Vegeta, what does the Scouter say about how many episodes it has?

Sorry, still don’t have the money to get new stuff to review. I may dig into my archives, but I don’t have any really recent stuff. I’m currently pretty addicted to Chibi Vampire, but they took that off of OneManga… >_> meanies at Tokyopop.

So, instead of writing about the fine details of what I’m reading (don’t feel like that yet, I want that to be GOOD) I’m going to rant about something that bothers me about anime. Going way too far. Some series just don’t know when to quit, and by the time they DO quit, their core fan base has already lost interest. It drives me mad how so many anime do this. Although it may seem like a smart business move to keep going as long as it makes money, it ruins a show’s memorability if it stays beyond its welcome. For example, Pokemon. That’s been going on for as long as the energizer bunny. And it keeps going and going and going and going…..

Seriously, I prefer to think of a series as “dude, that was awesome, I want more” than “meh, it was going downhill since the third season.” Case in point: I always talk about how freaking awesome the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzimiya is, and that was only fourteen episodes… of AWESOME! If a series leaves a lasting impression on you, you don’t need to make it last forever. Also, if you need more episodes, don’t put in 100+ filler… just go on hiatus for crying out loud! Build some hype!

Be a Man, Read Shoujo

Let’s get down to business…you’re a sad pathetic lot, and you haven’t’ got a clue…

-Li Shang, Mulan.

In today’s society, men hang on to being a man just for the sake of it. This is however, quite pointless, as in this day and age, the traits we associate with “manliness” are quite worthless. So why do we hang onto them? I believe the reason is that most men are under the impression that their reproductive organs will shrink off and disappear if they perform an act they consider “unmanly” Pitiful, really.

However, I think it takes a high degree of manliness to read Shoujo comics. True, the term pretty much translates to “girl’s comics,” however, that should not stop anybody. A true man cannot be brought down, and would be invulnerable to the damage it would cause lesser men. Many will run in an attempt to preserve their manliness, however, I find it much more effective to plow right through them, and assimilate all of the wonderful, uber-cute goodness. Why, the only reason I’m writing this is because I ran out of shoujo to read. Trust me, you’ll still be a man afterwards. Actually, you’ll have proven yourself to be more of a man. Really, what better way to prove your manliness than to retain it through a great amount of girliness?

But wait, before you go delve into the uber-cute world of shoujo, please understand that there is more to it than proving youre manliness. Indeed, it is more important that you ENJOY this. Ah yes, the important part, and the main reason we read manga. So how do you enjoy this? Well, you start slowly…. You can’t just dive into the most cutesy shoujo first! You have to build up your defenses, acquire taste. A great place to start would be Vampire Knight, a story about a school… that is hiding a den of Vampires. Because, as we all know, everything is better with vampires, and shoujo is no exception. Then you can work you’re way in, and try some less masculine stuff. Eventually, you’ll be reading through Fruits Basket and everything Shoujo Beat puts out like it’s nothing. And you’ll still be a man. I do this, and I’m still capable of weight lifting and other manly activities. Also, I still enjoy manly stuff like GTO and Claymore. You’ll have an entire new terrain to explore, and you may even enjoy it!

In conclusion, if you want to prove that you’re a real man, go pick up some Shoujo.

Dude, you're paying too much for anime

I’m sure we’ve all noticed how overpriced anime seems. But what can you do about it? PLENTY! You see, the prices are only like this because this model of sales is working. And that’s the beauty of democracy. If the people do not like something, they can change it. However, all of the people have to band together to change it.

People wonder where I got my freaking MASSIVE anime/manga collection. This is there for two reasons. One, because I used to be a retailer, and got massive discounts. The other is because I am resourceful. Even before I was a retailer, I KNEW where to get the best prices. And that’s what I am going to share today. How YOU can get the right prices for your anime/manga.

Stall Tactics: One of my personal favorites. To do this, I go to RightStuf and look at their sales. And I only buy stuff that is on sale. Thanks to my membership, I get an additional 10% off, plus their 30-40% off sale price. One week, Tokyopop’s stuff is on sale. So I ONLY buy Tokyopop’s stuff. I got like, 8 books for 55$ That’d cost you about 88$ at Borders normally, thanks to tax. With that 33$, you could buy MORE MANGA! You can even do this at Borders if you’d like. Just buy tons of Manga when their stuff is discounted. Often Borders does buy 4 get one free sales. So, instead of going berserk every week, try saving your money, and going berserk once per month or so. You’ll be amazed at how much stuff you’ll get. This leads me to my next tactic, often used in conjunction with this one.

MASSIVE COMBOS: Y’know when you play an RPG, how effective it is when you stack status effects on your opponents? Like in Pokemon, if you use Toxic and then Confuse Ray? This concept also applies to real life. For example, when I’m shopping at Rightstuff, I’ll only buy things that are discounted, and then use my membership to get an extra 10% off. However, I also get free shipping when I buy 50$ or more…. So I always do that! It’s awesome, and you should be doing it too. Another example is, when Borders holds a buy 4 get 1 free sale, that’s when I go in with my stack of coupons. I once got two volumes of Death note for six dollars! What does this tell us? Don’t just use one discount source; pull as many as you can together.

You don’t need a PhD in Economics to pull this off. Heck, you can do this with money you made mowing the lawn, if that’s your thing. However, if all you do is go berserk on the manga section, you’ll never get all the manga you want. Stay back, and plan a massive combo, and watch as you get all the manga you want. I do it, you should do it, and if we al did it, we could increase demand for anime/manga, and force the prices down a bit. Hey, I don’t want “too expensive” to be a valid excuse for ANYBODY!

Related articles:
Obtaining  anime for good prices (legally)
Obtaining anime cheap and legal Part II
Anime Companies are a bunch of Whiners (I'm looking at you Bang! Zoom)