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What Can I Buy? (Part Two)

-Audio
---Soundtrack CDs
---Other Stuff

-Collectibles & Promotional
---Chirashi (Flyers)
---Shitajiki (Pencil Boards)
---Calenders
---Posters
---Wallscrolls
---Plushies
---Standees
---Huggies
---Toys
---Computer & Console Games
---Card & Board Games
---Models, Gashapon & Polystones
---Clothing
---Everything Else

What Can I Buy? (Part Two)
Audio

Music is as much a part of anime as for live action films and TV, and as such there is no shortage of audio material available to buy.

Soundtrack CDs

These are the most common CDs etc that you will find for anime. Normally you will find a single CD for a film, but multiple CDs are often available for series - the longer-running or more popular the series is, the more CDs are likely to be available.

Original Soundtracks (OSTs) have the advantage over the regular DVD audio tracks in that they usually contain full-length versions of titles and incidental music/songs. Another thing that I've noticed is that anime CDs tend to be mercifully free of the "...and inspired by" nonsense that has crept into the soundtrack CDs for a lot of western films to try and pad them out a bit. Come on guys, a track's either on the soundtrack, or it isn't...

As will be mentioned later, you need to be wary of pirate CDs, especially for popular titles. Unfortunately, OSTs can be quite pricey, but further down this guide a few places will be mentioned that are pretty reasonable.

Not as common as music CDs, but hardly a rarity, are Vocal Collections - stories, spoken word etc. Check what you're buying beforehand, as not being able to speak Japanese will render these discs a lot less appealing than their OST counterparts.

Other Stuff

There is quite a bit of crossover between people buying anime music and other Japanese music, which is why the distributors and shops mentioned later aren't exclusively selling anime OSTs.

It's not just regular audio CDs, either: You can get anime music for older titles on vinyl if you're prepared to hunt around enough, and 80mm CDs aren't unknown, especially for promotional purposes. Keep an eye out, you can never be sure what you'll spot.

Collectibles & Promotional
There is a lot of stuff available to do with anime and manga. And I mean huge boatloads of stuff. It would be absolutely impossible to list every variant on a theme that you could possibly purchase, so I've tried to organise some of the more popular items below:

Chirashi (Flyers)

Chirashi are cheap advertising flyers that are used to promote series, films, games and so on. They tend to be double-sided single-sheet colour prints along the lines of the flyers that you get in magazines and DVD cases. Most chirashi range in size from A5 to A4, but you do occasionally get foldout versions that go up to A2 when fully expanded.

A giveaway promotional item, chirashi can be a cheap, fun thing to add to a collection around a particular title, although there are people who collect them for their own sake, as you would stamps or coins. They aren't the kind of thing that you're likely to see in your local comic store, however.

Shitajiki (Pencil Boards)

Shitajiki are thin, plastic boards that are put between pages of a notepad or exercise book so as not to dent the following page when you write. They are normally slightly smaller than an A4 sheet of paper, with a colour image on one side and a more basic outline image or piece of text on the other.

Shitajiki are maybe slightly more popular to collect than chirashi, but again you are unlikely to find them being sold in a local shop.

Calenders

Calenders, in both wall-hanging and desktop form, are a nice thing to collect, if only for the beautiful artwork they often feature. If you want a calender that's likely to be popular, it's advisable to try and get hold of it as early as possible, as they can sell out quite quickly. I believe that most print runs are done around about autumn for the next year's calenders.

Posters

Posters are not hard to come by for most titles, in anything from postcards to A0 monsters. There is a definite division between normal posters, and prints, which are usually on heavier paper and feel a bit more like artwork, and not so mass-produced. A fairly cheap frame can work wonders for making a regular poster seem a bit more special.

Take care that what you're buying is actually genuine: Posters are very, very popular bootleg material. See further down the page for more information.

Wallscrolls

Wallscrolls are basically fabric posters, with a tube attached top and bottom to help keep them straight. The commonest size available is 1000mm x 800mm, but as with anything, there are variations on the theme available.

Wallscrolls can be a nice way of having large anime or manga images on your walls without the whole "12-year-olds bedroom" effect of blu-tacking posters everywhere. They aren't too pricey, but beware anything that seems ridiculously cheap - chances are it's a pirated one, and the printing quality does suffer with them.

Plushies

Plushies, stuffed toys of characters, are one of the most popular things to collect, probably because they're so damn cute and fluffy. They tend to exist in two forms: The sell-through ones you'd find on shop shelves, and the kind that are prizes in those alien-claw arcade machines.

As with everything else, some examples can go for silly money, and it's always worth looking around to see if you can get one cheaper elsewhere if the price is too high. Most UK shops that stock anime and manga items will have a plushie or two hibernating somewhere.

Standees

Standees, pictures of a character printed onto a sheet that you prop upright, come in two basic types. First off, you've got small versions (around 6" tall), reminiscent of those push-out carboard dress-up dolls.

The other type is the full, "life-size" standee. These are most often promotional items, and tend not to be available that often. They can have quite a bit of rarity value, especially for popular characters - I once saw a Rei Ayanami standee for Neon Genesis Evangelion sell for about £400 on Ebay.

Huggies (Hug Pillows)

These are basically life-size images like a big standee, except printed on a pillow, so you can hug them. Can be quite cute, but you may notice a slight trend towards semi-nekkidness with female characters.

And the ones with orifices are just wrong.

Toys

Toys and action figures are available for loads of titles, ranging from small pocket-money examples to huge, complicated bits of kit. Whether you're after something to sit on a shelf and look cool, or you go in for the whole mint-in-sealed-box, early-production-number silliness, you'l probably find something you like without too much trouble.

Computer and Console Games

A market in itself, games for the PC, Playstation etc are a frequent tie-in with an anime - often the original basis for a series. The only thing to watch out for is whether wwhat you're buying will work on your machine, and, especially for imports, what language it's in.

A special mention goes to Renai games: If you can't get a girlfriend, act out your stickier fantasies in a PC game filled with a surprisingly accomodating female population. There are people who translate them, if you really must buy one. Just avoid everything that'll have the vice squad sent round by customs should your parcel be intercepted at Dover....

Card & Board Games

Card games, like Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon, have exploded in popularity in recent years. You get two basic flavours: A trading card set, where you're just collecting cards and aiming to get a full set over time, trading with other people, and a collectible card game (CCG) where, as well as collecting the cards themselves, they form the basis of a playable game. One thing to be careful of with the latter is what cards are "legal" in UK games: Sometimes cards available from the USA, and not yet released over here, aren't playable in matches. Similarly, you are unlikely to be able to match Japanese and UK cards in a playable deck.

Most game stores have a respectible array of starter and booster packs, but for specific, rare cards, Ebay may be your best route.

I haven't seen many anime or manga related board games, but they are out there, so you might come across one.

Models, Gashapon and Polystones

Less biased towards children than toys and plushies, models are often like the plastic kits you get for cars, planes and military vehicles: Finely detailed, needing a certain amount of time and skill to complete. You do get ready-built models as well, of course.

Gashapon are those small trading models you get from dispenser machines or counter displays, with a certain number of variations (commonly about 6) to be collected. You can normally get hold of complete, boxed sets from shops and Ebay to save having to buy multiples to get a full set.

One type of model that is extremely popular is the Polystone Statue. These ready-made, fully finished display models are usually about 1/6th to 1/8th scale, and can make a very nice display piece. They can be a little pricey (shop around for the best deal), but are very nice to own. They aren't toys, however, and care should be taken so they don't get damaged.

Clothing

T-shirts are the most popular piece of clothing that you'll come across, in both genuine and copyright-infringing form. Do yourself a favour and spend the extra for the genuine article: The difference in quality will be very noticeable, especially once the garment has been through a few washes. You do wash your clothes, don't you?

Various other items of clothing with logos, characters etc on them are available: As usual, if you see something you like, buy it!

Everything Else
You can get damn near anything with an anime or manga twist to it if you're prepared to hunt around enough. Stationary, wallets, watches, zippo lighters, placemats etc. are all out there, along with some items that are so weird that they have become something of an urban legend: Pictured below is a "Hello Kitty Personal Massager". Yes, friends, you can indeed buy a battery-powered dildo in the shape of a children's cartoon character. What will they think of next?

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