h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ah, if only we could get more anime here in the U.S.!!! As is, if we want to see the really good anime, (subtitled of course) we have to buy tapes or DVDs at $20 a pop for 2 or 3 episodes. (Either that or watch the watered down, badly-voiced over "Tsunami" on the Cartoon Network. Don't get me wrong, I'll take any anime I can get! Cowboy Bebop is a blessing and the occasional Sailor Moon and Tenchi Muyo episodes are great for a laugh. However, I've seen enough of the various Dragon Balls, the Gundam Wings, etc. to choke an elephant!)

A friend of mine has a suped-up computer and can download and burn entire OAVs in days... Any tips on how an American Otaku can get her hands on some good anime without breaking the bank on tapes or computer equipment?

-Lucrecia

Ok...my tips would be...

Try looking in your library. You should be able to order DVDs and videos from other libraries in the library network. Go to the library computer catalogue and look for "anime" "manga" or something similar to that and you should find something. I never thought I would be able to find any anime in my library but I was shocked when I found there was lots of SUBTITLED anime that I could get. Sometimes you have to wait a week or 2 for other libraries to send DVDs to you however. I found subbed tapes/DVDs (I never watch dub-yuckyuckyuck) of Tenchi Muyo, MKR, Slayers and lots of others!

Another thing you can do is check a video rental place-they sometimes have anime there.

You can grab some subtitled anime from Amazon or Ebay.

You can download fansubs on the web easily. The picture quality is often really bad but it's better than nothing. If you have dialup it can take several hours. Try using CuteFTP or something and setting it up to download a couple files overnight. You can also setup CuteFTP to automatically log off the internet and shutdown your computer when your done. Your biggest problem is getting disconected in the middle of downloading. You could also use one of those free but annoying download programs that let you resume your download if you get disconnected. If you have a broadband connection then fansub downloads will only take about an hour to download for a 30min episode-but every file varies. You can look for one of those downloadable programs that claim to boost your download speed-I've never used one so I don't know it they work or not.

And if none of this works-you can resort to begging your friend to burning some episodes she/he downloaded onto a CD-R so you can view them on your computer.

Thanks for the tips! I'll be sure to check out the library, but my local video store got rid of all its anime when a parent complained about "leud cartoons" (but the still have tons of South Park tapes... go figure) and good luck getting my mom to let me download anymore stuff on this computer! It's new and my mom want it to be a typewriter/research machine *only*! (Good thing I played up the whole "Researcher" aspect of H2G2!!

-Lucrecia

WHY SUBTITLED??!!

WHEN YOU WATCH SUBTITLED MOVIES YOU'RE WATCHING THE SUBTITLES AND NOT THE MOVIE!!!!

DUBBED ALWAYS WORKS IF YOU'RE NOT ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO WATCH THE MOUTHS MOVING, WITH FRUSTRATION...

OF COURSE ANIME USUALLY JUST HAS A MOUTH MOVING UP AND DOWN...UNLESS IT'S 'AKIRA' WHERE THE MOUTHS MOVE PERFECT (FOR THE JAPANESE)...

BUT THEN, YOU HAVE TO GET PAST THE MOST BIZARRE PLOTS EVER...

Why all the caps? I have the entire Outlaw Star series and the entire Evangellion series. They cost about 120$ each but you get 18 hours of anime! Oh and I hope you have seen Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust it's the best!!!

your local bookstore should carry some anime featured magazines. another idea would be to brave the humiliation of resorting to actually entering the dreaded COMIC BOOK SHOP. gives me the willies just thinkin about it.