount of main-to-nonstream ways of finding titles we like.
What the heck is wrong with a specialty store anyway? What if they were next to each other? If I want something special, I go to a specialty shop.. I cook gourmet meals, and guess what not many grocers carry the amount of mushrooms I like, nor spring leeks, nor vanilla beans, nor nishiki.. etc.. I goto a fresh market, I go to a farmers market, hell some foods I order online.. If I want a comic book I don't go to the newspaper/magazine section of Barnes'Noble, I go to a Comic store..
Don't be lazy, if you really want or your really into something, you get what you put effort into getting..
Btw.. Hollywood Video (rentals) has a huge selection of anime.. but YMMV.. thats local to Charlotte, NC
"Life is all about strategy, mathematics and psychological perceptiveness."
Specialty stores are great, but manga and anime need to show up in mainstream stores to really succeed because they're so convenient and because many people probably feel that specialty stores are creepy. Luckily, Barnes & Noble has a comics shelf or two (much of which is manga), and Suncoast has several shelves of anime. Movie theaters and Blockbuster need improvement.
In the mean time, I've been giving manga and anime to my library for free circulation. That's as good a place for exposure as any.
We get virually no anime.
Personally I get mine from Canada - from dvdboxoffice.com
As far as RIT area goes, there also is a place called 'Video Barn' on Jefferson (near Winton). It has a nice little anime rental section...
I recommend Movie Madness on Belmont and 43rd (I think). for a lot of anime; they're a rental house that has all the movies you'd think no one stocked anymore. They've got all the anime classics, I think; Evangelion, Lain, Akira, and the like. They also have enough kung-fu flicks to confuse your mind forever. ;)
There's no sig like this sig anywhere near this sig, so this must be the sig.
Monmouth Mall, Eatontown, NJ:
Suncoast video store on the 2nd floor has quite a collection of anime videos + dvds (a lot of subs too).
Virgin record, 14th street Union Square, NYC: Lots and lots of anime DVDs (check the basement). A very nice place to shop
HMV,5th Ave.(and 46th street ?), NYC: A lot of anime DVDs. Some anime videos.
Suncoast video, 42nd street (and 3rd ave ?), NYC: Some anime DVDs and videos. Videos are mostly dubbed.
Video game stores, everywhere. Sometimes they carry anime dvds and videos.
I would not recommend Japanese bookstores such as Kinokuniya or Asahiya for videos/dvds. They do carry a couple mainstream ones, usually Miyazaki's stuff like Totoro, but other than those they have none. I would recommend those bookstores if you're looking for Manga or Anime CD soundtracks, but not dvds or videos.
Lastly, I know a couple of places in NYC Chinatown that carry pirated Anime dvds (lots and lots of them) but I'm not going to list them here. Trust me, for Anime, don't buy pirated ones. When you watch anime, one of the things that you definetely enjoy is the quality of the animation. Stick to the originals!
=Spike=
Anybody know of a good place in Oakland? I hate going to Berkeley unless absolutely necessary. Most of the neighborhood video stores in Oakland have a small decent collection of anime -- but I haven't found anyplace with a REALLY large selection.
Suncoast and Sam Goody have pretty good selections. For rentals, several people have mentioned online (eg, netflix http://www.netflix.com). Also, if you don't mind bootlegs, try buying All Region DVDs and VCDs online. (For retailers, try the Google Directory: http://directory.google.com). The quality can vary, but the price is right.
"Do I dare disturb the universe?"
UT has a strong anime club which shows anime every Friday night.
www.bestprices.com is a low cost site for online purchases, and the local Fry's has a great selection for the quick fix. Dragon's Lair has some anime videos, and a good selection of manga.
WinMX supports private p2p anime networks to get the latest fansubs from. Thanks, to them I pre-order a lot (Excel, FLCL, Hellsing, Fruits Basket all rock and I want my Scryed!).
Video Barn on Jefferson Road (a half mile or so east of the main Post Office) has by far the largest rental selection in this area. They seem to have several hundred titles at any given time, though you can only rent them for two days. The anime collection started in a unique way. Video Barn is down the road from the Rochester Institute of Technology, which contains among other things the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID). The NTID students of course needed videos with subtitles, and way back when about the only videos with subtitles were anime, so the store started to stock them.
At the Westfarms mall in Farmington, Connecticut, on the 2nd floor there is a store called FYE... they've got an entire aisle devoted to anime, and they have a lot of complete sets...
Now, the only downside is that everything is like $30, which is especially crap when there's like 6 or 8 dvds in the series
the Best Buy which is near westfarms has some anime dvds, at slighlty better prices. They're stuffed away in the Science Fiction section, so you've gotta look. The prices are a little less outrageous... (I did find 'Devil Hunter Yohko' for $15, but everything else is in the mid $20's)
the internet really is the best place for anime, and netflix is also definitely not the place to go..
ìì!
Just head over to mitsuwa plaza in edgewater. There is a mini-japanese mall, with a Kinokyunia (japanese book store which has a couple videos), japanese grocery store, an import video game/toy shop.
i ng -nj.html
down the road is jcb or jbc books which sells used and new manga and magazines in addition to regular books.
Edgewater is right accross the hudson river( near the george washington bridge.
Additionally there are a bunch of places in NYC, including another kinokyunia and anime crash or something like that.
I'm not sure how anone can miss finding mitsuwa plaza if you live anywhere near NYC.
http://www.users.voicenet.com/~aegis/sjas/shopp
is a list of places in NYC area, but mostly New Jersey.
Bring back the old version of slashdot.
www.anipike.com
The anime web turnpike is quite simply the best starting out resource for the interpid anime fan.
World's Best Comics on Watt & El Camino (same part of the Tower mini-mall where the bowling alley is).
riding round the world on an old motorcycle
whatever guy. yeah, he could sort through a bunch of google results trying to find useful info., or he could ask a crowd of folks that he trusts and whose opinions he respects to direct him towards quality outlets. so what's wrong with that? the only waste of space is your holier-than-thou vitrol that you felt was SO IMPORTANT that you had to post your "gee whiz is this guy stupid" post so that we could all marvel at your own ability to type "google" into the browser and hit "return." get over it.
oh, and as far as perpetuating the notion of a class-based social interaction, are you telling me that we AREN'T involved in a class war? KMA. Classicism is alive and well and IS part of human nature at this particular stage of our evolution, as sad as it may be. Get over that, too.
You do know that the "people" he drinks alone with are actually alcohol brands (ie Granddad)? The song might make more sense that way.
1400 Clyde Ave. in Ottawa
Collectionneur 2000+
691 Boulevard St-Joseph in Hull/Gatineau
It's called cut-and-paste. Use it.
Chasing Amy
(We all chase Amy...)
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws"-Tacitus
A freind of mine (yeah right) buys Anime and Hentai at all good pr0n shops.
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Even in this university town, Cosmic Cat Comics & Games has a pretty impressive anime rental selection. 1700+ vhs titles and over 500 dvd titles. For their selection go to: http://www.cosmiccatcomics.com/anime.htm
(With accent over the E):
Well, it helps to keep your fine woodern furniture looking good!
Protects it, as well!!
((Look it up in the Dictionary))
.
(David Bowman, EVA near HUGE Monolithic Win-PC in orbit around Jupiter) "My God - its full of Malware!"