Expensive Anime & Manga Topic: Arm Yourself With Knowledge! [Archive]

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wingzrow

01-13-2012, 10:54 AM

So I made this topic in the hopes that we can learn from each other about what anime DVDs are worth a lot or just plain rare.

I just picked up some Sailor Moon DVDs and was surprised how much they went for.

Aside from Sailor Moon, and cardcaptor sakura, does anyone know other series that we should keep an eye out for that might be expensive?

Manga can be really expensive too, especially since Viz never seems to reprint anything they make.

Kyle15

01-13-2012, 11:54 AM

The uncut Sailor Moon sets are the most expensive things I know of. Utena's old discs used to be something, but they're not moving anymore on account of the remastered sets from last year. As far as manga goes, Please Save My Earth is a hard to find series. I'm not sure if it is expensive though.

RCM

01-13-2012, 12:36 PM

Kitsune Sniper

01-13-2012, 12:49 PM

I can't think of any examples of super-rare anime, although some of it is still expensive. However, I've also noticed many anime DVDs i've been interested in are selling new for extremely cheap prices.That's because of several reasons.

For starters, the market is not what it was a few years ago. People just don't want to buy a DVD disc with two or three episodes of a TV show that contains no extras whatsoever. Then we have the gift sets which come out just after a series is completed, which usually go for less than half of the price of the single DVDs.

And THEN we have companies like Bandai who insist on selling stuff at ridiculous prices even though almost nobody will buy them at that price.

I've seen a lot of anime show up on dollar stores and Big!Lots over the years.

Services like Netflix or other -legal- ways of streaming content are also biting into the retail market. Not everyone will want to buy the discs, most people only watch the movies once and store them away...

theclaw

01-13-2012, 01:06 PM

Last I recall, later Maison Ikkoku box sets are expensive. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the Urusei Yatsura ones are too. But those so rarely appear for sale at any price it'd be difficult to track.

Finding certain anime probably gets even worse if you go further into obscurity with lasersdisc or imported sets.

Gameguy

01-13-2012, 02:46 PM

When They Cry is an expensive anime set, not as expensive as Cardcaptor Sakura or Sailor Moon but it still goes for a good amount. It didn't sell well when it came out and the company that produced the set said they have no interest in ever reprinting it as it sold so poorly. Now the fans of the show are willing to spend a good amount to get the set. There's a parody series on youtube that's pretty funny, it pretty much touches on all the stupid parts of the anime(there's a reason why it didn't sell well originally).

I have to look up more of these, I looked up several lists of expensive anime a few months ago but I forget most of them. There's several sets I would want to get but I would have to sign up with various sites to order them and deal with shipping costs and duty for having them imported from the US. I'm hoping to just find them in person or get them used from another collector instead of a business.

InsaneDavid

01-13-2012, 06:02 PM

Sailor Moon on DVD has been on the rise in value for years. Actually it's leveled off quite a bit and if buyers have some patience you can find the first and second season ADV boxsets for $100 - $120 a pop. S and SuperS value is all over the place since there were so many different releases (Pioneer first run, Geneon second release, thinpak box set) but again, cheap ones slip through. The ADV dub DVD's of the first two seasons also have surprising value, especially if you have them all together. If Funimation or another distributor is able to pick up the anime for re-release in America then the older DVD sets will dissolve in value like the old manga (see below). Personally I don't think this is an "if" but instead a "when" - it'll happen, there's too much money to be made. The ADV releases had too many problems anyway, were cheaply mastered, are missing an episode, etc. - typical ADV BS. The Pioneer releases on the other hand were very nice, although it would have been nice for the specials to have been included. This is another reason why one company should come in and start over, do everything, and keep it uniform.

The original Sailor Moon English manga is beginning to, will soon, or already has taken a tail dive in value with the current re-release which, while not perfect, is far better than the Mixx / Tokyopop attempt from over ten years ago. That's not to say it wasn't fine back when it was all there was. An example is a few years ago I sold my duplicate set (I had sold my "read / scan" set years before) of all the book sized Sailor Moon English manga for $450 inside of like three hours as a buy it now on eBay.

As for other Sailor Moon stuff, it's strange. Interest is coming back world wide. Things that for years had high value are slipping fast as the manga. Meanwhile things that were dirt cheap for years and years are bumping up in value really fast.

For other DVD's that pull in money right now I'd say the AnimEigo release of The Super Dimension Fortress Macross. Galaxy Express 999 used to be worth a lot on VHS but it was (FINALLY) released on DVD in the US last year. The most money I've ever spent on an anime DVD was a deluxe Japanese release of Robot Carnival but it never comes up. For expensive manga, the fifth volume of Revolutionary Girl Utena seems to cost crazy cash.

As a side note, if you pick up any other Sailor Moon items, I may be interested in them. I'll offer you a fair price. And remember there are a crap and a half of Sailor Moon bootleg DVD's out there which have very little value, contrary to what eBay may tell you. Once you know what you're looking at it's easy to tell what's authentic, which release, etc.

Kitsune Sniper

01-13-2012, 07:05 PM

As a side note, if you pick up any other Sailor Moon items, I may be interested in them. I'll offer you a fair price. And remember there are a crap and a half of Sailor Moon bootleg DVD's out there which have very little value, contrary to what eBay may tell you. Once you know what you're looking at it's easy to tell what's authentic, which release, etc.

I still have those Sailor Moon Spanish translated comics from Mexico... :p

ownerizer

01-13-2012, 07:22 PM

I'm not nearly into the Anime scene as much as I was 5 years ago, (read: single and loving it), but I'm glad the market still has some strength somewhere. Everytime I pick up some anime or manga out in the wild, I pick it up and send it to my sister, who is very much still into it. I've mostly been watching fansubs and stuff but haven't really gotten into anything new, because, well, there's nothing new that really tickles my fancy, so to speak.

I would love to find a CCS DVD box set, but that series is close to 93048239043824 episodes long and from the sounds of things, really expensive.

pseudonym

01-13-2012, 08:03 PM

Nothing much to add, the first issue of Akira on Blu Ray (the one with the black slipcase) has been selling for $50+ for the past 3-4 months.

Gameguy

01-13-2012, 08:13 PM

I would love to find a CCS DVD box set, but that series is close to 93048239043824 episodes long and from the sounds of things, really expensive.
By CCS you mean Cardcaptor Sakura? The 70 episode series was released on either 18 individual volumes or on 2 separate box sets. There was no legit complete series box set. One site compared the official R1 release with the official Japanese release and found that there were some slight problems with it. The picture was very slightly cropped and the colours are very slightly off too(black looks dark purple), not that bad but I wouldn't pay $300+ for a set unless it was perfect. There's also 2 movies with the second one being the end to the TV series.

I found a list of rare anime DVDs.
http://blog.pricecharting.com/2011/10/most-expensive-rare-anime-dvds.html

SEGA_Queen

01-13-2012, 08:30 PM

I found a list of rare anime DVDs.
http://blog.pricecharting.com/2011/10/most-expensive-rare-anime-dvds.html

I just read the list out of curiosity. I was quite surprised to find out that there are Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon sets that are worth money.

Hmm, I wonder if the uncut single Yu-Gi-Oh DVDs are worth anything? They didn't sell very well, so 4kids/Funimation canned the uncut releases after 3 volumes.

Gameguy

01-13-2012, 08:57 PM

RCM

01-13-2012, 11:01 PM

That's because of several reasons.

For starters, the market is not what it was a few years ago. People just don't want to buy a DVD disc with two or three episodes of a TV show that contains no extras whatsoever. Then we have the gift sets which come out just after a series is completed, which usually go for less than half of the price of the single DVDs.

And THEN we have companies like Bandai who insist on selling stuff at ridiculous prices even though almost nobody will buy them at that price.

I've seen a lot of anime show up on dollar stores and Big!Lots over the years.

Services like Netflix or other -legal- ways of streaming content are also biting into the retail market. Not everyone will want to buy the discs, most people only watch the movies once and store them away...

Oh yeah, I'm fully aware the market isn't what it used to be. I briefly worked in the US "anime industry" at Central Park Media maybe 8-9 years ago. Even then you could see where things were going. As you mentioned, services like Netflix have killed demand along with the general cooling of DVD sales. But I don't mind, I picked up several City Hunter DVDs recently from Amazon new for like $2 a piece!

@GameGuy, while I don't really collect anime in general, I did "rip" all my VHS anime tapes to DVD before I got rid of them simply 'cause I preferred the original English dubs. Akira is a great example of this. I'm actually in the process of tracking down the Pioneer Dragon Ball Z DVDs since I'm a huge fan of that voice cast. Sure, the show may have been edited and other liberties may have been taken, but those voices perfectly fit the characters.

Kitsune Sniper

01-13-2012, 11:03 PM

@GameGuy, while I don't really collect anime in general, I did "rip" all my VHS anime tapes to DVD before I got rid of them simply 'cause I preferred the original English dubs. Akira is a great example of this. I'm actually in the process of tracking down the Pioneer Dragon Ball Z DVDs since I'm a huge fan of that voice cast. Sure, the show may have been edited and other liberties may have been taken, but those voices perfectly fit the characters.

Didn't the DVD special edition of Akira include the original Streamliine dub as an extra track? I remember that being a huge selling point and it was mentioned in every ad I saw for it.

Gameguy

01-14-2012, 12:33 AM

Didn't the DVD special edition of Akira include the original Streamliine dub as an extra track? I remember that being a huge selling point and it was mentioned in every ad I saw for it.
Wasn't that only in other PAL regions? I don't think that came out in North America. The big advertising I remember with the DVDs was a new more accurate dub being included instead of the previous old one. Maybe I'm wrong, the DVD version I have isn't the special edition and I haven't even watched it yet. I just don't remember seeing any mention of the Streamline dub mentioned anywhere on the DVD packaging.

Just remembered a few more sets that seem to be in demand. The Sonic X season sets seem to be selling for a really good amount now. Plus Sherlock Hound sells for a good amount, not all of the volumes are worth much but most of them are. I wish I could find Sherlock Hound in person, it's long out of print. Another one is the Kimba The White Lion box set, it's another DVD set I want to get at some point.

RCM

01-14-2012, 01:48 AM

I have the Akira two disc special edition DVD and it does not contain the original English dub, I believe. I remember the pr for that going out of their way to tell us the then-new dub was so much better and true to the script. Bah, I'd take the original any day.

I'd also take an English dub of the five star stories, please.

neojapan

01-14-2012, 06:33 AM

I Still have a Full set of the uncut Card Captor Sakura Sealed I bought years ago, i think its valued at $300, tried to sell on ebay when it was worth 200 tho and then it rose up in price, dunno how much its worth now.

Kitsune Sniper

01-14-2012, 11:02 AM

Wasn't that only in other PAL regions? I don't think that came out in North America. The big advertising I remember with the DVDs was a new more accurate dub being included instead of the previous old one. Maybe I'm wrong, the DVD version I have isn't the special edition and I haven't even watched it yet. I just don't remember seeing any mention of the Streamline dub mentioned anywhere on the DVD packaging.

That REALLY sucks. I was hoping the original dub would be in because it was one of the first real English dubs I heard that wasn't completely awful. :(

Gameguy

01-14-2012, 11:11 AM

That REALLY sucks. I was hoping the original dub would be in because it was one of the first real English dubs I heard that wasn't completely awful. :(
From what I could look up that was only released in Australia in PAL format. From what I could see online, it seems people ripped that audio dub, streched it by 4% and synced it up with the NTSC DVD video which is now floating around various sites to download.

It's weird but there was another mention on Wikipedia of another 2 disc DVD release that has this dub but there was no mention of where that was released and I can't find any mention of that anywhere else online. If this actually was released in North America I can't imagine why people would have gone through the trouble of altering the audio from the PAL release instead of just ripping this other NTSC version.

RCM

01-14-2012, 11:18 AM

From what I could look up that was only released in Australia in PAL format. From what I could see online, it seems people ripped that audio dub, streched it by 4% and synced it up with the NTSC DVD video which is now floating around various sites to download.

It's weird but there was another mention on Wikipedia of another 2 disc DVD release that has this dub but there was no mention of where that was released and I can't find any mention of that anywhere else online. If this actually was released in North America I can't imagine why people would have gone through the trouble of altering the audio from the PAL release instead of just ripping this other NTSC version.

Isn't there a Blu-Ray version? Maybe they included it with the HD release.

Gameguy

01-14-2012, 12:02 PM

Isn't there a Blu-Ray version? Maybe they included it with the HD release.
Not in North America from the reviews of it that I can find, but you did help answer which other 2 disc set contains the dub. It seems that a limited Australian version on Blu-Ray came bundled with the DVD version too and this is the set that also contains the Streamline dub, though it's still only the DVD that contains the dub and not the Blu-Ray.

Blanka789

01-14-2012, 03:21 PM

Oh there's lots more rare/valuable anime DVD sets out there than what I posted above.
http://movies.pricecharting.com/console/dvd?genre=anime&sort-by=highest-price

Does anyone collect older VHS releases of anime just to get earlier dubs that aren't available on DVD? I have My Neighbor Totoro on VHS to have the Fox dub(it is on DVD but I haven't found it yet) and a widescreen version of Akira on VHS with the Streamline dub. I have other anime films on VHS but those are mostly because they were much cheaper than the DVDs. It's kind of cool having anime in the original format that they were first made available, mostly with the late 80's or early 90's stuff.

Yup, I definitely do this. My most well-known is probably my copy of Warriors of the Wind (Nausicaa), but my favorites are all of the various Dragon Ball dubs I collect. There are VHS< VCD, and DVD releases of many different DB and DBZ dubs, so it's a fun one to collect for.

As for rare anime. buy the DragonBall Z Dragon Boxes while you can. Some of them are starting to consistently sell upwards of $200. They were all limited edition, so buy now before it's too late!

The 1 2 P

01-15-2012, 04:47 PM

Back when I was much more strongly into anime and use to go to conventions such as Otakon and Katsucon ALL anime dvds were expensive. I always wondered how people could pay around $30 for a few episodes. Today I pretty much only buy box sets of entire seasons or vhs tapes from Goodwill if I just want to watch a series for cheap. And although I knew there was demand for Sailor Moon stuff I didn't know it goes for as much as some of it does.

xelement5x

01-17-2012, 05:36 PM

Interesting thread, I've got some of the stuff listed in this thread but the interesting one to me is the 6 disc version of Fate/Stay Night. I picked that up near me for $10 in immaculate condition, apparently it's worth like $100!

Tokimemofan

01-17-2012, 11:35 PM

Ebay prices for Familiar of Zero and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha run from $90 to a few hundred per set. Many other Geneon transition period (ie: most 2008 releases) releases seem unusually pricy.
Sailor Moon is not unexpected, one of the most popular titles ever with low print run uncut sets for 2 seasons and limited marketing for late releases.

NessFreaK

01-18-2012, 09:58 AM

a couple obvious things not mentioned that come to mind are the cowboy bebop perfect and escaflowne perfect collections.

I and a lot of other anime collectors much prefer to have a collection of the singles than a 'complete season' type set, which is weird and expensive. This, combined with the fact that some manufacturers released 'greatest hits' type releases drives the prices up for the original prints of the single dvds.

Beyond those, a lot of the original print geneon stuff is up there (chobits is the first one to come to mind). Although the reprints are hurting the sales of those as well. Geneon always had a history of releasing their seires' as collections of single volumes, with high price tags. Certainly never helped keep them in buisness.

Another big one that is often overlooked is the later volumes of aura battler dunbine. A complete set can go for several hundred (~600) with the last couple volumes being a couple hundred a piece.

Similar to dunbine is the original print of gatchaman and city hunter a complete set of singles will be several hundred dollars retail.

the Ronin Warriors complete collection is quite expensive as well.

Some of the old bandai singles are worth quite a lot as well (the original dub releases of first gundam and other gundam series), although these are more rare than particularly valuable.

xelement5x

01-18-2012, 01:19 PM

I and a lot of other anime collectors much prefer to have a collection of the singles than a 'complete season' type set, which is weird and expensive. This, combined with the fact that some manufacturers released 'greatest hits' type releases drives the prices up for the original prints of the single dvds.

I'm the same way, I love getting singles, especially those from Geneon, since you normally get nice pack ins and a better looking product. My local media store tends to get in a lot of the singles in and I can pick them up for $2-3 a pop ;) The problem with that though is I wind up hurting for space in my media cabinet, so then I just pull out the DVDs and put them in a 6 DVD case anyway.

mobiusclimber

01-18-2012, 02:56 PM

I'm the same way, I love getting singles, especially those from Geneon, since you normally get nice pack ins and a better looking product. My local media store tends to get in a lot of the singles in and I can pick them up for $2-3 a pop ;) The problem with that though is I wind up hurting for space in my media cabinet, so then I just pull out the DVDs and put them in a 6 DVD case anyway.

These are likely not worth much, but I've been hunting the original release of serial experiments lain because they originally came with a sticker sheet (and no ugly red border on top of the box).

JohntheGameCollector

01-18-2012, 03:22 PM

I just bought a sealed complete series Gunslinger Girl anime for 40 bucks!

RCM

01-19-2012, 10:02 AM

Does anyone have a current list of Blu-Ray anime releases along with upcoming releases?

wingzrow

01-19-2012, 11:05 AM

Blueray anime isn't as marketed in america as japan.

Japan has blurays of mushishi and Mononoke for example that would never see american release so it's really confusing to tell. All these torrent trackers have these bluray releases but they never specify what region.

Genesaturn

01-19-2012, 11:18 AM

I have the first season of D.Gray Man on Bluray...if you go to Blu-ray.com you will find a lot of anime on there.

The main reason Geneon stuff isn't worth much...and also I believe what lead to them dropping from the american market...is look at how many releases they had...it wasn't about quality as much as it was quantity. While they do have plenty of awesome series they released here..its also mixed in with many less than stellar series and horrid dubbing. Personally...I'm a purist and only watch my anime in subtitles, but plenty of people I know don't like to have to read...so sometimes I suffer through dubbing with them.

xelement5x

01-19-2012, 04:27 PM

These are likely not worth much, but I've been hunting the original release of serial experiments lain because they originally came with a sticker sheet (and no ugly red border on top of the box).

It really varies from time to time. I got that 6 disc Geneon release of Fate/Stay for $10 from there, and apparently it's worth $100, Ergo Proxy box w/singles and all the pencilboards for about $20, same with Ikki Tousen (all the extras) for about $10. I've had a couple that I probably overpaid for too, but I'm not really into buying anime to resell, just watch and keep.

SpaceFlea

01-19-2012, 05:01 PM

the Ronin Warriors complete collection is quite expensive as well.

This.

A full Ronin Warriors collection will set you back about $700. Unless you are extremely patient.

TheRedKnight

01-31-2012, 09:20 AM

I can't find any copies of this on eBay, so I'll ask here. How much is Four Shojo Stories by Viz worth?

wingzrow

01-31-2012, 03:12 PM

I can't find any copies of this on eBay, so I'll ask here. How much is Four Shojo Stories by Viz worth?

$33.00 bare minimum according to amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1569310556/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used

wingzrow

03-26-2012, 07:37 PM

Gameguy

03-26-2012, 07:55 PM

So I recently found a flea market vendor that has a ton, and i mean a TON of Viz's Comic book type manga from the 90s, back when they mirrored the pages and released them in comic book format for $1.00 a piece.

Are any of those worth anything? Series I remember seeing were ranma 1/2, space adventure cobra, and nausicaa.
Not really.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&hash=item35baabdb80&item=230765091712&nma=true&pt=US_Comics_Manga&rt=nc&si=VH2mKKzOzoeo4MBPRG8LhQr7K%252BY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&hash=item4ab4d6bbbd&item=320861551549&nma=true&pt=US_Comics_Manga&rt=nc&si=VH2mKKzOzoeo4MBPRG8LhQr7K%252BY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

$1 is a good price if you wanted to keep them, but they're still not worth much if you wanted to sell them. I would have bought the Nausicaa ones but I'd want to keep them, only if I could have got the whole set. I remember passing on copies of Gunhed at a local thrift for $1 each as they're also not worth much. I can't find examples of Space Adventure Cobra so maybe it's worth something, but I kind of doubt it.

InsaneDavid

03-26-2012, 08:21 PM