Anime VHS/dvd memories

[Vetusomaru]

While I don't have nostalgia for VHS/dvd format, I still have fond memories of them. Thanks to VHS/dvds from video rental stores I've watched many great anime as a kid/teen that weren't aired at tv, way before fast cheap internet connections became a thing.

 

[stonehead]

Honestly, with the way streaming services are going, I've been legitimately considering just getting a wall full of DVDs. I really hate the idea of signing up for a streaming site to watch a show, only for them to remove that show, leaving me unable to watch it. Actual ownership seems so much more convenient now.

A physical media collection is just a very daunting thing to start.

 

[lain is here]

View: https://youtu.be/aA0RhJAda2M

I used to watch Pokemon The First Movie almost daily after coming home from Pre-School. My Godmother gifted my family a lot of Pokemon VHS tapes when I was really young since her son was really into Pokemon but had recently grown out of it. So quite literally I watched Pokemon on VHS since the I was at least 3 years old. Even though I grew up playing Gen 3, I've always felt really nostalgic for the Gen 1 and 2 Pokemon.

 

[Vetusomaru]

Honestly, with the way streaming services are going, I've been legitimately considering just getting a wall full of DVDs. I really hate the idea of signing up for a streaming site to watch a show, only for them to remove that show, leaving me unable to watch it. Actual ownership seems so much more convenient now.

A physical media collection is just a very daunting thing to start.

Torrents and downloads also exist so you can have them at your computer's hard disk forever and play them at any device of your choice by just copy-pasting the video files at other devices without needing to connect at internet and shit.

 

[Jessica3cho雪血⊜青意]

Oh man, I love VHS and DVD so much. It has to just be a 'brain sees nostalgia, shoots dopamine' thing, but the imperfect quality of those formats is just an absolute favorite aesthetic of mine.

In a tjread I started, I talked about how the experience of watching older anime on an HD CRT just hit way different. I recently started burning my anime collection to disc and watching it on my modded Xbox classic and its just the most comfy experience.

A local shop opened that sells VHS and I fully support buying physical media. I think relying in digital services will leave everyone disappointed in the end. Then again, I am a data hoarder.

 

[SolidStateSurvivor]

Honestly, with the way streaming services are going, I've been legitimately considering just getting a wall full of DVDs. I really hate the idea of signing up for a streaming site to watch a show, only for them to remove that show, leaving me unable to watch it. Actual ownership seems so much more convenient now.

A physical media collection is just a very daunting thing to start.

Goodwill/thrift stores are your best friend, no shortage of cheap physical media. Although anime stuff is hard to come by there admittedly, did manage to score the complete series of Ghost Stories years ago.
Best to grab what you can given the trends of censoring on these streaming platforms too.

 

[stonehead]

Goodwill/thrift stores are your best friend, no shortage of cheap physical media. Although anime stuff is hard to come by there admittedly, did manage to score the complete series of Ghost Stories years ago.
Best to grab what you can given the trends of censoring on these streaming platforms too.

Oh man, what a find. That dub is legendary.

There's a Salvation Army real close to where I live that I've bought some clothes and furniture at, but I never saw any physical media. Maybe I'll look into whether or not there are any other thrift stores near me. It might be a good way to break the massive choice paralysis of not being able to decide what to watch when you have essentially everything at your disposal.

 

[Major_Machismo]

Here are my memories. Niche OVAs were relatively difficult to come by. Suncoast Video was about the only store I recall carrying them with any significant selection. Otherwise, you'd have to get lucky at a comic or specialty shop. They were also expensive. Typically sealed in large security devices to prevent theft.

But... Blockbuster video usually had a small Anime section with decent selection of more popular OVAs. Titles like Devil Man, Akira, Ninja Scroll, etc. Soooo... What did people do? Rip them onto blank tapes or just rent as many as they could and never return them. It wasn't uncommon to see Anime fans with tons of generic Blockbuster branded VHS cases in their collection or handwritten blanks.

Additionally, "Anime" was a pretty seldom used term. Most people called it "Japanimation". Take that for whatever it's worth.

 

[DOOM95.EXE]

There was this card/tabletop shop right outside of NYC that I used to frequent in the 90's & early 2000's. They sold bootleg hard subbed copies of Dragon Ball Z and other anime (Japanimation) tapes on VHS a couple years before it started airing on Cartoon Network. I have good memories of my best friend running into class and telling all the other guys that he got a copy of a cartoon that had the characters saying FUCK and lots of nudity in it. This was unreal if you were in 5th grade at the time. We all gathered at his house and sure enough he was telling the truth. Never really got into anime after that but a funny anecdote anyway.

 

[Deadchief1175]

I only have all of Neon Genesis Evangelion on VHS because when i was 12, 13, I would go to a used dvd and game store. I had no money so i unfortunately stole most of the series until I got enough to buy the rest. Cherish and love those VHS's and will never forget watching them in my tiny room in my mobile home when I grew up. Shame most people, let alone kids dont get this today, Really something about physically going and buying something and having to wait for it that makes it special. Now you have streaming services yes, but I'll never forget watching the same tape for like 2 weeks before I could go again.

 

[Vetusomaru]

Best to grab what you can given the trends of censoring on these streaming platforms too.

One more reason I'm into torrents since you can find older, uncensored versions of classic tv series and movies

 

[Vetusomaru]

I only have all of Neon Genesis Evangelion on VHS because when i was 12, 13, I would go to a used dvd and game store. I had no money so i unfortunately stole most of the series until I got enough to buy the rest.

With the camera we had at home we could copy any VHS cassette we rent/borrowed. Also I was often recording lots of tv shows and movies that aired on tv. Then when I finally bought a PC with dvd recorder I could copy dvds until I later got faster internet connection to finally torrent any movie/show I wanted.

Also thumbs up for your avatar. I love Chibi Vampire.

 

[Rikstah]

As a young kid with a teen older brother in the 90s in Sydney there was only one place to get animes on VHS as far as we knew, which was in a store right in the CBD called Cartoon Gallery.
The rare occasion that we had enough money to buy one we'd catch a train into the city.
We've had the Street Fighter animated movie, Ninja scroll, and Macross plus on VHS.
Later on we got some anime dvds but by that time it was getting alot more common to see anime in other stores, buying online or on torrents.

 

[MantisOrientalis]

I remember thinking that VHS rewinding was hysterical when I was a kid. I would rewind just to watch the characters on screen move fast and backwards and I would watch the whole thing and just laugh. Kind of like a primitive YTP