I’ve been meaning to follow the examples of Adun and Stripey in consolidating my anime-related expenditure for 2007 (mainly for my own budgeting records and planning) but accounting for the August Japan trip has made it rather complicated. Have finally decided to split things up by product category; coincidentally-on purpose, DVD purchases were the easiest to compile since I didn’t buy any DVDs in Japan.
[Added: Total expenditure updated! I've decided to exclude the 'indirect' costs of the Japan trip such as air ticket, accommodation, food, travel to/fro Ariake etc. But with more pie charts! :P]
What surprised me most was how the expenditure was spread over quite a wide number of studios rather than concentrated on just the usual suspects. But it wasn’t at all surprising that, even with this diversity, one studio *coughGONZOcough* failed to be make me open up my wallet. Ahaha~~
Here’s the detailed breakdown by ‘motivation’ group and anime series:
Real Bargains
Angelic Layer DVD Box Set (Thinpak) USD 25.99 [ADV/BONES]
My-HiME DVD Bargain Bundle (1-7) USD 69.99 [Bandai Ent/Sunrise]
Please (Onegai) Twins DVD Complete Collection USD 25.19 [Bandai Ent/Doumu]
I Got Carried Away =_=;;
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya DVD 1-4 LE USD 136.16 [Kadokawa/KyoAni]
Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society GBP 14.99 [Manga Ent/DEEN]
Because I Was Feeling Nostalgic
801 TTS Airbats DVD (Hyb) USD 20.99 [ADV/Victor Ent]
Vision of Escaflowne GBP 49.98 [Bandai (UK)/Sunrise]
Paprika GBP 14.99 [Sony/Madhouse]
Full Geneon Panic!
Kamichu! USD 71.98 [Geneon/Brains Base]
Kannazuki No Miko USD 53.98 [Geneon/TNK]
Black Lagoon DVD 1-3 USD 56.66 [Geneon/Madhouse]
MariMite Season 1 and Haru R3s SGD 150 [Tw company/DEEN]
Expenditure by merchant:
RightStuf sold me USD 455.94 worth of goods (not including all the stuffs I bought on Stripey’s behalf too) with Got Anime! membership and P&H totalling a surprisingly significant proportion of costs at USD 116 (I try to console myself by pointing out that 1. it was still cheaper than buying in the UK after including P&H but also the Got Anime! 10% discount and the fantastic 30-40% sales prices; 2. quite a lot of the titles were not available in the UK anyway).
Forbidden Planet GBP 79.96
Singapore Chinatown R3 shop SGD 150
Total 2007 DVD Expenditure: USD 841.94 / SGD 1,212.85
[Updated hereon:]
Figure expenditure for 2007 amounted to SGD 718 / USD 520. Costs were significantly bumped up by (1) buying Alter Jo, MaxFac Ryoko and a second Alter Fate from secondary market (Ebay Jp) plus the air delivery P&H, (2) buying a second MaxFac Yuki during the Japan trip.
DVDs SGD 1,212 / USD 842
Figures SGD 718 / USD 520
OST SGD 653 / USD 473
Mostly bought during my Japan trip including Black Lagoon, Claymore, GITS: SAC 2nd Gig OST 3, Haruhi Chara CDs (Yuki, Ryoko), Lucky Star OP, Murder Princess, Nanoha OST, Sound Stages and Nana Mizuki MSLN singles, Noir OST 1-2, Paprika, Simoun OST 1-2; from Amazon.jp, L*S Kagamin chara song and Minorin’s Contact; from RightStuf, GITS: Innocence OST.
Doujin SGD 524 / USD 380
This is a guesstimate due to the way doujin are sold at Otakon on a cash-only basis and no price tags on the individual doujinshi. Was really hard to keep track except when the wallet ran out!
Manga SGD 288 / USD 209
Nanoha manga from Akiba, Hikaru no Go 1-23 and Lucky Star Vol.3-4 from good ole Kinokuniya Ngee Ann City and GITS: Human Error Process Issue 1-6 from Forbidden Planet.
Evil magazines SGD 95 / USD 70
Megami and Comp Hs.
Others SGD 314 / USD 228
T-shirts, C72 catalogs, plushie, Washinomiya souvenirs.
Total SGD 3,804 / USD 2,722
That’s a wrap, phew! Now to start tabulations for 2008. OTL
That certain is a lot of money spent on DVDs and CDs. Though I’m sure I’ll explode from all of that once I hit up the HMV in Shibuya.
DVD purchases picked up a lot for 2007. IIRC I basically just bought two series each in 2006 (GITS:SAC and 2nd Gig) and 2005 (Noir and Azumanga). That’s mainly due to the RightStuf effect which sold boxsets at deep discounts, somehow so much less painful than buying one miserable DVD a week at nearly twice the RightStuf price - the feeling of better VFM?
OST purchases were mainly ’second hand’ from the various ‘chuko’ Akiba or Nakano shops rather than the big mainstream retailers like Shibuya HMV. Again, these places offered big discounts (25-75%) that got me splurge on a whole bunch of stuff that I’ve wanted for a long time.
Great to see you taking stock of your damage (btw I already ID-ed the bank to rob when you return). XD
Although I have to say the breakdown by pie charts could be a tad misleading since the pie chart gives the impression a lot was invested into KyoAni when only 1 series was bought :P
And TSR is the way to go! :P Chinatown R3 can’t possibly compare with their 40% sales!
I’m a failure of an anime fan: I spent over six hundred dollars (SGD) this month on non-anime goods. (Mostly pen-and-paper gaming sourcebooks.)
Clearly I must go on an anime-related buying spree until the percentages look better.
Bro, re: KyoAni. Well, I’m sure they don’t care whether I bought one or more series as long as they managed to rake in more than their fair share of my wallet’s bounty. orz I still enjoy my Haruhi LE buys *post purchase justification* but I’m getting to wait patiently for the L*S boxset and skip the LEs.
And about banks, might be more worthwhile to set up a bank ourselves and sell Anime Derivative Options, threaten the stability of the whole financial sector and then get the US Federal Reserve to bail us out with taxpayers moolah. Hoo-hah! How’s that for a truly EVIL plan!!?
Glad that you’ve also come around to TSR’s VFM sales. Death to Xedo!
DKellis, may the Moyism be with you! :D