Guys – it’s Friday!!! Are you happy? I’m happy. Doubly happy cause there’s something special planned this week. Surprise!!!
A little while ago Sam over at a Nerdy Perspective put together a blog schedule which included Top 5s on Friday. That seemed like a natural fit for a collaboration. We threw out the idea a little while ago and Sam came up with this absolutely brilliant suggestion. A Top 5 anime merch post. We decided that we would each take pictures of our various collections and send them to each other. Then we would each create a post based on the other person’s pictures.
Sam got the short end of that stick on this one since I’m just the worst photographer that ever was. I should honestly let Buddy take the pictures from now on… On top of that, Montreal is a surprising wasteland when it comes to anime merch and very few online stores deliver here (at least without a ridiculous surcharge that makes me angry…), as a result I only started collecting merch roughly 8 months or so ago. I really can’t wait to see what Sam manages to do from the meager material I gave her. Good thing Sam can write!
Lucky for me, Sam provided me with some great pictures of her much more impressive collection. I’m very jealous! In somewhat random order we have:
5) ANIME
I sort of went by reverse order of popularity here…. I mean obviously anime fans collect anime but with streaming services so readily available, hard copies of shows are becoming more and more unusual to find, so it’s still pretty impressive that Sam has this many. I have a lot of random volume 1 of shows that I just picked up because they were cheap but this collection seems geared towards full serie of actually good shows. Even more impressive…
One thing I really want to point out here is that these seem to be in alphabetical order. My little OCD heart bursts with kinship.
Sam has a nice varied collection covering many genres. I wonder what M to Z has!
4) MANGA
Cough alphabetical, cough…
I notice that there are a lot of series Sam has in both anime and manga format. I tend to go the other way (except for my very favorites). It must be nice to be able to readily compare the two though. I have the same death note edition except vol 1 to 6 are in French and tiny! I’m not sure why the French versions take up so much less space!
There’s also a few art books thrown in there. I love anime art books. I don’t have this many. Going through art boos in physical version is a very different experience from seeing them online. As such, I really think these are especially worth getting your hands on. I wish I hadn’t missed out a few that you can’t find anymore.
3) FIGURES
Figures have got to be the biggest revelation for me. Without having anything against them, I never saw the appeal at all until I got my first one in a loot box. Now I can’t get enough. I’m pretty jealous of Sam’s collection.
Unlike the manga and anime, we finally see a clear trend towards the sexy lady type of figures with an apparent preference for Super Sonico. Although there are a few yummy boys in the mix, seems the ladies are dominating. Ain’t nuffin wrong with that!
Sidenote: I am a huge fan of nitroplus so seeing so much of their mascot warms my little heart. I particularly like the one seated with headphones on. She looks like she’s having fun and those are some nice details!
2) PINS
I happen to be lucky enough to have a whole home I can decorate in any way I like, yet I never know how to display pins. Somehow the thought of getting myself a corkboard and making a montage never even occurred to me… I know I know…not smart…
I really love how Sam’s collection looks in these pics. The Hyouka pins in particular look fantastic! Sam is pretty lucky we are long distance internet friends because there would be things missing from her place if I was ever invited over.
And then we have:
1) DOUJIN
Ok forget the pins this is what I would swipe. We all know I’m a fake fan right? Well I have never seen doujin in real life. This might in fact be the first time I even see physical Doujin (as opposed to digital). I can’t tell you what it is, but I’m completely fascinated. I wish Sam had send pics of the inner pages. This looks like a collection to be truly proud of.
I know that doujin occasionally seems to get lumped in with hentai. This is slightly unfair. Although there are certainly quite a number of racy and high quality doujin out there, they aren’t limited to the x-rated stuff. I have read truly lovely (occasionally heartbreaking) stories. Essentially, they’re often very high quality illustrated fanfiction. Who wouldn’t want to collect that? I want that!
You guys all know what doujin is. I’m not sure why I decided to go on a tangent there. I think my mind just short circuited at the sight of such loveliness.
***
I cheated a bit and talked to Sam about her collection. We were supposed to do this by ourselves. She says that some of her collection are local UK purchases, but a lot are directly from Japan, which probably explains the range and quality of this collection.
There’s something about physical representations of our favorite stories that makes us feel closer to them. That brings us a little bit of those wonderful universes to keep. I’m writing this on my lunch hour and I see Kouro Sensei and the fine lads from the Armed Detective Agency all staring back at me. It makes me happy. I think that Sam may feel that way too when she looks over her personal anime kingdom!
Do you guys have a treasured piece of merch? Maybe you have an unusual anime collection? Anime spoons???
If you want to see mine – head on over to A Nerdy Perspective. Mock my photography skills!
