I've spent years amassing a collection of anime DVDs...and now I'm questioning that choice.

[Oly J]

Hi all, I'm having a bit of a critical thinking moment here, now, I have more than what could probably be called a passing interest in anime, but with that said, whenever I meet someone else who's into it, they're always WAY more into it than me, (I have trouble starting new things, so I still haven't seen Sword Art Online or Hunter X Hunter, but I keep hearing they're really good, also I never got around to watching Evangelion or Fullmetal Alchemist) and a few years back I started collecting DVDs when I could get them (I live in a small town and the only places that sell anime rarely have much in those sections) now that collection, which I keep seperate from the rest of my blu-rays/DVDs has grown a fair bit, I don't have them to hand, but I have (among other things) pretty much all of the Studio Ghibli movies, 2 seasons of Dragon ball, 6 seasons of Dragon Ball Z, all of Hellsing/Ultimate that has yet been released in the UK, all of Naruto/Shippuden that's out so far (There is entirely too much filler in Shippuden, even for Naruto) and every episode of Fist of the North Star crudely subbed in a box set I found on eBay

you get the point I have a fair few, I don't have them on hand because I'm staying in residential halls at uni right now and have nowhere to put them, but I can just watch anything I want online now, but I find myself not doing so because if I watch it online I won't end up buying the DVDs and I like that I have that collection, except it's kind of outgrowing the space I keep it in.

basically I'm questioning whether or not a collection of anime DVDs is worth keeping, when you can just stream everything online more conveniently (I checked the CEX website and they apparently would give me just over £200 for everything, that seems like a lot but I've spent a long time collecting all of those, and doubtless spent much more than that)


So basically my question is, do you guys think that a collection such as this is worth having/keeping these days? with things like Netflix, and well, websites that just let you watch them for free anyway, I like the whole several shelves full of DVDs thing I've got going on but it's starting to strike me as a little impractical.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

My advice: Keep them. You never know when you might end up without Internet (or living someplace that has metered Internet) and want to watch your old shows.

(Also, be glad you have them in a format you can still watch. I've got about eighty VHS tapes from my anime days sitting in a box in my living room.)

 

[Zontar]

I can't say weather or not it should be what you do, but I would keep them. My internet has a bad habit of being not that great at times, coupled with a cap that it far lower then I'd like. My dvds/blu rays allow me to watch them without that being an issue. They also tend to have better quality then the streaming services, even the legal ones.

 

[sky14kemea]

I'd say leave them a bit longer.

I had a thought like that about my Xbox 360. When my Rockband guitars broke I rarely used it, so I decided to sell it to CEX and got over £150 (I also handed in both controllers, my Rockband mic and drums, and a few games and DVDs).

I kinda regretted it because now I can't play Rockband just to sing anymore. So yeah, I say wait on it a bit longer. If you like having the collection, you'll probably regret selling it so rashly.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I vote to keep them. I am like you. I too own every single box set of both Naruto and Naruto Shippuden, among other anime series. None as big as Naruto, but still. I also collect manga series as well as video games. My room is packed to the brim. I literally have no place to put stuff anymore, or at least to keep it organized. Games which I used to display proudly on my shelves are now stuffed in crates in my closet. Manga series which used to be kept in order on shelves now stack on top of one another on the shelves.

But I can't bring myself to get rid of them. Yes, I know you can read manga online now, and you can watch anime online too. Most games can now be bought digitally, and books are now ebooks. But there's a special feeling of holding something in my hand, of turning the page, and just sitting in my room and looking at my collections that digital will never have. I own all of the original Sailor Moon anime on DVD, and even though I haven't cracked them open in well over two years, I still have all the box sets sitting in my room and I get a sense of pride knowing that they are mine.

If it gets bad, you can always stuff things in boxes, like you've done, but remember--once you get rid of something, especially something that's rare or out of print, it's going to be hard to get it back. If not impossible. And that regret is going to stay with you for a long time.

 

[twistedmic]

I'd say keep the DVDs, if only as an investment (of sorts). If DVDs and Blu-ray ever go out of style, which I doubt they will in the foreseeable future, and become obsolete and rare your collection will most likely become even more valuable than they are now.
And keep in mind that DVDs are more concrete than streaming. You won't lose your DVDs to a computer virus or corrupted hard drive, you could watch your DVDs whenever you wanted even if your streaming went down (temporarily or permanently) or if there were a change in licensing rights/agreements.
Then there's the fact that you don't know if you will always have access to a strong enough internet connection to stream content whereas with DVDs as long as you have power, a screen and a drive to play the discs you will be able to watch your DVDs.

 

[Julius Terrell]

I did same thing except, I'm an otaku! You'll have to bury me first before I part with my collection. Can someone explain to me why are anime shows till put on DVDs? I mean the Blu-ray format should have eliminated having to buy lots of DVDs, but nope. Damn DVDs are still around like that aging piece of tech that people just don't want to let go.

Keep your collection, because you'll never know when you'll want to watch whatever it is you have collected.

 

[Zontar]

I did same thing except, I'm an otaku! You'll have to bury me first before I part with my collection. Can someone explain to me why are anime shows till put on DVDs? I mean the Blu-ray format should have eliminated having to buy lots of DVDs, but nope. Damn DVDs are still around like that aging piece of tech that people just don't want to let go.

Because a lot of people still buy DVDs instead of Blu Rays for a multitude of reasons (for anime one of them is that the DVDs come out long before the Blu Rays, a perfect example is with Railgun, Railgun S parts 1 and 2 have been available for some time on DVD, yet season 1 only came out on Blu Ray in its entirety just last week).

 

[Oly J]

I did same thing except, I'm an otaku! You'll have to bury me first before I part with my collection. Can someone explain to me why are anime shows till put on DVDs? I mean the Blu-ray format should have eliminated having to buy lots of DVDs, but nope. Damn DVDs are still around like that aging piece of tech that people just don't want to let go.

Because a lot of people still buy DVDs instead of Blu Rays for a multitude of reasons (for anime one of them is that the DVDs come out long before the Blu Rays, a perfect example is with Railgun, Railgun S parts 1 and 2 have been available for some time on DVD, yet season 1 only came out on Blu Ray in its entirety just last week).

that is unfortunate, I do wish Blu Ray would just take over though, I have a few anime blu rays and in particular Akira and Ponyo look fucking beautiful in that format.

 

[TheArcaneThinker]

My Advice :
Sell them... Go buy some good games.... Enjoy... Go for an outing with friends and family or spend the night a pizza and a good movie... Or keep it find happiness in your hobby and dont think about it too much... Thats all i can say...

 

[Super Cyborg]

It mainly comes down to your attachment to the stuff. If you love them and love the idea of keeping them, then keep them. You might want to pop in a DVD of a show, and watch some episodes. You might just want to have a collection to show off, and as others said, you might not have the ability to watch them on the internet, whether it's because you don't have a connection, or they might not be on the internet anymore for viewing.

For me, except for my One Piece volumes, I don't feel the need to keep many things. If I'm done with a game, I can give it away usually, because so many times I just never need to go back to it, or if I do go back to it, It's been years and I can get it digitally.

 

[crazygameguy4ever]

DVDs are FAAAR better then digital streaming crap.. you internet has a problem you can't stream anime.. but you don't need Internet to watch DVDs or Blu-rays.. DVDs and Blu-rays will always be better then getting digital for movies, anime, games and books

 

[verdant monkai]

I'd say keep em. You may have kids one day and they may enjoy them, and if you feel the need to sell them anime is getting more popular in the west so wait a few years until it becomes a bigger deal, then your anime will be worth more.

 

[Idlemessiah]

Keep them. I remember when I sold a bunch of games I didn't play much to get some cash. I ended up buying most of them back a few years later.

It's an age old rule; don't sell out a lifetime interest for short-term financial gain.

 

[AntiChri5]

Go for a digital collection. Best of both worlds.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

Rip them to a HDD, then store them in an attic if you have one. Sounds like you'll never be financially compensated in a ratio equivalent to the passion you've put into collecting, but at the moment, its seems like having them on display would be a ball ache for you.

 

[Queen Michael]

Keep them. Keep them, keep them, keep them. Owning them is much better than any alternative. You don't keep them until the rental shop wants them back. Or until Netflix removes them. Or until your connection's down. Or until there's copyright trouble. You keep them, period.

 

[Signa]

I have a rather large collection of SNES games, and I could not see selling them, even if I could get a few hundred or thousand for them. I'd go homeless and stash them at a friend's place in hopes I'd get on my feet again so I could have them back if it came down to it.

Granted, you probably don't have the same attachment to your DVDs as I do my SNES, but the same principles apply. As much work as it might have been getting it the first time, it's just going to be far harder the second time. You will come to a point where you will regret losing them, even if it's just sharing them with someone else in the future.

 

[prowll]

So, let me let you in on my similar story.

Remember Magic? I was big into Magic when it first came out. Got a TON of cards. Eventually stopped playing, and had 'adult' things to spend my money on. I ended up selling my entire collection to a pawn shop for 600$. A lot of money, I thought, at the time.

Had I kept those cards, I had SINGLE CARDS worth more than that. I had a Mox Jet, first edition, I don't want to THINK what that's worth now. Black Lotus, Shivan Dragon, Nightmare... Yeah. Had em all.

Keep em. They'll probably end up being worth way more in a few years.